Leisure

Uttar Pradesh November 2011

2011-11-19T23:53:00.000+05:30

A trip to one's childhood. Everyone cherishes that. So this trip was the most eagerly waited one for me right from the time I decided to get married. I would take my wife down the memory lanes of my childhood and show her where I lived, played, studied, went around spending my free time. It is a trip to Renukoot, Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh

A chance came up when my dearest friend Amritanshu decided on his marriage dates. He hails from a place called Chunar which is in the Mirzapur district, next to Sonebhadra. The itinerary was charted out for November 18th to 22nd 2011.

After much deliberations and yeses and nos, it was decided that my parents would come to Varanasi directly from Kerala and we (me and Sreelatha) will go from Delhi. Leave from work is generally a problem in Indian IT companies but prayers from all well wishers made that an easy affair.

All set. Bags packed (at the last moment) and off we leave by Shiv Ganga Express from New Delhi station on a Friday evening. Mid-november, winter does not set in so severely in India. Delhi had a very pleasant climate in the day time and little chill in the evenings (pleasant by all means as compared to "Dilli ki Sardi").

We got our first ~~shock~~ jolt (later ones would be aptly termed as shocks) of our trip. As we wake up in the morning, there was fog outside and the train crawling through the dense white cloud. We realized that the train is running late. 3hrs.. 4hrs.. 5hrs.. A phone call to dad confirmed that we are not the only ones. Their train from Madras is also late by 3hrs. They reached Varanasi at around 9AM and checked in to Hotel Nar-Indra near the Cantt Railway Station. We reached at half past noon and walked over to the hotel.

The next little jolt was the hotel room itself. Rs 850 for this ordinary second class room!! I remembered Nar-Indra to be a nice looking hotel with posh AC rooms (some 15 yrs back). Anyways we had plans to be there only while dreaming so it was adjustable.

Got fresh, had lunch (that was almost same as 15yrs back) and we set off for sightseeing in Varanasi.

A holy town. Major sightseeing spots - Ganga Ghats, Kashi Viswanath temple, Vishalakshi temple, Annapurneshwari temple, Sankat Mochan temple, Birla Mandir in BHU campus, Tulsi Manas Mandir. And there are more hundreds of temples if one wishes to embark on a pilgrimage. We were not on that. So we restricted ourselves to the above mentioned list.

We reached Kashi Viswanath temple at around 3.30PM. This temple has a speciality. Of course many of you might have heard about how Aurangzeb (Mughal ruler) destroyed the original temple and built a mosque at that place and how a new temple was constructed next to the mosque and how the place is now like a fortress with hundreds of policemen (after the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya). Another interesting fact is that in this temple, each visitor is a pujari (priest). You go inside with milk and flowers and do puja on the shiv lingam, the main idol of the temple. Luckily we were there at a good time and there was only small crowd.

As we got out from Viswanath temple and quickly made visits to the Vishalakshi temple and Annapurneshwari temple, it was ideal time to head to the Ghats. The magnificent Ganga seems at its best during dawn and dusk. The sun slanting across the pristine waters giving a golden glow to the flowing river.

Latha is always fascinated by the idea of boating on any water body. And the wide river and many boats on the ghats excited her. In dilemma. Should we spend half an hr on boating or should we head towards Neeraj bhaiya's (a colleague of my dad) house and then to other temples on our list?

Choice was tough. But prayers show you the right way. Little disappointed by not seeing enthusiasm in others' eyes for a boat trip, Latha descended the ghats to touch the Ganga and sprinkle some holy water on thy body to wash away all the sins. As she cleansed, her father-in-law agreed to a boat ride along the ghats. Latha couldnt hide the happiness and sparkle in her eyes, which gave me immense sense of satisfaction, I wouldnt have to hear complaints :-)

The boat was rowed manually. It was slow and took us along the ghats - Kedar ghat, Hanuman ghat, Mushi ghat, Harishchandra ghat, Manikarnika ghat and many more. Each ghat would have its own story and its kind of visitors. Kedar ghat is a hub of tamilian pilgrims with a whole host of vaadhyaars dotting the by-lanes doing all the veda karmas for the departed. Harishchandra ghat is the place for the recently departed souls. Here the bodies are exhumed. We saw a couple of burning pyres. It reminds oneself of the ultimate destiny. We also saw a Japanese ghat. Forgot the name. :-)

It was getting darker and colder as we finished our boat ride. The Dasaswamedh ghat was lit up for the evening "Ganga Aaarti". But we dint have time to cover that today. We moved on. Rest of the day was not much eventful. We covered Sankat Mochan temple, Birla Mandir, Tulsi manas mandir (this temple has robotic shows but that was closed by the time we reached). After the pilgrimage, we headed towards Kerala Cafe, our very old destination. I remember it as a small room with few tables and benches. Now it is a full fledged hotel. But the food almost the same.

A fruitful day recollecting many places that I had visited 10 yrs back. Tomorrow we are going to head to Renukoot.

Transcript of all party meeting on Jan Lokpal bill

2011-08-25T19:26:00.002+05:30

Chair person: "प्यारे साथियों, welcome to the all party meeting on lokpal bill. सब आ गए की नहीं? भूसा भाई नहीं दिख रहे? कोई बात नहीं उनकी राय हम जानते हैं|"

Chair person: "आप सबको मालूम होगा की Shri Anna Hazare जी अनशन पर बैठे हुए हैं और कह रहे हैं की जब तक हम उनका बनाया हुआ लोकपाल बिल संसद में नहीं पारित नहीं करते वो नहीं मानेंगे| हम उनका बिल नहीं लाना चाहते यह थो आप सबको अच्छी तरह समझ आ गया होगा. अब आप सबकी राय जाननी है| "

Govt asks all parties, "Do you think we should allow people on the streets to dictate us what laws we should make"
Unanimous answer "NO. We are elected represenatives and we are supreme"

Govt: "But a man is fasting and is creating lot of public support. And media is harping ANNA is INDIA"

A safron party leader: "Of course this is all because you dint handle them correctly. You called them up, listened to them and then thrashed their ideas. And you bring up a lokpal bill which is farcical (is that the right word?)

Govt: "We thought they are just a bunch of activists who are making noise. There are so many of these all over the country. If we start taking all of them seriously we cant run the country."

Someone jokingly from the govt: "Of course we had to work hard to save our face in all the scams. Will we work on that or this stupid lokpal bill? और ऊपर से वो पाकिस्तानी foreign minister आ गयी थी| अब उनका टाइम पास भी करनी है ना| अरे कश्मीर का मामला है भाई, समझा करो ;-)"

A bong leader: "Do you seriously believe that these people making noises are really representing INDIA? I think, if we ask for the voter id cards of all of these, we will find that almost everybody has never voted for any of us."

A religious activist: "Thats true. We did a survey amongst those who voted for us. And we find that all those who supported us and will support us further in elections are not part of this agitation. They think we are intelligent. And we will work for the best of their interests. So they leave the decision to us. The message is very clear for our people'

Left wing: "We support Anna Hazare. We have nothing to lose. We are not ruling in any state. Nobody votes for us. So we will stick with these guys and see if we can gain mileage out of it. Here is our NOTE to the govt. We have already leaked this to the media."

Speaker: Ok guys lets take a last word from everybody. All those who agree say "I"
"Who agrees that parliament is supreme"
Everybody: "I"
"Who agrees that Anna Hazare doesnt represent people for whom we are representatives"
Everybody: "I"
"Who thinks we should ask him to end his fast?"
Silence

"अरे आप सबको अपनी नाक बचानी है ना? Media को क्या मुह दिखाओगे? अब बोलिए Who thinks we should ask Anna to end his fast?"

Everybody: "I"
Speaker: "Ok there is absolute concensus that we should talk further in parliament and not to these street kids. The I's win the vote. Lets head for the iftaar party."

A white haired minister: "अरे प्रणव बाबु, कुछ खा के जाइये| उन सालों को आराम से हड़काना|"

Whatever is written above is perfectly from the imagination of the author and in light vein. Resemblance to any person and statements that what was actually said the meeting, is purely coincidental. I guess you have already guessed it. Dint you ;-)

06 Jun - 6.05AM local time - Singapore

2010-06-06T06:30:00.001+05:30

Now I have landed in Changi aiport, Singapore.

Flight was on time from Bangalore. Flying by Singapore airlines for the first time. Liked the interiors of the B777-200 flight. I had the window seat. Bangalore looked great from the night sky during takeoff. I could guess where my sweetheart was cuddling with her teddy bear.

In-flight entertainment dint impress me much. Lot of movies were there but I thought of catching a nap to sync up with the biological clock. Food and beverages were served. I dint trouble my sleep too much and opted for just an orange juice.

Arrived at Terminal 2. Three hours transit at Singapore airport. Next flight at 9.20AM local time. My watch shows 3.50AM IST right now. I took the SkyTrain to Terminal 3 for my connecting flight.

Terminal 3 reasonably empty as people are just moving in for their morning flights and daily shift.

Checked the internet at the free internet kiosk. No free wireless access here :-(

7.30AM local time. Sitting at the boarding gate now. Here there is separate security check area for each gate. The area is not open yet. Hey guys! come on, come fast.

Hoping that the next flight is more interesting that the last one. Signing off from Singapore.

05 Jun - 10PM IST - Bangalore

2010-06-05T22:00:00.001+05:30

Leaving Bangalore international airport to Singapore by 11.05PM flight. I was planning to reach airport by 8PM considering the rush that I saw last time at the immigration desk at Delhi airport. But I managed to catch only the 7PM airport bus service which would get me to the airport 45 min later. It was sort of ok. I still had 2 hrs time prior to departure. In fact, it was good. I spent another half an hr with my fiancee at the BIAS bus stop at HAL.

Reached the airport and found the singapore airlines counter pretty much empty. Since I had checked in through the internet earlier, no hazzles here. I checked in my baggage to San Francisco, collected my boarding passes for Bangalore-Singapore and Singapore-San Francisco flights and proceeded to the immigration desk. That was the first suprise. There were just 18 counters (compared to some over 30 in Delhi) out of which 3 were operating. And in each there were just 5-6 people in queue. I still remember the 1 hr queue at the Delhi airport the first time I flew abroad.

Immigration officer was little curious in knowing why I travelled from Bangalore even though I work in Delhi. I just replied what came to my mind immediately (of course the truth). "I got engaged here last week, so flying off from here rather than Delhi". :-)

The security check was even quicker and I was at the boarding gate in just 20min from my arrival at the airport. Wow. Its cool. International travel faster than domestic.

Enough time left for the flight. So grabbed a quick snack at Pizza Hut. Interestingly there are no other options. Dont international passengers take food? May be all of them travel around midnight.

Boarding announcement coming up. Am off to the US of A.

Third device

2010-01-29T14:18:00.001+05:30

After tracking Apple's launch of tablet with all the hype and not so revolutionary product as an outcome, dont you think we need a hybrid of iPad and a netbook?

What are the requirements of this "third" device as they call it?
Should be larger than a phone. an optimimum screen size is somewhere between 8-12 inch (between a paperback and a magazine)

Should be lighter than a laptop. less than a kg. some would be happy with upto 1.5 or 2.

Battery life as long as possible. 5-6hrs (full power mode) 20hrs (as a media player) 60hrs (standby i.e say connected to the internet to just inform abt new mail or get a ping on chat software, almost equivalent to a phone)

Touch screen Keyboard is optional. Would be nice to have if onscreen keyboard is responsive. Else normal keyboard is better. I dont want to wait too long for the response during typing.

Processor - 1-2GHz should be sufficient. May be multi core, one core for handling the touch input

RAM - 2GB minimum

Web cam with integrated microphone

Storage - 32GB SSD Hard disk takes too much of space and weight

Wi-fi + 3G - To get on the move internet

Bluetooth

OS is a very tricky choice. Should be light enough to load fast, power efficient and have small footprint on the storage. Ultra light version for standby and media player modes. Quick switching between modes. I dont want to stop my song and reboot to open my mailbox

Stripped down version of linux should be fine.

Softwares
Mail client - need not be fancy as outlook. But should be more user friendly than Pine. Should be integrated with the calendar and contacts

Media player, Chat client, browser - Any of my fav should be installable

Document processor - cant live without doc, ppt, pdf

Image viewer

Can somebody make this for me?? Can it be assembled?

Savings and Tax Savings

2010-01-29T02:07:00.000+05:30

Nearing the end of financial year and emails from the finance department in the office to file in our investment proofs churns out a new idea. Tax is something that most people think is a waste of money. All of us want to pay lesser taxes. For this we are ready to make investments in financial instruments that would give us lesser returns compared to others but would save us tax. All these instruments are in some ways or the other linked to government's idea of savings. It wants us to save money and not spend all that we are earning. And saving money means putting it in a place in the economy where the risk of losing it is very small.

Now how does it help the government in promoting savings when it is actually giving you exemption and is going to get lesser revenue from taxes? The idea would be to use these low risk financial instruments to its own benefit so that instead of taking away 30% of your hard earned money, it is taking away 100% saying that it is safe. It is like borrowing 100% of the money.

Ok fine. So the finance ministry is trying to increase its own sources of income (or Credit limit) by increasing the exemption limit on the savings to upto 5 lac. But why put a limit? Why not allow people to save as much as they want and claim tax exemption on that amount? Well you would argue that in this case govt wouldnt get any taxes as CAs would make your taxable income to ZERO.

Good. Then how about this idea? 5 lac rupees is the limit to invest in tax saving instruments (ELSS, PPF etc). You can also get tax exemption on all the amount that you lend to the government. e.g. a 5 year FD that is owned by government. FD is the least risk financial instrument that I know of. So if you book a 5 year FD with the govt. you get tax exemption on that. Voila! Govt is getting more of the 100% rather than the cheap 30% in taxes.

But why would you put in govt FD? Imagine the situation. Say you put all your money into govt FD except the bare minimum that you want to live. You do so for 5 years. In the 6th year, your FD will mature and now you get the principal amount and the interest. The interest is an income for you so it is taxable but the principal amount is not. So now from the 6th year you can actually start booking FDs of all the taxable income that you have because you have the principal amount from the FD for your living!!!

All this means is that you dont pay tax (30%) but you lend all your money to the government assuming that the govt is a low risk customer to lend to and hence would never default on you.

Would you do that?

Captivating politicians

2010-01-13T23:16:00.000+05:30

This link here made me wonder what kind of politicians we have in our parliament. Of course the first thought would be our Prime Minister, a man of principles, policies and level head. And lot of others who talk nicely and hence come under the category of captivating politicians. But the guy described in the link, Shashi Tharoor, has indeed been a man who has caught our attention neither because he talks nicely (nicely here refers to appeasingly and all our politicians, lalu, mayavati, advani, karunanidhi fall to that category) with the prime motive of hoodwinking the public nor does he show level head and keep out of controversies like our PM.

From talking about cattle class to letting opinion about visa regulations on public domain (Twitter), he has been a person who connects to the current generation giving them what they want in their own fashion. It might not go down well with the orthodox parliamentarians and parties who consider public speaking (and that too true from your heart) as a fact of breach of code of conduct, be it of the party or the post. How can a minister say his opinion without consulting with the ministry? Well, who said it was a statement of the minister? It was just an opinion that the public should think of. And it certainly does not mean that he is against what the ministry is doing. All that he could be doing is thinking aloud.

Whatever be the controversy that follows him (is follow the right word? we follow him on twitter :-P ), he is a man to be remembered in history, at least by the educated class and I am sure he is on his way to become the External Affairs minister in the next parliament when our dear old Krishna shall retire (Will he?)

Yet another captivating politician whom the link doesn't praise is the man born with the silver spoon, yet getting his hands dirty by plucking grass roots. Yes, the man in line for the PM post, Rahul Gandhi. Whether it is an act of pretext to portray himself as a worker rising the ladder or a lesson of understanding the fundamentals and learning through the system, he is doing a wonderful thing. He is getting closer to the rural India and the masses who really vote. He is getting his resume stronger so that he can tackle the question of favoritism at any later stage of his career.

I am not sure whether it means a new Rajiv Gandhi in the making, but he seems, at least for the moment, to be a Prince learning the art of ruling the kingdom and aiming at the throne and also keeping the compatriots at ease.

Whats on the menu

2009-12-30T16:32:00.000+05:30

How many times have we looked at the right hand side of the menu card before ordering a dish? A recent observation during one of my trips to a restaurant is that we tend to look at the price tag associated with what we order (even though very not very conscious about it). And then this idea came up.

A concept restaurant where the menu has items segregated in categories. There is a minimum price tag associated with each category and a maximum. Exact cost of the dish that you order is not given on the menu.

Open your heart and order your meal and worry about the bill when it comes up.

To add some more spice to this, the cost of each item shall not be fixed. It varies in real time depending upon the demand for that dish. If an item is ordered by many the cost goes up (as it shows that it is a popular dish here, it could be our speciality too).

As technology advances and we have digital menu, we can give the customers the listing of the items in the menu according to this statistic helping you to choose what most people ordered.

What do u say? A business idea worth implementing?

Here are my comments about it
1. Upper middle class might not worry too much about the cost. So they wont oppose to such a menu.
2. People paying with cash might have an issue as they would have tighter budgets. An alternative for them is to provide the total cost after the order is finalised.
3. Restaurant owners might object to the idea because of variable cost involved in the preparing the dish. But I guess unless it is a road-side dhaba, the cost of the cheapest dish on the menu would most probably be less that the preparation cost of the costliest dish on the menu. So the category pricing might just affect the profit a little. But may be we can do more statistical analysis to figure out the category pricing from the distribution of the orders of each item.

Delhi ODI fiasco

2009-12-27T17:31:00.004+05:30

Poor bowlers!! What else to say when the batsmen complain when they cannot play properly on a tough pitch and lobby together to force the match referee to call off the match.

The 5th and final ODI of the India Srilanka ODI series was called off by the match referee citing 'the pitch is dangerous and unplayable' as the reason. Sure it was unplayable because the batsmen's quality has deteriorated over the years. The don't feel comfortable when they cant hit freely through the line or can't judge the ball correctly. But what is dangerous about a pitch? Just because you cant predict the bounce makes it dangerous to face fast bowlers?

What if the fast bowlers start extracting more swing and you cannot judge that and get hit in between your legs? And what if the bowler is fast enough that you don't have time to put the bat down quickly? You tell the bowler is unplayable and dangerous and ban him? Charge him with a ticket for over-speeding?

Alas gone are the days when fast bowlers were a thing to be feared for. Now bowlers are just kids bowling at you so that you can whack them all around the park and claim that entertainment.

A friend of mine suggested a nice alternative for the situation. Let us have a common set of bowlers who would bowl to both the teams. And whichever team scores more wins.

Or cricket could be made a sport of individuals rather than a game. Common set of bowlers and each batsman plays for himself. And we get Grandmasters in Cricket!!!

And ICC can maintain different sets of bowlers each having different capabilities and we could have Grand Slams - Spin Open (played in indian sub-continent), Swing Open (played in England and New Zealand), Fast Open (played in South Africa and West Indies)

Why just have one innovation T20....

Office Outing - Planning surprises

2009-09-23T22:02:00.002+05:30

This outing planning had its own complications. Some of which is described in the prelude (here).

The rest were all surprises that followed.

Getting the guys together

One big question of an office outing is should it be short (no night stay) or should it be long. The married guys (a minority in our group) wanted a short one as they either had issues bringing family and/or dint want to be away without family. There were few who were lazy to go on an outing (short or long). There were few more (including me) who dint want to back off at the last moment so voted out of the outing. After the first round of mails for acceptance, we ended up having 6 out of 18 who were really interested in going. And one third of the team going on a team outing was not acceptable. A meeting was called up so that everybody justifies the reason of not going and if the majority convinces the other we shall go with the majority (outing or no outing).

Now is that confusing!!!

Anyways to cut the long story short, after half an hr of discussion, lot of non-goers and lazy people were convinced to come (as they dint have right justification), couple of married guys who wouldnt make it to an outing (short or long) were left out and the rest of the non-bachelors agreed to bring their wives.

Too many longs and shorts so far.. :P

Destination: Rishikesh - Camping and River rafting and associated activities that is organized alongwith.

Coordinator: Manjul + Naveen + I guess a few more

Rounds of phone calls to different vendors, getting quotations and analyzing the options, one vendor was finalized. Booking done over the phone. Planned dates - 18th and 19th September.

14th September

Rumours spread that rafting in Rishikesh is banned for few days. Some said it was due to the sudden downpour. Some brought the news that there was some strike going on by the rafting organizers.

Are we going to be worried by rumours? No way. Outing was ours and we shall go.

15th September

Coordinators after many phone calls got the real news out of the vendor. Chances of rafting are slim!!! Now was the real action that need to be commended. The coordinators did all that they do to finish off bugs before the release date. Am I exagerating??

Well it was almost the same. Google searches, alternate destinations, more google searches for new vendors, phone calls, more googling. In a matter of few hrs our destination has changed.

Destination: Mussourie. A few rounds of discussion at the cafeteria about the new destination. "What do we do in mussourie?" "It is a boring place", "I have been there".

Well the fact was Mussourie was the nearest known location.

Real Destination: Chamba/Dhanaulti - somewhere in between the two.

16th September

All bookings done. We shall reach leave on Thursday (17th) night.

Transport: Tempo Traveller (Surprise. 4 team members would come on bikes)

Reach our camp on 18th morning.

Spend the day doing activities (no one was sure of what)

Stay in tents at night

Return journey on 19th morning (starting after breakfast)

Wonderful. And there we go!!!

This is getting to be longer than I had expected. Rest in the next post here.

Office Outing - Prelude

2009-09-23T20:58:00.007+05:30

All work and no "outing" makes Jack a dull boy.

This was well known amongst all at office but still there were very few outings in our group. I had attributed that to the cost-cutting measures that our company was taking due to the so-called recession.

After a few months of hard work amidst the rumours of layoffs, there was some discussion on the urgent need for an outing to change our moods. Now the question was "who will bell the cat" for the funds. Asking our manager was an option but we decided to take a bigger leap.

Come May and our VP was in town and dropped down to our office for his customary visit. There was lot of talk about the good fortunes that are coming our way and possible expansions in some of the groups. There wasn't a better time to bell the Super Cat :-)

At the lunch table, we just put up the cause and Voila!! "Few thousand bucks" should not be an issue was the reply. We began speculation of how few those thousands would be and in the end we got a reasonable amount for us to plan for an outing which is not restrained to a movie+dinner.

Though we had intentions of an outing at the earliest, we had to refrain ourselves because of layoffs that followed. After that we were unsure of what will happen to those few thousand bucks promise.

Anyways, after a couple of months we were again in the mood for the outing after we got more clarity that funds are available. We had almost everything planned for a single day trip to Manesar (some 50kms from Delhi). It was a resort and had some games and team building activities. But this time we got a new obstacle. The outing was planned for our team which evoked harsh emotions from the rest of the guys at office. Emotions sparked off to higher levels in management and immediate approval of funds was not possible.

A round table discussion with the team sorted the matter quickly. All that we need to do was plan it in advance so that there is time for getting the advance (You know how slow everybody is when it comes to money!!!) Another nice decision came up in the round table conference. We can go for outings once in every quarter if we have funds left in our kitty.

With all those hopes we plan with full enthusiasm (from few, MKD being the leader).

What happened after that? Click here.

An anniversary that went by unnoticed

2009-09-22T00:13:00.003+05:30

This is my first post of 2009 (almost when it is in its going to end). Is there someone who still reads this?

The fourth anniversary of my blog went unnoticed. It was sort of a ceremony to write a post for the anniversary (First anniversary and Second Anniversary and Third Anniversary).

After all someone has rightly said "Enthusiasm of anniversary dies down after the third"

A customary update of the year that went by.

Feb 2008 to Jan 2009 flew off like a hat hit by a bullet (Is that a metaphor? Am I getting worse at blogging? Cant think of something better).

Busy with job, phd, parents visiting me and some trips here and there. Number of posts reduced to 4 in that period. You would find more posts than that at my blog but they were actually posted after Feb-09 back-dated using the post option in blogger (Did u know that you could do it?)

Cant guarantee more posts (than last year) before the next anniversary as it is coming up soon. But I will surely try my best and pester my readers with links to the blog filling their inboxes when I post. (I know nobody uses RSS link to my blog)

Till then have a nice time ....................

P.S> Fill in the blanks with whatever adverb suits for having a nice time. Btw, I fill it as SLEEPING.

San Fransisco

2008-06-02T01:30:00.001+05:30

A delayed flight meant that I was welcomed by a calm and quiet San Fransisco airport an hour past midnight. I collected my baggage and came out following the sign boards to the bus stop where I would catch my shuttle. No need to ask anybody in US for directions!! Neither are anybody available! In India, we have so many people around to help you out that sign boards are not necessary.

The deserted look of the place was certainly not appeasing. I waited for few minutes expecting my super shuttle. There were few other shuttles (some other names) that were coming and going and slowly even the few who were there at the bus stop disappeared. To add to my woes, there was a chilly wind blowing (and I had no jackets with me, "summer hai kyon le jaana").

Fortunately, there was another guy who was also waiting for super shuttle to some place in between San Fransisco and San Jose. He called up the Super Shuttle number from his mobile and after some 20 min the shuttle came up. On enquiring whether he shall take me to San Jose, I got a reply that my reservation was not there with him. After some bargain and request, he agreed to take me to San Jose provided I pay him in cash and few extra bucks. As I had no other options, I took the offer and reached my hotel.

Off to sleep as I wait for the first day in office tomorrow

New York

2008-06-02T00:08:00.001+05:30

An hr long queue at the emigration check, 16hrs non-stop flight, early morning view of the atlantic and a walk through the immigration counter, of course a small stop over at the counter for stamping :)

Entry into United States cant be easier and less eventful than that. The climate was fantastic with little moring mist. My cousin was there at the exit gate to pick me up.

Out of the parking lot and through the little traffic onto the highway, it felt like I was travelling in Delhi on a November morning. As we drove further away from the city, the landscape changed from flyovers and sky scrapers to smaller buildings to greenery. The road network is something that you feel first in US. Freeways, parkways, exits to the towns, the street roads and above all the obeyance of traffic rules. You feel amazed how people could stop at an intersection just because someone has put up a STOP sign. The road infrastructure is so massive that you never feel the traffic.

Well that was the first impression which was soon to change.

Driving around 56 miles, we reached Fairfield, Connecticut. A small town on the coast. The place is simply picturesque. Its the kind of place that you see in old English movies. Unfortunately, I dint take out my camera.

After the sweet welcome by my nieces, got fresh, filled my tummy with good homely indian food (there is lot of time for american stuff :P ) and off we went (me any my cousin) to get a feel of the New York city, this time by the local train.

Having travelled in Delhi Metro trains, I was familiar with a world class transport means, but New York metro was something that gave me a jolt. Our local train from Fairfield to New York dropped me off at the Grand Central. The platform seemed to be out of a museum. It was as if I was inside a warehouse with tracks bringing in cargo trains. It was nothing that I could have imagined. In India, platforms are something that are either elegant (like the Metro stations) or are dirty (like the nomal long distance railway stations). This was neither. And there was more surprise in store for me.

As we climbed the stairs and reached Level 0, I felt stepping into another world. Yet again a museum. This time some sort of a palace. Wow, did I do some time travel? Is this the same place?

The Grand Central station is one of its kind (at least thats what I know). It is a whole world on its own. With 3 levels underground for different lines of the New York Metro and 125 platforms (!!!!!), it is a transit point of at least a million people a day. And the concourse building above the ground (and partly underground) serves all their needs. I was there on a Sunday, so maybe I dint feel the rush (The Mumbai CST station would also look the same on a sunday. Grand!!!).

Getting out of the central station, we realised we were out for a sight seeing on a bad weather day. The forcast was for mild to heavy showers with winds blowing from the sea (I dont remember the directions :)

It was my habit to watch a city on foot and we walked along the 42nd street till the UN building on one side and then to the Times square on the other end. Apart from noticing the familiar names of building on the street, I ventured into the UN building, Madame Tussad's museum and the Toys R Us to name a few. From there we got back onto the Metro to visit the WTC heritage site and the wall street. The wall street bore the same deserted look of Mumbai's Dalal street on a sunday. I am sure it must be totally different on a trading day.

From the wall street, we crossed the Lincoln tunnel over to New Jersey to get a view of the Manhattan skyline from across the bay (Do you really call it the bay?). The sun supposedly getting down (we dint see it as it was cloudy) we called it for the day and kept the visit to Statue of Liberty and Empire State Bldg for my next trip to New York (Will that happen soon?).

I still had a day to spend before catching my flight to San Fransisco in the evening. I roamed around in Fairfield and enjoyed what I consider countryside in New York (No farms though!! Yet a calm and quiet place far from the madding crowd).

After lunch, I packed off my bags and there I was again at the JFK airport for my flight to the west coast.

Oh! I forgot to mention. In between, I rang up my hotel in San Jose to figure out the status of my booking. I had booked through my personal credit card and my office guys had also booked a room for me. Managed to cancel one of the bookings well before time. So no damage done finally.

And another one. Since I was reaching San Fransisco at midnight, I need to book for a Super Shuttle (it is sort of a shared cab that provides transport to and from the airport). This time I dint want to take chances of double booking so I mailed my manager in US (actually the VP) to arrange for that. (Now thats the nice thing about working in a small company. Even the VPs do help)

My First Foreign Trip

2008-05-31T20:28:00.000+05:30

Back to blogging after a long gap...

Are my readers still here? If so then, here is a post for you all. "My First ..." had been a regular on my blog, so I thought of naming this as My First Foreign Trip.

A trip about which I knew from the day I decided to join Magma. Well thats again something to write about "My First Job" :-) The rest of my team is in San Jose and a training programme was being planned there. I applied for the visa interview and readied the papers. That is another big story of how we all feared a visa rejection as one of my colleagues was rejected visa to US a week earlier. Fortunately, I was not asked anything other than my salary and invite letter from my company. The Madamme at the counter was glad to accept my passport after that. ;-)

In the meantime, my manager here returned from US and suggested that I should go and present our product in a conference (DAC - Design Automation Conference, a renowned one in EDA). With the product still in development, the situation was little dicey. My trip to the conference hung in the hands of the developers who are going to get the product readied in time for the DEMO.

At last, two days before my travel, the trip was confirmed. Being in a relatively small company like Magma, travel is a pain in the ass. And the HR and facilities department being in Bangalore office makes it more so. A series of emails and phone calls. I get the travel approved from the VP, the tickets booked from the travel agent, the forex delivered. Well I applied for the American Express Corporate Card but I was never going to get it before I leave.

There was some last minute shopping left. On the day I was leaving, my manager tells me that it is better to have a blazer with me as I am going to present in the conference. Cant YOU tell me that before???

And of course the STAY. Bangalore guys wont book it for me. I dont have the Amex card yet. The US facilities people are in a different time zone. Lucky enough that my credit card is valid internationally. Hopefully it will be reimbursed.

Goodbyes and requests for chocolates from cube-neighbours!!!!!!!!

There I leave for my first foreign trip. More about the trip as I travel.

Tagged!!!!

2008-04-11T23:24:00.003+05:30

I got tagged by Rat. This is the first time, so why not... let me respond.

1.LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER:
RACE - Adlabs, Great India Place, Noida.. Office outing... phir kaun nahi jayega.. apne paise se to yeh nahi dekhta.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
Not reading anything now.. Last read "Second Foundation" - Issac Asimov

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Carroms... When did I play that last????

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Jab padta tha tab India Today

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Hot Onion Sambhar....

6. FAVORITE SOUND?
Anything instrumental....

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
Being alone.. without internet and phone..

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?
Can I sleep for 10 more minutes

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Not much of a foodie

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
Lakshmi

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...?
Roam around the world

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?
No

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No.... Am I MAD (to sleep with an animal)?

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?
Wonderful

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Right now finalising on the brand.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?
Coffee

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD .....
Sleep

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
I always have tried and tested things on my plate...

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
White

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.
Trichur, Chennai, Renukoot (UP), Trivandrum, Palakkad, Delhi

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Cricket

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.
He adds link to my blog on his blog... So I have some readers.. :)

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Lots of dust... I havent cleaned under my bed for 3 months

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Why be the same again and again... I would try something else.. Maybe a dinosaur...

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?
till a month back I was a night owl. Now a morning person after joining job.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Over easy... I dint know what it meant.. but i just chose one of the two..

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
Lawns

28. FAVORITE PIE?
Never liked any

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Butter Scotch

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
I am tagging to all the readers of my blog. If anybody responds, send me your link..

Incredible India

2008-02-21T03:00:00.000+05:30

Incredible India (or Atulya Bharat) is a slogan of Indian Tourism Department. Well the thought of a blog about it occurred because of this blog.

"The government is promoting this campaign of Incredible India or 'Atulya Bharat'. But, what is incredible about this country. When my friends from Europe or US come to India for a visit, all they find is dusty roads, animals on the streets, poor facilities etc. etc."

This was the point of discussion and I was also one of the listeners of this comment. Some people argue that this is a bull shit statement and India is really incredible because of the diverse cultural heritage and the quality of Indians to keep up with our traditions even though we were subjected to so many foreign invasions. Others may say that boasting of traditions is a farce. Metros of our country is under a huge influence of western culture and even small towns are jumping on the bandwagon. And their justification is that it is personal freedom. Fine. I would say it is improper upbringing. If a child is not told about his own culture and the importance and reason why it is better than others, then how can one expect it from them.

Counter Argument? There are many. Western culture gives lot of freedom to individuals. Theirs is more of an individualistic society where family and friends are secondary. You live with somebody only if you feel so. Isnt that better than struggling (and compromising against your will) to keep the family intact just because the society looks down upon you? I don't know!!!

All that I can say is that I would rather be an Indian than being westernized because I cherish my family (even the extended family of relatives).

Having said that, I would still say that there is lot of things that make India inferior to the world. And there are things that we should learn from others that will make us feel more proud of our country.

Cleanliness: Everybody complaints about the street, city, country being kept unclean. Especially if you see the North. Down South things are better. People have more awareness about cleanliness and sanitation. Very rarely will you find a south Indian who is shabby and untidy. In the North, the conditions are bad. A typical example is Kanpur. I haven't seen a place more horrible than Kanpur. The moment you set foot at the railway station or the bus stand you feel like getting back to where you came from.

Reason. The first and foremost is the lack of public awareness. People live in cities as if they are living in a countryside. I don't mean that countryside is dirty, but the crux of the matter is that the amount of filth that is generated in countryside is little and most of the stuff is biodegradable. So even if you just dump it in your backyard it is fine. There is no pollution. And that is how we all have been inherently. On the contrary, if you see any beautiful landscape on any nice wallpaper, it would surely be a countryside :-)

Sorry, I diverted a bit, but people thinking that filth out of sight is cleanliness. And out of sight means dumped in some corner of the street. And of course all hue and cry of the municipality or the corporation not doing its job of clearing of garbage and proper disposal of waste. I am sure all of us will agree that garbage collection, disposal and recycling is not a department that is running properly, at least in many towns.

Why aren't they running smoothly? I don't have a clue. May be we should catch hold of a PWD official and ask.

But there are smaller things that people don't care when it comes to cleanliness. How many of us make an effort to dump the trash in the trash can and not of the road side? I agree that lot of the educated lot does it, but you can't argue with me that if you take the country as a whole the number is surely less than 10%. To give an example, I have seen people littering on the road the moment they step into the country out of an international airport. Do they dare to do the same abroad, in a country like Singapore?

All said and done. The simplest question from a layman is how does it matter if I add a drop of filth into the ocean of garbage on the streets. A possible answer is 'Boond boond se ghada bharta hai' but who cares.

Another simple example. You shout at a person when he pisses on the boundary wall of your house, but imagine how many times you have done the same in some unlighted narrow alleys.

Yet another. You scold your child when he spills food on the floor, but you do the same dropping orange peels and groundnut shells in buses and trains.

The most common example from my IIT campus. Most students buy coffee and walk through the campus. Nice and wonderful experience. But the moment the cup is empty they dump it by the fence or under a tree. Cant you wait till the next corner where you find a dustbin? Now you can guess what is the state of the country when the brightest of them do such things in a beautiful campus which is so well maintained.

If we think deep into the cause of such human behaviour, one thing is obvious. We have never been taught. Even if we are, we have not made it a habit. And since it is not in our habit, we never teach our children the need for cleanliness. We dont teach them civic sense.

Let me give a typical Indian household example that I have seen in North India. Men eat and leave the place as it is. They unpack a gift and leave the wrappers there itself. Maintaining the house clean is never an agenda of the men. Most of the cleaning stuff is done by ladies. Well then do u expect them to be very neat and clean? If you do, then you are wrong. Of course they will clean the house and keep things in order but you can find lot of households where the mess is pushed under the cot, hidden from the eyes of the guests, giving a sense of pseudo-cleanliness. More so, even when they really clean the house once, the trash just ends up outside their house on the street. Many a times you can see a bag of trash from the top floor of a building, flying over your head and landing near you, when you walk in alleys.

Solution. Only possible solution is people learning themselves that discarding unwanted stuff from your possession doesn't mean that you are neat and tidy. Making sure that it ends up in its proper place is the best solution. Also we should not expect that there are others to clean up the filth that we generate. Others are there to clean it up only from designated garbage bins.

This post had been long pending.. So I will post it now.. The other things that make us inferior to the world will follow later.

Third Anniversary

2008-02-02T09:33:00.001+05:30

Yesterday I finished three years in the blogger's space, each year ending in a distinct anniversary. On my last anniversary post, I had promised to give my readers more poems and better travelogues. But the year seemed to give a new turn to my blog. I ventured into short stories and wrote two of them. I had started another one based on my college life which I left in between. The number two seems to have some strong connection with me. I wrote 2 poems on the blog before the last anniversary and this time the number of stories again comes to TWO.. Numerologists may say it is becoz I am born under the number 2 (My birth date is 20).

Last year, the number of trips were plenty but just one of them was a sight seeing tour. Hence just one travelogue. There were a couple of posts on cricket along with the usual reporting from IIT Delhi.

In December, I decided to start documenting some of the ideas regarding my research topic and that led to the tech blog. Though the response to that it pretty insignificant, I hope all the material will end up in my thesis some day.

Yesterday being the anniversary of blogging, I had decided to schedule my job interview (thinking it would be a lucky day). I had already cleared the technical rounds which were telephonic interviews from the US. Yesterday I went to meet the manager in the Noida office. The interview went pretty well with all sorts of HR questions on 'Why are you joining this company', 'Why do u want to be in Delhi since you are a south Indian', 'How will you manage your Ph.D. part time along with the job' etc. I was smiling to myself wondering the uselessness of these questions. Everybody who goes for an interview prepares these so what is the point in asking. In any case, that being over, I hope I will have the offer letter soon (though the manager didnt give any hint about my selection).

Art with Maths

2008-01-05T02:54:00.000+05:30

Creating abstract art with mathematics. Here are some of the images from the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2007.

Star Dust (Manu Martin)

Immortelles (Sylvie Gallet)

Air (Ewa Stryza)

La Sylphide (Anna de Vries-Eickhoff)

Edenesque (Helen Grainge)

Rose (Keith Mackay)

Matsuoka (Daniel Kuzmenka)

For more images from the contest visit this link.

All images are Copyright © 2007 Damien M. Jones.

A Centurion at last

2008-01-05T02:00:00.000+05:30

When I had written a post on how Sachin missed all his centuries in the last year, how can I refrain from writing something today. A day that will be remembered by all the fans all over the world who consider "Cricket is RELIGION, Sachin Tendulkar is GOD.

It was a day when Sachin started off very carefully with Ganguly blasting at the other end (Something has seriously happened to our Dada. He is in such a terrific form), and then allowing all the tail-enders an extended session of batting practice, in the meantime getting that ever elusive golden figures of 100.

As Cricinfo editor Siddharth Vaidyanathan (he shares his last name with me) describes, I would also put it as one of the greatest knocks of the little Master. An innings of such precision and measure and such flawless execution that even the aussies had left hope of finishing the Indian innings at his end.

A banner at the ground summed up everything. "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting," it read. "They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching."

Amidst this spectacular panorama of batting (snapshots of which would make a nice picture manual for the coaching academies), the crowd erupted with a standing ovation when the GOD raised his arms to thank the GOD to the change of fortunes in the new year. Sachin scored his 38th test century, his third consecutive at the SCG, his fifth in Australia, after missing out on five occassions (when he crossed half-century mark) in 2007. His average at SCG is 326, eigth highest averages at any ground by any player.

In fact, SCG has been so good for the Indian batsmen (though they have won just once here) that I suspect Aussie bowlers would refuse to be part of the squad if it is a Test match against India at SCG.

In between all this, I lost a bet with Anoop. When I was leaving the lab after a night out, I told Anoop that Sachin wont make a century as I was going to watch the match on TV. Anoop argued on the contrary as he wasnt viewing the match. In the end, it was a happy bet to lose.

A new year - A new look

2008-01-05T01:36:00.000+05:30

As per the tradition of updating the blog once in a year, here I present to you my blog with a new look. A look with a complete rework on the template and the colours.
Here is a snapshot of the new template
Isn't that colourful!
Well the description says so.

A few more experimentation with words all around the template. The headings are translated into Spanish (thanks to google translate) and a few keywords to make it more informal.

Hey, did anybody say my blog is too serious????
May be. But isn't it true that humour lies in the minds of the reader (That sounds familiar to some other proverb).

So with the new look on the blog and lots of colours all around (Does colour mean something else?) the blog from here on changes to a different genre.

No more serious babble. I should probably start a new blog for that and not publicise it.
No more of fundas. I have started a tech blog for that.

Welcome to the world of VIBGYOR

Tail:
When I started the blogging, my blog title was "A new beginning". But with the third anniversary around the corner, I think it was high time to change.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T21:10:00.000+05:30

After a wonderful year 2007, here we are into yet another year of fun and frolic. The year that went by was a little different from the ones earlier.

I had the maximum number of trips, almost one in every month, starting with a trip to Kolkata for the marriage of two of my best friends. One trip to Renukoot during Holi. Three trips to Kerala - one for cousin's marriage, one for teaching in a college in Cochin and one just for a holiday to home. One to Mumbai for a cousin's engagement. A vacation to Jodhpur, Udaipur and Mount Abu in June.
Unfortunately, there were no trips to the Himalayas. There were two of them planned but got postponed to 2008. One was a trek in Manali under YHAI and another was Manali-Leh-Ladakh. Hope that it materialises this year.
The new year is also full of trips. The first 3 are for marriages. Aur ek bhi mera nahi..

Last January, I wrote my comprehensive exams which meant that I am officially registered for my PhD and my research proposal was accepted. Research work progressed a little and is expected to catch up pace.
May the blog next year, same time, show me winding up my research.

My search for a girl friend began in 2007 and is still stuck at the same place. I have friends but ...
Who knows 2008 may show bright future.

Coming to celebrations, this year was not very great. We had dinner at the nearby hotel on the new year eve. From "We" you must have guessed who. They were just my colleagues and juniors. Just before midnight, we set off to India Gate expecting some fun as that is a very happening place in Delhi. But the security was so much beefed up (probably becoz of Benazir Bhutto's death) that we were denied parking in the vicinity. So we just returned to our good old Nescafe and had a cup of coffee and some Maggi (which we have throughout the year).
Post maggi session was devoted for movie. After some checks on my laptop for movies and conflicts in choice, we zeroed in one English flick. 10 minutes into the movie and half the crowd feeling sleepy, we ditched the plan and went off to doze.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T23:33:00.000+05:30

A time of the year when most people in the world are enjoying holidays, IIT is also in a holiday mood. The winter vacations have begun and hostels are empty. Placements season is going on and there has been parties all around from those who got placed. Many final years are still working hard to prove themselves to the companies coming on campus for recruitments.

We Phds, are not at all bothered by this struggle or by these little celebrations. We live in a life of perennial bliss with moments moving on and on and on.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas..
May the Lord show you the path that you cherish to take..
And may the Santa shower you with whatever you want at any every moment..

For the research scholars, here is a quote that I coined.

'Phd is a journey in a tunnel. You never find the end till the last bend.'

Launching a Tech Blog

2007-12-11T00:09:00.000+05:30

Today I launched a new technical blog. Currently I am thinking of putting stuff related to my research work. Hoping that readers will comment and I shall get some idea for my PhD thesis. :-)
For my regular readers (I dont know who) here is the link.
बुद्धिमान तार-रहित उपकरण
Please read it sometimes.. Kya pata kab aapko bhi research karne ka mood aa jaye... :-P

2007-12-08T00:11:00.000+05:30

In this world where everybody is said to be selfish and unkind, yesterday I found a nice man. At midnight, I and my friend were waiting for an auto in a pretty desolate area of Delhi. After a wait of around 10 minutes, a cab went past us and suddenly braked. As we approached the cab, the driver told us to hop in and asked us where we were heading to.
As there was not much of a chance of finding any other mode of transport back to our hostel, we got in the cab, thinking the trip would be rather costly. The driver told that he was going to the taxi stand near our hostel, so he offered us the lift.
We got a pleasant surprise as he was dropped us at our hostel and said that he was not charging us for the ride.
Kabhi kabhi aise bhi log mil jaate hain..

The Magical Number - 100

2007-11-30T18:46:00.000+05:30

Oh yes! You guessed it right. It is about cricket. And in cricket if you talk about century then who else can it be other than our own great Sachin Tendulkar.
Sachin has been in a great touch in this calendar year, yet this is the year in which he has missed out on scoring centuries on so many occasions. A little bit of statistics of this year's performance of our Cricketing GOD:
Tests
2 centuries - both against Bangladesh
scores of 91 and 82 against England
56* in first test against Pakistan (cant blame him for not scoring a century there :-) )
Again an 82 today against Pakistan

ODIs
Lone century (100 not out) against WI at Baroda in January
2 half centuries against WI and SL in India
1 half century against Bermuda in the pathetic ICC World Cup
6 half centuries in England Tour (2 against SA and 4 against ENG) out of which 4 were in 90s
2 scores of 70s against the Aussies
2 scores of 90s against the Pakistanis

And out of the 6 nervous nineties 3 times he went back to the pavilion on 99.

Well the question asked by many is 'Does the lack of centuries reduce his greatness?' Certainly NO. But it doesn't add to his great statistics of 42 and 37 centuries in ODIs and Tests respectively.

Some say that 'quick and elegant' nineties is better than 'gritty and struggling' centuries. May be right. But the days of struggling centuries is something of the past for Sachin. I don't remember seeing any of his last 20 centuries as 'struggling'.

In the end, what matters is the entertainment. For few it is the class and domination during the innings, for others it is the magical number - 100.

Let us hope Sachin keeps both the faction happy. :-)

Quake Quake

2007-11-26T22:10:00.000+05:30

After missing two earthquakes that happened during my past 5yrs in Delhi, at last I experienced one today morning. It was at quarter to five at dawn when Delhi rocked measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale.

I was asleep under the quilt in my hostel room, when I felt the tremors. I thought that it was in my dream and ignored it. After a few seconds, I realized that my cot was shaking and the windows were rattling. As I got to my senses and got up, vibrations had died down. There was commotion outside as people were running out of their rooms onto the lawns and the courtyard. Most of them were excited and few were shocked.

I waited for a minute to check if it was shaking. As nothing happened, I went back to sleep, under the assumption that I was safe under the thick quilt even if the roof falls down. :-)

Today, I heard lots of stories about how people ran to save their lives ignoring others who were around, half naked, in their underwears, out into the biting cold. Well, I dont know whether I was brave or stupid in not getting out, but surely what prompted me to stay in my room was the winter.

Tail:
Last two times when earthquake happened in Delhi, I was riding on my cycle from hostel to the institute. What a bad luck!!! And that too TWO times.. That reminds me of a mallu saying 'onnu vittal moonu' meaning 'if u missed it on the first chance, u will surely get it at the third'

Yet another Diwali

2007-11-09T22:52:00.000+05:30

That ended the celebrations of my Twenty-sixth Diwali. How I celebrated the first 10 of those I dont remember now. But the remaining ones were fun. Probably better than Diwali this year.

When I was in school at Renukoot, Diwalis used to be great. The festivities started almost a week earlier and we had nice time even at school. The climate used to be wonderful with the winter setting in and the early morning chillness and the mild afternoons. Though it would be tougher to go to school in the morning but Diwali time was something we never missed at school. The thrill of the sound of crackers in the corridors was a thing everybody cherished.

Every year there would be strict warnings from our principal against bursting of crackers in the school campus. But invariably every year there would be at least one going off - either in the bathroom or in some empty classroom, either under the stairs or on the rooftop. Our batch was the most infamous of all but we were never implicated. There would be inspection in our class for matchboxes and crackers. Nevertheless the guys succeeded in pulling off the stunt every year without fail.

I still remember two of the incidents. One was when I was in class VII. It was the last day of school before the Diwali vacations and everybody was wondering why no crackers have gone off till now. We rarely had to wait till the last day (You know it is always riskier). We had asked our geography teacher, Maimuna Khatoon (some called her Cartoon) for a free hour and she took us to the lawns for relaxing. Suddenly a blast was heard from one of the classrooms on the first floor and we cheered. The main building was cordoned off and an intensive search for the culprits was going on in each class. Little did our principal know that the real ones were outside and it was their ingenuity to trigger the blast in such a way that they had enough time to get out and join us on the lawns.

The second one was in class X. We were having our Maths class during the first hour after the morning assembly. A very strict teacher, Mr. Agarwal, was drawing some geometrical patterns on the board when a cracker went off in a bathroom near our class. He got such a shock that the chalk fell out of his hand and he was dumbstruck. 'Wah kya scene tha'. Immediately the principal and other teachers had gathered in our class trying to figure out how it happened. They made all attempts to get the truth out of us by threatening the notorious and bribing the weak. Luckily enough, nobody outside the gang knew of the trick and we were safe. The cracker was set off at the end of the morning assembly and a wait time of half an hr was set.

Diwali for me at home was celebrated in the morning in the south indian style with an oil bath, early in the morning, followed by a visit to the temple and a breakfast of idlis and sweets. On the day of Diwali, me and my friend Amritanshu, used to visit the Ramlila ground in our colony where temporary stalls were put up for Diwali Mela. We always got our crackers on the day itself. The decoration lights at our houses were always put up by us. We loved testing the series lights and would experiment with circuitry to make it twinkle in various ways. In the evening, I would light lamps and candles in the balcony of our quarters. Amritanshu would join me for a round of crackers in my courtyard. After that we went to his house for Lakshmi Pooja.
The day typically ended with a visit to some of our classmates and another round of crackers.

On the contrary, this year I spent most of the day relaxing on the bed. I had a special lunch at the hostel mess. Though many would say it as special, I would have preferred the normal menu. Only good thing on the menu was the sweets and fruits. In the evening, I went to the Ayyappa temple in RK Puram and went out for dinner as the hostel mess workers enjoy a diwali holiday.

Hope all of you had a better diwali full of sweets and crackers and enthusiasm.

Wishing you all A Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali and New Year

P.S: Today while searching for Hindu calendar in wiki, I found that the Hindi New Year is on the day after Diwali. Hence the New Year wishes....

Wonderful Dussehra

2007-10-22T15:02:00.000+05:30

Durga Asthami: It was Friday, the 19th of 2007. Anand Srivastava, a friend on mine from school called me and invited me for lunch on Sunday. Enjoying the mid-semester break, I accepted his invitation and was also glad to know that he has invited a few more of my schoolmates. That was the beginning of this year's Dussehra celebrations for me. I also had another get together planned for the weekend. That was visiting my cousin who has moved into Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, after her marriage. She had been cajoling me to drop in at her place for the past three months and it was getting postponed due to some reason or the other. I had suggested a visit during the festive season but she had plans to go for a vacation to Rishikesh and Mussourie. On Friday, night I got the news that she has canceled her vacation, so I decided to go the next day. I also remembered that I had not yet kept my books for Saraswati Puja and resolved to do so the next morning.

Maha Navami: On Saturday early morning (7AM is pretty early for a late riser like me), I set out to the Ayyappa temple in RK Puram along with my friend Anoop. After some inquiry (inquiry was needed as everyone was supposed to put the books for Puja on Ashtami itself), I managed to give my books for Puja after shelling out a nominal amount. Another good thing about going to Ayyappa temple on festivals or weekends is the tiffin counter, which is open there. We had a nice breakfast of idlis and vadas and a hot cup of tea. Getting back to the hostel, I was surprised by the dosas there for breakfast, as it was not there on the usual menu. As south indian food in the mess is a rarity, I gulped down a couple of dosas before leaving to Gurgaon. The temple visit and a sumptuous breakfast gave me a premonition of a great day ahead.

Reaching my cousin's home was pretty easy after flawless briefing of the way and landmarks by cousin's husband. As I had expected, the day went by with more food (and good homely) going down my throat and lots of gossip and general discussion. Food, food and food seemed to be the agenda of the day as I had yet another breakfast (I wonder how many times I was breaking a fast that morning) and a late lunch. Three breakfasts in a day is something I had never imagined, considering my infrequent visits to the mess in the morning. The homely food also reminded me of the last year's Navami day when I had lunch at one of my schoolmates' house.

To finish off the day in style was the Twenty-20 cricket match between India and Australia. And of course, India won it and proved to be champions of Twenty-20.

Vijay Dashami: As was the previous morning, this morning also I woke up early and reached Ayyappa temple to get my books, blessed by Saraswati Devi. There was a huge rush as it was a Sunday. A guy was announcing names from the pile of book packets and after some 30min I got my books. In the meantime, I met a couple of other mallus from IIT.

Lunch was arranged at Anand's house and I was there in time to join another schoolmate Abhay Pratap. Rest of the guys who were supposed to join failed to come due to other personal commitments. Lunch was excellent, as we were treated by the expert cooking of Anand. We never knew that he was such a good cook. There was a new dish - poori filled with aaloo - on the menu. Post lunch session was a small intro session to share market and sensex by Anand. He was the only commerce guy and he tried to tell me and Abhay (both science graduates) about shares and its business.

In the evening, Abhay and me set out to meet another couple of friends at the other corner of Delhi. Well when we started we didn't know that it was that far, but from the time it took on the Metro we guessed how bad it would have been to travel the same distance by road. And that too on a day when half of Delhi would be on the streets watching the Burning of Ravana and the processions of Ramlilas. We had a nice time meeting Saurabh and Naresh. In fact, we were meeting both of them after a gap of 12 years. Getting back to Anand's house was tough as the transport facilities in Delhi are poor at late night. We had to struggle to find a rick at India Gate at 11PM, which is not so late in other metros.

In all, it was a wonderful Dussehra catching up with old friends, meeting them and getting updates of lot of others.

Notes:
Few things that we missed:
1. We dint see even a single Ravana effigy being burnt and the fireworks display, as we were travelling on the underground metro most of the time.
2. We dint go Pandal hopping for the durga pooja. We had plans to go on Saturday but the Twenty-20 match withheld us to the Common Rooms of our hostels.

हिंदी में ब्लोग

2007-10-10T07:49:00.000+05:30

जब पता चला कि हिंदी में भी blog लिख सकते हैं तो सोचा कि क्यों ना एक trial लिया जाये। यह blog लिखते समय google के इस नए transliteration tool का power महसूस हुआ। इतनी आसानी से हिंदी में लिख सकते हैं कि पूछिये मत। जल्दी ही google खोलिए और खुद ही type कर के देखिए।

Orkut Banned

2007-08-19T03:19:00.000+05:30

The management at IIT Delhi has decided to block access to www.orkut.com from within the institute. Whether it is an attempt to police the innocent students getting over-enthused by the ongoing craze of dating or an inefficient means of regulating internet traffic, nobody knows, as there is not official announcement. But this abrupt blockage of the site using 'Content Keeper' has caused a shock to the student community.

Orkut had been a topic of discussion among the faculty and the web administrators for quite some time. Many in the institute felt that students are wasting a lot of time browsing and scrapping on orkut. It may be true to some extent as I have myself seen situations in the lab where all the monitor screens show similar snapshots of orkut profile page opened up in firefox and people busy finding new profiles and scrapping to keep their network of friends going. A lot of BTech students are actively involved in various communities and are regular posters on all threads, many of which are games and silly gossip.

However addicted a student might be to things like orkut, it is a horrible act on the part of the web administrators of the IIT Delhi to cross the limit of freedom of choice of an individual. An institute in which more than 95% of the residents are adults (going by the norms that a person is an adult if he is above 18yrs) such a step is seriously condemnable. I imagine the series of strikes and mass bunks of classes and a gherao of the director that would have happened if such a curb on personal freedom is afflicted on students of any ordinary engineering colleges. But what can be done in IIT where faculty is the GOD and students are mere mortals under their stronghold.

Banning orkut is not an isolated happening. Various adult/porn sites are blocked. I dont know what our director thinks about sex education, but when there is a lot of hue and cry about sex education by our politicians and governments I dont have a surprise in experiencing such restrictions. On this note, I would add that there is a ridiculous custom of so-called 'Socials' in each hostel where the first year students are given opportunity to mingle with girls from other colleges in Delhi. A bus full of girls from different colleges is brought for a disco party within the hostel (i hope you know that IIT Delhi is the only IIT where girls are not allowed in boys hostels). Such double standards from a premier institute like IIT is not at all expected. On one hand they encourage freshers (who are less than 18yrs of age) to date with girls and on the other they restrict adults from visiting dating sites (like orkut as that is also classified as a dating site).

Yet another excuse for blocking orkut is to control the internet traffic. Over the past 3 years I have been seeing numerous attempts by our pathetic network administrators to improve the network speed of our LAN which is at times slower than a cheap broadband connection provided by Airtel. First they disallowed sharing on the LAN across hostels. Then they blocked access to the lab's LAN from hostels. Then came blocking of bit torrents, which students use to download movies and other entertainment stuff. And the last nail on the coffin was disabling IP adresses that has high internet usage.

One thing I should say here that despite all these attempts, students have been accessing all the sites they want and sharing stuff across the network. If the network admin ban usage of one software, students find another one. It has been a cat and mouse game between the admins and the users. And the internet speed from the hostels still remain at a sluggish 5-10kbps and at times as low as 500 bytes per sec.

What I (in fact anybody who thinks about this issue) cant understand is that why cant the network administrator put up a Proxy server on the main computer centre, through which all internet traffic is routed, and where all students and faculty has logins. It is not a big deal to set that up. And setting weekly download limits for each user ensures that nobody uses more than what he is allotted. The Computer Science department uses this method and has the best LAN in the whole institute.

Let us all pray that the web/system/network administrators in the institute get some real insight into the issue and feel for the students who are unnecessarily being harassed by the moral policing done by them.

Who is the winner

2007-08-15T07:13:00.000+05:30

An old lady was sitting on the verandah of her house. She was in her 80's with gray hair and rumpled skin. Her voice quavered as she called her daughter in law for a glass of water. After waiting for a response, she muttered to herself, "Who cares for this old lady!" She was frail and spent most of her time on the verandah gazing at the street. Watching the busy market below was her hobby and favourite pastime.

The sun was up near the zenith and the daily clamor of the people and vehicles was making the market look like a tableau of chaos. People were moving around with their bags full. Workers were unloading gunny bags and carton boxes of items from the pushing-carts and were taking them through the service doors of the shops.

Amidst this commotion an old man was hobbling towards the traffic signal. His dress was shabby and was patched at lot of places. It could well have passed on as a designer stuff had he been walking on a ramp for a popular designer. But here the lady knew that he is poor and was not well taken care of by his family. She wondered if at all he had a family. As he came nearer she could see his face clearly. His hair was unkempt and his eyes were sunken. He had a stubble grown on his cheeks and few of his front teeth were missing. He had a small pouch hanging down his neck and there was a jingling sound of coins as he walked past her. "Poor thing!", gasped the old lady and felt sad for not having a penny to spare for him.

As she moved her gaze from him, the old lady heard a thud of a person falling and the clinking of coins on the gravel as they splattered on the gravel. He was middle-aged man trying to stand up, pushing aside the old beggar. The guy was in his thirties and seemed pretty well-built. He had a nasty look on his face with a long scar running from his left eye to his jaw. As he stood up, he was shaking as if feeling dizzy. His legs were not stable and kept moving around as he cursed the beggar, "You sonowabitch! cant you see wats in the front. Get lost, fucking old man, good for nothing, just roaming around on the street blocking others way". Saying this he walked onto the road causing lots of screeching of tyres and brakes as cars and bikes tried to avoid a collision. He was heavily drunk and had no sense of direction. He was howling at all people around, swearing at everybody.

He was swaying as he moved and bumped into a red convertible. As he laid his eyes on the person at the driver seat, he saw a woman. She was fair and good looking with shoulder length hair. As she stepped out from the car, the old lady noticed that she was decked up in a mini skirt and a tight top. She had a stunning figure and looked like a model or an actress or something, totally out of place in a cheap market in a small town like this. The drunkard also thought so. He was knocked back to senses by the bumps and by the hot chick standing in front of him. It was as if the market had come to a stand-still, watching the girl and the drunkard. He was getting tempted to reach for the girl. His eyes looked greedy and the girl shifted with unease. He started moving towards her, ogling her from head to toe.

The scene was watched by many - a priest of the church in his cassock and holy cross hanging around his neck feeling sympathy for the drunkard about to commit a sin, a gandhian clad in white with a serene face wishing the guy to pass over before he reaches the girl, a kid dressed in school uniform experiencing a thrill of watching a movie, a policeman boiling with anger and lots of nondescript faces showing emotions varying from shock to anger to pity.

The policeman, who had stopped for a tea, had seen the drunkard cursing the beggar. That had irritated him a little, but as many will say 'Who cares for a poor old beggar'. But he couldnt resist himself from action when it was a gorgeous lady in question. He got up and crossed the street. All events seemed to be in slow motion. The drunkard getting closer to the girl and the policeman getting closer to him. And in the end of course it was the policeman who got there first and banged his fist on the drunkard's face and down he went on the road in a heap.

There was huge applause from the crowd with cheers and claps drowning the voice of a gentleman who had come up on stage. He waved his hand to the crowd and announced on the mic "That was a wonderful performance by the students of Class V. And the winner of today's Fancy Dress Competition is ...................".

Afterword
I feel that the Winner is the The Old Lady but if you felt any other character deserved to be the winner, you can fill in the last words of the gentleman and let me know about that in your comments.

Cycle Stunts

2007-07-28T20:15:00.000+05:30

I am not talking about the cycle stunts that you see in your local circus. Neither am i talking about the motorcycle stunts shown by our Indian military during the republic day parade.

Those are acrobatics. The cycle stunts that I refer here are the ones that I achieved in the recent past. Though it is belittling myself, but still I say here that two fractures that I have on my body are because of my cycle stunts.

The first of them was 2 years ago. I was cycling back from the lab to my hostel at 4am. No I was not enjoying the morning air. On the contrary, I was returning after yet another night out, feeling sleepy. It had rained at night and the cycle had been washed clean in the rain.

I was moving on the desolate road. The breeze was bringing in the frigidity of early morning and the overnight rain. I dont remember clearly what happened. After negotiating a turn, I find myself shaken up. The cycle had hit the divider. I was standing but I could feel bruises on my knees and elbow. There was a pain in my left wrist, which had begun to swell.

That was the first fracture, a non-dislocated scaffoid (a small bone at the joint of thumb and wrist) fracture and my first cycle stunt.

The second one was very recent. This time it was my right leg. Trying to get away from the drizzle, I took a sharp turn quickly and my foot brushed past the footpath. Unfortunately, the fourth toe bent and got fractured. Right now, I am on full rest, though no cast is there on my foot. Of course, it is a nice excuse from abstaining from my lab.

P.S. It reminds me of yet another cycle stunt. I was learning to ride a bicycle. I parked my front tyre right between the legs of a man walking in front of me. He gave me a stiff look but surprisingly didnt say anything. I hope his vital organs were left unscathed.

Rajasthan Trip 2007 - Mount Abu

2007-06-27T22:36:00.000+05:30

The journey from Udaipur to Abu road was a memorable one. The highway was in a total mess as widening of the roads into 4 lanes was under construction. The old highway was broken at many points with diversions made on to muddy tracks which were bumpy due to recent rains. To add to our woes, the driver was in a happy mood. Probably he was a rally driver who enjoyed such muddy tracks to feel his pulse racing. He was maneuvering the bus through the rough roads keeping us swinging left and right and bouncing up and down. It was a total roller coaster ride.

The landscape outside was what fascinated us the most. We had been travelling in Rajasthan and never expected to see anything green around. All you expect in Rajasthan is barren lands and deserts. On the contrary, we were seeing lush green fields and bushes and forests as we passed from plains to the hills. We went through a few hair pin bends and it was like moving through the Western Ghats in Kerala, of which I have had enough experience.

At the end of this roller coaster, we reached the small town, Abu Road, which is the nearest rail head from Mount Abu. A general googling had given us the information that Mount Abu is the only hill station in Rajasthan and is among the highest hills in the Aravali ranges. From Abu road we could see a lot of hills around and tried to guess which one we would head next.

One of our friends had told us that sunset and sunrise is very beautiful from Mount Abu and we had left Udaipur just in time to reach Mount Abu, 23kms from Abu Road by sunset. But looking around from Abu Road we knew that there was no point in hurrying. All the mountains were covered in clouds and there was no scope of sun rising or setting.

A local bus brought us to a small tourist town of Mount Abu which on the first look, gave an impression of a sleeping town. The area around the bus stop was not crowded and we knew we were going to have a nice time away from the crowd. The off-season seemed to have started because of monsoon. This time we were not in haste. So we ignored all the guides at the bus stop, had a stroll on the streets and finally checked into a hotel. The sun had set long back and a slight drizzle along with the low lying clouds gave an eerie look to the town. After enquiring about the options for local sight-seeing, we came to know that the Rajasthan Roadways runs two luxury buses daily. It covers all the important tourist locations and the fare was marginal. So we booked our seats for the next day trip and then spent the evening walking around the Nakki Lake. The few tourists present were all newly married couples on their honeymoon. Feeling a pang of jealousy, we pledged that our next trip should be with our girlfriends, if not spouse.

We were on time at the pick up point of the sight-seeing tour. We went to Shankar Math (a temple of lord Shiva), Suicide Point (a cliff top with long range visibility of the plains below, but all we could see was clouds), Shanti Bhavan (Ashram of Brahmakumaris Peace Foundation), Nakki Lake and a few temples and gardens. Most part of the tour was uninteresting. We hoped to find something worthwhile at Guru Shikhar (the highest point of Aravali ranges).

Guru Shikhar was 15kms from Mount Abu and unfortunately it was still cloudy when we set out. We trekked a small distance to the peak and found ourselves fully within the cloud. Visibility was few metres. Amritanshu was excited about being inside the cloud, for it was his first experience. I had been in such situation during my trip to Chamoli, Valley of Flowers.

After clicking few snaps in different poses (the locations dint matter as the background of each snap was white clouds), we trekked down to our bus and finally reached our last stop, Dilwara Jain Temple. The temple has extensive carving work of marbles. There are hundreds of finely carved structures, each one competing with the other for the best work. Sadly, photography is not allowed inside it and we had to contend storing the images in our own memories.

The rest of the trip comprised of checking out of the hotel, reaching Abu Road by a deluxe bus and catching trains to our bases, Amritanshu to Mumbai and myself to Delhi.

Rajasthan Trip 2007 - Udaipur

2007-06-26T18:18:00.000+05:30

Our day 2 started off from Jodhpur at 6 o'clock bus to Udaipur. The bus was a Silver Line (decently luxurious) bus of Rajasthan State Road Transport. It had push-back seats and provided us a not-so-bad position for sleeping. Sleep was necessary after the night out at the wedding, and expecting that we had finalised on catching this particular bus (The other buses in the morning are ordinary).

The route to Udaipur was through a National Highway. The roads were good and the driver was a patient guy. He was in no mood to reach his destination quickly and so the journey took us 7 hrs where it should have taken only 5-5.30 hrs.

Getting down at the Udaipur bus stand we were flanked by local guides, telling us about a few options for hotels. We took a guy in confidence to show us some cheap hotels to stay. The first look of the city had a depressing effect on both of us and the state of the art rooms of cheap hotels showed to us added to it. After rejecting a couple of pathetic rooms (read cheap) and a couple decent ones (read outside our budget) we settled for something in between.

What added to our despondency was the gloom in the climate. The sky was overcast and the roads wet from the just ended drizzle. The murkiness instilled laziness and we resumed our sleep (half-left from the bus). Hunger woke us up at around 4pm. Ordering a late lunch through the room service, we scanned through the channels on the TV, from sports to news to movies to music videos.

The lunch was not bad (you can understand that we were hungry. :-) ). Getting down to the reception, we enquired about the places for sight seeing in the city. Most of the places seemed to be ordinary except the lake and the city palace. So we decided to take up the lake first. After lot of bargain with an autowallah, we took a round trip from the hotel, covering the lake and a few gardens. Later, we regretted our decision though.

The first destination was Maharana Pratap Smarak on a hilltop. There was a statue of the old king, riding his horse, and a few ruins of an old fort around it. Fateh Sagar lake, visible below was our next stop. The lake is reasonably big and the cloudy sky reflecting from the waters gave a gray look to surroundings. We took a boat ride to the Nehru Park Island in the middle of the lake.

Disappointment is the apt word that sums up our experience in Udaipur. The typical parks full of local people, the mediocre quality of the crowd (no chicks around :( in Udaipur) and the unnecessary cost incurred in going to all the ordinary places (as we had bargained it earlier, we had no option of cutting it out) ended up with a disastrous dinner. We had thought of having 'Daal-Baati' a Rajasthani specialty. I had tasted it earlier in a hotel in Delhi, that served Rajasthani Thali. But I should say the dish that we had that day was unfogettable as I struggled to finish off the meal.

The only good outcome of the day was the shopping. The autowallah took us to a handicraft emporium where we saw sarees and kurtas made of banana silk and bamboo fibres. We purchased one each of both varieties as a momento (We dint expect any other good things to be remembered from there). Expecting the next day to be better, we resigned for the day and slept off pretty quickly.

Early morning walk around the Pichhola lake was refreshing. It brought back our trekking spirits. We were the first visitors to reach the City Palace Museum on the lake side. The museum is pretty big. It was all usual stuff and the magnanimity of Mehrangarh Fort at Jodhpur made things here very typical. We rushed off through the last few sections of the museum which were boring paintings and photographs of old kings and queens and their foreigner friends. We couldn't waste our time here and were restless to get to our final destination of the trip, Mount Abu.

A transport bus plied to Abu Road with us gladly saying goodbye to Udaipur.

Rajasthan Trip 2007 - Jodhpur

2007-06-25T06:00:00.000+05:30

A trip was on the cards from the time I got the wedding invitation in February. A wedding of my schoolmate. Attending weddings is a good excuse for a trip. You get leave from your boss easily. You please the friend/relative as you are with them on their marriage. And of course you are happy being there and enjoying the baraat and the music and the feast and the chicks. A treat for your senses, eyes, ears and tongue.

So when I got this invitation, I phoned other friends to cajole them for a trip. Going alone to a marriage and that too when u r a friend of the bride, is very boring. A bunch of old brats is a better choice. After a few rounds of calls, I managed to get a gang of 5 (Amritanshu, Abhishek, Anshuman and Anoop) to join me at the venue of the marriage, Jodhpur.

Jodhpur is a nice little city in the south of Rajasthan. It is famous for forts and palaces as are all other tourist places in Rajasthan. After a bit of googling on various tourism promotion sites and numerous travelogues, I charted out the itinerary for a 4 day trip.

Day 1: Rendezvous of all the members at Jodhpur and local sight seeing. Attending marriage at night.
Day 2: Travel to Udaipur by bus, 260kms, 6hrs. Local sight seeing in the afternoon.
Day 3: Some more local visits/shopping at Udaipur. Travel to Mount Abu by bus, 250kms, 6hrs.
Day 4: Going around Mount Abu. Visit Guru Shikhar, Highest point of Aravali Ranges. Come down to Abu Road, 25kms from Mount Abu. Take a night train to Delhi.

What a perfect itinerary. Similar to what u will see on any tourism site (Well, I dint Ctrl-C Ctrl-V this from any site). But as all great travellers say "when is a perfect itinerary ever followed". And as you would guess, that was proved correct (or else why should I blog about my perfectly planned itinerary). Here is how it all went in the end.

At first, Amr misinterpreted the dates of the tour and booked railway tickets for a month in advance. Luckily that error came to my notice quickly and was rectified. Then Anoop was called upon by his phd supervisor for official duty. Anshuman coulnt come as his grandpa expired. (He lived in Udaipur and was supposed to be our tour manager. His absence was a huge blow) Then it was Abhishek's turn to ditch me. His project at Chicago got extended and his return to India got cancelled.

I was about to cancel the whole trip when Amr called me up and told, "Even if there are only two of us, we will go. I want a break."

Hence on June 23rd, I took a night train from Delhi to Jodhpur. A very comfortable journey with a reasonably cool climate. It is usually horrible to travel in Northern India at this time of the year. Amr had come from Nasik and was waiting for me at the railway station. Poor Thing. He dint have a local contact number and dint even know where to go. I had the wedding invitation card.. :-D

Reaching the venue was pretty easy. The autowallahs are decent in Jodhpur. I had read on some site that Jodhpur is the most tourist friendly city of Rajasthan and I assure the same after our first experience on the autorikshaw. The guy was cheerful and told us about the places to visit in the city and the best means of transport.

The day was warming up and we feared it to be a typical Rajasthan summer. Going from Delhi's heat, I dint find it much different, but Amr was sweating profusely and cursed me a lot for planning a trip in June. Frankly speaking, I had expected it to be cooler after the first monsoon showers.

We dumped our luggage at the marriage hall and got ready for our local outing after a sumptuous Marwari brunch. Our first destination was Mehrangarh Fort. It is situated on a hillock and has nice views of the city below. The fort is well maintained and has a nice museum showing the prominent rooms, palanquins, swords, artwork etc.

One thing that fascinated us in this fort was the 'Military Tanks' that were on the display. They were mounted on the top of the fort, keeping an eye on the intruders. There were lot of them, of different shapes and sizes, all made up of solid iron. This was unique. Not many forts in the country have the old tanks displayed to common public.

The city beyond the fort's walls is blue in colour. (I dont know why they painted all the houses blue, but it looks nice from the top). The fort being located on a highland gave a vast view of the landscape around. Everything looked parched and arid. In fact, the overhead sun made us believe that we were looking at a desert extending to the horizon from the outskirts of the city (Desert is what we expect to see in Rajasthan, right??? :-) )

From the Mehrangarh Fort, we trekked down the hillock and took an auto to our next stop, Umaid Bhawan Palace. The palace was constructed in this century and is now converted into a five star hotel. A small portion of the palace was made into a museum. Apart from the beautiful structure of the palace (seen from outside), we were disappointed by our venture. To be frank, it is a waste of time to go there unless you are going to stay in the hotel.

After the unappealing palace, we took off to the local market, Nai Sadak, for buying some local stuff. Bought a few souveniers for relatives from the National Handloom Emporium. Kurtas and Bandhani sarees are the local stuff.

Baked in the hot sun for a few hours, we reached back at the marriage hall sooner than expected. We refreshed our minds with usual gossip with all uncles around - there were few guys of our age and the gals were busy with the bride. :(

The baraat, marriage procession, was pompous and were late as usual. In North Indian marriages, how can a baraat be on time? There was a large crowd and the place was soon overflowing. We wriggled our way near the food counters. The number of admirable ladies was substantial but the absence of DJ meant that it was all pleasure for eyes rather that for our senses. The buffet was superb with a nice mix of north indian and marwari dishes.

The marriage, as in most marriages in the North, was a quiet affair with just the immediate family members sitting around the pandal, and many of them dozing off for short spells. Incidentally, there was no fun games and stuff, like stealing groom's shoes by the bride's sisters and later bargaining for getting it back. It was wholly an elderly affair, and we had nothing much to enjoy in it.

One of things happened according to our itinerary. We left to Udaipur by the early morning bus just after the vidayee ceremony of the married couple, which invariably is a sentimental parting of the bride. Looking back from the taxi, we could see the decorated car fading into darkness and our minds spoke

'Wish you a happy and successful married life'

My first story

2007-02-17T05:33:00.000+05:30

Mohd. Sheikh was getting ready to go to school. Even on a cold winter day, he had got up early. Spring. Summer. Rain. Autumn. Winter. Whatever the season be, he used to follow the same schedule. He gets up at 5 o'clock and jogs 5 kilometers. He goes to the railway station and meets the newspaper boy sorting the dailies to be circulated in the town. Sheikh likes to get the newspaper at the railway station, to be the first person in the town to get the morning news. On the way back, he stops at the milk depot to collect two packets of milk.

Today was the coldest day of the season. He had not bothered it. As usual, he handed the packets of milk to his mother and started getting ready. Now he was fully dressed in the white school uniform and black shoes. He was sitting at the breakfast table. Outside the sun had risen. But the thick fog cover had kept it hidden. It did not snow in this part of the world, but the blanket of mist enveloping the town brought with it the same kind of chillness.

Sheikh was enjoying the cool breeze blowing through the broken pane of the window. It always brought ideas to his mind. Lines of a poem were building up in his mind. He was good at poetry. He had written lots of them in the school magazine and had won prizes at various clubs. Today's theme was fog.

What is it?

Is it the god's sheet to save us from evil,
or is it the magic of a blackhearted devil,

so pure, so serene,
it looks the picture of heaven,
It can be nothing
but the gift god has given

Or, can it be the sky ,
come down to meet his eternal mate,
while the people sleep,
dreaming about love and hate.

"Come here and take the paranthas", his sister called from the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and got his plate. As he munched his breakfast enjoying the breeze, phrasing the poem, he heard his friend Wasim calling him at the gate, "Sheikh, come fast or we will miss the bus".

Stuffing the paranthas into his mouth, Sheikh rushed out to join Wasim on the bus. The school bus was something Sheikh detested. The old rickety bus with clattering windows adding to the noise of the children. More than the bus, it was the sounds, made by the seniors around him, that irritated him. Sheikh never used to talk to girls. And that was the topic of discussion. His seniors mocked and sneered at him. He was the source for their daily dose of laughter. Sometimes he felt infuriated. Sometimes hurt.

"I have to do something about this", he told Wasim as he got down at school.
"About what?"
"I want a girl friend. I am fed up of the mockery."
"Oh my dear friend! Dont get upset by that. They were just having fun."
"NO. It is too much. They have been laughing at me for quite some time", Sheikh said with determination.
"Okay. Go on. Dont forget me if you want any help", said Wasim to cheer him up.

***

A month had passed since then. Sheikh had been thinking about it. First he was not sure which girl to pick from the whole bunch of girls in his class. He had never cared about them before. So he started watching them. As he observed them, he started finding interest in a girl. Her name was Asha. She was short with dreamy eyes, chubby cheeks and long hair. She kept to herself most of the time and was very attentive in the class. She was hard working but was never among the toppers of the class.

Sheikh was attracted by her dreamy eyes. He wondered what went on there, behind those little eyes, in her thoughts, in her dreams. He was very shy to approach her. He felt dumbstruck when he confronted her.

Sitting in the English class, taught by the principal, Sheikh was thinking about her. He was phrasing the sentences in his mind that he would speak.

"Hi, Asha. How are you?" "How strange that we have been in the same class and have never talked to each other." "Have you done the homework that Taneja Madam has given us?" "Could you lend me your physics notebook?"

Lost in his thoughts he was gazing out of the window. At a distance, he could see the football ground. Lush green, with two goal posts at each end, the boundary lines marked with white lime. A gentle breeze caressed his neck. He could smell the fragrance of the roses and lilies that grew in the well-maintained garden just outside the window.

"Tell me how do you pronounce this word", the principal had asked the class pointing to a word written on the black board. A few students had raised their hands to answer. The principal had noticed Sheikh in a physically-present-mentally-absent state. Sheikh had known nothing of that. He was engrossed in his conversation with Asha in his dreams.

Slap! That was what brought him to the reality. It was not from the principal. Wasim had slapped him on his thighs. Sheikh noticed the steely stare of the principal.
"Yes Sir?", he muttered.
"I asked you how to pronounce this word", said the principal.
"muh-ley-zhuh", he replied.
"Correct. But be attentive in the class." And the principal continued with his lectures. Sheikh tried to concentrate but soon found his mind drifting towards the conversation that he had left in the middle.

Few more days passed. Sheikh had talked to Asha during a lunch break. After the first rendezvous, he had gained confidence. He had then used all opportunities to meet her and have a conversation going. Most of their meetings were in the corridors or near the water tank. In the class, he maintained the same shyness. But slowly he was liking her.

***

Wasim didnt know about Sheikh's feelings. He was desperate to break Sheikh's inhibition towards girls. Wasim was the most jovial person in the class. He was involved in all the activities of the class and was a friend to all boys and girls. He was also the problem solver, especially regarding relationships. Most of his classmates came to him for help and he gave them solutions that worked.

Seeing that his dearest friend has not made much progress himself, Wasim decided to play a trick. He called up a girl of their class, named Mini. Mini was the biggest flirt in the class. She was hot and could seduce any guy. Wasim set her up to try her hand on Sheikh.

The Chemistry lab hour was the next. Students were settling down behind the workbenches. Each experiment was done in groups of two. Sheikh had reached the lab earlier and had collected the equipments for the experiment. He was waiting for his partner.

Sheikh noticed a cunning smile as Mini entered the lab. Later he would know that the smile was planted on her face by his dearest friend. He would also learn that Mini had exchanged with another boy to be his lab partner. She was now coming towards him.
"Hi, Shekhu. I am your lab partner today", Mini said and blushed.
Sheikh couldnt understand the change in her behaviour. She had never given him a glance or talked to him. But today she was there sitting in close quarters and trying to stir him. He tried to keep distance but she somehow sensed his movement and moved closer. He was feeling uneasy and his hands were trembling. He couldnt concentrate on the titration experiment that they were doing.

Just as he was transferring a solution through a pipette, he felt a pair of fingers on his thighs. The fingers were simulating the motion of a tap dancer, slowly climbing up from his knees. Anger rose in him. He had had enough of her drama. He gave Mini a stern look, caught her hands just in time and shook them off his body. The message was clear. I dont expect such thing from you.

***

Sun had set behind the cement factory building. The sky had an orange tinge. The chimney blew a puff of white smoke that merged with the passing cloud creating interesting shapes. Sheikh and Wasim were sitting on a bench in a park. They relaxed here daily after a game of cricket. Few kids were running around or playing on the see-saw. Wasim was unusually quiet. Sheikh had noted the change in him, but couldn't guess the reason. After three long minutes of silence, Sheikh asked him, "What is the problem? You were very silent during the game."
"I was thinking about something" replied Wasim.
"What is it?"
"About you"
"Me?"
"Yes. Tell me one thing. Did you find a girl friend for you?"
Sheikh was surprised by the question.
"Well. Sort of..."
"What? You have? Now I guess why you behaved like that to Mini", said Wasim.
"With Mini? I dont get you", quizzed Sheikh.
"Oh that is nothing. I had told Mini to come to you during the chemistry lab. She told me that you didnt like her and got angry."
"So it was your job. I was surprised by her behaviour today."
"I was just trying to help you. As you know, she doesnt mind going out with anybody. Since she is single after her breakup with Raju, I thought I would help her too."
"Thanks for your help. But I dont need them, at least in this matter.", said Sheikh.
"So tell me who is she?"
"Asha." His cheeks were turning pink. "I think I love her. It is a nice feeling being with her. She has invaded my dreams too."
"So you have been together. I didnt know that. You seem to be the same in the class."
"We have met a couple of times. Near the water tank... In the library..."
"You cheat. So much has happened and you haven't told me."
"Dont get excited. Nothing has happened. I know I like her. I dont know whether she likes me too. I dont know whether she dreams about me."
"Dont worry. I will get that information for you."
"No. I will tell her myself" said Sheikh.
"Okay as you wish. I will give you two weeks. You make yourself clear to her. And I will make sure that nobody else gets to her, said Wasim and winked.

***

Spring has shown its first signs. The mornings were pleasant and clear. Flowers bloomed in the gardens and gave a colourful look to the whole town. Spring had cheered up Sheikh too. His love had shown progress. He had changed course of his morning jogs. He had chosen a longer route to pass through Asha's street. Initially, he had no success. But within a couple of days, he got sight of her in the balcony. She had smiled to him. The smiling had changed to waving and that had changed to exchanging pleasantries.

Sheikh had figured out that Asha went to get milk from the same milk depot and he accompanied her daily. Thus their friendship grew and during those morning walks they came to know about each other and each other's interests. They talked about music, art, nature and sports. Soon they found that their tastes were matching and their favourites were identical.

***

English class was going on. The teacher had given them a home assignment to write an essay about a character from the chapter "Love across salt desert". The story was about a boy who travels across the Rann of Kutch to Pakistan to meet his love. The boy takes risk to cross the desert guarded by the army and succeeds to get her. It was a story of sacrifice, hurdles, suffering and happiness. The assignment was to justify the actions of the boy.

Sheikh had written a two-page writeup. When his turn came, he stood up and narrated his essay. He spoke about the meaning of sacrifice in love. He elaborated about the hurdles and gave examples of suffering from Shakespear's titles. He justified the deeds that are worth the happiness in the end. Throughout his speech, he had looked at Asha. It was like him proving himself in front of her. And she knew about it more than anybody around her. She knew that those words about love and life were meant for her and her only. She was so impressed by his speech that she knew life would not be the same as before. She had lost her heart to him and the red rose in the garden outside looked prettier than before.

***

Mishra was smart and was good at studies as well as sports. He liked competing with people and teased others in the class for fun. Though very smart and cheerful, he had few friends in the class. He was brash, shrewd and egoist and his classmates knew this.

Mishra was always against Sheikh. In debates, in football, in class committees, in everything. There was a latent religious hatred too. They confronted each other on many occasions. And mostly, Mishra won. But still he disliked Sheikh for the competition that he gave.

So when the news of an affair between Sheikh and Asha got around the school, Mishra was the most affected. He couldnt believe that Asha would go out with Sheikh. It hurt him very much. There was another reason for his anger. He had tried to approach Asha and she had ignored him.

Mishra was looking for a chance to take revenge. So when he got this old photograph, he was very happy. The photo was taken during the recent School Annual Function. Sheikh had performed a role in the Hindi play. So was Mini. During one of the scenes, Sheikh was supposed to act as limping and Mini would support him across the stage. He had put his hands around her shoulders and she had taken him to the sofa. The photo that Mishra held in his hand was that scene. He could clearly see the position of Sheikh's hands. He was thrilled and thought of a plan.

***

Asha was going to the library to meet Sheikh. Mishra caught her on her way. There was a smile on his face. A strange smile. He seemed very glad. Asha wondered why.
"Have you seen this?" Mishra asked showing her the photograph.
"Yes. I was there for the annual function. Where did you get this photo?"
"Dont worry about that. Dont you see something interesting?", he questioned.
"Well. Sheikh seems so natural in his role. He is a great actor", she replied.
"Yes he is. See how nicely he acts as a lame. He is all over her. Just look at his hands. He must have enjoyed it." said Mishra and left.

Asha couldnt believe it at first. Then Mishra's words seemed true. Sheikh was leaning over Mini. His hands had slipped from her shoulders. His eyes were closed, seemingly enjoying the moment. Asha rushed to the library.

As she entered the library, to her horror, she found Mini sitting beside Sheikh. As Asha would later know that Mini had met Sheikh to discuss about the upcoming poetry recitation competition, but at the moment she was tormented. A photo in her hand and another scene in front of her, the words of Mishra. All of them seemed to be true. She left the place without meeting Sheikh.

Later, Sheikh and Asha had a fight over the issue. He couldnt prove his innocence and she left him mid-way in the discussion, angry. He was left alone, in despair. Mishra had won yet another battle against Sheikh and gave a huge party to his bunch of friends.

Sheikh was upset and tried to solve the matter. But Asha was adamant. She avoided meeting Sheikh and rarely gave him a chance to talk. Wasim came to know about the issue and figured out that the culprit was Mishra. Sheikh was infuriated when Wasim told this to him. He knew he would be teach Mishra a lesson one day.

***

Inter-house football tournament final was on Friday. Both Sheikh and Mishra were good at football and were the captains of their teams. Their performances had earned their respective teams a berth in the final. This was the most awaited event of the year as it would decide the Champions of the School.

The school ground was ready for the clash of titans. The stands were overflowing with supporters. The teams were lining up in the centre. The PT teacher was the referee. The crowd was still pouring in. The teams shook hands and took their positions. Sheikh and Mishra were standing face to face, with the ball between them in the centre. Both had similar expressions - indignation and displeasure. At the blow of referee's whistle, adrenaline pumped into their veins and the GAME was ON.

Kicks and Passes, Dribble and Scoops, Long passes and Short passes, Juggling and Slides, Free kicks and Saves, Corners and Throw-ins, Fair play and Fouls. That describes the game the best. It had all the elements of a fiercely fought final. Both teams were good and were fighting to be the best. There was only one difference between the teams. Mishra's team depended on their tricks and scuffle while Sheikh's team depended on formation and pre-empted passes.

Mishra was marking Sheikh and was not letting him to push the ball forward. Referee had warned Mishra once for foul play. But that made no difference. He was pushing and shoving Sheikh with pleasure. After lot of effort, both teams scored one goal each and it was half time. The crowd was enjoying the match and was cheering for both teams.

Asha was seeing the match from the stands. She was a fan of football and was supporting Mishra's team, which was her House team. She was happy with the score line but was worried of Sheikh's team's ability. The game after the break was no different from the first half. Both teams stuck to their strategies. Mishra was still moving around Sheikh. Asha had noticed the foul play by Mishra. She wanted her team to win but also felt pity for Sheikh. He was playing nicely but was obstructed by Mishra.

On one occasion, Sheikh had successfully dribbled past Mishra and was running with the ball towards the goal post. He got past two defenders and was about to score a goal. Suddenly, he felt searing pain in his thigh and his feet were off the ground. As he landed on the ground, he saw Mishra looking down on him. Luckily, the referee had seen the challenge and gave Mishra a RED card. Sheikh got a penalty which he converted to a goal. Without Mishra, the team conceeded two more goals in the second half and the game finished at 4-1.

Asha met Sheikh that evening at the milk depot. "Congratulations for winning the Champions Trophy. You played really well today", she said and went away without waiting for a reply.

***

Two days had gone by after the football match. Asha was still not seeing Sheikh. But he could sense that she was getting restless to make up with him. But something was stopping her from getting convinced. School picnic was coming up next and Sheikh hoped to use the opportunity.

***

It was a wonderful morning in March. Clear sky and moderate temperatures. The class had arrived at a lake side for picnic. Light breeze was blowing, picking up moisture from the lake. Students were in a gay mood. Some were playing antakshari. Some were moving around the lake enjoying the scenery. Some were boating in the lake.

Sheikh was sitting under the shade of a mango tree, lost in his dreams. Suddenly, a girl's cry woke him up. It came from behind, from the bushes. He rushed and found Mishra holding Mini by her hand. Mini was sobbing. Seeing Sheikh, Mishra released his grip and said "What are you doing here?"
"That is what I should ask you. What are you doing here?"
"It is none of your business", barked Mishra.
"It is my business and I shall today teach you how to behave with girls", said Sheikh and jabbed his fist into Mishra's stomach. Soon they were rolling along the ground and hitting each other with hands and legs. Sheikh overpowered Mishra and sat on his chest. He slapped Mishra hard many times. He vented his emotions and took his revenge.
"Dont force me to give you a revision", said Sheikh. He took Mini's hand and walked away.

***

Asha was playing antakshari with a group of girls. She had seen Sheikh relaxing under the tree. Though she was not meeting him, she had kept an eye on him. She had observed him rising, looking around and then going behind the bushes. She could see the rustling of leaves and could sense something happening behind the bushes. She waited for him to come out. She had lost interest in the game. She stood up and strolled towards the bushes.

As she neared the bushes, she saw Sheikh emerging with Mini. He was patting on her shoulder and she was smiling. They had not seen Asha. She hid behind the mango tree and listened to their conversation.

"Dont worry. Nobody will know about this. I wont tell anyone." said Sheikh.
"Thank you very much." said Mini.
"I am glad that I got an opportunity to settle things right."

Mini waved bye to Sheikh and went away. As she was passing the mango tree, Asha came out of her hiding. Mini turned back, winked at Sheikh and said "Have a nice time with Asha".

Sheikh was glad to find Asha. He was waiting to see her alone and bring her back to his life. But she seemed to be in a bad mood. She was furious. Sheikh tried to think of a reason but found none. As he came near her, she said "Go to Hell. And dont ever see me again" before storming away back to the group of girls.

***

Sheikh was very sad. He didnt know WHY Asha was angry. He didnt know HOW to console her. He didnt know WHAT did he do wrong to break her heart. He didnt know WHEN they will be friends again. He didnt know...

He was sitting in his room in front of his study table. On the table were a bunch of papers. He was staring blankly on them. These were the letters that he had written to Asha before they started going together. He had never shown them to her. The letters had poems that described her, poems that symbolised their love. He was now wondering, "Do they have any meaning?" Unknowingly, tears trickled down his chin.

Wasim found Sheikh in this state when he came back after a tour to his hometown. He had been away for two weeks. He knew nothing about the football match and the picnic. He listened to the whole episode from Sheikh and decided to help him out. He slipped one of the letters into his pocket and planned to meet Asha the next day.

***

During the lunch break, Wasim took Asha to a corner and asked her about the picnic. Asha told him her version of the scene and said "I never thought that he will do this to me. I always believed that he loves me and he will come back to me. I know he fought Mishra well during the football match. But with Mini...."
"He didnt do anything with Mini." said Wasim and told her all that had happened.
"You can ask Mini for a confirmation if dont believe me. And if you want more proof about his love for you, read this", he said and gave the letter to Asha.

She was filled with tears. She has mistaken Sheikh. How could she be so cold hearted!

***

The annual exhibition of the school was coming up next week. Students stayed at school after class to make models and charts for the exhibition. It was getting dark outside. Asha was walking towards the water tank. She crossed the lawns and chose the path that went around the science building. Her feet kept moving so did her thoughts. She recollected the sequence of events at the picnic. Now she knew what had really happened. Mini had vouched for Sheikh.

Asha walked in solitude. There was nobody in view. A few windows on the first floor were lighted and showed human presence. The street light flickered on and illuminated her path. She saw the football ground and the final match flashed in her mind. She could visualise the contest between Sheikh and Mishra.

As she reached the water tank, she was happily surprised. Sheikh was there leaning against the lamp post, head towards the ground, eyes focussed at infinity.
"I was waiting for you", said Sheikh. "I knew you would come here. Do you remember? This is where I first talked to you." She nodded. Words werent coming out. Her eyes were overflowing.
"You are the first girl who came into my life. I was happy when we were friends. I liked you more than my best friend. Then I realised I love you."
"I love you too." said Asha and flung herself into his arms.
They stood there embracing each other. They gave the first kiss in their life and then walked off on the school garden surrounded by roses and lilies, hand in hand.

THE END

Afterword
This is the first story written by me. It all started as a chat with one of my friends, Abhishek, and we created the plots together. The poem above was written by him.

It is upto you to guess who is "Sheikh".

My House from space

2007-02-02T06:26:00.000+05:30

This is how my house looks like when seen from sky. You can also see the adjoining areas.

Second Anniversary

2007-02-01T22:56:00.000+05:30

Today is the second anniversary of blogging. Here is the annual report of my blog. The number of posts on my blog site doubled in comparison with 2005. I had written about a few get-togethers, my first flight trip and a couple of incidents at IIT Delhi. During May, I finished my trilogy on evolution of marriages and went on to write the most controversial post in my archive about Love marriages. The post invited a lot of heated discussions and flame messages on my inbox and chat windows.

When there was nothing much to write, I started a series called "Vaidya and his friends", the title being inspired from Malgudi days by RK Lakshman. I managed to write 3 episodes, but soon lost interest in it (though i had a few more episodes in my mind).

As usual, the year was filled with trips to various places and a couple of travelogues found space in my blog archive. In my Kedarnath travelogue, I tried imbedding photos in my post.

The past year saw a new dimension added to my blog posts. My posts became a little poetic as two poems joined my blog archive. The first attempt was a rhyme and the second one had a romantic touch.

Though I wont make promises to my readers, yet I would like to keep up to their expectations by giving more beautiful poems, better and colourful travelogues, quicker reporting of events at IIT Delhi and much more. I would also like to complete the series that I had started last year.

May the Lord provide me enough time to fulfill those wishes. Amen.

Someone, somewhere waiting for me

2007-01-18T05:09:00.000+05:30

Alone when I recline in my room,
And see a rose in my garden bloom,
I solace myself that there must be,
Someone, somewhere waiting for me.

Through the window I see the full moon,
Waiting for slumber to take me soon.
For in my dreams, I would surely see,
Someone, somewhere waiting for me.

As I wake up with the sun outside,
I wish she was there beside.
Blushing gingerly, i do agree,
Someone, somewhere is waiting for me.

I am sure this happens to her,
But I would say to my dear.
Our time is just to be,
As I am here looking for thee.

Gali Parathe Wali

2007-01-18T02:49:00.000+05:30

After the research plan submission I and Anoop went to the famous 'Gali Parathe wali' in Chandini Chowk. Though the name would suggest that the place would be full of shops selling Parathas, the street is crowded with a lot of other shops. There are hardly 4 or 5 shops selling hot and fresh Parathas. We got into one such shop. The first impression that I got about the place was that of a shabby little dhabha that you come across while travelling on the highways. But the crowd there made me rethink. The place was buzzing with people, all cramped in the little space, with the waiters yelling to the cook as they took orders.

Crawling through the narrow gaps between tables, we managed to get a table in a corner. With the aroma of pure ghee in the air and the hunger in our stomachs, we started our orders with some exotic parathas that they serve. Kaju Paratha, Gajar Paratha, Matar Paratha, Khurchan Paratha, Papad Paratha. And a lot more. One after the other, we tasted almost all kinds of Parathas. "Quick service and Delicious Parathas" is the trademark of the place.

It was at the bill counter that we realised the amount that we had spent. A total of 11 parathas and a bill of Rs 220. But the bill was worth the satisfaction. Now with yet another eatery at our disposal, we have to wait and see how many people end up treating us there.

Happy New Year

2007-01-15T23:42:00.000+05:30

Yet another new year! I know you would be saying, "Is this the time to talk about new year, a good 15 days into it. Where were you all these days". Well, I was busy deciding on my new year resolution and then busy getting it done.

Very unusual of me, this year I had a new year resolution. "Decide on my future of PhD." There were a few critical decisions to be made. First and foremost was whether to continue with my PhD or to quit it. There were lot of reasons for that but writing about them will be long enough for another blog post. So let me defer it to some other time. When the new year started with a review of my research draft by JD, one of my guides, I was sure that this new year shall surely be eventful. With lots of concern about my research plan, he criticized the presentation, somewhat constructively. Constructive in the sense that it helped me clear my mind of entangled thoughts and showed me a glimpse of my future.

After a lot of tussle with my inner self, I mustered the courage to spell out
Let the cold war between us freeze.
Grant me independence,
And let my respect for thee remain.

As if a charm has been cast upon him, he granted me my wish. Though the final verdict has not yet been announced, I could hear the cheers of the jubilation deep within me. I could see a light at the far end of the tunnel. Let me pray that it is indeed the bright sun outside which is welcoming me to a wonderful landscape with peaks to scale with a trail as a guide.

That being the first task to accomplish in this new year, the next task was to finish my research draft document. I did that pretty quickly (2 night-outs) with Anoop's draft as a template. An arduous task was waiting me ahead as I finished my draft. I had to give the comprehensive exam (a set of three subjects) within 2 days. Exams were never a nightmare for me. But this being the last exam of my life, I was having butterflies in my stomach. Today afternoon those three balls were delivered. And with classic cover drive, I dispatched each of them to the fence. (I hope so. I haven't yet got the results :-) )

Now the decisive ritual is to be conducted before I get admitted as a research scholar. "The DEFENSE of the research plan". The muhurat (time) for the karma was calculated as 10.30AM on 16th, Jan 2007. The altar for the yagna (presentation) and the havan samagri (ppt) have been prepared.

May the divine (members of the SRC) shower on me the flowers of acceptance.
Amen.

Tea in a teapot

2006-12-06T07:11:00.000+05:30

If I had fought
And not got caught
I would have taught
My little tot
Rather than rot
In a prison so hot.

I resolved that I ought
To find a slot
For an escape plot
When the gaurds would not
Fire a gunshot.

Help, I sought
From the General's daught
Whom I thought
Was a sexpot.

Either she forgot
Or did boycott
But I waited a lot
at the fixed spot.

Tired, I got
Ready for a bloodshot
When I bethought
That I was on a cot
And my mom had brought
Tea in a teapot.

Oh Poor Sir

2006-11-25T16:30:00.000+05:30

"Oh! Poor Sir!", I exclaimed, after coming out of the examination hall. "How much effort does he put to make me learn something from the course! To what extent will he advise!"

It was the Minor II of yet another Selected Topics course by Prof PKB. I had written about my previous attempts with a similar course. This time I had decided to sit through the course. I was not even auditing it. I was not willing to give Prof PKB the trouble to evaluate my performance in the course, to be liberal in the marks distribution and to forcefully pass me in the course. "It pains him very much to fail a student. And that too a student for whom he is teaching the course without any earnings", I thought. "No. I cannot write a test in his course", I had decided. So when the time for the first minor came, I tried to mug up some Greek letters from the notes. All the preparation was last minute. After a night out full of cramming, I decided that I am not writing the minor. Little did I know that it would be a great shock to PKB. When I entered the class after the minor, he was so upset with me that I felt pity for such a nice heart that he has.
With that experience from the first minor, I had made up my mind to write the second minor. "Let him be satisfied by the fact that I attempted". A day before the minors, he called me to his office and asked "Girish, are you writing the minor this time?" Though I was sure of writing, I hesitated to answer him. Readers, please feel sorry for me. I had to listen to an hour's lecture on the need for examination and how we can assess what we know. "Tests shall not be for grades, but for your own good", he commented.
But as a saying in Hindi goes Bhainse ke aage been bajane se kya phayda. That is my condition. I took his advice, read a few portions (which were not in the syllabus for the test). All that I read was the preliminary stuff. In the end, when I got the question paper, all I had to do was return the answer paper blank. But to my surprise, I wrote 7 pages, drew some diagrams and came out cheering. I am happy that he is not going to give marks to me. He will just point out the mistakes.

I am going to get an epsilon > 0.

Kedarnath October 2006

2006-11-01T01:28:00.000+05:30

"All is well that ends well." This is a famous quote by William Shakespeare. Our trip to Kedarnath ended well, with all the team members retuning to Delhi in good health. But all was not well in the trip. Here is an account of my yet another memorable trip to the Himalayas.

We were introduced to trips in the Himalayas by our mentor David John. After making a few successful trips to Valley of Flowers, Gangotri and Yamunotri, the next destination was surely Kedarnath. Planning a trip was best done by David himself. So, when he mailed us about a trip to Kedarnath during diwali holidays, all of us agreed to join him. As the time of the trip came, omens started showing up. Firstly, a lot of people who had committed to the trip backed off. In the end, there were only 5 of us - David, Lani, Tony, Bhargav and myself. A tour itinerary was made which had 2 days stay at Kedarnath with an 8kms trek to Vasuki Tal. But a week before our departure we came to know about the closing of the Kedar shrine on 24th of October. Yet, we were thrilled and hoped to stay there even after that date.

Hey, that is becoming a yet another monotonous blog. Let this travelogue be different. So read it as I explained to my cousin through Yahoo Messenger.

(04:33:22) abc: ok tell me abt ur trip
(04:33:33) girish_vgl: so we started from delhi to rishikesh on 20th nov
(04:33:38) girish_vgl: thought of catching night bus
(04:33:46) girish_vgl: but culdnt get one bcoz of diwali rush. buses were filled even on the roof before they came into the bus stand.
(04:33:50) girish_vgl: then took a qualis
(04:34:05) girish_vgl: reached rishikesh early in the morning. stayed at GMVN rest house
(04:34:13) girish_vgl: GMVN stands for Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam

GMVN at Rishikesh

(04:34:25) girish_vgl: rested for the whole day and then went to RaamJhoola in the evening
(04:34:35) girish_vgl: it was diwali. people were busy bursting crackers. we spent some time walking through the streets and some time on the roof of GMVN gazing at the rockets fired up in the night sky.
(04:34:48) girish_vgl: next day early morning at 5.30 took a cab till gaurikund
(04:35:04) girish_vgl: the cab takes us along the ganga till devprayag
(04:35:15) girish_vgl: devprayag is the sangam from where ganga starts
(04:35:34) girish_vgl: there 2 main tributaries of ganga, namely alaknanda and bhagirathi, join and from there onwards it is called ganga

Devprayag

(04:35:53) girish_vgl: the whole route has lot of views of landslides and terrace farming

Landslides

Terrace Farming

(04:36:18) girish_vgl: from gaurikund the trek route starts to kedarnath
(04:36:26) girish_vgl: total distance of 14kms
(04:36:34) girish_vgl: but there is a midway point for night stay
(04:36:43) girish_vgl: so we trekked 7kms till Rambara and stayed there for night at the GMVN.

Trekking ahead

View of Kedar peak in the evening sun

(04:37:28) girish_vgl: the next day morning we started our rest of the trek to kedarnath
(04:37:35) girish_vgl: we started a little late. it was cold outside and we enjoyed the cosy rajayee for a little longer. :-)
(04:37:46) girish_vgl: we had plans to stay for the night at kedarnath and return the next day along with the paalki. so we left our luggage at rambara and took a few necessary items in one bag. trekking without the luggage was easy and i took a few shortcuts
(04:37:56) girish_vgl: on one of the shortcuts, i climbed up a hillock. when i reached the top i realised that the actual path does not ascent. it went way below. i continued on the top expecting the path to come up at some point. :-)
(04:38:15) girish_vgl: alas. it never came up and after some time i could see kedarnath settlement a few metres below me (in altitude). :-( then i climbed down onto the path and went ahead. Others were still way behind me and i had to wait for an hour

(04:38:40) girish_vgl: we had plans to stay at kedarnath and goto a lake even higher
(04:38:43) girish_vgl: 8kms trek
(04:38:55) girish_vgl: but bcoz of closing of the shrine we culdnt
(04:39:09) girish_vgl: actually the day after we visited they were closing the temple for winter
(04:39:40) girish_vgl: had we stayed there, we would have had to start our descent at early morning 4
(04:39:47) girish_vgl: so we cancelled our stay at kedarnath
(04:39:53) girish_vgl: but we were sort of lucky. we got snowfall when we were there

SnowFall

(04:40:07) girish_vgl: even on the day we were there, i was the last person to get darshan
(04:40:11) girish_vgl: we were just in time
(04:40:21) girish_vgl: the temple doors closed behind me
(04:40:30) girish_vgl: and i came out of the side door
(04:40:32) girish_vgl: :)

Kedarnath Temple

(04:40:36) girish_vgl: we trekked down to rambara on the same day and reached at around 8.00. it was tough walking in the dark even though the path was paved. the lights were out at many places creating dark patches.

Rainsheets were worn expecting bad weather :-)

(04:41:29) girish_vgl: on 24th we came down from rambara to gaurikund

Rudra Falls

Last view of Kedar peak

(04:41:57) girish_vgl: from there we took shared vehicles, jeep, sumo etc till rudraprayag

Sonprayag

(04:42:00) abc: what is mandakini
(04:42:03) girish_vgl: mandakini is the river
(04:42:07) girish_vgl: it is a tributary to ganga
(04:42:19) girish_vgl: and joins alaknanda river at rudraprayag

Rudraprayag

(04:42:50) girish_vgl: the photo of rudraprayag that u see is a view from the GMVN rest house
(04:43:03) girish_vgl: that was from the balcony of our room
(04:43:50) girish_vgl: then we thought of going to jim corbett national park
(04:43:58) girish_vgl: as we had 2 more days to spend
(04:44:10) girish_vgl: we enquired abt it and found that it is nearby
(04:44:17) girish_vgl: but night stay was not yet open
(04:44:21) girish_vgl: season has not begun
(04:44:30) girish_vgl: it will open only after nov 15th
(04:44:41) girish_vgl: but still we thought of going there
(04:44:50) girish_vgl: again took shared vehicles
(04:45:49) girish_vgl: but the best experience of the trip is yet to come
(04:46:18) girish_vgl: so as we had to reach ramnagar by night so that we have one full day at jim corbett
(04:46:32) girish_vgl: we took a jeep for our own from a place called pauri
(04:46:46) girish_vgl: and took a forest road to ramnagar
(04:46:58) girish_vgl: it was getting dark in the evening
(04:47:20) girish_vgl: as we started thru the forest we found some broken bridges
(04:47:32) girish_vgl: had to cross them by manuvering through the river bed
(04:47:41) girish_vgl: luckily there was no water
(04:47:51) girish_vgl: the whole scene was a bit eerie
(04:48:05) girish_vgl: driver had mentioned abt
(04:48:18) girish_vgl: so we were on a watch out for elephants
(04:48:25) girish_vgl: but didnt see any :(
(04:48:29) girish_vgl: saw a deer
(04:48:33) girish_vgl: and few rabbits
(04:49:01) girish_vgl: and at one such broken bridge, our driver took a wrong turn and went into the forest along the river bed
(04:49:06) girish_vgl: that was fully jerky
(04:49:12) girish_vgl: driving over boulders
(04:49:27) girish_vgl: after a few minutes he realised that he was going the wrong way
(04:49:51) girish_vgl: then we came back till the bridge
(04:49:55) girish_vgl: stopped the jeep
(04:50:10) girish_vgl: took out our torch and started searching for the way ahead
(04:50:23) girish_vgl: spent some 15 min in the jungle not knowing what to do next
(04:50:34) girish_vgl: at last we found the road and went ahead
(04:50:55) girish_vgl: after some 25kms into the forest road we found a gate of jim corbett
(04:51:01) girish_vgl: this was the gate from the other side
(04:51:05) girish_vgl: and it was closed
(04:51:14) girish_vgl: as night stay was not allowed this gate was not open
(04:51:24) girish_vgl: and the forest officials told us that we cant go any further
(04:51:38) girish_vgl: and we had to return back to the city, kotdwar
(04:51:57) girish_vgl: in the end we just saw the jim corbett national part entry gate
(04:52:23) girish_vgl: but the adventure in the forest is worth remembering
(04:52:34) abc: so u can say that u saw national park :-)
(04:52:49) abc: did u see any wild animals on the way
(04:49:32) girish_vgl: no
(04:49:39) girish_vgl: luckly we didnt
(04:52:51) girish_vgl: one part of our mind was curious to see elephants and wild animals
(04:53:01) girish_vgl: and the other part was feeling scared
(04:53:08) girish_vgl: sort of mixed reactions
(04:53:16) girish_vgl: the drive was very nice
(04:53:27) girish_vgl: all that we could see was the road ahead in the headlights
(04:53:36) girish_vgl: and dense forest on all sides
(04:53:55) girish_vgl: actually this has encouraged us to go again to that place and have a night stay at the park
(04:54:20) girish_vgl: as the jim corbett trip couldnt be completed we had another day to spend
(04:54:42) girish_vgl: so then the next day we went to a place called landsdowne
(04:54:48) girish_vgl: it is a small town on top of a hill
(04:54:59) girish_vgl: we got beautiful views of the far off peaks

View of Himalayas from Landsdowne

(04:55:28) girish_vgl: landsdowne is the base for garhwal rifles. it is a town built by the british
(04:55:56) girish_vgl: we spent the forenoon there
(04:56:24) girish_vgl: then came back to kotdwar and took a bus to delhi at 3.00pm
(04:57:02) girish_vgl: the return journey was smooth on a good highway and a light traffic
(04:57:49) girish_vgl: we reached our hostel at 10.00

Angels and Demons

2006-10-14T22:23:00.000+05:30

It was 2.00AM. I had returned from the lab after having a hot Maggi and Soup from our institute Nescafe. The Dan Brown novel 'Angels and Demons' was lying on my table. I had already read about 50 pages of it on my PC. So I though of picking it up and read for a while. Sleeping at 2.00AM was not my habit for the past few years. The usual schedule, which I always try to correct, is to have night outs. But today, I was not in a mood to put yet another nightout. There had been series of nightouts in the past 3 days. A night of orkutting, a night of cdsdoc (some technical documentation) and a night of report writing.
As I started reading the novel, I realised that it had been a long time since I read a novel. The mood set in. As pages went by, the speed of the novel made it hard to put down. Clock ticked by and by the time i completed page no 249 i saw a faint light of the dawn sneaking through my window. Then I decided to be awake till breakfast, and the reading continued. I had read for 6 hrs. So I thought, "Why not? I shall make it a personal milestone. Read a 600 page novel in one go." I continued till 11.50AM. That was the time that I remembered seeing on my table clock. "There goes my milestone. I still have another 100 pages to read." Above all, I missed my lunch also. Had I been awake for another 10 minutes, I would have had a nice lunch in the mess.
But I didnt give up. As soon as I woke up, at 7.00PM, I took the book and reached the climax. After a break for dinner, I finished the novel at 11.00PM.
Here are the final statistics
Novel: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
No. of pages: 567
Time taken: 12.00 hrs
No. of breaks: 3

Hoping to improve on the record next time.. Till then, this is Girish, signing off, Goodbye, Have a nice day.

Eclairs! Eclairs!

2006-08-29T02:07:00.000+05:30

A mail circulates through the vls05 group. It invites all members to a silver-jubilee birthday celebration of their beloved Villain. A birthday eagerly awaited by all. Though, everybody knew he was an aquarian, yet there was the spirit to give him the birthday bash. And that too his 25th!

This being the 25th year of his life, the celebration had to be year long. Hence, today's party at our very own NESCAFE. A party with a purpose. And a party with a difference.
NO Cake
NO Candles
NO Maggi
NO Ice Tea
NO Photos
NO Bumps even!!

Only Eclairs, Eclairs, Eclairs.... Each one got two eclairs for coming down to NESCAFE. Few of them who went escorted the birthday boy from the lab knew that the truth of Eclairs. But where is the fun when everything is known. So they decide to call others who were not in the lab, and told them a white lie. A birthday party. True. And they believed. Ha Ha Ha...

Now let us see how many of them come down again next month when there shall be another silver-jubilee birthday celebration of the same person. After all it is the silver jubilee year...

First Night

2006-07-13T05:41:00.000+05:30

12th Aug 2003: Today was the day for which I had waited for long. At last I got married. As my friends left me in the bed room along with her, nervousness crept in. I had never imagined about this night. I had no plans. I didnt know what to do. I mustered up my strength for the ordeal and went near her. She was in a bright mood. Her eyes were sparkling. She had the charm of an angel. I sat down beside her. I held her hand in mine. The touch was heavenly. As I tapped on her hand with my fingers, she chuckled. We kept on looking at each other hand in hand. Time went by. Through the windows I could see a faint light of dawn. That was when I realised, I had put my FIRST NIGHT OUT.

Glossary:
Got Married - Got the lab keys
Bedroom - VDTT Lab
Her/She - Computer
Her eyes - Monitor
Her hand - Keyboard
Chuckled - Sound of typing on the keyboard

My first night out was spent in VDTT lab during the first semester of MTech. I was alone in the lab and finished 2 of my Data Structures assignment, though the submission date was far. What a hard working person I was! Today 13th July 2006. Time 6:00AM. I am writing this blog after yet another night out. Well, now i dont have any assignments to complete. I put night outs just for fun. Ya shayad Neend Nahi Aati.

MISS-SLEEP-PLANE

2006-07-06T18:43:00.000+05:30

This is not a sequence in a word building game. It is an interplay of Cause and Effect.

Many times we all have heard stories of people missing their train or bus, especially when the journey is to be done in early mornings. Sometimes people dont catch the train, and sometimes they dont get down at the right station. All this because of SLEEP. People try to wake up at the proper time by the help of alarm clocks, but still it happens.

One such incident happened with one of my friends, Raja, who was supposed to go to Bangalore today from Delhi.
The cause of the MISS was the same ,
Yet the effect was not a TRAIN,
but an AERO-PLANE.
Raja's flight was scheduled to depart at 6.00 am. Though not so early in the morning, but for him it proved to be a little early. He slept so deeply that he didnt hear his alarm and got up at quarter before six. Air Deccan is known to run late like the trains in India. Raja thought of that possibility and rushed to the airport. He over-paid an auto to get there sooner. But unfortunately, the flight was on time and he had to return with a meagre refund after cancellation.

All this because of a silly reason, SLEEP.

Har ki Doon 2006 - Day 4 to 15 by Anoop

2006-06-13T18:06:00.001+05:30

This is a travelogue by Anoop. 'I' refers to Anoop. and VG is me. Lachu refers to Sandeep. Dont get confused! I am using the liberty to put in on my blog without any copyright issues, because I was the one who typed his hand written 10 page document.

Day 4
The day began at 5 (:-() with bed tea. After the camp routine we were ready to leave by 7.45. Our guide for the day was Surinder alias Salman. This guy sings so well and plays the flute so well and a true entertainer. Now about the stretch. We were to climb to Juda Talao at 8500 ft. in 4 kms. The climb was reasonably steep. For most of you who know me, I am still having a good lung capacity. We did a climb with lots of break. Every time we take rest Surinder was there with his Garwahli songs. "Lachi Tero Naam" is a popular tune in this place. Btw, on our way we met Parbina's sister Bina. It would be so unfair if I dont describe the route. Nature here was expressing her beauty through the innumerable conifers. My snaps are descriptive of what we saw. At our lunch point we saw the first "Bakri fight". After lunch Surinder was in too good a mood. We listened to another Gujjar also. The next stretch was tiring. I followed a golden rule prescribed by Tensing (courtsey Gangadhar of HD13) - "Take 25 steps that u can take". We reached Juda Talao at 3.30. The talab had nearly dried, but still provided a good view with the conifers in the background. The camp leaders were Dhave and Krishnan (a birdwatcher). After a welcome drink, we went for an outing to the most beautiful site of this camp. It was amazing place. We clearly saw the peaks on the east. Chaukhamba was an amazing peak. After some bird hunting with Sanjay, we were back. Sanjay is a kid in 4th std. but with a true spirit to learn anything. One important thing for new trekkers is about attending to nature's call. If you are male there is a big jungle at your disposal, but if you are female, there are some temporary latrines. There were clouds and by 7.30 we were blessed with drops of water. Time for campfire and it started raining. Once we entered our tents there were two big spiders to welcome us. Aman and Aditya were so afraid that we couldnt sleep till 9.30. Next morning after the daily camp routine we were now ready.

Day 5
Today our trek began at 8. Our destination was Kedarkantha at 10500 ft. at a distance of 8kms from Juda Talao. Our guide for half the distance was Ranvir Singh. Definitely not as talented as Surinder, but a more sensible guide. He never let us relax too much and as a result we covered the first 4kms by 12.30. I should mention one real big tragedy that struck me today. Midway thru the first stretch, as I was filling bottles for the group from a stream, my cam fell into the water, fully drowned (:-(). Ridham cleared the water from the battery case. The display had lots of water trapped in it. Every minute I enjoyed with the group, I was personally in deep sorrow. Just hoping that it works, I put the batteries and all I found was that it had died. May Sun God help me.The next stretch was guided by Madan Singh,, a boring guy. We went smoothly thru this easy stretch. The camp leader of Kedarkantha, Pradeep Srivastava was there to welcome us. Today our welcome drink was lemon juice. The beauty of the place was unfolding. A plain stretch of grass with lovely mountains on all sides. Now the important thing, the treeline, our male sh*t and P point. It was too far. Folks we played cricket at 10500 ft. Each one got 5 balls and the pitch had some swing. After a round of soup and dinner it was time for camp fire. The camp fire was good with jokes and music. My cam is still sleeping. We slept and I was woken at 1.30 again by my bowel. Called up VG and went for a star gazing to the treeline. It was simply memorable to sit out watching stars and sh*ting. We came back to the tent and praying to lord almighty I switched on my cam. It worked!!! (Some of u can feel my happiness). The next day is going to be good.

Day 6
Bed tea at 5 and pack off at 7.00. Today the destination was Dhundha 9kms. from Kedarkantha and on our way we go to the highest point of our trek at 12500 ft. Dhairya was this boy from Maharashtra, who was unwell last night. He was finding it difficult to breathe. Our day started by 7.30 It was a 3 km uphill trek to the peak and then 6 kms down hill to Dhundha. Within half a km this guy was feeling too bad. The camp leader decided to get him back. Oh I forgot to mention our guide for this uphill stretch. Today Vir Singh took us. He was real good for his task. He commandeered us so steadily that no one felt the toughness of the stretch. I had some photography exercise today. But after a panoramic snap of the mountain from the peak point, my cam stopped to respond. THis time 'E18'. Crazy Canon. The next stretch was through a ridge. On either sides there were deep valleys. The wind was strong. The trek path was wide. After a gradual downhill stretch, there came a real steep one. I really had a tough time coming down. Now our lunch point had come. After lunch, the stretch was a real easy one. Everyone reached the camp with less trouble. As I am writing this, the rest of the camp is enjoying the nature. Continuing from where I left, I went out to enjoy the sunset. It was one rare site. The snow mountains were opening. Amavas got over last night and today there was the first sight of moon. I had light dinner and then it was time for campfire (tentfire). The second gents tent was the site. We have Sharmaji who is a king of many trades. We had an entertaining session. As soon as we came out, the stars had filled the sky. I couldnt capture it in the camrea but folks, the sky today night was a once ina lifetime sight.

Day 7
The day began early as the stretch ahead was long and supposedly the toughest. After the normal rounds we bid farewell to Mangarish, our camp leader. We were to continue on the ridge. It was 10-11 kms to Talauti. The day was clear and we saw every possible mountain on the route. As we climbed the ridge it was dead end for us on either sides. But the snow cover at far end and the greenery with the bed of flowers were giving the feel of heaven. We were on "top of the world" at several points. At some points we did see some snow just enough to feel. But have to tell this stretch has several points where extra care was demanded. After lunch and tea point stoppages we reached a final strip that was a simple and downhill. We were welcomed by Sharma, our next camp leader. The camp site was not all that great compared to the previous ones. This time we had rockline (again pretty far). The next thing we did was potato bonda. The night was chilly. The campfire was again a musical one. Today, I also presented my voice. I sang a malayalam song. Today VG was slightly unwell. He had stomach pain. After a good tentfire we left for sleep.

Day 8
The day began late for the first time. We got up at 6.30 and packed off at 8.00. Today the destination was Lekha Thatch (large plain between the hills). It was 15 kms from our camp. Mostly downhill. The initial part was a gentle downhill trek through the forest. The silence of the forest was disturbing once in a while by the chirping of many unknown birds. The trek stretch reached lunch point on the banks on Shian river. All of us took bath and washed our clothes. After a reasonably long break we started teh uphill trek. The first 100 metres was damn steep. It was close to 70 degrees. Payal, 10th std kid, was trembling as she was climbing. We had a stiff climb and most people had some trouble. We were heading to village Datmir. Our camp was a couple of kms ahead of Datmir. At the entry of the village, there was a temple of Someswar. Someswar is the common deity of 22 villages. The lord himself decided which village to rest. The deity is carried around these 22 villages. It is said that if the lord is made angry he creates havoc. The localities say that there have been instances when a whole village was washed away by flood. The final 2 kms was finished at real fast pace by Aditya and me. Actually I was furious at the leisure pace of others. To welcome us was Ramesh Matre, the camp leader. We didnt have welcome drink and had a tea by 5.40. The sh*t and P point here was called "gopal bhoomi". The camp site was in front of a stream. We had dinner of khichdi and kadi. For once I had lots of food. After dinner the whole group wanted to take rest. That meant no campfire. Forgot to mention about Jyoti. Jyoti fell badly and had partially injured her right cheek. The next day's stretch was the easiest and so we were to get up late. Happy we go off to sleep. gnight.

Day 9
Fresh after a long sleep all of us freshened up and were ready to leave by 8.30. We had paratha and choley for breakfast. The second last destination was Seema 6kms from Lekha Thatch at 8500 ft. Our challenge today was to delay our trek as much as possible. So all we did was to slow down our steps. We passed through a village and were moving along Rupin river. As we moved uphill the valley was looking spectacular. The river was coming down and was furious as we went up. Our only stop point was a tea point. These guys were looting us with exorbitant rates. After lunch we climbed the last 2 kms in half an hour. The camp leader, Natraj welcomed us. After tea and soup I started my session with the diary. The river besides was growing violent. The camp leader told that the water level rose by 1 foot. The cloud were fast coveringus. The rain was on its way. The group wanted to take rest for the next day and I didnt force a campfire. After sometime ourside the tent I went to sleep.

Day 10
Our ultimate destination was beckoning us. We were to go to Har ki Doon at 11200 ft, 16 kms from Seema. This stretch is well described through my lens. I have taken snaps of the valley we left behind and the valley that unfolds ahead of us. We crossed the river Rupin and walked along the green hills further came wheat farm and the 1 km that we walked through was a very different experience. VG, Aditya and me separated from the rest and sped forward. We reached lunch point by 12.30 and quickly finished our lunch. As the rest of the group reached the "waterfall" lunch point, we left. Our attempt was to go to Maninda Tal after reaching the tent. It was like we had nitro boost and so we sped to the destination. At 3 we entered the valley and no words can describe what we saw. It was a heavenly feel. 50 metres down was our tent right in the Har ki Doon (Doon means valley). To my left as I was looking down at our tent, was Har Ki peak, then the Jaundar glacier and to right was Swargarohini peak. It is said that no one has scaled this peak so far. We rushed to the tent and were welcomed by Deepender Tokas, our camp leader. Changed to our winter gear and by 3.30 VG, Sandeep, Aditya and me left the campsite with the hope of seeing Maninda Tal. We walked till 4.45 but still were far from the first sight of the Tal. With little time left for sunset we had to return but still we were fortunate enough to see some of the farther peaks. By 5.15 we were back and the rest of the group reached. After tea, we had lots of fun. It was Ridham's birthday and we (Sandeep) did give him a feel of bumps, the IIT style. After dinner there were two separate 'tent' fires. One of the girls and one of the guys. The guys had a 'non-vveg' gathering. By 9 we all came back to our respective tents for sleep.

Day 11
Most of us got up by 5.30. The relaxation point at this camp was river side. Aman, Aditya and me set out to scale Swargarohini (:-)) for better relaxation spot. We went quite some distance. We had a closer view of the mountains. By 8.30 we were ready to pack off. VG did his Sandya Vandanam today morning. What a place to do!!! I am supposed to be a fast walker on most terrains. All my life, my amma and my friends have scolded me for this (:-() To test my patience, I decided to be the last man. All along VG and I were at the back. It must be a surprise to most of you but I did it today. All through I sang most songs I knew. It was so wonderful to walk alone singing through the Har ki Doon valley. VG and I made sure that the slower ladies of our group reached safely. The camp leader here at Seema provided juice and potato fingers. To welcome us here was HD25 who are yet to see the ultimate destination. Then we rested our tiring legs and waited for dinner. Post dinner we had a good tent fire. Due to the cold outside we failed to join HD25 for a campfire outside. The campfire was long and lasted for an hour. All of us slept by 9.

Day 12
It was time to tick fast as most of us badly wanted to get in touch with our families. The morning began with thoughts of trekking 26kms to reach base camp and leave tomorrow. But the ladies werer not in a mood. By the end of the first stretch, most of us realised how ambitious our plan was. We started by 8. Our destination was Taluka, a village 14kms downhill. On our way was Lekha Thatch. The first stretch was familiar. Again I remained the last man in this first stretch till Lekha Thatch. At lunch point we were told that we were close to out camp. But the final camp was really far. The post lunch trek was the first time we saw good rain in the day. The rain halted for sometime and resumed soon. It was ok for this route as there were decently laid stone steps. We crossed the river at the river floor and further trekked to Taluka. By 3 we reached our tea point. After tea the walk was wonderful. We had foggy jungle on one side and river moving away from us. By 4 we reached our camp. This area is land slide prone. The camp leader here was Sharukh Khan (Nickname). We had tea and peanuts as welcome snacks. Now this guy is knowledgable. He spoke about the people here, flora fauna and everything around. After dinner, for a change we decided to have our camp fire outside. We had Aman to entertain us with his mimicry of the rest of the group. Sharukh also had his share of songs. It was time for the last day of trek.

Day 13
The morning for the last time started in the usual manner. The return trek to Sankri was 9 kms of kucha road. Everyone wanted to finish it off ASAP. In 2 hrs we completed this stretch. Once we got back it was time for the big bath. VG, Ridham, Aman and my shaved before the bath. The lunch was good. In fact as soon as we arrived, most of us checked our weight. I weighed 65 and VG 60. After bath I slept for sometime. Evening time we went for shopping and the camp fire programmes were being set. At 8, we started a really big camp fire. After certificates we had programmes from the group. The group received acclaim for its discipline. At 10.15 we went off to sleep.

Day 14
At 7, we were ready for the journey to Dehradun. Got into the bus and it was a jolly trip back. We reached Damta for lunch and then by 5.30 we were at Dehradun. We followed a slightly different route back. Once back we went out for writing CDs of the photographs. Then Ridham and Hetal sponsored a dinner at Pizza Hut. We were back by 10.45. The last event still remains. The rafting in Ganga.

Day 15
At 6, we were ready to take off. We very nearly took over the whole of a bus and reached Hrishikesh by 8.15. Took a vikram to Muni Ki Reti where we werer to report at the tourist guest house. By 9.30 we were ready for the much sought event. In a jeep we reached the site. 6 of us carried the raft to the water which in itself was something to remember. Following that we saw some rafts toplle and most of the members were apprehensive. Once the rafting session started it was fun. After the first rapid, in section, we jumped out to float in ganga. There are few simple commands of rafting - All forward, all backward, hold and relax. All one has to do is to take a dip is to hold the rope of the raft. But remember to come back to the raft somebody within has to pull u in holding the life jacket. By 11.45 we were back at the room. Packed up our things and we set out to find some shop to duplicate the CDs. But all we ended up was knowing the happy news of Ridham passing his B Com. Then we had lunch and the D (Delhi) company left. We had an emotional farewell. We got into a lousy bus and it took us 9 hrs to reach delhi. The Gujju guys Sanket and Bhavin stayed back at Gujarati Samaj at ISBT. At 12.00 midnight VG, Sandeep and I were at IIT.

Har ki Doon 2006 - Base Camp

2006-06-11T23:00:00.000+05:30

Day 2
The day began at 05.00 with bed tea. Our departure from the camp to Sankri was scheduled at 07.00. Before that we had to get ready, have breakfast and pack our lunch. After a long time, I had got up at 5 o'clock in the morning. But I have always been punctual. Whatever may be the time, if I am required to be ready to go somewhere, to catch a train or bus, I would be ready.
The morning was cloudy. Last night it had rained for some time and that gave freshness and dampness to the air. The chartered bus which took HD23 to the base camp Sankri was there on time and after loading all the luggage on top of the bus, we were flagged off. All journey should have the blessings of the Lord. That is my belief. And so was the belief of many others. So as soon as the bus took off, Sharmaji initiated us to chant Om Namah Shivai. I should mention here that our faith in the Almighty was the reason for wonderful climate that awaited us.

Now let me introduce you all to our group HD23.
Guruji - Our group leader. Guruji is from Katni, MP, aged 67, he is the oldest in our group. Trekking has been his passion all life. A badminton player, who has represented his State, is a good measure of his fitness. Guruji has a unique style of trekking. He treks at the same pace, no matter what happens.

Kankane Sir - Another buddy (I think it is right enough to call him that, though his chronological age is 65) from Katni, MP. He is a retired head master. One could call him Guruji's right hand in the sense that they have spent most of their trekking life together. He is younger than most of us in trekking as well as in masti. He mingled with us so well that it will be hard to miss him.

Sharmaji - A master of many trades. This govt servent from Delhi is a seasoned trekker and had done many treks before this one. He is very active and is an amazing photographer. He has several of his photographs published and YHAI has also used his snaps to publicise their treks.

Vipul and Mukesh - These are two friends from Mumbai. Vipul is marble dealer and Mukesh is a contractor. Vipul was sort of infamous in the group for remaining alone. He is a good trekker and hence left the others way behind. Mukesh is a good singer. He mingled with most of us.

Ridham and Hetal - The brother-sister from Mumbai formed a good company for the trek. Hetal teaches KG kids and Ridham helps his father in their construction business. Both had good knowledge of birds and Ridham's photographs are a proof of this. Hetal was slow during the trek and this curbed Ridham from speeding.

Viral, Vandan, Upen, Naitik and Vineeth - The bombay boys. This was a group of boys from Mumbai in their high school. They formed a good bunch of friends and almost always remained together. They had lots to share amongst themselves.

Dhairya - This kid was also part of the above group of bombay boys. But he is special as he was the one who went back midway in trip and then rejoined us and completed successfully. He lost 6 kgs of his 92 kilos.

Kajal and Payal - The girls from Mumbai. Kajal is doing her executive MBA in oil and natural gas. She was nicknamed "The Gujjar" for spreading out her grooming kit anywhere. She was also called the "Tham Jham wali Aunti". Payal has just finished her class 10th. She had tough time in one of her treks and was nicknamed "Stop It".

Jyothi - This lady was from Mumbai. A good trekker and a lady with lots of values. Dont know much but can say she is wonderful human being.

Nivedita - She was from Jabalpur and part of the Katni gang. A central govt. servant. She is a good trekker and spoke very less.

Ashish and Rashmi - This is a newly wed couple from Katni. What a way to start off a married life! Both are good singers. Ashish is a school teacher. Though it was their first trek, they finished it very decently.

Aman - The Spiderman. He is the smallest in the group, smallest in age and not in height. He was named Spiderman after his stunts with the spider in one of the camps.

Aditya - The treeline. He is a year senior to Aman. Aditya is a fast trekker and is usually in the lead.

Sanket and Bhavin - The Gujju guys. Sanket is a lawyer and Bhavin is an engineer. They remained together and were the ones responsible for bringing the slow trekkers.

The introduction was given by Anoop. I just included it in my blog.

As the journey started, people were busy amongst their own groups of 2 or 3. Anoop, our MC, took charge of converting HD23 from local groups from Mumbai, Katni and Delhi into one single entity, a family. Scotty was also good at this job. I joined them for some time but the giddiness due to the hairpin curves that the bus manouvered forced me to take rest. I went off to sleep and slept for the whole journey. I missed all the scenery that passed by. From the photographs that others clicked, I came to know that we followed river Yamuna for quite some time. Then we diverted along the course of river Tongs, a tributary of Yamuna. We passed many beautiful valleys and small towns. We stopped for lunch at Purola (though I was not in a mood to eat anything). All the members of the group, except me made phone calls to their homes as this was the last town where telephone facility was available. By 16.45 we were at the base camp.

We were 26 in number - 20 males and 6 females. So we were allotted 3 tents - 2 for males and one for females. The tents had a capacity of 14 and there were 10 of us in a tent. So it was very spacious and comfortable. I have never lived in a tent before and I was feeling thrilled about the next 10 days in tents.

After welcome drink, tea and snacks, we were briefed about the trek, local life, high altitute sickness and the various precautions that we should adopt and about the mountain discipline that we should obey. There was a model of the trek route that gave us a clear picture of the path, the difficulty involved and the scenery that we would see.

Camp fire was conducted after dinner by HD12. They had completed the trek and had returned to the base camp on the same day. Interaction with the members of HD12 instilled apprehension amongst us as we heard about the incessant rains that they had to suffer. "Few routes are dangerous in rain". That was the general comment. With lots of dreams, all of us passed our first night in tents.

Day 3
I had thought of writing the blog on my own. But when Anoop told me that he is going to maintain a travel diary, I intrusted the job fully to him. He started writing the travel diary from day 3. So from here onwards I am copying and pasting portions of his travelogue. These are in italics. 'I' refers to Anoop. and VG is me. Lachu refers to Sandeep. Dont get confused! I am using the liberty to put in on my blog without any copyright issues, because I was the one who typed his hand written 10 page document.

Having camped overnight I was already into the mindset for this dream trek. All my life I took several vows to "exercise daily". It never happened. Now I got a chance to flex my muscles in this wonderful valley. We did a small stretch of jogging followed by some light exercise. At this point I should describe our instructors - Parbina, Rampyari and Chandan Singh. This girl Parbina is a real beauty from the hills. These folks have unparalleled complexion. After a wholesome breakfast of eggs, bread and broken wheat soup we were ready for the acclamatisation session. With the poori lunch packed, we were off. Our first stop was the rappelling spot. The fun had begun. For those of you who dont know, this is all about coming down a rock with the help of ropes. First to venture was Vineeth. He did the job well. It was time for the other group members. Among VG, Lachu and me, Lachu ventured first. After French Alps, this was peanuts for him. That instilled enough confidence in VG and me. I went up and tried my hands and but for a small slip I did a decent job. VG watched and learnt well, as he always does, and did a neat one. Then we got the first Har Ki Doon special, the Rhododendron juice. Tasted Good. It is made of the flowers of Rhododendron bushes. Then we headed for the next stretch. This was steep climb. We were being prepared for the dream trek. As is natural with me, nature was calling at an unnatural time. I headed to the top quickly and relieved my pressure in the bushes (acclamatization indeed ;-)). Lachu, VG and me did the downwards trek with Rampyari. By 15.00 we were back. Following a last minute shopping for raincoat (as always careful) I took bath. Post dinner we had the returning HD13 with us. After their certificate session, the MC of HD23 (myself) got into the act. Very simple, call the umpteen volunteers I had. After a long one of 1 hr, we split waiting for the trek to begin.

Har ki Doon 2006 - Reporting Camp

2006-06-11T15:30:00.000+05:30

Har Ki Doon means Shiva's Valley. It is a place in UttarKashi district in Uttaranchal, India. It is a valley formed at the base of Swargarohini range in the Himalayas. Himalayas had always been an attraction to us (myself and Anoop). So when I saw an article about the National Himalayan Trekking Expedition 2006 organised by YHAI (Youth Hostel Association of India), we couldnt resist the temptation to join it. After a survey of their website www.yhaindia.org we decided to go for the Har Ki Doon Trek. Trekking to Swargarohini was a dream for David, one of our class mates, and he was the one who took us on our maiden trips to the Himalayas.
We did a small canvassing of the trek in IIT and unfortunately were able to get only one more person to join us. He is Sandeep Laxman, popularly known as Scotty. The date on which to report at the camp at Dehradun was not yet decided. I dont know what we were waiting for! In the end 23rd of May was selected as Scotty had to leave to Bombay as soon as possible. As usual, we did last minute purchase of the items to be taken for the trek on 21st and registered at the YHAI office on 22nd morning. We left for Dehradun on the same night by a bus from ISBT. The journey was pretty much comfortable. Midway it started raining and that brought in some cold winds. Rain was the last thing that we wanted on the trek and I prayed for a clear sky ahead.

Let me organise my travelogue in terms of days. The whole expedition was for 15 days and day 1 was reporting at Dehradun.

Day 1
We reached Dehradun ISBT at 04.30 in the morning. While bargaining with the auto wallahs, I noticed a 'Vikram' ready to start. Vikram is BIG three wheeler and carries 10 passengers. It is a vehicle that I have seen only in UP and uttaranchal. We had to report at the Aggarwal Trust Dharmshala near the Roadways Workshop on Haridwar Road. The driver took us to Agarwal Bhavan and dropped us there. The sight of the reporting camp that I had in mind was not this dilapidated building that stood in front of us. It had huge gate chained at many places. We waited on the deserted entrance for somebody to pass by so that we could confirm about the place. At last a security guard came up to the gate and informed us that we were at the wrong place. We had to walk a kilometre down the road. That was a practice session for the trek that lay ahead of us :-)
Refreshing ourselves with a tea, we reached the reporting camp. The camp shattered all expectations. The place was dark and gloomy. HD22 was getting ready to leave to the base camp. HD9 were all asleep. It was their last day of the expedition. We were greeted by Rajan Pandya, the camp leader and Mintoo Shah. After sometime, there was commotion in the camp and we came to know that some more members of HD23 had arrived. Rajan told us that the bus taking HD22 to Sankri will go through Mussourie and we can go with them to Mussourie. But Anoop and Sandeep were in a mood to relax and we rejected that offer. At around 08.30, we got ready to do some sight seeing at Mussourie. It was 32kms and we got a local bus. I felt giddy during the bus journey. I always have this problem while travelling in vehicles in high altitudes. It is said to happen because of weak liver :-(

A View Point in Mussourie. The serpentine roads lead to Dehradun.

Anoop had been to Mussourie on his trip to Gangotri. He had stayed in a Jain Dharmsala and he wanted to show us the place. Little did we, including him, know how far it was from where we stood. So we continued with our practice session, i.e walking along the Mall road, trying to reach Jain Dharmsala. We walked for around 3kms till the clock tower and finally got a glimpse of the Dharmsala. The walk was enjoyable. On the way we saw different vaireties of fruits in the market. One of them was Peach. I had had Iced Tea Peach flavour from our IIT Nescafe outlet, but had never seen the fruit before. So we bought a few and rejoiced our taste buds.

Scotty having Iced Tea Peach and myself enjoying the fruit

Our next destination was Kempty falls. Around 22 kms from Mussourie town, there is only one bus which goes there. The bus timings are 09.00, 12.00, 15.00 and 1800. We decided to catch the 12 o'clock bus. We rushed to the booking office, but found that the bus has left. Another alternative to reach Kempty was by car. Cars could be hired from the Kempty Stand. That day was dedicated to practice. So again we walked to the taxi stand. As we reached the place, we saw a bus ready for departure. But again luck was against us. As soon as we reached the bus, the conductor informed us that the bus is full and we cant go in it. So we resorted to go by taxi. Now arises a big problem. We dont want to take a full taxi. It is expensive. So we thought of waiting for somebody else like us who would share a taxi with us. But the biggest problem with Mussourie is that people come here either as couples or as family. And people from both these categories wont share taxi with bachelors like us. So after a wait of 30 min we got company and we vroomed to Kempty falls.
Kempty falls is a beautiful but highly commercialised tourist spot. The presence of so many shops and the artificial lakes around kills its beauty. A lot of tourists visit the place daily and there is a lot of chaos and noise. I think the best time to visit the place is during off-season.

Kempty Falls

After spending an hour at the falls, we had a snack and returned to Dehradun via Mussourie. The group HD10 had arrived after their trek. We met a few among them and got a lot of tips and tricks. We heard about their experience and the hardships of their trek. One of the members of HD9 was Rama Karedla. He is an NRI and a very experienced trekker. He made us aware of the various scenarios that we may face during the trek and the precautions and care needed for health problems. He also gave us few things from his medical kit, raincoat, etc.
Introduction session was convened post dinner. Each one of us had to say about ourselves and our prior trekking experience. We were also briefed about YHAI by the camp leader Akleem. Rama Sir sung a wonderful Hindi song. Another important event of the camp fire was the election of the leaders of HD23. Guruji was named as the Group Leader, Aman as the Co-leader, Hetal the Enviroment leader and Anoop was chosen as the MC (Ceremony leader). After a cup of milo, the camp fire ended and we bid goodnight. All of us went to sleep with hearts full of enthusiasm and anxiety.

A wonderful Summer Rain

2006-05-16T21:10:00.000+05:30

Imagine how much we crave for a rain on a hot summer day. After a sultry evening, when you are enjoying a mug of iced tea, your eyes look heavenward for those lovely dark clouds. And suddenly, your heart fills with euphoria at the sight of a dark lining at the horizon. Your anxiety rises as the clouds rise higher in the sky. The sun plays hide and seek behind the clouds. A cool breeze caresses your cheeks. You are sure of a downpour that is going to happen soon.

This was the condition that was there last sunday evening. The past few days were hot and humid. There was breeze in the night giving the feeling of an approaching rain. At least, it must have been raining somewhere around Delhi. At midnight, on sunday, we came out of our lab to go to NESCAFE. It was a junior's birthday. The smell of wet earth gave us the indication that it was drizzling. There was a strong wind. As we climbed down the stairs to the wind tunnel, we could see happy faces down there.

Standing in the wind tunnel is always a very good. The small opening in the huge main building caused a wind to flow. Even the slightest breeze around would be amplified by this particular structure. It is the best place in IIT throughout the year, except the winters.

We realised that it was in fact a storm outside, when we reached the wind tunnel. The wind was strong, and a spray of the rain was coming into the windT. How could we restrain ourselves from standing there in the spray? We stood there for a while, keeping a strong hold on the floor to avoid us being blown away in the wind. In fact, the wind was so strong that it was a little difficult to breathe. After some time, we planned to get wet in the rain. We went back to the lab to keep our purse and mobile. And then we were out in the rain. I thought about my mom, how she would have scolded me for going out in the rain. But now, there was nobody to lecture us.

We walked for 10 minutes to the NESCAFE, which is 2 minutes walk from the windT. To our surprise, we found that there were many like us, who were there fully wet and had come all the way from the hostel to celebrate the birthday. This was one of the most memorable birthday for all of us.

What was different from all my previous encounters with summer rain was that we spend another 4 hours gossipping. No one bothered to go back and change. We sat around in the windT, still wet to the skin. Let us hope that my mom doesnt read this post.....

Vaidya and his friends: At the bus stop

2006-05-13T01:29:00.000+05:30

Vaidya went to school in the school bus. Almost all the students preferred the bus as it was a cheap medium of transport. He used to board the bus at 6.45 am from a bus stop near his house. Shekhar also went the same way. So he would give Vaidya a call from the gate. His call was sort of the last moment till which Vaidya could wait. As soon as Shekhar called, Vaidya would be ready with his bag. He was so prompt that he would even leave breakfast halfway.

Bus stop was the place where the friends circle of Vaidya grew. The day after he struck friendship with Shekhar, Vaidya was introduced to another friend Raj. Raj was a good friend of Shekhar's and studied in the same class. He lived with his grand parents as he was very dear to them. His parents also lived in the same town but in a different locality.

Bus stop was the place where they daily met. Their day started with the gossip of the previous day. While waiting for the bus, they discussed about what happened in school, what they did after school, and about general happenings in the town. They would then occupy the same seat in the bus and the discussions would continue. There were fixed seats for each of them in the bus, the third row from the back of the bus. (As their's was the first bus stop, most of the seats would be free. And if somebody occupied their seat, they would just move the person out of it.) Shekhar used to occupy the window seat and Raj the aisle. Vaidya used to stand in between the seats and facing Shekhar. It was Vaidya's favourite position.

A guy in the 5th grade also boarded the bus at the same stop. His name was Saboo. Saboo was also a good friend of Shekhar. Saboo was not very good at studies, but he was very good natured. He cared about his friends very much and he soon became Shekhar's and Vaidya's godfather at school.

A terrible day at IIT

2006-05-10T22:40:00.000+05:30

The day began for me when I was woken up by Anoop at 12 o'clock at midnight. He says "I am through with the book, now you can start studying it." It was the notes of the Major exam that I had today*. This was the last exam of the semester and that too for a course which was an audited one.

Let me briefly descibe about the course and my performance in the minors. The course is aptly titled 'Selected Topics in IEC' meaning 'Selected Topics in (Inevitably) Educator's Control'. Whatever the teacher wants to teach, can be taught under this course name, irrespective of the relevance of the course to the students who are supposed to take this course. That is a way in IIT by which the faculty can teach whatever they want. No prescribed syllabus, prescribed by seniors as 'Not to be taken'.

I wont be that harsh on this course. It was a course on Applied Mathematics for ELECTRICAL Engineers. (Now for the benefit of all the readers I am not mentioning the course content. Or else you would stop reading my blog). Interestingly, the course is being taught by a retired professor from Mathematics Dept of IIT Delhi, who is a CIVIL engineer. I, or rather we, were asked to take this course by our phd guide. He mentioned that I cant understand the use of the course at the present moment. But I will realise it after a few years, to be precise 6-7 years. That itself had reduced the motivation level to half. But still, it was our guide who told us so we had registered for the course. (It again brings back a memory of yet another 'Selected Topics in IEC' that I had registered for during my MTech. Again on the suggestion of the same guide, just to make sure that the course gets floated. There is a funny process in IIT by which the courses of each semester are floated. A course will be floated only if there are sufficient number of students pre-registering that course. And the course will run only if there are sufficient number of students attending it. During my MTech, I was lucky enough to withdraw that course later as there was enough number of students attending it.) When the semester began, we (myself and Anoop) found that the number of PG students registered for the course is just 2!! There were some other B Tech students also but the total number was small. So we couldnt withdraw the course. In the end, we had to be satisfied with an Audit. That means we have to do the course and the grades wont be counted in our CGPA.

A few classes were fine as we were listening to few concepts in Linear Algebra which were familiar. But little did I know that the fate of the course was decided in Minor 1 itself. I performed very badly. The reason for poor performance (every one gives one but mine is genuine) was not attending the classes. After all it is an audit course! After that, the topics started getting more abstract and I used to miss classes as usual. Now was the big problem. As I missed classes, I couldn't understand the next class. And since I couldnt understand, the tendency to miss the next class was more. Now that is called positive feedback. Minor 2 was not any better. Now even the faculty had left the hope of teaching "me" the subject. He once commented, "Oh, Girish! You have come today. We should celebrate this."

After all those ordeal, you can imagine how I must be feeling today to study for the majors. But I didnt want a Audit Fail grade on my grade card. So I got up at midnight when Anoop called me. With sleepy eyes, I started brushing through the topics taught before minor 1. They were understandable and I devoted 3 hours to it. After that I got tired of reading, and decided to open the yahoo messenger. Smile was there on my lips to find my cousin oniline. We had a chat for an hour, after which I realised that I have an exam. (That chatting was the good part of the otherwise terrible day at IIT)

Study Study and Study was the slogan for the next one hour, during which I managed to complete some portions after Minor 1. At 5 am, I declared "Cease Fire", called up Anoop (who was sleeping) and went to sleep. The exam was scheduled at 8.00 am. I got up at 7.45, realised that I had lot of topics left out, and skimmed through a few more pages. When I reached the exam hall, I found the smiling face of the professor. Immediately he remarked, "I thought you are not going to give the exam. You told me yesterday that your exams are over!" I gave a faint smile. What else could I say!

The question paper was not so tough, if it was an open book exam. But this wasnt. And I had forgotten the art of remembering things after I came to IIT. Here most exams are open book, and that became a habit during my 2 years of M Tech. So this exam was very simple for me. All I had to do was to figure out which questions I could recognise and leave the rest. I spent the whole 2 hours, I donno doing what, and in the end I was happy that the exams are over.

More terrible events were yet to come! I was only the witness for those events. Luckily they didnt happen to me.

Next was the demos of CAD. I was in the evaluation party along with Anoop and another professor. A lot of M Tech students had horrible time, trying to convince the faculty about the work done in the projects. Almost all of them were given some task to be done on the spot and that made their life difficult. (I knew how tough it is to run a code which is tested only on one example, but I couldnt object to the queries of the faculty.) I remained silent most of the time. I spoke in bursts to help the students in whatever way I could. (Now that is my point of view. I donno whether the students also think the same about my attittude!) CAD demos continued till evening and that ended a hectic day.

In between was another terrible incident in the history of the VLSI group. One of the first years, took the Major answer scripts with him. We are supposed to return the answer scripts then and there. Now you may think that is not a big deal. How will anybody find out? The faculty found out when he went to give it back. How nice of him to realise the mistake and correcting it. But he didnt know that he was up against the most strict faculty in the group. !!! M.J.K. !!! The faculty just took his answer script, stroke it off, marked a zero, told him that he will get an F grade, and above all a simple GET OUT. No listening of reasons, no arguing. Interestingly, this happened to the topper of the class! After a lot of running around, the student gave an apology letter to the program co-ordinator, who was kind enough to listen to him and agreed to take up his case. I dont know what happened later. But hopefully it will get solved.

After this busy day, we were relaxing in our lab when comes the thunder. It was in the form of professor GSV. He is the lab incharge. He had earlier brought in a new PC in the lab. He had informed me that some B Tech students will come to work on it for some days after which the PC will be removed from the lab. I had mentioned this to Anoop also. (Anoop and myself manage the lab) No student came to work on th PC for a week. So when asked for, Anoop gave the permisson to reinstall the OS on that machine. (That was actually due to some misunderstanding) That is history. Now GSV comes in the lab and sees the machine running on Windows and gets heated up. The students were working for their BTP on this machine and all their data was on Linux. Is it all lost!!! Now how will they present their BTP without all those files?? We had no answer. Anoop quickly acted upon it, did some initial tests and found that one of the hard disks was not converted to Windows. That was a faint light at the other end of the tunnel. He then got the installation CDs of Fedora, installed it on the PC, and luckily found that all their data was stored on the second hard disk which remained as ext3 partition. All data intact!!!

That was the happy ending of a terrible day at IIT...

* Today refers to May 10th 2006.

Vaidya and his friends: In the evenings

2006-05-09T07:08:00.000+05:30

That day, Vaidya went to Shekhar's house in the evening. Shekhar greeted him with enthusiasm. He had already mentioned about their rendezvous to his mother. Shekhar's father also worked in the aluminium factory. He used to have duty at different shifts. Today, he was on duty when Vaidya visited their house. Shekhar had 4 sisters. Three of them were elder to him and one was younger. The oldest sister used to study in a college in the city. The other sisters went to a Hindi-medium school in Birlanagar.

After getting aquainted with all the family members, Vaidya and Shekhar went out to play. Shekhar had a cricket bat. In those days, not every child had a cricket bat and owning a bat was a matter of prestige. So Shekhar chose to bat and Vaidya took the bowling end. Shekhar was a good batsman and hit a lot of runs and won in the end. (That is just an information)

Cricket was the hobby for both of them. So a game of cricket became a daily routine. At 4.30 in the evening, Vaidya would go to Shekhar's house and they would play in his compound. They never played with other children in the street. Vaidya was not allowed to play with them.

His father used to tell him, "These children in the colony do not go to your school. So they do not have to study as much. If you start playing with them, then your studies will be affected." Studies were very important to Vaidya. He was always the class topper and he wished to become one in his new school also. So he took his father's word and played only for an hour in the evening. It was necessary that he returned home at 5.30 pm before his father returned from office.

Though Shekhar was a frolicsome, yet he was very good at studies. His friendship with Vaidya became stronger due to that. They started enjoying each others' company while studying. After an year, there was reshuffling in the school and Shekhar and Vaidya were put in the same class in the 5th grade. After that Shekhar started coming to Vaidya's house in late evenings for combined study.

Slowly the bond between them became inseparable. They were known as brothers to many in the township as they would be seen together wherever they went. If one has to go somewhere, like to somebody's house or the market, he would go to other's house to fetch him. And then they would go together.

Vaidya and his friends: The Rendezvous

2006-05-09T05:14:00.006+05:30

One afternoon, Shekhar told Vaidya, "Come, let me show you my house". Vaidya attended 4th grade in the nearby school. Shekhar also studied in the same school. They used to return home in the same bus and got down at the same bus stop.

Vaidya was the only son of his parents. His father used to work in the aluminium factory in Birlanagar for the past 20 years. Birlanagar is a small township located in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Vaidya and his mother used to live at his native place in South India. Last year, his father decided to bring them to Birlanagar. As Vaidya was brought up in the south, he didnt know how to speak Hindi, which was the local language in Birlanagar. This was the reason he never talked to Shekhar, though they walked back together daily from the bus stop.

Vaidya was quick in learning hindi. Within a week, he could converse decently. So one day he started a dialogue with Shekhar. He learnt that Shekhar was also in 4th grade in the same school but in another section. Today afternoon, on the way back from school, they were discussing about the day at school. Suddenly, Shekhar invited him to his house. The question caught Vaidya by surprise. He had known Shekhar only for a few days. And now he is inviting to his house. But the innocense in him made him accept the invitation to go to Shekhar's house. "I will come now till your gate. I havent told my mom, so I cant spend time at your place", he replied.

As they neared Vaidya's house, a problem stuck Vaidya's mind. On their usual route, Shekhar's house was a few blocks after Vaidya's house. Passing that way and not getting noticed by his mother was impossible. So he suggested to make a detour. They took another lane, rounded a few blocks and reached Shekhar's house. After making note of the location, Vaidya bid good bye to his new friend, and took the road back to his own house. At that time, he knew nothing of what was in store for him at his house.

When Vaidya reached the gate of his house, he noticed that his mother was standing at the door with an angry face. She asked, "Where did you go on the way from the bus stop?" He tried to look as innocent as possible. But his mother had seen him taking the other lane. No excuse would work. So Vaidya said, "Amma, I just went to see Shekhar's house. He is the one with whom I return daily from school. He is also in 4th grade." The truth from her kid lit her face and relaxed the mood.

That was the beginning of one of the greatest friendship in his life.

Love Marriage - Arranged Marriage - A path in between

2006-05-03T03:06:00.000+05:30

This was the original blog that I was interested in. In order to justify myself I had to write 3 lengthy blogs, Evolution Theory, Marriage Now-A-Days and Horoscopes - A mystery.

Having proven that using horoscopes is justified from the parents' point of view, the next question arises amongst youth is how to enjoy the luxury of love marriage and still get it arranged. That is, how can we choose the partner of our choice and still not make our older generations unhappy. How can we become "so-called" liberal and still remain traditional.

These questions are more relevant to those whose families and society are very rigid in terms of marriage. If your society is not liberal enough to accept a love marriage, then you should either leave them (if you feel so) or should try to find the answer to the above questions.

From now onwards, I shall discard those families (resp. societies) which are open to inter-caste, inter-religion marriages. I shall also discard those who are of the opinion of leaving their families for the sake of love. These two are cases fully supportive to love marriages. They could be studied separately. In paragraphs below, I will try to propose a solution to those who want to exercise love without sacrificing their rigid families.

The only feasible solution to the conflicting constraints between love and society is to choose the boundary between the two. The boundary defines the extent to which you can utilise your freedom of choice and still be acceptable to the family. Since we are trying to address the problem from the rigid family side, the condition is like this.

Love Marriage

Can love anybody

----------------------------------------------------
Middle Path

Can love people with certain criterion

----------------------------------------------------
Arranged Marriage

Cant love anybody

Criterion
Person you love should be acceptable to your parents (resp. family described as depth of family tree)

This criterion is subjective. Let me illustrate one example. The person should be of same caste. (Forget about inter-religion marriage!) The person should have decent family background. The person should be have traditional values.

Now the bigger trouble is how to love somebody who matches this criterion. Some say "Love just happens. You dont have control on it". Some say "Love is not governed by laws of the society". For them I ask "How do you know that you are in love?" Isnt it your self belief that you are in love. So if you dont believe you are in love then you arent. Let me explain my understanding of love.

You feel that you are in love with a person when
you care for that person more than anybody else
you want to be in his/her company and miss the person very much
you know that you understand the person very well

For each of above three reasons to be valid, you need to spend some time with the person. "Some time" may actually be few days, months, years. So when you spend some time with a person, after that you realise that you are in love. In fact, you accept that the person is your friend much prior to this. It means that friendship preceed love. (I dont believe in love at first sight)

This implies that, there is a time gap between acceptance of friendship and realisation of love. In fact, friendship is the state when you start understanding the person and wish to be in his/her company. On maturity of friendship, you start caring for one another. Even further is the stage of love, when the person becomes more important that others. It should be noted that at the stage of close friendship, when you care for one another, there still could be many friends equally close. On the contrary, at the stage of love, there is only one you love.

My theory of loving a person with some criterion is based on the above proven time gap. We all have many friends. We all have few close friends. When we feel that some person among our close friends satisfies the criterion, we shall allow the feeling of love to build. This self imposed restriction is very rigid and requires mental strength. If you dont have enough mental strength then the easiest way to resist the feeling is to keep some distance.

Methodology

Keep your eyes open - To find the person satisfying the criterion
Befriend the person
Let the friendship mature
Express yourself to your parents
Get parents consent
If parents agree then goto next step else let the relationship to close friendship and goto step 1
Express yourself to the person - This step is delayed so that you are not hurt if the previous step doesnt succeed
Build the relationship till love is achieved from both sides
If love stage is reached then all is fine else bring the relationship to close friendship and goto step 1.

Note: This methodology is neither tested nor is it known to work on any testcase. In my case I am still at step 1. I didnt have the opportunity to go beyond that.

Horoscopes - A mystery

2006-05-03T01:59:00.000+05:30

After a long gap, I again thought of continuing my sequel to "Evolution Theory" and "Marriage Now-A-Days". Let me begin with a few comments that I got for the two blogs. Those comments indeed changed the track of the story (not the plot but the screenplay). Here is the first comment from my friend

The basic question is "where the horoscopes really that effective?". Couldn't it be that people simply had successful arranged marraige as they had so less options. women were not self sufficient. Men were in fear of the rigid rules of community so had to follow them.

If asked whether horoscopes were really effective, I personally dont have an answer. I tried to google it but couldnt find any conclusive answer. Many agree with my friend that horoscopes and predictions are fake. I also tried asking few people who believe in horoscopes. They are of the opinion that horoscopes do work if you follow it. If you try to disprove it, then it will fail. So the thoughts of my friend above seems to be correct. People were bound to it and that made it appear as a correct theory.

Hence continuing with my theory of horoscopes and astrology being created by observation and all prediction being a conditional probablility, I feel that if the conditions (on which the probability was defined) remain the same, then horoscopes and matchmaking using them, will give a better fit.

So the obvious conclusion is that "Use the horoscope only if you want to be bound by traditions" as being in the bounds of tradition will maintain the conditions in which the experimentation (the experimentation for arriving at astrology as a science) was performed by our ancestors.

The next question that arises is "Why should we bound by traditions". The traditions were formed according to circumstances that prevailed. And hence are bound to change, evolve, with time.

Again the answer is subjective. It depends upon person to person. According to me, we should try to follow traditions, as they were formed after years of experience. It is quite possible that with the knowledge and understanding that we have, we may not be able to explain the reason for it. But they would have been correct and hence were followed.

So it is upto us to find a reason to follow each tradition. We can try to rationalise it with scienctific explanation. If we find the tradition to be valid then we follow them, knowing that it is for our good. If we dont find a valid logic, then we have two paths to choose - either still follow the tradition assuming that it will be stopped when people realise that it is wrong (Tradition is wrong means that tradition cause bad effects not that tradition doesnt cause any effect. Because even if tradition may not show us any benefit in short term, it may still have some long term benefit.) or stop following the tradition assuming that you will follow only when somebody establishes to you that it is good.

Both the paths are correct. But I prefer to follow the first one.

Coming to horoscopes and marriages based on that, I believe in traditions, and I wish to follow them till they are proved wrong. So I think horoscopes will predict, to some extent, the amount of match between partners. Now what amount of match i.e. the cutoff, is acceptable for a successful marriage is subjective. I can only say that horoscopes tell you what may be in store for you in your future. If you are aware of that you could possibly forsee a disaster and try to avoid it. (It is better to take horoscopes for disaster management. It makes you aware of the disaster much before it is apparent)

Let me conclude that horoscopes are to be believed to some extent for curiosity into future. Its accuracy is questionable in general sense. But is constrained scenario, it has sufficient accuracy. It is an additional proof that the partner selected is ideal. The primary proof of matching is compatibility in terms of nature of the persons concerned.

LoVe in tHe aIr

2006-05-02T22:24:00.000+05:30

I am surprised by what is happening to people around me. Every now and then I hear people getting engaged or married. And all these are love cum arranged marriages. People who were friends for quite some time, are now ready to tie the knot. Is this because of the season? Or is it that this phenomenon was there always? And I never noticed it.
I remember a nice malayalam movie that I had seen a few years back. The name of the movie is "Niram". It revolves around two friends, the hero and the heroine, who are very close to each other right from their childhood. The hero becomes jealous when the heroine starts dating another classmate. But he restrains himself from objecting, thinking that he is a friend and should not have any feeling of love towards her. But in the end, when the heroine realises the fact, she comments "Why couldnt you say this to me earlier". The movie actually proves that if people of opposite sex are very close friends then there is high chances of them being in love.
From the current scenario around me, I now feel that the movie is correct. There cant be friendship without love and that too if the family background (religion, caste etc) are very similar.
So that being the situation, will this season help me??????
Let us wait and watch!!
And enjoy the Love in the Air!!!

Happy Vishu

2006-04-14T17:17:00.000+05:30

Wish you all (obviously, who read my blog and may be also to those who dont read bcoz they dont know the url) a Very Happy and Prosperous VISHU (Tamil New Year)

Usually (Traditionally), Vishu is celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, by waking up early in the morning (4.00 am, the time when people like me in IIT go to sleep after a nightout), walking from the bedroom to the puja room with eyes closed (i was always assisted by my mom in that), sitting in front of Vishu Kani (Now describing the Vishu Kani itself will be another blog, so i am not doing it here. In short, Vishu Kani symbolises prosperity and happiness.), seeing each and every items kept in the Kani (idol of the Lord, Kani Konna (a beautiful yellow flower), gold and silver coins, Pattu (silk cloth), mirror (seeing ur self in it), etc to name a few), praying to the Lord for a wonderful new year ahead with all the happiness and prosperity (as u see in the Vishu Kani), bursting crackers, get an oil massage, get ready and go to the nearest temple, get Vishu Kai-neettam from the elders (for kids in a joint family, it is a very good time) and then enjoy the day with a feast for lunch.

But I rarely had a Vishu of that kind, except when I was in Kerala. Truly speaking, I remember only two occasions, during my B Tech, when I had experienced each and every step mentioned above. Last year, I got up at 6.30 am, didnt see any Vishu Kani, went to temple and got Kai-neettam from the temple pujari and also from one of my relatives. This year, with Anoop here with me, I was sure that it would not be the same. As I had expected, we decided to get up at 4.00. And suprisingly, I got up before getting a call from him (even though I slept at 1.00 am). Though there was no Vishu Kani arranged in my room, yet I managed to get up with eyes closed and worship the Lord for the year ahead. By around 4.45 am, I was ready to go to the Ayyappa Temple (in R.K. Puram, which is close to IIT). We (myself and Anoop) were in time at the temple, to get a darshan before the crowd starts pouring in. Today, being a holiday for Good Friday, there was a huge rush at the temple than yester years.

Suddenly, I remembered the Guruvayoorappan Temple (in Mayur Vihar, New Delhi) around 18kms from IIT. We had never visited that temple in our past 3 yrs stay in Delhi. Which other day would be better to visit a temple than the auspicious occasion of Vishu! We made a few enquiries about the timings of the temple and the means of transport to reach there. After having breakfast (idlis and vadas) from the canteen near the Ayyappa temple, we set forth to our next destination Mayur Vihar. The journey took us an hour, not because of the traffic, but because of non-availability of enough commutters (the private buses are a hell to travel on holidays and early mornings). The sight at the temple was even more astonishing. The queue to the entrance to the temple was right there at the bus stop (about 100m from the temple). After standing for about an hour in the queue, we finally managed to get inside the temple and get a very satisfactory darshan of the deity. Well, I was impressed by the crowd management and the arrangements at the temple. They provided drinking water for those in the queue under the sun. There were enough number of volunteers to divert the crowd at all intersections within the temple complex.

In between these events, we made a phone call to our guide Prof. Visweswaran, to wish Happy Vishu. Before calling, I had suggested that we should ask for a lunch at his place (as usual we were eager to get a chance of having south indian lunch). But in the end thought that it would be rude to ask for a lunch, and that too on a Vishu day, and we ended the call by mentioning our plans to the Mayur Vihar temple. When we were in the queue at the temple, Anoop received a call from GSV asking whether we would like to join him for lunch at his home. It was like Nammal manasil kandaal, Sir maanathil kaanum. Wreeju was also planning to come to IIT to have lunch with us (me and Anoop), so he was also invited by GSV.

We bought the 'Paal Payasam', as prasadam, from the temple and reached GSV's house at lunch time. We had a very nice 9-course meal (as counted byW), did some leg pulling of W (half bong, half mallu), and came back to the lab to normal routine.

That was this year's special, Vishu, special temple visit, and a special lunch.

Parents' Visit

2006-03-11T01:25:00.000+05:30

My parents visited Delhi for a week from March 5th to 10th. They were here for a holiday. Plans were made to visit Agra and Jaipur. On 5th morning, I went to receive them at the New Delhi station. I took them to Alaknanda where my father's cousin stays. After lunch, we decided to go to Dwarka to visit an old family friend. On 6th, parents went to Agra (though the trip was supposed to be to Jaipur). They visited Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikhri, Mathura and Vrindavan. They came back at 2.00 am at night. I didnt accompany the trip as I was having classes to attend.
On 7th they had rest and came to IIT in the evening after a visiting Ayyappa temple at R.K Puram. Their Jaipur trip was again planned on 8th. But owing to bomb blasts in Varanasi, the trip got cancelled. So they spent another day resting and came to IIT in the evening after a shopping spree at SN Market. On both these days, 7th and 8th, we had SPIC MACAY events at IIT. Parents and my relatives enjoyed the programs very much. I couldnt devote much time to them as I was in the organising committee. After the event, I took them to my hostel room. Though female relatives are not allowed inside the hostel without warden's permission, I managed to get them in (bcoz the guard was very friendly with me and I assured him that we wont spend much time).
On 9th, parents visited Mayur Vihar and again another relative. On 10th morning, they left to Allahabad by train from Old Delhi. I went to see them off at the station. On the way back, I drove my relatives Maruti after a long time.

IIT VIRASAT 2006 - SPIC MACAY

2006-03-11T00:17:00.000+05:30

SPIC MACAY - Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth

It is one of the societies that I have appreciated the most in IIT. The best thing about SPIC MACAY is the IIT VIRASAT festival that is organised every year. It is a week long programme where eminent artists of Indian Classical music and dance perform in IIT campus. A festival that gives us an exposure to the pure forms of music and dance (the film music, albums and rock are all modified versions of the classical form).

In the year 2004, I was first exposed to SPIC MACAY during the VIRASAT festival. I attended almost all the events, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last year, I missed all the events primarily because of lack of company. (I hate going alone). That being the background about SPIC MACAY and me, let us now see how it all changed this year.

IIT VIRASAT 2006, was held from 27th Feb to 10th March. As usual there were notices of weekly meetings. Each of these contained an appeal for volunteers to join. I, or I should say we, always had noticed these appeals. But almost on all occasions, we forgot about the meeting and couldnt attend. On one occasion, on 1st Feb (This is an eventful day of my life. See other blogs here and here), we (Anoop and me) decided to join as volunteers.
Initially, we took up the job of bringing in finances. We were supposed to contact the oil companies in public sector and get as much money as possible. We made a lot of phone calls. And I should confess that Anoop did the phone calls. We got a few negative responses. Without saying much, I shall conclude that we didnt bring in any finance for this event. The number of volunteers were very few and hence each one of us got the task of co-ordinating the events of a day. March 7th being the only day with one artist, I chose to pick it up. Moreover the artist was from Chennai, so communication was easier.
Let me describe the things that a co-ordinator should do at least a week before the event.

Send thanks letter to the artist for accepting our invitation. Also talk to them over phone expressing gratitude.
Check the details of their arrival, stay and departure. Make sure all the bookings of the journey (flight/train) and hotels are done before hand. If not done, then it will cause a lot of headache (U can ask Anoop for an example).
Send the tickets to the artists well in advance.
Think of some chief guest for your event, contact him and get his availability. This is preferable but not necessary.
Get the banners posted within the campus.
Prepare the posters of the event. Poster should have the photo of the main artist(s). Circulate the posters in other colleges. (Give some posters in Lady Irwin College where there is a weekly meeting of representatives from all colleges in Delhi)
Get the venue of the event booked. In the case of hostels, get permission from the Warden for using the premises like lawn, common room, visitor room etc. Also ask for food and refreshments to be provided from the hostels.

Things to do on the day before of the event.

Confirm the number of artists who are coming along with the accompanists.
Book transport for picking up and drop from airport/station.
Assign somebody for the job of receiving them.
Check the hotel/guest house, whether the accomodation is confirmed.
Order the gifts that would be given to the artists and the accompanists during the event. Pack the gifts nicely in colour paper.
Get as many volunteers as possible. Check the timings when these volunteers are available and assign tasks to them accordingly.
Make a booking at the tent house for the stage and the hall.
Get some girls to do the decoration like rangoli, lamps etc. Also get some of them for the hospitality. Girls are better hosts than boys.
Make sure that the posters are in place in the hostels and in the coffee shop, holistic food centre, departments etc. Publicity is very important to gather crowd for the event. If possible. try to publicise the event in localities, in Delhi, from where you expect people. eg. For Carnatic music programs, advertise in RK Puram.
Get a person to compere the event.

Things to do on the day of the event.

Make sure that the artists and accompanists have arrived and are settled in hotels comfortably.
Get garlands and flowers for decoration.
Get enough oil and wicks for the lamps.
Buy enough bottles of Mineral Water. Also buy refreshments if hostel doesnt provide it.
Get the stage and hall ready using the workers of the institute and the tent house.
Get the green room ready well before the artists arrive at the venue. It should have aesthetic ambiance. Decorate it with flowers. Light insanse sticks if the artist is not a vocalist.
Decorate the entrance by a rangoli and a few lamps.
Prepare a shoe counter, if the event is in hostels.
Order for the food for the volunteers in the mess.
Make sure that the artists arrive at the venue at least half an hr before the program. (They will take time in the green room). Keep margins for traffic jams.
If the artists are planning to have dinner, then make sure that the food is ordered well ahead in time and it is ready when the event ends.
Arrange for the transport for the artists after the event. Also arrange for their transport on the day of their departure from the city.
Call a meeting after the event and hand over the charge and items to the next coordinator.

With all those above mentioned points in mind, the March 7th program of Bharatnatyam by Malavika Sarukkai was made a success. There was no complaint from the artist or her accompanists. There was another program on the same day. Rudra Veena by Us. Asad Ali Khan. That too was a grand success with the presence of Us. Fahimuddin Dagar as an unexpected guest.

Other programs in VIRASAT 2006 were
Feb 27th Inauguration by Lt. Gov. B.L. Joshi
Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma (Santoor)
Us. Fahimuddin Dagar (Dhrupad)
Feb 28th Guru Raman Kutty Nair (Kathakali)
Pt. Ronu Majumdar (Flute)
Mar 1st Nizami Brothers (Qawwali)
Ram Kailas (Biraha Geet)
Mar 2nd Smt. Zarin Sharma (Sarod)
Pt. Rajan & Sajan Mishra (Vocal)
Mar 3rd Pt. Debu Chaudhuri (Sitar)
Zaman Brothers (Pakistani Vocal)
Mar 7th Su. Malavika Sarukkai (Bharatnatyam)
Us. Asad Ali Khan (Rudra Veena)
Mar 8th Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia (Flute)
Prof. T. N. Krishnan (Carnatic Violin)

Along with these there were movie screenings
Feb 25th Wild Strawberries
Feb 26th Subarnarekha
Mar 6th Tokyo Story
Mar 9th Under the Olive Trees
Mar 10th Nizhalkkuthu

Thus we were part of the herculean task of organising the events (which are fantastic to attend).

Smaller One

2006-03-10T22:55:00.000+05:30

Though I had thought of writing a blog on another get together that happened on this bangalore trip, I restrained from posting it, thinking 'what to write in it?'. The smaller ones are the ones that we enjoyed the most. We had a lot of smaller ones during our M Tech in IIT Delhi. Though each ones were on different occasions, yet the members remained more or less the same. Just a few additions and deletions once in a while. We had these smaller ones to celebrate each event, each happiness, each break, each movie.
But this smaller one in Bangalore this February was something special. Special in the sense that it was a celebration of something that we had been waiting for, for a long time - may be since our third semester, when we were motivated to our goals of our projects. A visionary gave the initial idea. The first two executioners were not convinced. Then came the messiah who stood by them throughout the mission giving support and taking all the work whenever the executioners fatigued. Messiah is the saviour.
The M Tech term ended and as the executioners feared, the task was still not complete. One Executioner retired and a warrior joined the army. After continued, but interrupted, efforts by an executioner and a warrior along with the messiah, the first design was sent for fabrication. It was considered a great task by many and many rejoiced on its completion. But the executioner was not so thrilled. I donno why (I asked him but he couldnt give a reply). Then after few months there came the first silicon. Again there were rounds of congratulations but yet again!
But as I said this smaller one was something special! It was the celebration of the success story. The CHIP and the POSTERS were formally presented to the visionary, the Executioner and the Proprietor. It was the first time the executioner felt a sense of happiness in this whole affair. I think he felt the enjoyment that was in the air around him. This was the enjoyment of people close to him and he felt absorbed into it.
As usual to our smaller ones, we had tasty food ordered by our own visionary and this time to help him was his esposo. The presence of the progenitors made this smaller one a special one for the warrior.

P.S. The name Smaller one is provided by the Executioner (Note the capital E) and not the executioner in the comments of another blog.

My First Flight

2006-02-19T22:58:00.000+05:30

Is that an incident to write a blog on?

I donno. But I am still writing it, as I have written events like my first ride on a car, my first bike ride etc.

It all started with an offer to go to Bangalore for attending a 3 day training at MAGMA Design Automation. It was from 15th to 17th of Feb 2006. Anoop and myself were going to attend it. As we had classes, we decided to go by air. And we also managed to get a permission for a reimbursement of the ticket. I had thought of catching a flight to Kerala on various occasions. But I never booked one, as there never was any emergency, or say any particular reason. And I didnt want to waste a few bucks just for experiencing a journey in an aeroplane. So my first flight was this one, DN-602 Delhi-Bangalore, leaving Delhi at 20.10. We were there at the airport a little late (though Anoop kept saying that we were on time). Well being in the airport terminus was like being in a huge shopping mall like WAVE, Noida, and that too on a weekend. It was crowded and there were queues at each counter. I suppose there were many air deccan flights leaving at that time. We made our way through the line and got our tickets. Luckily we didnt have enough luggage, so we could carry all the luggage as hand baggage. This being my maiden flight, Anoop requested for a window seat and we got one.
Then we moved in for the security checkin. I got through, but my suitcase didnt. I had kept a pack of shaving blades in it and they got detected by the officials. I had heard of stories, of items being caught at security checkin, from my friends and relatives. But I was careless to notice it during packing my luggage. Anyway, all I had to do was open the suitcase, and hand them over the pack of blades. Thats it and we were moving towards GATE #1. I was feeling slightly amused. I donno why. May be the sight of aeroplanes so close to me. We boarded a bus which took us to the plane. I noticed that it was going along a specific path outlined on the runway. I first thought the driver was searching for our plane, as I couldnt find it too, but then realised that these buses are supposed to go only on these tracks to avoid collision with the planes.
We got down from the bus and boarded the plane. I remembered to put my right foot in first! I got a little disappointed by the sight inside the plane. It was conjested and looked like an ordinary luxury bus 3+2 seaters. Only that the planes are longer than luxury buses. We got a seat at the rear end of the plane. We kept the baggages on the rack on the top and I took the window seat. In between, I had a call from Su and W wishing me bon voyage. Su had reminded me that there was a full moon and it would provide a wonderful sight once we are above the clouds.
Then the wait began for the plane to be air borne. At last at 20.10, the plane started to move slowly on the runway. Two air hostesses did some demonstrations of fastening the seat belt. And a few announcements about the exit from the plane and some emergency features. The plane moved into the queue in the runway and waited for its turn. After a plane landed and moved out of the runway, our plane occupied the runway and started gaining speed. The acceleration of the plane is really very high. Within a few minutes, it had gained speed and there we were in the air above the city. We could see rows of lights below, from the roads, little vehicles moving along it, and the lights from the rows of houses down below. After some time, it was like seeing the whole of Delhi. I tried in vain to recognise the various areas below. It was a wonderful sight looking at the lights, diminishing in size.
After some time, we were moving through the clouds and the plane started jerking. It was like moving on a road with lot of bumps. Finally, I could see what I was longing for. The moon. From above the clouds. It looks so wonderful, shining brightly on the clouds. All you can see below are white clouds, glistening in the moon light. I could see that clouds were made up of tiny water droplets as they shone in the moon light. It was like snow all around. I remembered my trip to manali when I first experienced snow.
For the whole of the 2 and half hour journey from Delhi to Bangalore, I was watching out of the window. Sometimes there were only clouds. Sometimes the clouds were so thin that I could see the city beneath. Most of the time it was clear and I could see small towns as small patches of light. We moved over a large city which seemed like Hyderabad (as that is on the way). At 22.40, we landed at Bangalore with a small thud when the wheels of the plane touched the ground. We waited for a long time for the doors to open at the rear. But it didnt and we had to come out of the front doors after almost all the others. Thus I set foot on the ground after my successful maiden flight.
Acknowledgements to A for guiding me and to IIT for funding the trip (if we get the reimbursement) ... :-)

Bangalore Get Together

2006-02-19T21:43:00.000+05:30

At last, we organised what is called a get together. GET TOGETHER. It means just a meeting of few old friends. And I am sure it happens once in a while in Bangalore, where most of my college mates are. But this particular get together was very much what I had been imagining from the time I had left college (This phrase 'left college' is a bit misleading as I am still enjoying college life). College here means CET, where I completed 4 years of engineering, the place where I lived away from home for the first time.

I had been trying to meet my classmates and fellow Brothersians, whenever I visited south India. In the past 3 years, I had been to Kerala for 5 times. Each time I visit south, the first thing that I do before leaving delhi is to inform in brothers2003 and teledreams2003 groups about my visit. Each time I hope we could pull of a meeting of some friends, to re-live those wonderful moments. Though I knew that getting a lot of people was difficult in a class 60, or say 120 including applieds, yet I had this feeling that at least some of them would respond to my call for the meeting. And to be frank I had been successful, in June 2005, when I was in bangalore for a week and was able to spend a night with some buddies. I met Keggis, Vasu, Arun P.S., Manoj, Kidi, and spent a night with Madhu Joseph, Ganesh, Ananthan, Saji and Micheal Tom. I am happy that we met and we remembered a lot of incidents from college, a lot of reminiscence, a lot of news about other batch mates (I was a little unconnected because I was in Delhi doing my post graduation and many people do not mail to the group. The yahoo group teledreams2003 had reduced to a forum for informing marriages only. No other incidents were reported on this.).
I also had a small get together at Kochi, in July 2005. That was with a few brothersians, Sathish, Jom and Aju. I had enjoyed a whole day with them, roaming around on Jom's new WagonR to the Cherai Beach, and a night's stay at Aju's residence.
But I was unhappy because I couldnt meet some of the friends because of communication gap. So this time again, I sent a mail to the group with my itinerary. I was visiting bangalore for 3 days. Unfortunately on weekdays. My chances of meeting people were low. Yet I floated this idea of a get together and to my delight, AD picked up job of organising it. He was my fellow brothersian and my class mate. So he was an ideal person for this job. He put a lot of effort, made phone calls and sent mails, formed consensus on the venue and time, and at last it was finalised that we shall meet in Forum, Kormangala, at 6.45 p.m.
I was a little busy as I had an appointment with an alumni of IIT Delhi at 6 o'clock. I hurried to that meeting, and asked Madhu Joseph to meet me at Mount Carmel College at 6.30. We met on time and proceeded through the heavy bangalore traffic in an auto-rickshaw to Forum. We were there at 7.00 p.m. and found a decent crowd. I didnt expect so many people. There was Keggis in a maroon kurta in his usual bossy manners, always smiling AD, Kooval specialist Ganesh, Gymman Saifu, Rajesh Kumar MR, Deepak J Nath and one representative from Applied, Madhu B (Madhu Joseph is also from applied and he came with me). After hand shakes and inquiries about what each one is upto, Deepak left the party as he had some other things to sort out for the day. Rogers Mathew arrived shortly from IISc. He was the only one in this group who was not my class mate. He is from Comp Sc. So his coming there made it a get together of brothersians also.
From there, we quickly moved to a restaurant named Aiwas, suggested by Joseph. It was a decent place and we had a nice time pulling each others' legs (Konai adi). I remembered the dinners that we had at Lords, near our college, where we used to go frequently during our final year. Kidi joined the party soon at the table and as usual he was the one to order the most. We called Vasu from the hotel and he agreed to join us soon (Though he dint reach even after the dinner). Joseph had to leave quickly as he was heading home by the 9.15 bus from Madivala. Our next destination was Corner House, an ice-cream parlor, to have our dessert. Each one of us paid for our dessert, except myself and Rogers. We being in academia got a treat from those who were employed. (Paavam padikkunna piller alle njangal) Vasu joined us at Corner House. Just then, AD informed me that Ratheesh PK was also supposed to come for the party. (Actually I had mailed Rat earlier and we had promised to meet this time. We culdnt meet in June) So I called up Rat and found that he was at Forum for a movie. All of us moved to meet Rat. He along with other Bethanians, Kiron and Sandeep were there. And that made it a get together of CompSci's too!
That was the largest get-together for me, with 15 people involved in it. THREE CHEERS to all those who came there to be a part of it on a working day and made it a success.

First anniversary

2006-02-01T16:34:00.000+05:30

Today is my first anniversary of Blog Writing. Last year, on this date, I wrote my first blog. It was a proclamation of bringing my life at IIT into a routine. After long night outs and 'call-centre' style daily routine, I had decided that I will bring my life back to normal by working in day hours and sleeping properly at night. (This was after a series of advice and chiding from my classmates) Here is the link to my first blog. http://vgblogs.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_vgblogs_archive.html

Now comes the special story of the anniversary. I had been eagerly waiting for the anniversary for the past one week. I was planning a blog for the day. And this was what happened today. Contrary to the goals set by me in my first blog, I slept till 3.00 pm (I had gone to bed at 1.00 am yesterday night). I slept so badly that I missed my classes today (Even the class at noon), missed my breakfast and lunch, and was late for today's meeting with the faculty.

What a contrast! This shows not much has changed in a year. And it proves 'Live every moment of life as u want it at that moment'

Santosh Anna-vodu Kalyanam

2006-01-23T20:27:00.000+05:30

It was 6 pm when I was relaxing at Saroja periyammai's house. I had just finished my usual evening snack periyammai's dosai. We, Sangeetha akka, Santosh anna and myself, were gossiping and planning for the next day's event. Santosh anna was sitting with hands occupied with mehandi. Savitha was busy with her hands being decorated, with mehandi, by her friend. A bus and a qualis were booked for the Baraathees. The vehicles were scheduled for departure at 7.30 am in the morning. We had to reach Salem by 1.30 pm, so that we can enter the mandapam before rahu kalam. We were taking count of who all were going. As we were to cross the border, into Tamil Nadu, we were supposed to give a list of passengers at the check post. At last the list was finalized and it had around 50 people. Nice and fine, as there is space for around 58. We also thought of who all are going to be dropped during return journey - as I was going to leave for Delhi directly from Salem - and who all are going to be added - Ammamma, coming from Chennai, and others. At around 7.00, Seshu mama and family arrived from Karimpuzha. Still there was no news about Balan mama and family. They were supposed to arrive at Palakkad around 9.00 pm. But they got stranded on a train from Kozhikode due to some signal problem and reached at 11.00. They went to Vidyut Nagar and came to Thondikulam in the morning. Sankar came from Trichur at 11.30 by a taxi. Wednesday ended with everything settled and all packing done.

My appa and amma were arriving by Chennai Alleppey at 4.45 am in the morning. Saran and myself were up by 4.30 and reached station on time, only to find that the train is late by an hour. After a long waiting in the cold December winds on the platform, we received my parents at 6.15 am. We had the feeling that we will cause delay in the departure of the marriage party. After a lot of hurry, all of us got ready and the bus left at 8.00 am. On the qualis were aged people, santosh anna's periyappas, athais and athimbers. On the bus were the rest. A few people from Thondikulam and Nurani - periyammai's neighbour, and others whom I don't know. Among our relatives were Saroja Periyammai and family, Kontha mama and family, Balan mama and family, Seshu mama and family, appa, amma and myself. Thrissur periyammai's son and daughter-in-law, Balakrishnan from Karimpuzha and Suresh (Uragam Shantha chithi's son) were also there on the bus. The journey was smooth. We had breakfast, packed from Hotel Hariharaputra, on the way. As expected the menu was very elaborate - idli, pongal, sevai, vadai and pazham - and the food was top class. We had a show of movie 'Vettam', for those who didn't sleep on the way. At last, there we were at the Annapoorna Kalyana Mandapam at 1.25 pm. Quickly all of us were out of the bus and the varavelpu started before rahu kalam.
The arrangements at the mandapam was quite nice. Decoration was simple but beautiful. The hall was of medium size and it seemed that it was full of us only. Not many people from the bride's side were there and we wondered whether the hall is of sufficient capacity. We were imagining what the scene would be if the crowd from bride's side was anything close to Sangeetha akka's marriage. The lunch was okay. Chamayal was Tamil Nadu style. All of us settled down in various rooms allotted in the mandapam. Santosh anna's room was air-conditioned and was very comfortable in the afternoon heat. The sun in Salem was scorching. I couldn't believe that it was winter.
A few relatives had arrived before us. Jayam athai and family, Swarna chithi, chithappa and Ramji, Sangeetha akka's father-in-law etc. Some others reached after us. Janaki periyammai, periyappa and Ammamma arrived in the evening by Kovai express. Jinju akka and Kannan athimber started from Chennai at noon by their car. Due to bad roads, they came at 8.00 pm. Ramamani mama and Kunjan, Thangam athai and athimber, Ananthan athan from Sathy, Deepa akka and family, Ganga akka, Babu anna and family, Jaya akka and family, Latha akka and her youngest kid, etc reached before the reception. Pondichery Radha chithi and Hari chithappa, Girija periyammai and periyappa, came on the day of the marriage.
The mappilai azhaippu and reception were fine. Sankar and myself were the target of everybody right from the morning and it got worse during the evening. Everybody from our side were enquiring, "who is the next bridegroom?" and started pulling our legs, whenever they got a chance. I escaped most of the attacks by giving different reasons - Sankar is elder to me, my PhD will take another 3 years, Sankar is the one who is employed, etc. So at last both of us were made mappilai thozhan. The menu for the reception dinner was north indian. There were a lot of items but I couldnt enjoy my favourite - icecream - because of severe cold. I had such a severe sore throat that I couldnt even speak. The evening was different from other recent marriages that I have attended, because our relatives were all enjoying being from the groom's side. All were dressed up brightly and occupied the seats, gossiping and posing for the camera. It was not easier to get all family members for the group photographs (Remember how much we ran for each person during Sangeetha akka's marriage!).
As soon as I had reached Salem, I had started enquiring about the possibility of a game of cards. On finding that nobody has brought cards, I went immediately to buy 4 packs from the nearby petti kadai. But this was the first marriage that I attended in my life, when there was no game of cards being played by us. In the afternoon, there was not enough time as we had to go to the railway station for receiving people from Chennai. And after the reception, everybody were tired of the day's journey and retired to their respective rooms. Had all of us slept in the hall, there was a slight chance of gathering. Pakshe athu eppadi! Pullai aathukaar allava.
The day of the marriage dawned after we woke up. Most of us were up and ready even before coffee was ready in the kitchen, though the muhurtham was not so early. With the commencement of ceremonies, came the taunts of the previous day. During kashi yatrai both Sankar and myself accompanied Santosh anna. Rest of the day was not much eventful. Except a few words from konthai mama and appa during lunch. The catering was granted fully to the hotel and there was very less supervision. So things were not smooth and this led to a little rise in temper from groom's side. How can a marriage end without a few words of anger from somebody from the groom's side!
Immediately after lunch, people started to pack and leave as many had to travel lot of distances before nightfall. People heading to Chennai were the first. As the bus to Palakkad was to leave by 4.30, nalangu was a very short one, just namesake. In the end, all Baraathees returned leaving behind Balan mama, Akhila mami and myself. There was some function in the evening, which usually is done along with other rituals in the afternoon. After few hours of conversation with Balan mama about marriages and rituals and traditions (topics covered in my previous blogs), I had dinner and left to the railway station to catch my train to Delhi.

After That ...
Santosh anna, Rekha manni, Balan mama and mami came to Palakkad on Saturday. Grihapravesam ceremony concluded nicely on sunday. On sunday evening, there was a party organised at 'Sangeeth'. It was a welcome to the newly-wed couple as well as the Silver Jubilee celebration of Kontha mama and Geetha mami.
As shown in the end of all movies
They lived happily everafter

Marriage Now-a-Days

2005-11-30T04:03:00.000+05:30

Continuing from the previous blog "Evolution Theory".....

As times change, societies change, lifestyles change, behaviours change, beliefs change. All these changes lead to further evolution. Somebody rightly said "Evolution is perennial". And I believe all evolution takes mankind forward. All that evolves is for the betterment of mankind. So does the policy of marriage.

When science grew and became a field of study (science was not a field of study for everybody as all couldnt understand it), more and more people started understanding Nature - as I would still call it. The word Nature is really beautiful. It describes quality of every particle in the universe. Hence science is actually a study of nature. Physics studies nature of particles and matter, Chemistry studies nature of chemicals and their reactions, Mathematics studies the nature (or behaviour) of all objects and provides a platform or representation of everything, Medicine studies the nature of human body and its reactions, Biology studies the nature of all living organisms, Psychology studies the nature of mind, Spirituality studies the nature of soul etc.. So as science became popular, people started questioning the beliefs and traditions. As the life styles changed, the meaning and necessity of certain traditions became ambiguous. Or in other sense unanswerable by science. So people started disregarding it. This proves that observation power of people in general increased. This power was earlier limited to elite class called Brahmins, who due to some reasons didnt impart that power to others (I wont deal with that).

As people gained more powers of observation and intellect, they started looking into other occupations. Society was not so restrained because the population had increased so much that the need for so many people in each community started reducing. Thus people felt insecure in pursuing family occupation and started learning other traits. Hence competition increased which made things even worse for everybody. Earlier the competition used to be restricted in one's own community. Now it has spread across all people. It is good in one sense that it provides equal opportunity for all to do whatever they are good at.

As people became more and more mingled in terms of the occupation that they pursue the boundation of caste started diminishing. Then people would have found that the way horoscopes predicted were going wrong for some of them. (This is an assumption!). Because the horoscopes didnt adapt to the change in the life styles and hence the conditional probability was not same as the actual probability of success in a marriage. So people began to look beyond arranged marriages. Thus love marriages had a renaissance.

Another possible reason for love marriages to come up is this. As people started migrating to newer places for jobs, they found that the success rates of arranged marriages diminished as their spouse couldnt adjust to the conditions there. Also the control of the parents in moulding the children and imbibing the traditional values reduced. So children were on their own and started thinking from scratch (as people had initially started in olden days). Younger generations started finding their own partners who would fit into their lifestyles. But even in this new trend I feel one thing remains the same. The couples are usually of the same intellectual group. In olden days, same intellectual group meant same caste. Now it means different.

In this new trend of love marriages, failures were high as was the case in olden days when society was being structured. After few successes, people started finding best ways of interaction in order to find the best partner. And eventually ended up choosing right partners considering, past experiences of others and their own wish. So as years progress, the number of trials with love marriages will increase and the prediction will start getting better. Only that this prediction is not through horoscope and hence will depend on individuals. It would have been nice if horoscopes could consider present lifestyles and present success/failure data of marriages to predict the perfect couple.

All said and done. What is the best way out of it? We are not going to sacrifice our lives for just creating data for the horoscope makers and the astrologers. How do we choose our right partner?

Let us all give it a thought till my next blog.....

Evolution Theory

2005-11-30T02:56:00.000+05:30

How often we dream about how our life partner will be? Each one of us has an idea of the nature of the person with whom you would lead a happy life. We all believe, we are the right judge when it comes to choosing your spouse. Yet in the past, people settled for arranged marriages. Ever thought why? Well I thought about it a lot. Here is my theory behind this.

In olden days, when people used to get married at a very young age, they didnt have much idea about what kind of life partner they want. So it was ideal for the elders to find a match for them. Thus came the tradition of arranged marriages. Elders, who have much more knowledge about the society in which we shall live, found the best life partner who could blend with the society. Girls from the same caste knew the traditions that are followed and could carry forward all the customs even at her in laws. A girl from the same caste suited the family in a better way and helped the man of the house in his profession. (Remember the society was divided into caste based on occupation.) Hence came the idea of marriages in the same caste.

This gives an idea of the evolution of customs and traditions and arranged marriages. Let us try to throw some light on why this evolution of society actually happened. Imagine a society, where there were no caste and religion. All that would have existed was the barbaric nature of animals. As people started thinking of living together, all that would have existed was love marriages. Everybody was free to live with whoever they want. It can be assumed that women being weaker were given lesser option and were more controlled by men. But with their seductive nature, women would have retained some amount of control over men. But sooner or later, people would have started creating their own ways of living. They would have identified their skills and the society started framing according to the occupation and skill set one has. As the society grew, people of different occupation started having different ways of living and communities were formed. Each community was assigned a specific purpose in the society. Each had its own life style and rituals.

Rituals are actually derived from our life styles. Apart from our daily routine, there are some activities for each community that they perform once in a year or sometimes once in a lifetime. These activities when continued in similar fashion for years it became what is known today as traditions. All traditions started with a purpose and were followed because people believed it has been created with some purpose. Nobody had the sense and sensibility to question their integrity. "Why such and such thing is performed?" So they believed in them assuming that those who created it would have sense to do so. Thus all traditions (which some of us may call superstitions) began to exist.

Rituals were different for different communities depending upon the amount of time and energy they could spend on that. With the rituals came religions. The first form of worship was that of Nature and there was only one religion. Everybody was afraid of Mother Nature and started worshipping it for their welfare. This was the birth of brahmins. Those who were extremely intellectual and had the power to decipher the forces of Nature were the first brahmins who came into existence. Their primary job was to understand the Nature and try to create ways to avoid the wrath of Nature. The brahmins after years of observations, devised means of worship (say functions) which when performed on certain days under certain circumstances started doing good for the mankind. This was the birth of science. Process of Observation and Experimentation in order to propose a theory of Sequence of Actions to be performed.

A few more words about Brahmins, as I am one of them. As mentioned earlier, the job of Brahmins was to work for the welfare of the society. They used to do 'tapasya' in the forests and mountains in order to understand the forces of Nature. From the 'tapasya' done in solitude, they started comprehending the strength of Nature and the celestial bodies. They used to observe the change of seasons with respect to the movement of stars and planes. This was later termed as astronomy. The Sages performed 'yagnas' and tried to create an atmosphere which was more enriched and free from germs. These 'yagnas' lay the foundation for mathematics (trigonometry, Arithematic, Number system) and chemistry (What is produced when few things are mixed). During the 'tapasya' the sages used to feed themselves with leaves and fruits available in the forest. Thus they started realising the medicinal effects of each of the trees and plants. They even experienced the difference in their health when they were amidst certain trees. These observations were translated to alchemy and hence medicine. And as a result of these 'tapasyas' the sages realised the Nature and encoded them into what are called Vedas. (This statement is an assumption by me. I dont have any proof for this)

Coming back to the process of evolution, each community had its own belief and started practicing it with more fervour. They knew that the beliefs they had were the best suited for their occupation as that was the prime motive of division of the society. Just as we devise new tools that will help in our job, the rituals and traditions were devised as tools. They were assumed as the basic tools needed to enhance your knowledge in the respective field and the tools needed for one's survival. So it was an evolution towards betterment that created caste/religion/beliefs etc. It created a structure for the society. Having said that traditions exist, the next step was the best way to preserve them. The only way to preserve the traditions were to imbibe them in their next generations right from childhood. When a child was born he was taught of the basics of the family occupation (as they would carry the genes and was proved from experience that they will surely excel in the same occupation) and the traditions to be followed. Children were moulded such that they remained within the boundations of their community and were made to marry within the community. This ensured that both bride and groom were aware of the traditions to be followed.

I am sure people would have tried marrying others during the initial stages of the development of the caste system. Some would have succeeded. But many of them failed as the need at that time was to enhance your skills in the occupation by following the traditions. So people started fearing marriages which are outside the community. Then laws were created to restrain people from marrying outside the community and from choosing an occupation other than their family occupation.

Now coming to how to choose a person within the community itself. There again came the proces of observation. People (especially brahmins who were the ones with best observation capabilities at that time) started noticing character of a person and started associating it with the time of birth. Time of birth was notes as the position of stars and the branch of astrology started. A pattern was identified with relative positions of stars, during the time of birth, and the nature of the person and the way his life turned out. This was dependent on the life style of the people. And from surveys it was found that people of nature X (born under the star A) lived happily and were successful with people of nature Y (born under the star B). So astrology started playing huge role in deciding the perfect couple. The match between the souls were captured in the pattern of stars. So what we now advocate about having matched minds was laid out as calculations. And people without even seeing each other before marriage were very happy living together after marriage. This was purely experimental and depended on the circumstances of living. Hence it was a probabilistic approach.

Thus the evolution theory described above establishes the fact that arranged marriage, within same caste, by the use of horoscopes is an inference from the experiments and survey done by people over millions of years. And as is well known in probability theory, the probability of success approaches the actual value if the experiment is conducted sufficiently large number of times. Hence in this case of marriages, the probability of success predicted by horoscopes should be sufficiently close to what will happen.
But we forgot one important point here. It is that the probability predicted by horoscopes is a conditional probability. ie. probability of success given that the life style remain the same.

So what should be done in modern times when the life styles have change?

Let us all think about it before deciding our future. How can we modify/use the existing theory of horoscopes in our present day life? What all additions/deletions to our traditions is needed to make this theory more predictable and make our own lives more happy and successful?

Maata Pita Guru Daivam

2005-11-07T22:06:00.000+05:30

"Maata Pita Guru Daivam"
Meaning mother father teacher are next to god. This was the sloka that Anoop once recited to me after coming from a tutorial class, of which he was a TA. He spoke eloquently of the aptness of the sloka. He was referring particularly about the inclusion of teacher in it along with mother and father.
What makes a teacher so great to be considered next to god? It is his ability to give knowledge in such a manner that the pupil understands. To ensure that the student gets what is being taught, requires a lot of hard work and patience. There are times in the class when the student acts adversely. He may be physically present but mentally absent. Or he may ask the teacher a question out of the blue which is not at all relevant to what is being taught at that moment. In such circumstances is the real test of a teacher. How he reacts to these situations?
On an average most of the teachers behave in an indifferent manner. They tend to neglect the student. These teachers are next to god only to those who attend the class carefully and are up-to-date in the subject, because they will understand each and every word that is being taught. And hence fulfil the basic necessity - comprehension of knowledge being imparted - of teacher-student relationship.
Few are the teachers who try to see the situation from a different angle. They realise that the absent-mindedness of the student is actually a mistake of their own. They try to change the style of teaching so that the class becomes interested in the topic, however boring it may be, whatever the time it is being taught. Such teachers require lot of patience and preparation to get the student in line with the flow in which the subject is being taught. These are the teachers who are actually next to god in true sense. And they are the same for all. They are liked by all. But they are few. Very few!!
There are teachers who react to the adverse situations in negative manner. They scold the student for not being attentive, make fun of the question being asked. Imagine the kind of feeling he generates in the minds of the student. How neglected he will feel? And how disinterested he will become towards the teacher as well as the subject. Such teachers are the ones who take up teaching as a profession because they didnt get anything else. Or because they thought it is the easiest thing to do - blabber, blabber and blabber. But luckily such teachers are also few. Very few!!

If you are thinking why I wrote such an essay on teachers, it is because of my meeting with one of my old teachers. When I informed him that I am doing PhD and want to opt for a teaching career, he was stunned. He actually got angry with me. He said "Why are you wasting your life by becoming a teacher?". Can you imagine a teacher saying this? Demotivating his student from becoming a teacher! All I remebered at that time was how wrong it is to say 'Maata Pita Guru Daivam'. How can such a teacher be put in that list of mother and father?

For all teachers I would say, Remember the sloka and assess yourselves how apt you are.

Vinayaka Chaturthi at Kumaon

2005-09-08T00:51:00.000+05:30

New Delhi 7th Sept: Today, vinayaka chaturthi was celebrated in full fervour and devotion in the common room of Kumaon Hostel at IIT Delhi. The puja started at 7.00 PM and was attended by devotees in large numbers. Famous personalities like Anoop and Girish took time from their busy schedules to attend the function and receive the blessings of Lord Ganesha on this auspicious day. The puja was conducted by a Brahmin from Andhra Pradesh, who was a first year M Tech student of the institute.

Vinayaka Chaturthi is a celebrated all over India on the chaturthi, 4th day after new moon in the month of Bhadrapada. This year the festival was celebrated at Kumaon Hostel in IIT Delhi. The decision of celebration was taken yesterday by a few enthusiastic research scholars from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. A collection of Rs 50/- per head was done among the PhDs and the arrangements of the idol, items for the puja, and the prasadam were made. The puja started at 7.00 PM in the Common Room. A few pundits from Andhra Pradesh performed the rituals of the puja. The puja was very elaborate. The story of Ganesha was recited in Telugu, as most of the devotees were from AP. There was a huge crowd in the end during the aarti and prasadam distribution. The organisers had managed the whole event very well. Another puja was also conducted in the house of the warden of Aravali hostel.-- PTI

On the roads

2005-05-01T20:01:00.000+05:30

At last after about 3 weeks of riding in the campus, yesterday I decided to take a chance on the roads. Depositing my phone bill, which W does every month, was just an excuse. Yesterday afternoon, I was dreaming about my bike ride which provided encouragement for the exercise. After getting equipped with Tapan's Helmet (made an STD call for getting it), I got onto the bike. W started thinking which gate would be easier. But I was determined to get out of IIT through the toughest gate, our hostel GATE. I braked the bike so hard at the gate to hand over the pass, that W was almost over me. The road ahead had started troubling me. Had the same kind of experience with the car too.

On getting into the traffic, I got the red light immediately. This has always been my nightmare on any vehicle. To start off smoothly at a red light. And as usual, I got the clutch-accelerator combination wrong and we were caught right in the middle of the road with horns blaring from behind. But couldnt do anything. The button start will not work and kicking with a nervous mind wont start the bike either. W told me to keep cool and I waited for the light to change to red again. This time all went fine and I was zooming through the road. Not quite!! It felt to me as if I was going at 70kmph. Actually the speedometer showed just above 50.

On the way back, had a close shave as I tried taking the bike in between two 4 wheelers. But the overall experience was morale boosting. And I am sure my cousin will have tough time when I will be in Palakkad. I am surely going to take possession of his Victor.

Rest of the story when I return from Kerala...

Himalayas Calling III

2005-04-03T23:52:00.000+05:30

Day 4, March 5th 2005
Getting up early in the morning had become a habit on this tour. All 4 of us got ready at 7.30, as if we were up for a 8 o'clock class of MJK. We had decided the earlier night that, we shall leave for chandigarh by the narrow gauge train in the afternoon. So we had the morning for local sight seeing. We planned to vacate the room at the dharmasala and keep the luggage at their reception. But the manager was very adamant about the rules - "Luggage cant be kept at the reception". So we decided to dump in our luggage at the cloak room of the shimla bus stand.
Then we got onto a local bus to Kufri. It is a small town some 9kms from shimla. It is famous for apple orchards and very good scenery. It has become a known tourist place because it is the place where one will find snow throughout the year. As expected the sight from the hill top in the morning sun was really picturesque. But we couldnt enjoy the snow. What will a few snow here and there enthuse us when we were coming from Manali and Solang Valley, that had knee deep snow. We didnt spend much time at Kufri and returned back to Maal Road. We roamed around basking in the sun which had become hotter.
At last, after an early lunch, we were at the station to catch the toy train from Shimla to Kalka. We caught a passenger train. The tickets are really cheap, Rs 20 for a 5hr journey. The train was punctual (unusual with Indian Railways). The journey is very relaxing as the train travels very slowly. The route is very beautiful with a lot of tunnels and bridges. We can see the roads below taking a long curve and travelling a lot of distance. The train just cuts through the hills. The total journey is 79kms by rail and 130kms by road. On the train we kept ourselves busy with playing cards. I had a slight head ache and slept for some time.
By the evening we were at Kalka railway station. Ankur had to return to Delhi on the same day as he was to go to Bhopal on the next day. So we had his ticket booked by Kalka Delhi mail. Now the group had reduced to 3, Raja, Khandu and myself. We left for Harsh's house in Mohali.

Day 5, March 6th 2005
The reception at Harsh's house was actually in the moring. Last night when we reached there it was late and hence Harsh ushered us to our beds. His parents gave us a very warm welcome and we had a very delicious Punjabi breakfast. Our tour plan was to cover a few sites in Chandigarh. We preferred homely food and got our lunch packed. Then off we went on Harsh's car (Maruti 800) to the Rock Garden. This is a huge place with a lot of crowd. I am not describing much as events are very evident from the large number of photos that we clicked here. Next we ventured to Sukhna Lake. The climate was getting hotter, but the cool breeze near the lake was pleasant. We went for a boating trip on the lake. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly with a few boat chases and a few beauties around. Afternoon sun was scorching and we found a shade quickly at our next destination, Rose Garden. We finished our lunch and did a quick tour of the roses. Then we had a few rounds of various Chandigarh markets and Punjab University. By evening we were back at Harsh's place and got our bags packed for the departure back to Delhi.
Our train was at midnight from Chandigarh station. All we remember of the train journey was the first 15min after we boarded the train. We were exhausted of the heat. Our eyes opened to the Delhi Rly station and within minutes we were back at our hostel rooms.

This trip was the longest of all the tours so far. The number of photos taken came to 400. Imagine this number without a digital camera!! Thanks to Raja for capturing the memories of this wonderful tour.

If you plan to make a trip to Manali, I would suggest you to do it at this time of year, when there is plenty of snow. Only disadvantage is that you cant visit Rohtang Pass, which is a very famous tourist place that opens only from May to August.

Thats all for now in the Himalayas Calling Series.
Next One in this series in October 2005.

Driving Again

2005-04-03T12:32:00.000+05:30

A promise made long back was fulfilled today. It was promise made by W, to teach me how to drive a bike, on the day I finished my car driving classes. Every time I tell him that I will ride the bike from the insti to hostel, he will say not now. We will start the classes on a weekend in the morning. Probably he cared about how he will go back to Noida, if the bike broke down. So no driving classes in the evenings. He also thought that I will take time to learn, so no driving classes when he was about to go back.

At last yesterday, when I had asked him twice the driver seat, he decided to come today morning and do the Sri Ganeshaya Namah. That is the first thing that a child is made to write on the Vidyaarambham day (Vijay Dashami). After an hour long morning walk around the campus with Su and W, I was bade Best of Luck by Su and I was handed over the key. Learning how to get the bike moving on 1st gear, took me exactly 8 restarts. The problem always was Less Accelerator. Seeing W's resistance to sit behind me on the first lesson, I got a little nervous. I was keeping the accelerator a little on the lower side so that the bike doesnt jump when I leave the clutch suddenly. I had enough experience with jumping the scooter.

Eight retakes was too much that I could tolerate and that had reduced my confidence. So I asked W to sit behind me and get the bike moving. He promptly did so. I remembered my dad teaching me how to write by holding my hand in his. Once the bike was in motion it was all easier. The clutch is not that big a problem and we reached safely at Kumaon Hostel. That boosted my courage and I took the bike again alone. This time 3 restarts but in the end I was successful in overcoming the static friction. Probably the friction was the fear in my mind. I went a ride around in the campus and to my surprise one of the students asked me for a lift. I politely refused him saying I am learning.

Then after breakfast, I again took the bike and gave W a ride from Kumaon to Insti and this time no help from the guru. Just a few tips and tricks of when to change gears and when to apply the clutch.

That was your driver driving again....

Himalayas Calling II

2005-04-03T11:27:00.000+05:30

Day 2, March 3rd 2005
After an eventful day and a sound sleep at night, we were ready at 8 am for the next destination, Solang Valley. The place was closed for tourists and no taxis were allowed. Fortunately we negotiated with a driver and convinced him to come. At the check post of Nehru Kund, we made excuses to the Indian Army that we are not here for sight seeing. "We are going to meet our family friend in a village nearby". That was the excuse that worked. Reaching the village, we spotted a shop for snow dresses. We had our jeans soaked in ice the previous day. So we planned to take the full snow dress kit - boot, gloves and a fur coat. During seasons, a set will cost you around Rs 200. After a bargain, we got 5 pieces for 300 bucks.

Solang was 3 kms from the village (Palchang). A walk along the road was the only option. The road was fully covered with snow and no vehicle would take us there. The view all around us was completely white. All the beauty of nature was captured in our memories and in photographs for others. There was snow as far as your eye can see. Beas was flowing below as a narrow stream. After walking for about half an hour, we reached the valley. I expected a place similar to the valley of flowers. But this was nowhere close to it. It was a much smaller valley with a few hotels and shops scattered here and there.

Catching the first sign of a Wine shop, Harsh rushed to get a bottle of beer which was chilled by burying in the snow. Sun had come out of the clouds and the morning mist was cleared. The climb had compelled us to take off our winter clothing. And then came the idea of clicking a few photographs like the heros of Hindi movies. Remember the song (Yeh Haseen Vaadiyaan) sequences of Roja. But again for us only heros and no heroines around. :-(

Marching a few more metres ahead we reached a location which seemed like a venue of winter games. Skiing and Board Skating on a hill. There were people, young and old, practicing skiing. All were students of an institute, we came to know later. Gaining enthuciasm from the kids, we hired skiies, after a lot of bargain, and started moving around. Raja was an expert and was at ease. Balancing on a ski is a difficult task. It seems elegant for an onlooker, but you feel the fear of falling once you have them on your feet. The body weight has to be kept just above the boots. The instructor mentioned all these and then we were left among the experts who were skiing there. Raja and Harsh learnt quickly and even managed a race from the top of the slopes. Ankur and Girraj were the worst, with chotu falling a lot. All of us had a laugh at various poses in which he fell (forward, backwards, sideways...).

After skiing for an hour, we trekked back to Palchang, handed over our snow dresses. Waiting for a cab, we did sight seeing of some couples. One of the ladies was really gorgeous. Seeing her get into a car with Chandigarh registration, we made plans to visit the place. That is how chandigarh got into our itinerary. Luckily we also got a cab back to Manali. Our next destination was Manikaran.

Manikaran was a holy place for Sikhs. We had heard about hot water springs there from a lot of people. There was a gurudwara which provided good accomodation and food. Reaching Manikaran was easy from Manali. Got a Himachal Transport bus from Manali to Bhunter, and a local bus from Bhunter to Manikaran. We reached our destination at late evening and it was pretty dark to enjoy the view of the surroundings. Got ourselves a nice room in the gurudwara, had dinner from the langar, attended the puja (the first time for me), planned for the next day and had a sound sleep.

Day 3, March 4th 2005
Next day morning brought freshness to our spirits. All of us were up and ready by around 6.00 am. Wandering around the place we found out a hot cave and a few tanks which collected water from the hot water springs. Hot cave was a place surrounded by hot water and was really cosy. At the hot water tanks, we noticed women sitting around with strings dipped in the water. From a distance it seemed like fishing. But as we came closer we were surprised to see small cloth bags (kizhi in Malayalam) tied to the ends of the strings. Asking them about what it is, we got a reply that they were cooking. Firing them with a few more questions we learnt that all food in the gurudwara was cooked in the hot water coming from the springs. Rice, pulses, vegetables etc were put in a conatainer full of hot water. Even rotis were rolled and put in hot water and they would float once they are cooked.

After experiencing the wonders at the hot water springs we had our backpacks ready to move to Shimla. It was a long bus journey, most of which we spent in playing cards. 4 of us played and the 5th one was supposed to take photographs of the scenery around. By late evening we were at Shimla. Mall Road of Shimla was famous for Maal rather than Mall. Soon we took room in a cheap dharmasala and were on the Maal Road. As the weather was chilly in the evenings, we didnt have much luck with the Maal. Depressed, we had heavy dinner at a dhaba. After making all arrangements with him Harsh for our trip to his place (Chandigarh) we sent him off in a night bus. Back at the dharmasala at 10.00 pm we played cards again for some time.

Next two days of trip to come in next blog.
Keep Waiting.

Himalayas Calling

2005-03-13T02:00:00.000+05:30

Few more mountains captured in memories!!! Visit to the Himalayas continues with a trip to Manali and Shimla. All the planning was perfect this time. Nice climate. Nice timing. Nice arrangements. Nice company. (Doesnt mean that earlier company was not nice). But it was a all boys trip which has its own privileges and advantages. All mischieves!!! (Do I need to elaborate?)

Here is how it goes

Members: Raja, Ankur, Girraj, Harsh and VG (me)
Places: Manali - Nehru Kund (Snow Point), Solang Valley
Shimla - Mall Road, Kufri
Extra and unplanned Chandigarh - Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Rose garden, Sec 17 market

Just a background on the planning.
A trip was due for a long time. Planned the trip to be after our mid-sem presentations (Feb 26th). Arrangements of stay was made at PNB guest house at Manali (Coutsey - Harsh Dhand). Thrilled to go on 1st March after the LP workshop ( I couldnt miss that.. I was the volunteer.. How can u expect JD to leave me on a vacation when an event is being organised by him..) All of a sudden 2 colleagues go on leave. Presentations to be postponed. When?? All I had to do was run around and meet all the professors get a date fixed ( March 10th ). Or else trip will be cancelled. At last all professors convinced and trip again came into being. REBORN.

On 1st of March 2005, morning Raja books 5 tickets to Manali by a private tour operator. 450 bucks. Pretty reasonable for a 16 hrs trip. Alas!! The bus was a 2x2 seater. So who will sit on the 5th seat. Along with a stranger. All of us fight for that seat. "Agar ladki hogi to mein baitunga", was a common comment. Bus scheduled for departure at 6.00pm from Connaught Place. Being punctual, we reached there at 5.30. Made a quick visit to nearby market. Saw some good chics, had a softy from McD, and back on time for the bus. Enthusiasm gained for the lonely seat. Rushed with our bags towards the bus to capture the seat first. To the disappointment of Raja, the last one to enter, he was to spend a night with a stranger. A guy!! But with his tricks, he somehow captured another seat and I was pushed to the hot seat. At last settled and JET SET GO. Begins the journey of laughter and enjoyment.

All of us got a new nickname. Raja - Papa, Ankur - Mummy, VG - 1st son, Harsh - 2nd son and Girraj - Chotu. And the whole family on a vacation. Suddenly Ankur has an idea that we will be going through Punjab, and should speak only Punjabi. And hence, every sentence will start with Paaji ( brother ) and all nouns will be repeated twice ( Pani - wani, Roti - shoti ). Fed up with the Punjabi, all started relaxing. Papa Mummy discussing the pros and cons of flirting and attraction to the fairer sex. I dont know what made them start and what was the end. I was busy dozing off, I had put a night out the day before. Got down at some dhaba for dinner. Saw a few MADAMMAs in a volvo, cursed Raja for booking in a cheap bus instead of the volvo, went around them, and then back to sleep.

Day 1, March 2nd 2005
With the break of dawn, we had reached the foothills of Himalayas. Twists and turns of the road. Cold atmosphere of the mornings. We had stopped for a tea. I was the first to get up and wake up all. "Abe kitna sote ho tum log". As the journey uphill began, we remembered a precious thing that we had. A DIGITAL CAMERA. What else do we need on that morning as we climb the hill along the river Beas. Got to the window seat and there goes a series of shoots. To be honest, none of them were anywhere close to the perfection of MC and Su. But managed some good pics. Snow capped mountains, Winding river, pine forests, leaf-less apple and plum orchards, morning sky, road and tunnels... After all this we reach Manali after passing through Kullu.
As I had mentioned the stay was arranged in PNB guest house. It was a two room suite, pretty luxurious by our standards. After refreshing ourselves with a quick bath, in that cold weather, we set out for the snow capped mountains which loomed in front of us. Getting a share taxi in Manali is a nightmare. All the tourists being couples, taxis had a decent time there. Couples preferred taxis but for us, that was an expensive affarir. So we decided to trek along the road to the snow point (Nehru Kund) which was about 9 kms from the town. After walking for a kilometre, we thought of asking for a lift to the destination. The first vehicle that came along was a tractor and we jumped onto the trailer attached to its end. It was my first ride on a tractor. It is horribly jerky and one would feel really uncomfortable to travel on it even for an emergency. But that being a maiden ride for me made it enjoying.
Nearing the snow point, we had already spotted snow on the road sides. Expecting knee deep snow, we hired snow boots to protect our shoes. Snow Point is the highest place open for tourists due to fear of land slides. It was overcrowded with honeymoon couples enjoying skiing, snow biking, slides on the slopes, and posing for photographs. It was a sight of envy for all of us for not having a girl friend along with us. We posed for a few photographs, played with snow and had sight seeing (watching beautiful ladies) and got bored pretty soon. At the sight of a steep hill, myself and Khandu had an idea of climbing over to the top.

The hill was fully covered with soft snow. Each of us had to watch our steps to avoid falling into pits. Khandu and myself took lead along a faint trail of some predecessor. The final quarter of the climb was difficult. No trail ahead. No idea where the snow will be hard to step on. I took a route and asked Raja to take another. Unfortunately Raja was on a wrong track and got himself in a bad position, snow upto his waist. Somehow he managed to pull himself up and come back on the right track to the top. That was not the end of the adventure. After climbing down from the hill, with a few sliding, we marched ahead for a trek along the river Beas. We were determined to cross the river and a search for a suitable place, narrow enough to jump, began. Walking upstream for about half a kilometer, we reached a make-shift bridge made up of a dilapidated wooden plank. Crossing the river was the least part of the adventure. After that where to go and how to get onto the road became our next goal. A road and a few houses was visible on a plateau.

The stretch that separated us and the road was partially covered with snow and stones jutted out at various places. Trotting on snow was dangerous because of crevices between rocks. Raja being light-weighted took the path through snow. I took the advantage of long legs to jump from one rock to another and find my way. The rest followed either one of us, which ever path they felt the easiest. To add to the trouble, a drizzle had started pouring. At first site, it seemed to be a snowfall but then we had to make a run as it was raining. Luckily it stopped after some time. After a long trek for 2 hrs we finally hit the road and were back to the town into the cosy hotel room. The day ended with a heavy dinner and a few enquiries about the next place to visit.

Stopping for a moment.
To be continued....

Driver at your service

2005-02-20T13:00:00.000+05:30

Congratulations!! Now you have got a new driver. A person you can trust giving the stearing of your brand new Merc. Here is how your driver got trained.

Have a sound theoretical knowledge of driving. Thanks to all the drivers alongside whom I have travelled a lot of kms on various journeys. Knew when to change gears, when to slow down, .... Had been thinking of learning to drive from the time when I was 18 yrs old. The age, because my father was very particular abt letting me drive only when I am of the right age to get the license. So when I was 18, my dad got me a driving license. Which means license to learn driving.

Thought of joining a driving school from my B Tech 2nd year but probably now was the right time. Got the number of a driving school from one of their car-top. SATIJA Driving School 26192178. That is for somebody who wants to learn driving in Delhi. Also had Gaurav Raja to accompany me in this new venture. A secret. I never wanted to learn driving alone. I dont know why!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very thrilled as I would be driving a car through the busy roads of south delhi. But all the thrill ended when I went for a try on the first day. It is all so easy. Later came to know that it was all EASY because the coach was handling it from his end. After the first class, had a pretty steady stearing and a good road sense from my side (whenever car goes to the left and about to brush on the sides of nearby vehicle, tutor will turn the strearing). Still gear and clutch combination not very good. Everytime I try to change from neutral to 1st gear, the car goes off. Reason - not enough acceleration.

My driving style is in total contrast with Raja's. I drive so slow that accelator is never sufficient and he puts his feet on the accelarator so heavily that he is always above 40kmph. Day after day, with practice through the traffic with lot of red-yellow-green bulbs flashing on the streets, stop and go at each signal, and a few U turns taught me how to control the clutch and the accelerator from neutral to 1st.

Next comes the problem of taking turns and reverse gear. After the 4th day I felt that the practice is ok on the main roads with traffic, but there are so many flyovers in south delhi that you dont have to take sharp turns. So took a venture in to the galees of R K Puram. Didnt know where I was driving through but took left and right turns randomly. Result - Reached a dead end on a road. WOW. Now I could change to reverse gear and back the car to a long distance back to the previous turn. That is really difficult to balance the stearing and get the car into the right direction. I was imagining how easy it is ride a cycle. Just get down, pick up the cycle and reverse it.

Now something about my driving partner RAJA. With the word GO, he shifts to 1st 2nd 3rd gear in 60 seconds. Never brakes before he is within a few metres of the man crossing the road. And almost always overruns the traffic lights. A regular quote of the coach to him - "itne jaldi mein kyon ho. tez chalane se kuch nahi seekhoge".

After day 6, we had had enough of driving during day. So asked for a try at night. And the training ended with a Rs 101/- as a token of gurudakshina. Though this was asked on the first day even before start of the training.

Another interesting incident happened during the classes. Had a discussion on the coach about the payment procedures. Result - Made a deal with the coach to train Ankur Gupta for 900 bucks though we pay 1200 bucks to the owner of the driving school....... Will have a party from Ankur soon.

Ankur Gupta another rash driver. Never takes his foot off the accelerator. Uses the left feet to brake the car. And the stearing never straight. But that was only after 2 classes. Hope he improves faster. Today he gave us the news that he had successfully created an accident scene. What happened? Braked suddenly and the two-wheeler behind him collided onto the back of the car. Few headlights crashed. Nothing else.

Thats how your driver was polished in 7 days spanning a whole month.

One fine morning

2005-02-01T21:00:00.000+05:30

Today was a day that I was looking for, for the past one month. Without anybody to wake me up, and without classes at 8, morning was something that I saw before going to bed. After loads of night outs and record breaking hours of sleep, I searched for a day to put my routine in reverse gear. On a fine morning as today I couldnt resist myself getting up at 6.30, to watch the sun rise on a clear morning sky without any fog.

Let this bring a .......................... to my daily routine.
So many words can be put into the above blank. But I dont want to define it with a few...