2010

As I sit and write this blog, 2010 is fast approaching with lots of hope and optimism both for me and my dear ones. 2009 was a mixed bag for me. Good thing is made some progress in professional front but bad thing is lost few people in personal front.

Highs of 2009.

1. First year birthday celebration of my nephew. Its a great feeling to see a kid doing things for first time. It may either be first time when he walks or first time when he calls you MAMA.

2. Lots of Travelling. Trip to Hogenakal, Hampi, Mysore and Jog.

3. Made some good friends both in professional and personal front.

4. Couple of people in my inner circle showed some courage and decided to get married and settle down. I am very happy for both of you.

5. My first big investment. Hope it will give good returns in long run.

Lows of 2009.

1. Lost couple of people very close to me.

2. No hike in Salary. Thank god recession is gone.

So here I am looking forward to 2010 with lots of expectations and hope.

My new year resolutions:

1. I will reduce my weight by 5kg by next march. I know this is a impossible task, but no one cares about new year resolutions.

2. Try and win back friendship of lost friends.

3. Plan for a trip to Goa and trek to Himalayas.

4. Convince my mom that I am still not ready for marriage.

I wish all of you a rocking year ahead.

Two States...

So after 5 point someone, 1 night at call center and 3rd mistake of his life, Chetan has come with this new book 2 states. Front cover of book has a map of punjab with a boy in it and a map of TN with a girl in it. So I am sure now we can guess the whole story. Punjabi Munda in love with a TN girl. He is really brave enough to claim that story is his own marriage story in front cover of book.

This book is far better than 1 night at call center and 3rd mistake of his life. So people who became his fan after 5 point someone and got heavily disappointed with his other two works and decided not to read any of his books, 2 states is a come back.

Chetan is a good story teller. But he is at his best when story is related to him. He would have seen all characters and incidents in real life. Both 5 point someone and 2 states are his real life stories. Its always easy to tell a story which has really happened and which we have seen. In fact its quite impossible to write a complete fiction. Even in a book which claims to be complete fiction, will have Most of the characters inspired from real life people.

Must read for people who had been to chennai cause he has done a great job in describing life in chennai and mentality of tamil people.

WHO, WHEN and WHERE.....

These days bit busy on weekdays. But I end up being more busy on weekends also. I had attended a engagement last weekend and have to attend one more this weekend. Both arranged marriages. Sometimes i really feel weird about the marriage process in India.

In US culture, couple will start a relationship as friends and then they will date for years. After doing everything and knowing each other very well they end up deciding on marriage. Even after knowing each other well and being so extra careful in their decisions they end up getting divorced couple of years later.

But in India, Boy meets a girl for half an hour ( If they are lucky and their parents are liberal, then they will get some time together..). After analyzing all the data that he/she has collected in that half an hour of their meeting, he is expected to take a decision in no more than one day. They will not get a chance to see each other till engagement is over. So its nothing less than deciding to spend your life with a stranger. Whole process looks so weird. But Guess what, India has least number of divorces. Also according to some international survey, Indians are most satisfied with their Married life.

I can remember a suggestion from a relative. Marriage is just a compromise, More compromises we are ready to make, More happily and peacefully we can live.

Deciding to get married with someone will be the toughest decision in anyone's life. For people who are in love, "WHO" will be obvious. They have to just decide on "WHEN" and "WHERE". For rest of us, this big question will always be there. WHO? And the Hunt will be always ON.

Some weird feelings...

That weird feeling came today as well. While shopping in a mall today, I suddenly felt that whatever is happening has happened before ( Even though I don't remember when that has happened ). For a while I felt someone has pressed a rewind button in my life and things are happening again. Then I tried to think of what's going to happen next ? Just felt that will get to see a girl with yellow top round the corner ( Its true that I always feel like getting to see a girl round the corner ). Guess what? There she was. But only difference is that she was wearing a pink top :(

I don't know whether everyone around me have that weird power to get such feelings. But its true that I had been through this many number of times. Sometimes I wonder has this thing happened before or its just that I knew the future.

Nothing much happening in life these days. Working like donkey for 5 days and then sleeping for remaining two days. Just finished with movie 9/11 Fahrenheit. Double thumbs up for director michael moore. Its just a documentary about bush's administration. I did not knew that Bush was on vacation for 42% of time as a president till 9/11. Must watch for all.

Serendipity - A Fortunate Accident...

You might be thinking how can a accident be fortunate? Actually we Indians have got used to term "accident" in a negative sense. But don't you think sometimes we "accidentally" run into a old friend. Sometimes "accidentally" find a very old snap in our room. Sometimes "accidentally" we do something which really touches our loved ones. So there are lot of other contexts for this term "accident" other than a road accident, where few people die and rest get stuck in a traffic jam for hours.

This whole life is a series of accidents. Both good and bad. Now only time will tell whether meeting you turns out to be a serendipity or just one more accident.

Some snaps...

Why I write this blog???

"Why i write this blog"? This is one thought that has crossed my mind many number of times. Sometimes i feel all these blog is such a big waste of time.There should be really good thinking, a central idea or a thought process to write good blog. Or else I have to write about all the crap things i am doing to pass my life.But most of my blogs lack all of these. But still I cant help it. I cant stay away from writing this. Sorry i end up wasting both my time as well as others.

For all these waste of time first of all i have to blame deepu for inspiring me indirectly to write blogs. First time i felt about writing my own blog is when i read his blogs. I have read many other blogs, but his were very different and more interesting.

Then I started writing my own blog and I really enjoyed it. There are few good reasons behind me liking this blog very much. Blogs are like human beings. You can talk with your blog( Only thing is, its one way communication). I can tell any thing to this blog and he will never question me back. He listens very quitely to all the stuffs that I have to say. He will never come back to me giving suggestions and advices. You will verey rarely find a human being with a tendency to sit and listen to your words without asking any questions . So i like this thing.

Then response I got from outside world about my blog was bit disappointing. Then slowly I felt that there is no point in writing this thing as other people are too busy in their own lives. Then i decided that i will quit. I can remember a small talk given by my hostel mate Dr. Nagu some years back.

He told me that Identity Crisis is a very dangerous thing. Each and everyone will try their best to get identified and appreciated by others. Why Cant a singer listen to his own song and feel happy about it. Why he always expect others to come to him and appreciate his singing. And if he does not find enough people to appreciate his singing. He will be disappointed. Thats Identity crisis. Life would have been better for him if he can listen to his own songs and decide whether he is a good singer or bad singer. No point in listening to other's input.

So here I am, back again, writing for myself and not for others. And i really love talking to this blog, cause he never questions me back.

Nitin

Human Body is just a Embedded System..

This article is written by a embedded engineer who was pathetic in biology, all his student life. Even today I get nightmares when i hear terms like zoology, homo sapiens and killing cockroaches just to check whats there inside. I dont understand the need to call it "Rosa bracteata" when we can do with a simple four lettered word Rose.

I was always amazed to see so many similarities between human body and embedded systems. The more i know about embedded systems, the more they resemble to a human body. Now the whole idea is to see a human body in a embedded engineer's perception.

Let me introduce you to the engineer who designed this system ( When I say "system" here, I always mean human body..). People call him GOD. I like this word "GOD". It sounds so secular. He can be either Rama, Krishna, Allah or Jesus.God can be anything and he can be anyone. ಸರ್ವಶಕ್ತ and ಸರ್ವವ್ಯಾಪಿ ( Omnipotent and OmniPresent). Here i prefer to take nature as God, or i should say the rules and laws that define the working of nature as God. Lets go back to main topic.

Human body is a embedded system with a very fast computing single processor and nine input/output peripherals. Now this single processor called as brain is tightly connected with all parts of system with super fast cables called as nerves for data communication. Out of Nine I/O interfaces, Two are used only for output ( Actually one of this output interface is used in dual function mode. I may call it as SLEEP mode and STAND mode ... ;) ). Remaining seven interfaces are tied to four different types of sensors (I can see, smell, taste and hear cause of that).

Sleep condition : Usually this is a state where system activity will be very less. So system will disable its inputs and outputs, reduce clock frequency and reduce power consumption. In this system it almost disables all four sensors and definitely reduces our thinking capacity. If i am not wrong, then sleep state will also be used to mange our memory segments (I read this information somewhere...). So its like mandatory to go into sleep mode for atleast 6 hours everyday. Someone without sleep will die sooner than somone else without food.

The whole system will be enclosed inside a protective layer called skin which will be covered with a layer of sensors. These sensors will give information about outside world and saves system from any external threat. If their is any attack on system ( like cold, fire, cut, some insect bite etc..) then these sensors will pass that information to processor. Thus this protects system from outside world. But these sensors will have low priority interrupts ( It always takes some time to feel something.. If i put my hand inside fire just for a fraction of second, then i will not feel heat.. so i guess these sensors have low priority interrupts.)

Now lets talk about power. We need uninterrupted energy to run this system. This is a must as we dont'a have concept of RESET or RESTART ( How about someone telling, " Hey, I cant see things properly, My Vision drivers have crashed,Let me Restart myself".. We cant do that. This is not some Windows machine..) We don't have batteries which can run for 70-100 years and changing batteries is very impractical. So we will not be able to use batteries ( Thank god there are no batteries. What if someone comes and removes my battery and i will be dead in no time..). I cant even imagine plugging human body to a external power supply for couple of hours everyday ( Imagine someone saying " My body battery is very low... can you charge me a bit :)"). So god came up with this wonderful idea of having a power generation unit. Yes we have one of finest power generation unit inside us ( Power generation unit that does not pollute nature...) . So now we can run this system for any amount of time by just giving fuel in form of food everyday. This food will be burnt inside us to convert into energy which will be supplied to all parts of body and we have provision to store excess fuel in form of fats. I have lot of excess fuel stored in my belly :). I think no engineer ever thought of having a power generation unit inside embedded system with only purpose of supplying uninterrupted energy to embedded system. What An Idea SirJi ?

In this system all energy or fuel will be passed to various body parts through a liquid medium called blood.He has a very complicated internal pipe network to take this liquid to every part of system and to get it back ( Arteries and Veins..). There is a central pumping unit called heart which makes this liquid to travel everywhere. There will be a system collapse when this pumping unit fails. According to Indian law, " A person's Death should only be confirmed by making sure that his heart has stopped working..".

We have a fantastic memory management unit which runs garbage collect utility every second ( garbage collect utility deletes data and frees all memory which we might not use in future..). Thus it deletes thousands of memory cells and makes us to forget things which we might not use. ( For Aamir Khan in Ghajni it was deleting useful data as well...). As the system is expected to run on an average for 70 years (Some times 100 years as well.. ) nature has made sure that this memory management works properly. Its good that we forget few things. But problem is we forget good things and end up remembering bad things. It is said that we use only 5% of our memory, Remaining 95% will always be free. May be its just because memory management unit and processor can handle only 5 % of memory usage. So this MMU keeps deleting all information to make sure that memory usage is less than 5%. I can always explain about my first meeting with her, almost two years ago, in minute details, but cant remember much about things that i did two weeks back. This is because, My Memory management Unit knows very well about things which it is supposed to delete and other important things which it has to conserve in permanent storage for a very long time.

Interesting thing is god has created two different versions of this system Male and Female. ( Now don't ask me which is version 1.0? because in embedded whenever system fails, we call it version 1.0 and then move on.. :) ). I should say Male as version 1.0. Because in Version 2.0 God has included one more important module, Reproduction module ( Though version 1.0 has activation code for reproduction module.. God is such a Genius..Best hardware and firmware engineer) . Version 1.0 is very strong, designed to do hard work and take tough decisions . Version 2.0 is very delicate and breaks down emotionally quite often. Both are similar systems designed to do two different sort of things. Things will work out only when both versions stay and work together helping each other. That's the foundation base of our society structure.

Usually we will have a large manufacturing firm to build millions of similar embedded systems. Again this is very impractial. Imagine having something like " Reliance human body manufacturers" ( I believe reliance is in to all sectors except this..). So god gave system this power to copy itself or in exact terms "to produce a similar system". A system which has power to produce a similar system with some initial cooperation from another system. Again What an Idea SirJi.

After writing all these things i am getting a feeling that we can apply all laws of embedded systems with human body. But we cannot explain a human body only w.r.t embedded system. Its much more complicated than that. Actually we need lot more other things to explain it, and there are few things which we may never be able to explain. We can never explain how a child in his mother's womb suddenly starts moving by getting so called life.( For Initial 8 weeks child in womb will be still, but after that suddenly it starts moving to show the whole world that it has got life..I was really thrilled when i read this information..).

Human body is just a material hardware with sufficient provision to enclose a life in it. We can do a lot of research on this human body as a material. But we cant explain what brings life in that and what makes it to die. Life and Death are the two things that we might not be able to explain.So lets not bother much about that. Feel good to be enclosed inside one of the best designs of nature - HUMAN BODY.

Nitin

Completed three years in this industry..

YES. This month i will be completing three years in this industry.

I can still remember my first day in mindtree. I was completely clueless about the work that i am supposed to do in mindtree. I always used to wonder about the work that we need to do, to get such a nice pay ( Yes three years back I was in a illusion that Mindtree is giving me a nice package). Then in first week I figured it out that we have to do coding and I did not knew any computer languages. I just knew C in bits and pieces which i studied in my first Sem. Most of other people who joined mindtree with me were like experts in multiple languages. That's when I realized that I am neither fit for this industry, nor well prepared enough to work in a company. May be my mentor figured it out that i will never be able to learn anything other than C(Even after three years i know only one language - C ). So after two months of C training and some good C results I landed in Mindtree Bluetooth Research team.

First couple of months was horrible and I used to get some nice scolding. All my variable names will be like a,b,c...z and I used to have all magic numbers in my code. Then my PM asked me to stop coding. He wanted me to go through the code of some already implemented application for a week. Then i came to know that coding in a certain style is as important as making sure that there are no bugs. At that time i wanted to be a expert in bluetooth. But soon i realized that its a dying technology( And we were not able to market our BT IP as well..).

After getting a release from BT, I got a chance to work in USB driver. Project was to port whole USB from Linux to Nucleus RTOS ( I know thats illegal to port code from a open source, but we were doing that to build expertise in both USB and Nucleus RTOS). As soon as that project got over I knew it was time for a jump. By that time I was pretty comfortable with embedded systems and had worked with 3 processors and had knowledge of both bluetooth and USB. I had also designed and implemented bootloader for couple of boards in ARM.

Things I have gained in Mindtree :
1. Most ideal company to start off my career.
2. Mindtree is the company which gave a direction to my career and made me a embedded engineer. Thanks to my mentor who thought that i cannot do programming in any language, other than C.
3. Company culture is one of the best in industry and got a chance to learn more about industry.
4. Mindtree went public and gave me a chance to make some money as well.
5. Got a chance to learn two important technologies there, Blue tooth and USB.
6. Met some wonderful people in form of my mentors, colleagues and project managers.
7. Got to see some nice, good looking and cute girls everyday :)

Things i have lost in Mindtree:
1. Mindtree is like government company. People don't have that spark and commitment to excel.
2. I am a very complacent and lazy guy. Mindtree ideology made me more complacent and lazy.
3. Pay Sucks.

With time, I was becoming more and more complacent and desperate in mindtree. Then came to know that symphony is looking for a embedded guy who has some experience in USB and Bootloader. They selected me in just one round of interview. Two days after that some bank in USA went bankrupt, marking the beginning of recession and all companies including symphony stopped hiring.

In last eight months, i have learned more things in Symphony than what i have learned in two years in mindtree. Even though the project was small ( It was a bar code scanner that we see in all shopping malls), it was like working from scratch. Developing something from end to end. Starting from requirements, design and implementation. Best part of the project is that there were only three people to do this and it was mandatory for all three people to know and understand each and every module.

I feel kind of weird to call myself a software engineer, because i never implemented application that runs on a actual system (apart from some modifications in USB driver code in Windows). May be I can be called as a firmware engineer or semi hardware engineer. Most of the code that I have developed are running on small embedded devices.

Things I have gained from this industry in three years..

1. Satisfaction in work. I never thought much about my career. Its just that things came up and I accepted all of them. Today i am very glad with whatever i am doing. Life is like a running stream. Sometimes its better not to struggle much and just flow with the stream.

2. Financial stability. Not need to think much while spending. You always feel good when you know that there is some money in your pocket.

3. Five days a week. So lot of time to do things which i love the most. Like traveling, reading, eating and sleeping ( playing cricket some times..). Best part of my career is that i had never been to office on weekends.

The only bad thing about being a embedded engineer is that there is no on site opportunities. The best on site I might get in my career is either a week in korea for requirement gathering or a week in Singapore for customer demo. But anyhow on site is not in my priority list. So i can do without that.

Sad part is that In last three years i have lost lot of hair and gained lot of weight because of this industry.

Nitin

ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ...ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ

It was raining that evening. It has not rained in Bangalore for few months now and we don't expect it to rain in month of April as well. But on that evening it was raining. I don't know, whenever i have a plan to meet you, it starts raining. Eventually spoiling all plans and preparations and making me to re plan whole stuff again dynamically. I think the rain god don't want to leave us alone. He just comes in whenever you are with me. Usually in movies when girl meets a boy, it happens that sun or moon will come out, flowers will bloom, wind will blow, nice music in background etc ( Only in recent kannada movies it rains as well.. like mungaru male..). But in my case definitely it rains. Not only it rains, it rains very heavily.

Its not that often I get a chance to meet you and spend some time with you. Most of the time i will come to know about your availability in Bangalore only a few hours before. Still i try my best to plan the whole evening on such a short notice. I make sure that i plan it such a way that, I show you all the beautiful things in and around and buy you a plate of Gobi Manchurian and Masala Puri. I am sure you will not get Gobi and chats in your place.

Whenever i see something beautiful or Whenever I eat something delicious, first thought that crosses my mind is, you should have been with me to see this beautiful thing or to eat this delicious stuff. So i just make a note in my mind to get you here, next time when you are in Bangalore. These small notes are getting piled up in my mind. So when are you coming here?

It was raining that evening. I just went through all the places in my mind to select the best and then plan the evening. Everything was on track till this rain started. Now i have to re plan few things. Don't Worry. It does not matter how bad it rains, I will take you to Malleshwaram and will buy you a plate of Gobi and Masala puri. After finishing our dinner plan, Rain got very worse. Looks like this rain god is very angry with me for disrespecting him by going ahead with my malleshwaram eating plan. By the time that evening got over, with me wishing Good night to you, we were both completely wet. I think now the Rain god is happy. That's the last time i saw you, with rain drops falling from your hair and face. That's the last time i wished you Good-Night.

After that it has not rained in Bangalore. Now the Monsoon is also getting over, But No signs of Rain. Every day I sit outside my balcony and hope that it will rain again, like that evening and we will meet. It seems Rain god is still laughing at me. Oh Rain God, You Cant kill my hope. I am sure it will rain one fine evening.

ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ
ಅಷ್ಟು ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಬಾರದಿರು , ನನ್ನ ನಲ್ಲೆ ಬರಲಾಗದಂತೆ
ಅವಳಿಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದೊಡನೆ , ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ
ಹಿಂತಿರುಗಿ ಹೋಗದಂತೆ .. ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರಿಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ
ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ

Few people started inquiring me about this blog. So let me make it clear, Its just a fiction inspired from those four lines of kannada song.

Nitin

Moments of life..

There is a scene in movie "Bluffmaster", where junior bachan comes to know that he is going to die. Baman tells him that he has very limited time. We have lived so many moments in our life time but when we look back there will be very few which we will never be able to forget. Baman asks AB to live those moments again. That scene really made me think about myself. How many moments are there in my life that i will never forget. Well so many things passed my mind in a second. Well Lets make a list then.

First time when i saw my nephew, Aditya. He was just couple of days old and was looking like a lump of flesh, completely red and used to sleep for 90% of day. Still he looked so cute. I was waiting next to his bed till he opens his eyes and sees his uncle. While waiting their i observed this thing. Sometimes suddenly he used to smile in his sleep and some other time he used to cry. My amma told me that as these kids have no other thing to do, so god gave them lot of sleep. In their sleep God tells them something good, so they will smile. I just gave a weird look at my mom and told that, " I really appreciate that imagination of god telling something good and making small kids smile in their sleep".






At last he woke up and i got a chance to hold him in my hands. I was wondering what can a child which is just two days old, can think in it's small tiny brain ( He has to think something as our brain never stops..). With no previous memory ( I am sure in 2 days not many memory cells would have been filled..) entering into a completely new world, just to find few weird creatures holding them and smiling at them and trying to communicate in some weird language. By the time that kid gets a chance to think, he has to sleep again ( God has given him a boon to sleep for 90% of day..). Life would have been so good, if i can also sleep for 90% of day and SMILE IN MY SLEEP ( I can easily sleep for 60% of a day..).

Got to GO. May be i will come here some other time and finish this blog.

Daatu and Indian secularism

First of all i want to let you know that "DAATU" is a popular Kannada book written by my favourite author Dr. S.L. Byrappa.

S.L.Byrappa is a very popular name in Kannada literature. He has written number of popular Kannada novels on a variety of subjects. He has got some great popularity and some nasty criticism for the subjects he has chosen recently. He is one author who writes for his own satisfaction and not for some government award or saahitya academy fellowship. No doubt, he has the biggest fan following in karnataka and even today thousands of kannadigas are eagerly waiting for his next novel.

First thing that strikes in Byrappa's Novel is his subject. Each novel will have a very special story which really makes the reader to think a lot. And then the amount of information he gives in his novel is just extraordinary. No wonder he takes at least 3-4 years to finish a novel. Before writing on any subject he gathers all information about that subject and makes a deep analysis. Byrappa is writing in Kannada for almost 50 years now and all his novels are very precious for Kannada literature.

My fav novel is definitely Parva. Parva is the story of Mahabharata told in a layman's language. There are no heroes and no villains. There are only a bunch of crooked kings fighting hard to get the kingdom. Krishna is not a god but just a intelligent and cunning king. So there will be no miracles. He gives a scientific explanation for all the so called miracles that comes in Mahabharata story. I have watched Mahabharata in TV and have read that many times. But this version gives a completely new perception about this mega epic of Indian history.

Now lets come to Daatu. First thing that we should know is Daatu is written in 1970's. It explains the social, political and economic conditions of that time. Subject of the story is inter caste marriage. A brahmin girl and a Gowda Boy decides to break the barriers of religion and plan to get married. They want to do this just because, they want to be a role model for society. They want to set an example to others to denounce so called caste system. So the story revolves around the impact of their decision on their families and their village. In end, they both realise that this Indian society is not ready to accept such a thing. They just hope that at least in future Indians will destroy caste system and inter caste marriages will happen.

I wonder how can Byrappa think of writing a novel on a sensitive subject like this in 1970's. Even today our society is against inter caste marriage. Though there are few inter caste marriages, most of them turned out to be as failures due to various reasons. Even today caste plays a very major role in marriages. My mom will never see my face again if i decide to marry a girl outside my community.

Now in my view, i am against intercaste marriages. You might be thinking that i am a hypocrite and communal. But its not like that. I have equal respect for all castes and religions. But its just that our society and our family is not ready yet.

Lets analyse the reasons behind failure of intercaste marriages..

Because of all the reservations and steps taken by government we can claim that we have removed caste factor from our public life. But each and every Indian is very well attached to his respective caste in his personal life. Each guy is a Indian when he walks out of the house, but as soon as he enters his house he will be either a Hindu, Muslim, brahmin, gowda, konkani or a reddy. All the rituals and habits that we have in our personal life is deeply routed with our caste. I will not have a problem to do business, have a meeting or go out for lunch with someone from other caste. But i will definitely have some problem in bringing him to my home or may be to stay with him.

So a girl will not have a problem in interacting with a boy from other caste. She will not feel awkward in interacting with him for hours or in going out with him. Even she might be comfortable in falling in love with him. But all problems will start when they get married and start to stay together. Because there is not much of a difference in their public life, but there is a huge difference in their rituals, habits, belief, perception about things, trust in god and vision about life. There will be no support from family either. So slowly with time it turns out to be a failure.

Its true that we have to live in a secular country. Here secular does not mean that we have to give up our rituals and castes. "SECULAR" just means that we should not consider caste factor when taking any decisions. I might be a Hindu in my personal life, but i will be a secular if i treat all religions equally. I am a secular if i respect all religions. I guess if every individual can understand this simple definition of secularism, then there will be no communal violence. There will be no need for operation bluestar, kandhamal, Bombay serial blasts in 93 and all this jihad.

Byrappa dreamt of a secular nation with this novel Daatu in 1970's. This dream is yet to be realised. I just hope that one day India will become a true secular nation, not by eradicating caste system but by learning to give respect to all religions. Live and Let Live is the only way we can survive..

Nitin

Ten must see places before you get married...

If you came to this blog expecting that i am going to write

about some must see erotic places that you have to visit before getting married, then sorry to disappoint you folks.

Actually name of this blog should have been "Ten must see places before you Die". But i changed it. Anyhow both sentences mean the same. Marriage is also like death. Death of freedom, individuality, more than anything Death of your independence to take your own decisions. I think i am moving away from topic. I thought of writing about good travel destinations and ended up giving reasons not to marry.

Before i start my list, few things i need to mention. Only places i have visited personally will be in this list as i don't want to add or remove some place on the basis of some review i read about that place in net. Second thing is I have not traveled above nasik( Nasik is a place in Maharashtra where according to ramayana, Mr. Lakshmana chopped off Surphanaka's Nose ) towards north, so all places will be from south India.

10. Sand Beach of Pondichery : There is nothing special or unique about this place. Its just a small island where we have to reach by a boat. Nice Beach ( I don't like east coach beaches though..) I have spent some good time here with some good people. That's Enough to get a Number 10 position for this island in Pondichery.

9. Agumbe Ghats : I had been to this place so many times. I used to go to sringeri from udupi every Friday in a Royal Enfield. Riding a Royal Enfield in 13 hair pin bends of Agumbe is an awesome experience. I had been to this place so many times and have seen this in all climatic conditions. Nothing can beat the beautiful view we will get in Agumbe in rainy days. Did i tell you that agumbe records the second highest rainfall in India. If you are a fan of shankar nag's Malgudi Days then you must also know that shankar nag shot the whole malgudi series in Agumbe. ( Additional information - Malgudi does not exist - R K Narayanan just combined his two favorite areas to get this name. Malleswaram and Basavanagudi).

8. Jaganmohana Aramane( Art Gallery) in Mysore: I had been here only couple of times even after staying in mysore for four years. Its an Art gallery and is mostly filled with all the weapons and music instruments which were used by Mysore Maharaja and British people. But there is something else which is very special. Paintings from Raja Raviverma. Raja Raviverma is a guy who gave new dimension to Indian painting. I read somewhere that Raviverma was the one who has given face to numerous god and goddess of Hindu religion through his paintings. Till the time of Raviverma Indians saw god only in statues. But He showed god to people by painting god on a canvas. I like two of his paintings very much. A painting where raja shantanu is asking satyawati, daughter of a fisherman to marry( This one is from Mahabharata). Raviverma was able to bring out the right expressions on face of shantanu, beautiful satyavati and her father. Other one is the most popular one. Lady holding a Deepa in her hand. I am eagerly waiting for this movie "Rang Rasiya" which is based on this great painter ( I accept there are other interesting things in Rang Rasiya as well..).

7. Green Route - This is the railway route from Sakleshpur to Subramanya in western ghats. There are numerous number of tunnels and bridges that we have to pass by. My initial memory of this place is when i was a kid and i used to wait for tunnels and bridges while traveling from mangalore to tumkur in train. Then they stopped Train in this route for gauge conversion in 1991. After that it became a trekking route. It is a 40km route, just walking next to railway tracks in middle of western ghats. You will have to pass through long tunnels ( Some are up to 800 m long) and very high bridges. Need to be very careful while crossing bridges (I have read about many people who died during trek in this route) A very different and challenging experience all together.

6. Brihadeshwara and Meenakshi temples of Tanjavur and Madurai - First thing that i can notice about these temples is that they are huge. There is no place for things which are small. Starting from the total area of temple to size of statues, everything is huge. But there is no fine carvings that we can see in belur. All statues are plain with very simple carvings. In Brihadeshwara ( Brihath + Eshwara = Huge God) we can also so see a big nandi ( Third biggest nandi in India.) Meenakshi temple is so big that you will get lost. You will enter temple from one side of town and come out from the other side of town and start searching for your vehicle. Then off course you have to take a bus to reach the entrance to get to your parked vehicle. One good thing about these temples are in a single temple complex you will get all gods and goddess statues. You can choose any of god and start worshiping. Tamils are the most spiritual people i have ever seen. Still they are ruled by DMK.( DMK policy is not to believe in any god)

6. Ajantha and Ellora: I had been here many years back. So I don't remember this place much. But still i can remember the series of dark caves and beautiful paintings inside that( these paintings are fading now.. so better visit before it is completely gone). Actually these caves were unknown to civilized world till some English officer found them behind bushes in middle of jungle. Beautiful statues of Buddha, paintings inside dark caves( they used colors made from plants) and some interesting construction in Elora are main attractions. People used to find treasure when they dig up this region (That means it was a very rich place in history). Definitely a Must see for people who like visiting historical places.

4. Belur and Halebidu: Two temples built in Hoysala regime of Vishnuvardhana ( There is a third one in somanathapura). It took them 103 years to build this temple. One of the finest piece of art is here. First half of the temple is devoted for god with most of the god statues in front. Rest of the temple is filled with ShilaBalikas. You must hire a guide to know the story behind each stone. Most of Shilabalikas are in very bad state ( All good shilabalikas are in London Museum for Art). But we must really appreciate those fine carvings ( Both sculptor and his model.. :)). My favorite in Belur is a big statue of Ugra Narasimha. They used to carve miniature statues before carving big ones. We can see all miniature statues as well. Definitely a Must see place.

3. Mulayangiri : I did not believe it when i heard that karnataka's highest peak MulayanaGiri has road till the top. It takes couple of hours of trek to reach Tadiyandamol( Highest point in Coorg). But here to reach top there is no trek. Just sit in a vehicle and have a ride. There is no match to the scenic beauty of MulayanaGiri. You have to just be there to experience it. Chickmaglur to tarikeri covering mulayangiri, babanudangiri, hebbe falls, kalahatti falls and Kemmangundi, will be a ride to remember. Even though distance is just 70km and road is pretty bad but scenic beauty we will get to see hear makes us to forget all other things. Definetly Number One in my list.

2. Beaches of Goa : If you are planning for a lousy holiday with lots of leisure, relaxation and less travel, then this is your holiday destination. Hiring a two wheeler and racing in roads of Goa is a must. This place is so different from rest of India. Speciality of this place is that you will feel like a alien here( i love that feeling..). When i say different i am not talking about culture, life style or the way they live, I speak of the difference in mindset of people. People here are so liberal. They welcome all cultures and appreciate them very well. Your nation or caste will not affect the way you live in here. That's the reason it draws such a huge amount of foreign tourists. Two wheeler ride in old roads of Goa which runs in between coconut fields, Relaxing in beaches and night ride in boat are must.

1. Rameshwaram : This is the place where rama started to build a bridge to lanka ( Actual place is dhanushkodi, couple of miles away from city ). There is a temple in place where rama did a pooja of linga and then there is sea. This is a small island completely filled with proofs of Rama's adventure (i am not sure how true are those..).

It was dark and i was standing on the sands of rameshwara with hundreads of others in early hours, to get first glimpse of rising sun. I was holding something which i will let go on that day( thats jus a ritual.. somethings we can never let go.. does not matter how hard you try). That was a very spiritual moment. Thousands of thoughts from past running in my mind. Felt like sitting there and start crying ( No one would have noticed that.. people were so busy there). It was one of very few moments in my life that made me go weak emotionally. Standing in front of ocean i realised i am so small. I am just a tiny piece of dust in front of this huge life. But as they say each guy is a hero in his own life.

I dont know whether hanuman really dropped a linga that he bought from shiva or rama really did a pooja here. But this is a very spiritual place. We can take bath in ocean and then have bath in some 30 odd wells. Then we have to proceed to see linga worshipped by rama and one more linga bought by hanuman from kailasa.We can also do some shopping of shankas and some decorative items made of sea shells.

So this is my list of must see places in south india. I just hope that you will visit all these places before you get married :) .

Time is all we have...

My first request is don't read this blog if you are busy. There is nothing special or important in this blog. So read it only when you are free.

I know all you people are very busy these days . If you are so busy that you are not able to be in touch with loved ones, then take five min off from your busy schedule and think about the way you are living. There is no point in living life if you are living without your loved ones.

Thought of telling you a story. You might have heard this many times, but don't make that as a excuse to skip this blog from reading.

Once a professor showed a box to his students and asked them to fill it with big stones. His students filled the box completely with big stones. After that professor asked his students, " Is this Box Full ?"

Students replied, " Yes, Its completely Full. There is no space left".

So professor got some small stones and put all small stones into that box. All Small stones made their way into box. So he filled the box with small and big stones. Now he asked Students " Is this Box Full ?"

Students replied, " Yes, Its completely Full. There is no space left".

Now he poured lot of sand into that box. Box was able to take in lot of sand.So he stuffed the box with sand completely. Sand filled all the space left by Small and big stones.

Now he asked Students " Is this Box Full ?"

Students replied, " Yes, Its completely Full. Definetly There is no more space left".

He took a cup of coffee and poured that into box. Box was able to take a cup of coffee inside.

Thats the end of the story. :)

You might be thinking What is so special about that story?

THis box is us and space inside that is the time we have in this life.

Big Stones are things for which we live. Things without which our life becomes vacant or baseless. So we spend our life because of these things. These things may be anything depending on individual priority. These things are parents, siblings, friends, passion for something, satisfaction from life, your dreams, a childhood friend, your spouse, Health, MBA, .etc . For me its My parents, My relatives, small bunch of friends, My health, More than anything satisfaction in life. I always prefer doing something in which i get satisfaction.

Small stones are those which helps us to keep big stones intact. These things are important but we can live without that, These things may be Job, Social status, Wealth, Social contacts, Acquaintances, Entertainment etc.

Sand is small things which has no value in our life. Like transportation, daily routines,

So its very important to put big stones into box first. If we fill the box with Small stones or Sand first, then we can't put Big Stones into box. Just means that it is very important to give time in life to things which are of high priority for us. We live our life for these things, If we lose any of these stones, then we are losing some thing very big.

Once you are sure you have given enough time for high priority tasks, then give time for small stones. If we lose any of these, we are losing something but we can do without that.

So after big and small stones comes the turn of giving time to sand. In fact in life we will always have time to do these things.

Oh I forgot to tell about that Cup of Coffee. It does not matter how much the box is full? there will be always space for a cup of coffee. Like that It does not matter how much busy you are? there will be always time to have cup of coffee with your loved ones.

Nitin

Actually I wrote this in a hurry. So a apology for all spelling and grammatical mistakes.

More than a year has passed since I wrote this and now I have realized that setting proper priorities in life does not mean everything is on track. It becomes very difficult to hold on to few things even If you give MAXIMUM Priority.

A page from My Dairy!!!

Everyone in their lives would have had Girl Friends, and me too had my share of Girl Friends few out of them were crushes. But, it didn't take much time for each of them to turn to crashes. None of my crushes took off, or probably they crashed even before they took off !! Today, when I look back, I cant manage but to have a laugh.

My first friend was Miss S. I know Her from my Childhood. She was my friend even before i knew what friendship means. As she was my neighbour and class mate we used to spend lot of time together. We share lot of sweet memories, infact we were so young that now we dont remember most of them. But our friendship in childhood was short lived. Her Father got a transfer,so we departed very early in our childhood. May be that was the time i realised meaning of a good friend.You always realise value of something when you lose it. She is one girl who is still there in my life and will be there forever as a good friend and a good guide.

After Miss. S I never had a girl close to me in my childhood days. I was always seen in a All Boy's group. though Girls were our Primary topic of discussion. Playing Cricket and comparing our class girl's with other section girls were our hobbies.Even after so much of discussion and arguements we were never able to figure out a Girl's behaviour. Even today after so many years No guy from that group have a Girl Friend including me. So still for that group girls are just a topic of discussion. So we are still a All Boy's Club.

After staying in City all my life, I was in a situation to do my 9th and SSLC in a Halli in North Karnataka. I was really depressed about this fact and got more depressed when i visited that place. I think People over there never heard of words like "Sanitation" and "Cleanliness". They had a very unique style of building houses. The place my family rented had 6 rooms all in a row like railway compartments. Third compartment was supposed to be Hall, Fourth Kitchen and last one Master Bed Room. On My first day in that halli i was lying in sixth compartment(Master Bed Room) when my mother asked me to accompany her for a temple visit. Usually I dont like visiting temples,But that day I did.

Inside temple i saw this beautiful girl in yellow reshme langa ( thats a traditional dress for teenage girls in karnataka ) playing with a child. Looks like she had a shower and her wet hair made her look more sexy. For My surprise she started singing some devotional songs and her singing was equally good. No need to mention that i became a regular visitor to temple. Even though my Mom was bit surprised about my temple visit, she never bothered to ask anything about that. I came to know about her name only when school started and we both were in same class, She was Miss. R. Suddenly that halli became a much nicer place to stay.

In School First thing i came to know about her was her name and second thing was that she has a Boy Friend in same school, one year senoir to us. I said " What the Heck". Are all good girls under sun already booked ? As that halli was a very small place and rumours spread very fast in small places. So i just prayed that this boy friend thing is just one more rumour. That place was very orthodox and Boy talking to girl is a very rare thing. But still i decided to give my best,We started off with smiling at each other. By the time we started saying "Hi", "Hello", Six monthe were over. At the end of first year we were having some small quick chats and were friends. One day this girl came to my house. I was very happy to see her in my place, at the same time was trying to imagine how big this news of Miss R visiting my place will be in school next day. I am sure everyone will be talking about me. But suddenly my thinking came to a halt when Miss R told me that this boy friend thing is not a rumour. She is really in Love with that senior lucky bastard. When Girl Says "NO", then just term that relationship as crush and move on.

Recently I attended her marriage with her boy friend. I thought that was the end of a chapter, but it turned out to be the begining of new chapter.

Lets not talk about my PU Days because those days i was so busy in studying that i forgot that i am a human being and human beings will have some basic needs. It was like i have locked myself in a room with pile of books inside. For two years there was no place for Girls in my brain because it was stuffed with physics. maths and chemistry. It ended soon and I was getting ready for new life, new friends in Engineering.

First Day in E and C prayed god to give atleast couple of good Items in my class. First period started and there was nothing interesting on girl's side. It always happens like this, God never listens to me. Heard couple of people telling that all good looking girls are in Comp Sci. I had a option of taking Comp Sci but I am such a big Idiot that I took EC. Now I have to spend four years roaming aroung Comp Sci department.

Next day there was a new admission in my class and the girl who joined was the most sexy girl of our college. I just sat there and started imagining of doing a electronics project with her. I just said to myself I Love " Electronics and Communication". But soon realised that there are thousands of people willing to do project with her. So did not wanted to add one more name to that list.

Couple of years into engineering there were few girls who became my friends but never felt like doing a electronice project with any of them :). In last year of enginnering suddenly a girl Miss T became very close to me through SMS. She was in my college for four years but never thought much about her because she had a boy friend and he was the bad boy of college. Messing up with him was the last thing i wanted to do. Inspite of her Boy Friend I became good friend of Miss T. We used to spend hours talking about each other and all the stuff which were completely irrelevant for both of us. She is a very ambitious girl and i knew no one can stop her from achieving her goals. As Expected She went abroad for higher studies. When it comes to true love i would prefer to take some suggestions from this girl cause she has some good experience in that.

By the end of enginnering i decided that i can never have a girl friend in my life because if you cant have a girl fried in engineering days then you will never have one. I was single and i was happy. I thanked God for keeping me single and happy. As I have already told you god never listens to my prayers. From No where This Girl made a entry into my life. Lets Call her Miss X. No her name won't start from letter X. Eventhough we human beings are doing algebra for years, but still X is unknown. Even though i know her for years still she is like a unknown X to me. She is the most beautiful yet complex creature created by god. Almost impossible to figure out what is running in her mind. Sometimes she makes me feel as though i am the guy she wants to be with forever. Next minute makes me realise that i dont have any value in her life.

If you ask me about this girl, I am confused. I dont know whether she is the one made for me. Only Time can answer this question. But i know if God has specifically created a girl for me, then she will be pretty much similar to Miss X. She is the one whose absence in my life makes me go mad. She is the one whose smile makes my life beautiful.

It is very difficult to tell what you feel towards a Girl is True Love or just a crush. You have to make a choice by instinct and only time will answer that question. I feel only around 5% of couples in this world are in true love. Rest Spend their lives making themselves believe that they are in true love. I dont want to fall into that majority group. So its better to take time instead of taking a wrong decision. I just hope that i will take a decision at some point of time and that will be right.

In any case I have N number of Aunts in my family to search a right match for me.
Mr. X
　
"I am MAD FOR HER but Why I am Not MADE for Her…???"

ಸ್ನೇಹದ ಕಡಲಲ್ಲಿ ನೆನಪಿನ ದೊಣಿಯಲಿ

15/09/2004

ಇಂದು ಮುಂಜಾನೆಯಿಂದ ಏನೋ ಒಂದು ತರಹದ ತಳಮಳ,ಉತ್ಸಾಹ.ಕಾಲೇಜ್ ಅಡ್ಮಿಶನ್ ಮಾಡಿಸಲು ಉಡುಪಿಯಿಂದ ಮೈಸೂರಿಗೆ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೆ.ಆದರೆ ನನ್ನ ಇಂದಿನ ಈ ಉತ್ಸಾಹಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ,ಇಂದು ನಾನು ಮಾಡಬೇಕಿದ್ದ ಒಂದು ಅಪರೂಪದ ಭೇಟಿ. ನನ್ನ ಕಳೆದ ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಕನಸು ನನಸಾಗುವ ದಿನ ಕಡೆಗೂ ನನ್ನ ಮುಂದಿತ್ತು. ಜೆ.ಸಿ.ಇ.ಯಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಕೆಲಸಗಳು ಮುಗಿದ ನಂತರ ,ಮನೆಯ ವಿಳಾಸ ನೀಡಿ ಆಟೋ ಹತ್ತಿದೆ.ಆಟೋ ದಟ್ಟವಾದ ಕಪ್ಪಗಿನ ಹೊಗೆ ಕಾರುತ್ತಾ ಚಲಿಸಲು ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಆದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ನನ್ನ ಮನಸು.

ನಾನು ಕಣ್ಣು ತೆರೆದ ಕ್ಷಣದಿಂದ ನನ್ನ ಜೊತೆ ಇದ್ದು, ನಂತರ ಈ ಜಗತ್ತನ್ನು ಅರಿಯುವ ಮೊದಲೇ ಅನಿವಾರ್ಯ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಂದ ನನ್ನಿಂದ ದೂರಾದ ನನ್ನ ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ಗೆಳತಿ, ನೆನಪಿನ ಅಂಗಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಂದು ಬಾಡದ ಹೂವಿನಂತಿರುವ 'ಸ್ನೇಹ'. ಇವಳು ನನ್ನ ಸಹಪಾಟಿಯೂ ಹೌದು; ಪ್ರತಿ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧಿಯೂ ಹೌದು. ಒಂದೇ ವಠಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದುದರಿಂದ ನಾವು ಜೊತೆಯಾಗಿರುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಜಗಳವಾಡಿದ್ದೇ ಹೆಚ್ಚು.ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಗೆಳೆತನ ನಮಗೆ ಅರಿವಿಲ್ಲದಂತೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸೀಮೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮೀರಿ ಬೆಳೆದು ನಿಂತಿತ್ತು. ಈಗ ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ನಂತರ ಮತ್ತೆ ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರ ಮಿಲನ.

ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ಆ ದಿನಗಳು ಬಹುಶಃ ನನ್ನ ಜೀವನದ ಸುವರ್ಣ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳು. ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರ ಆಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ನಾನು ಮೋಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ಆದರೂ ಸೋಲುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನನ್ನ ಮೋಸವನ್ನು ಅರಿತು, ಕೋಪದಿಂದ ಬಂದು ನನಗೆ ಹೊಡೆದಿದ್ದಳು. ನಾನು ಅಳಲಿಲ್ಲ; ಆದರೆ ಅವಳ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ನೀರಿತ್ತು. ಆ ಗಾಯದ ಗುರುತನ್ನು ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡೆ. ಕಲೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಸಿರಾಗಿಯೇ ಇದ್ದಂತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ನನ್ನ ಮದುರ ನೆನಪು ಕೂಡ.

ಅವಳ ಪರಿವಾರವನ್ನು ಬೀಳ್ಕೊಡುವ ದಿನ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಪಾರ್ಟಿ ಇತ್ತು. ನಾವು ಇಬ್ಬರು ಜೊತೆಯಾಗಿ ಕಳೆಯುವ ನಮ್ಮ ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ಕಡೆಯ ದಿನ ಎಂಬ ಅರಿವು ಇಲ್ಲದೆ, ದಿನ ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಆಡಿದೆವು, ನಲಿದೆವು.ನಂತರ ಸಂಜೆ ವಿಷಯ ತಿಳಿದಾಗ ಅವಳಿಗೆ ವಿದಾಯ ಹೇಳಲು ಧೈರ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಎದುರು ನಿಂತಿರುವ ಸಿಚುಏಷನ್ ಎದುರಿಸಲಾಗದೆ ಹೇಡಿಯಂತೆ ಅಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದೆ. ನಂತರ ಧೈರ್ಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಅವಳಿಗೆ ಟಾಟಾ ಹೇಳಲು ಬಂದಾಗ ಸಮಯ ಮಿಂಚಿತ್ತು. ಜೀವನ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ತನ್ನ ದಾರಿ ಬದಲಿಸಿತ್ತು.

ಬಹುಶಃ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿ ಒಂದು ತರಹದ ಇನ್ಸೆಕ್ಯೂರ್ ೞೀಲಿಮ್ಗ್ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಜೀವನದ ಕಡೆಯವರೆಗೂ ನಾನು, ಸ್ನೇಹ, ಬಾಲ್ಯ, ಆಟ, ಗೆಳೆತನ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹಾಗೆ ಇರುತ್ತೆ ಎಂದು ಯೋಚಿಸುವಷ್ಟು ಮುಗ್ಧತೆ (ಬಹುಶಃ) ಇಬ್ಬರಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಇತ್ತು. ಸ್ನೇಹ ಒಂದು ದಿನ ದೂರವಾಗುತ್ತಾಳೆ ಎಂದು ಕನಸಿನಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಯೋಚಿಸಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಆ ವಿದಾಯದ ದಿನ, ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಎಣಿಸಿದ್ದಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಬೇಗ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಸಮಯ ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಮರೆಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಸಮಯದೊಂದಿಗೆ ನಾನು ಅವಳನ್ನು ಮರೆತೆ, ಇಲ್ಲ ಮರೆಯಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಪಟ್ಟೆ.ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನು ಎಷ್ಟು ಸಫಲನಾದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಮಾತ್ರ ಇಂದಿಗೂ ನಿಗೂಧ.

ನಾನು, ಸ್ನೇಹ, ನಮ್ಮ ಬಾಲ್ಯ. ಆದರೆ ಈಗ ಸಂದರ್ಭ ಬದಲಾಗಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರ ಬಾಲ್ಯ ಮುಗಿದು, ನಮ್ಮ ಆತ್ಮೀಯತೆಗೆ ಆಧಾರವಾಗಿದ್ದ ಮುಗ್ಧತೆ ನಶಿಸಿಹೋಗಿತ್ತು. ನನ್ನ ಕಂಡ ಕೂಡಲೆ ಅವಳ ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆ ಹೇಗಿರಬಹುದು? ಸಮ್ತೋಷದಿಂದ ಚೀರಿ ಚಿಕ್ಕಂದಿನ ಸ್ಟೈಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಕೈ ಹಿಡಿದು ಮನೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಎಳೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಬಹುದೆ? ಅಥವಾ ಬಾಗಿಲನ್ನು ತೆರೆದು ಬಾಗಿಲ ಸಂಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಲಜ್ಜೆಯಿಂದ ಮರೆಯಾಗಬಹುದೆ? ಅಥವಾ ದೇವದಾಸನನ್ನು ಕಂಡ ಪಾರೂ ಹಾಗೆ ಮಹಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಿತುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದೆ? ದೇವರೆ, ಈ ಓಡುವ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಲಗಾಮಿಲ್ಲವೆ? ನಾನು ನಕ್ಕೆ, ಮನಸ್ಸು ನಕ್ಕಿತು.

ಆಟೋ ಮುಖ್ಯ ರಸ್ತೆಯನ್ನು ದಾಟಿ ಒಂದು ಹೌಸಿಂಗ್ ಕಾಲೋನಿ ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಿತು. ನಾನು ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಕಾದಿದ್ದ ಆ ಕ್ಷಣ ಯಾವ ಘಳಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇಕಾದರೂ ನಿಜವಾಗಬಹುದು ಎಂಬ ಅರಿವುಂಟಾದೊಡನೆ, ನನ್ನ ಯೋಚನೆಗಳಿಂದ ಹೊರಬಂದೆ. ಎರಡು ಕಡೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೆಗಳು, ಅಂಗಡಿಗಳು ಹಿಂದಕ್ಕೆ ಓಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು. ಕ್ಷಣಗಳು ಯುಗಗಳಂತೆ ಭಾಸವಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಹಿಂದೆ ಓಡುವ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂದೆಯೂ, ನನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳು ಅವಳನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕಲು ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದವು. ಆದರೆ ಇಂದು, ಸ್ನೇಹ ನನ್ನ ಎದುರು ಬಂದು ನಿಂತರೂ, ನಾನು ಗುರುತು ಹಿಡಿಯಲಾರದಷ್ಟು ಬದಲಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾಳೆ-ಎಂಬ ವಿಚಾರ ತಲೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಬಂದ ಕೂಡಲೆ ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನನ್ನೊಳಗೆ ನಕ್ಕು, ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಒರಗಿ ಕುಳಿತೆ. ಆಟೋ ಒಮ್ಮೆಯೆ ಧಸಕ್ಕನೆ ಒಂದು ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂದೆ ನಿಂತಿತು. ಕಡೆಗೂ ನನ್ನ ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ತಪಸ್ಸು ಸಾಕಾರಗೊಳ್ಳುವುದರಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಚಡಪಡಿಕೆಯಿಂದಲೆ ಮನೆಯ ಕರೆಘಮ್ಟೆ ಒತ್ತಿದೆ. ಯಾರೋ ಅಪರಿಚಿತರು ಬಾಗಿಲು ತೆರೆದು, ಸ್ನೇಹಳ ಪರಿವಾರ ಒಂದು ತಿಂಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಮನೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿದ ವಿಷಯ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಒಂದು ಕ್ಷಣ ಷಾಕ್ ಆದರೂ ಸಾವರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು, ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ಒಂದು ಲೋಟ ನೀರು ಕೇಳಿ, ಅಲ್ಲೆ ಕಮ್ಬಕ್ಕೆ ಒರಗಿ ನಿಂತೆ. ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೋ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು.

'ಎಲ್ಲ ಮರೆತಿರುವಾಗ ಇಲ್ಲ ಸಲ್ಲದ ನೆಪವ,

ಹೂಡಿ ಬರದಿರು ಮತ್ತೆ ಹಳೆಯ ನೆನಪೇ'.....

Nitin R Kidiyoor

Why Did You Change???

Let me make it very clear from beginning that this is not my letter. But i will be telling a lie to all you readers if i tell that this is completely fictional. As i have told you that my friends love to share their stories with me, so i know some real stories. This is one of them. People who are in my inner circle might be able to identify the characters. Go ahead guys give it a shot. This is the first time i am writing some other guy's story, so i just hope that i will do justice to his feelings and this letter. 

Dear Pavithra Bhat, 

I want to start this letter with a compliment to you. You are the most intelligent girl i have ever seen. The way you handled our relationship was awesome. I always thought you are dumb compared to me and i am the one who will be taking this relationship forward and controlling it. Now when i sit back and think about everything that has happened between us, all i can realize is that, my assumptions were wrong.. 

( Sorry for interruption dear readers, if you are trying to identify the characters with that name Pavithra Bhat, then i want to let you know that i am not a fool. Names have been changed. actually Pavithra Bhat is name of a 35 year old lady in mindtree. But i don't know why i choose that name out of the lot )

I am not sure whether, are all girls are intelligent like you and all boys are dumb like me. I don't know many girls so i don't know the first part, but i know many guys, so i know that all boys are dumb like me. You can take any relationship and a girl will be controlling it directly or indirectly.

I saw you for the first time 18 months back and i knew straight away that you will be someone in my inner circle. You are so good looking, but i was not impressed with your beauty but with your innocence and enthusiasm in life. I had a soft corner for you somewhere deep down my heart. I always used to care about you. I did all crazy stuff to solve all your problems and to see you happy. I have thought so many times, why i do all these stuff for you. But still today i am clueless. 

With time you became close to me. When i used to tell something you used to sit beside me and listen to all crazy stuff with your bright eyes full of curiosity. Those were the best days of my life. I have had so many wonderful moments in my life but there is no moment which can match moments i spent with you. Everything was so good. Everything was on track till your mom visited your two months back.

Still i don't know what happened in that couple of days. But i know one thing, that is you have changed a lot after that. I hate when people change. I felt like talking to a stranger when i used to interact with you. There was something which came between us. Still i don't know what is it?

You avoided me, started ignoring my mails and messages. It did not take much time for me to realize that you are ignoring me but took lot of time to accept it. I really don’t know what happened to you. It’s really difficult to accept the fact that someone in my inner circle needs me no more. But you used to tell that you are very busy and don’t get much time to respond. Let me tell you one thing, it’s very important to give time in any relationship. I have seen many relationships break just because they did not have time for each other. I tried my best to explain these things to you. But all my efforts went in vain. 

I don’t know how you got busy in your life; such that you don’t even have time to send me a single good night message. It takes just 10 seconds to type in a message and bring a smile in your friend’s face.I think you must have found something which is more important than me. Even now when I sit back and think about you, I can't digest the fact that you have changed. Just get a feeling like losing a very good friend, but worst part is even if I search, I am not going to get her because she has got transformed into a completely new person. 

There is nothing important to me than your happiness. Whenever I was in a dilemma to take some decision, I used to think which one makes you happier and just used to take that decision. Now you are making me feel that you are not happy to be in touch with me. So letting you go is the decision that I can take which makes you feel happy. I hope I was a good friend of your’s and I don’t expect anything from your end. If you are not comfortable to be in touch with me, then I don’t even expect you to be in touch with me. I don’t want to force myself on anyone including you. No one should feel bad just because I am present in their life. It’s a very tough decision for me to take and much more difficult to execute but I have to do this for your happiness. You have left me with no options. 

I have no idea how you are going to take this (Whether you will be happy that I am moving out or otherwise) thing. I just know one thing, if you want me in your life then you will come back to me otherwise we were never destined to be friends. Just remember one thing that any point of time if you are in need of a real friend then don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Have a good life. 

Your old friend, 
Vijay 

At the end of letter if you are feeling that this guy Vijay is some sort of emotionally weak, amateur guy, then that’s a failure on my part of describing his feelings. He is a very practical guy. All life he has taken sensible decisions on all matters except this issue. I don’t know what he did was right or wrong. You must be curious to know the girl’s reply. Even I am curious to know that. But he never told me that part of story. Actually he never told me the real name of that girl. 

I don’t know whether I will publish this one or not. I wrote this for self satisfaction of writing a good one. This one was a very unique one. The only reason for them to go different ways was communication gap and not finding time for each other. May be I will show this one to Vijay and if he gives permission then only I will publish this. So if you are reading this, then that means Vijay did not mind putting this letter on public forum. Is anyone able to identify this character Vijay??? I am not going to tell that. Let that character stay in our imagination than in reality. 


Nitin R Kidiyoor

 

Song of PunyaKoti

I got this article from net. This is one of my favourite songs.

Punyakoti - a forgotten tale
dharaNi manDala madhyadoLage

mereyutiha karNATa dEshadOL

iruvakALinganemba gollana pariyanentu pELvenu
ಧರಣಿ ಮಂಡಲ ಮಧ್ಯದೊಳಗೆ

ಮೆರೆಯುತಿಹ ಕರ್ನಾಟ ದೇಶದೊಲಿರುವ

ಕಾಳಿಂಗನೆಂಬ ಗೊಲ್ಲನ ಪರಿಯನೆಂತು ಪೇಳ್ವೆನು
I speak about the cowherd Kalinga residing in the resplendent country of Karnata(ka) within the middle region of the earth .
eLeya mAvina marada kELage koLalnUduta golla gauDanu
baLasi ninda turugaLannu baLige karedanu harushadi
gange bAre gauri bAre tungabhadre tAyi bAre
puNyakOTi nInu bArE endu gollanu karedanu
golla kareda daniya kELi ella hasugaLu bandu nindu
chelli sUsi hAlu kareyalu alli tumbitu bindige
satyavE bhagavantanemba puNyakOTiya kateyidu

ಎಳೆಯ ಮಾವಿನ ಮರದ ಕೆಳಗೆ

ಕೊಳಲ್ನುದುತ ಗೊಲ್ಲ ಗುದನು ಬಳಸಿ ನಿಂದ

ತುರುಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಿಗೆ ಕರೆದನು ಹರುಷದಿ

ಗಂಗೆ ಬಾರೆ ಗೌರಿ ಬಾರೆ ತುಂಗಭದ್ರೆ ತಾಯಿ ಬಾರೆ

ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿ ನೀನು ಬಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಗೊಲ್ಲನು ಕರೆದನು

ಗೊಲ್ಲ ಕರೆದ ದನಿಯ ಕೇಳಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹಸುಗಳು ಬಂದು ನಿಂದು

ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಸಿ ಹಾಲು ಕರೆಯಲು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಬಿತು ಬಿಂದಿಗೆ

ಸತ್ಯವೇ ಭಗವಂತನೆಂಬ ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಕತೆಯಿದು
Playing his flute under the young mango tree, the cowherd called to the cattle standing around him
“ Ganga (e) come, Gauri come hither, mother Tungabhadre come, Punyakoti you too come”
On hearing the cowherd’s voice, the cows came closer, and upon milking them, the vessel was filled to the brim.
This is the tale of Punyakoti who believed that Truth is God
habbidA male madhyadoLage arbhutAnendemba vyAghranu
abbarisi hasihasidu beTTada kibbiyoLu tAniddanu
moredu rOshadi guDugutA huli bhOriDuta
chhangane jigidu negeyalu chedari hOdavu hasugaLu

ಹಬ್ಬಿದ ಮಳೆ ಮಧ್ಯದೊಳಗೆ ಅರ್ಭುತಾನೆಂದೆಂಬ ವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು

ಅಬ್ಬರಿಸಿ ಹಸಿಹಸಿದು ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಕಿಬ್ಬಿಯೊಳು ತಾನಿದ್ದನು

ಮೊರೆದು ರೋಷದಿ ಗುದುಗುತ ಹುಲಿ ಭೋರಿಡುತ

ಚ್ಚನ್ಗನೆ ಜಿಗಿದು ನೆಗೆಯಲು ಚೆದರಿ ಹೋದವು ಹಸುಗಳು
In the middle of the spreading forest, a hungrily roaring tiger named Arbhutan lived in a cave among the mountains
Bellowing and thundering with rage, the tiger in search of a meal leapt and jumped amidst the cattle upon which they ran helter - skelter.
puNyakOTi emba hasuvu tanna kandana nenedukonDu
munna hAlanu koDuvenenuta chendadi tA barutire
indenage AhAra sikkitu endu bEgane dushTa vyAghranu
bandu baLasi aDDagaTTi nindanA hulirAyanu
ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿ ಎಂಬ ಹಸುವು ತನ್ನ ಕಂದನ ನೆನೆದುಕೊಂಡು

ಮುನ್ನ ಹಾಲನು ಕೊಡುವೆನೆನುತ ಚೆಂದದಿ ತ ಬರುತಿರೆ

ಇಂದೆನಗೆ ಆಹಾರ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು ಎಂದು ಬೇಗನೆ ದುಷ್ಟ ವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು

ಬಂದು ಬಳಸಿ ಅಡ್ಡಗಟ್ಟಿ ನಿಂದನ ಹುಲಿರಾಯನು

The cow named Punyakoti, thinking of her child and planning to feed her was coming by
“Today I have found food” thought the wicked tiger and circling the cow he stood blocking her way
mEle biddu ninnanIgale bILahoyvenu ninna hoTTeya
sILibiDuvenu enuta kOpadi khULa vyAghranu kUgalu
ondu binnaha huliye kELu kandaniruvanu doDDiyoLage
ondu nimishadi moleya koTTu bandu sEruve nillige
hasida vELege sikkidoDaveya vashava mADade biDalu nInu
nusuLi hOguve matte baruveya husiya nuDiyuvenenditu

“I will fall upon you and bring you down. I will split your belly” screamed the tiger.

ಮೇಲೆ ಬಿದ್ದು ನಿನ್ನನಿಗಳೇ ಬಿಳಹೊಯ್ವೇನು ನಿನ್ನ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಯ

ಸಿಲಿಬಿದುವೇನು ಎನುತ ಕೋಪದಿ ಖುಲ ವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು ಕುಗಳು

ಒಂದು ಬಿನ್ನಹ ಹುಲಿಯೇ ಕೇಳು ಕಂದನಿರುವನು ದೊಡ್ಡಿಯೊಳಗೆ

ಒಂದು ನಿಮಿಷದಿ ಮೊಲೆಯ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಬಂದು ಸೇರುವೆ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಗೆ

ಹಸಿದ ವೇಳೆಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೊಡವೆಯ ವಶವ ಮಾಡದೇ ಬಿಡಲು

ನೀನು ನುಸುಳಿ ಹೋಗುವೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಬರುವೆಯ ಹುಸಿಯ ನುಡಿಯುವೆನೆಂದಿತು
Punyakoti says “Listen Tiger, I have a request. I have a son in the cowshed. I will feed him and return to you in a minute”
“At a hungry time when I have cornered you, if I do not capture you, you will slip away. Will you come back? You are lying” says the tiger
satyavE namma tAyi tande satyavE namma bandhu baLaga
satya vAkyake tappi naDedare mechchanA paramAtmanu
satyavE bhagavantanemba puNyakOTiya kateyidu
ಸತ್ಯವೇ ನಮ್ಮ ತಾಯಿ ತಂದೆ ಸತ್ಯವೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಬಂಧು ಬಳಗ

ಸತ್ಯ ವಾಕ್ಯಕೆ ತಪ್ಪಿ ನಡೆದರೆ ಮೆಚ್ಚನಾ ಪರಮಾತ್ಮನು

ಸತ್ಯವೇ ಭಗವಂತನೆಂಬ ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಕತೆಯಿದು

“Truth is our mother and father. Truth is our near and dear. If the truth is not followed, the Supreme Self will not approve” answers Punyakoti
This is the tale of Punyakoti who believed that Truth is God
kondu tinnuvenemba hulige chendadinda bhAshe koTTu
kanda ninnanu nODi pOguve nendu bandenu doDDige
Ara moleyanu kuDiyalamma Ara baLiyali malagalamma
Ara sEri badukalamma Aru nanage hitavaru
ಕೊಂದು ತಿನ್ನುವೆನೆಂಬ ಹುಲಿಗೆ ಚೆಂದದಿಂದ ಭಾಷೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟು

ಕಂಡ ನಿನ್ನನು ನೋಡಿ ಪೋಗುವೆ ನೆಂದು ಬಂದೆನು ದೊಡ್ಡಿಗೆ

ಅರ ಮೊಲೆಯನು ಕುಡಿಯಲಮ್ಮ ಅರ ಬಳಿಯಲಿ ಮಲಗಲಮ್ಮ

ಅರ ಸೇರಿ ಬದುಕಲಮ್ಮ ಆರು ನನಗೆ ಹಿತವರು

“I have come after promising the tiger who wanted to kill and eat me that I will return to him after seeing you” says Punyakoti to her child
Punyakoti’s calf: “Whose udder shall I drink from? By whose side shall I sleep? With whom shall I live? Who is there to be good to me?”
ammagaLirA akkagaLirA enna tAyoDa huTTugaLirA
kanda nimmavanendu kANiri tabbaliyanI karuvanu
munde bandare hAyabEDi hinde bandare odeyabEDi
kanda nimmavanendu kANiri tabbaliyanI karuvanu
ಅಮ್ಮಗಳಿರ ಅಕ್ಕಗಳಿರ ಎನ್ನ ತಯೋದ ಹುತ್ತುಗಲಿರ

ಕಂಡ ನಿಮ್ಮವನೆಂದು ಕಾಣಿರಿ ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯನಿ ಕರುವನು

ಮುಂದೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಹಾಯಬೇಡಿ ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಒಡೆಯಬೇಡಿ

ಕಂಡ ನಿಮ್ಮವನೆಂದು ಕಾಣಿರಿ ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯನಿ ಕರುವನು

Punyakoti: “Oh mothers and sisters, those born to my mother, please look upon this orphan calf as your own”
“If he comes in front of you, please do not gore him. If he gets behind you kindly do not kick him. Please look upon this orphan as your own child.”
tabbaliyu nInAde magane hebbuliya bAyannu hoguvenu
ibbarA R^iNa tIritendu tabbikonDitu kandana
satyavE bhagavantanemba puNyakOTiya kateyidu
ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯು ನಿನದೆ ಮಗನೆ ಹೆಬ್ಬುಲಿಯ ಬಾಯನ್ನು ಹೋಗುವೆನು

ಇಬ್ಬರ ರಿನ ತಿರಿತೆಂದು ತಬ್ಬಿಕೊಂಡಿತು ಕಂದನ

ಸತ್ಯವೇ ಭಗವಂತನೆಂಬ ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಕತೆಯಿದು

“Son, you have become an orphan. I am going into the mouth of the great tiger. Our bond ends here” Punyakoti hugs her child
This is the tale of Punyakoti who believed that Truth is God
gOvu karuvanu biTTu bandu sAvakAshava mADadante
gaviya bAgila sErinintu tavakadali huligenditu
khanDavideko mAmsavideko gunDigeya bisiraktavideko
chanDavyAghrane nInidellava nunDu santasadindiru
ಗೋವು ಕರುವನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಂದು ಸಾವಕಾಶವ ಮಾಡದಂತೆ

ಗವಿಯ ಬಾಗಿಲ ಸೇರಿನಿಂತು ತವಕದಲಿ ಹುಲಿಗೆಂದಿತು

ಖಂಡವಿದೆಕೋ ಮಾಂಸವಿದೆಕೋ ಗುಂಡಿಗೆಯ ಬಿಸಿರಕ್ತವಿದೆಕೋ

ಚಂದವ್ಯಘ್ರನೆ ನಿನಿದೆಲ್ಲವ ನುಂಡು ಸಂತಸದಿಂದಿರು

Leaving the calf behind, the cow with no further delay stood in front of the cave door and said anxiously
“Take my flesh, take my meat. Take the warm blood from my heart. Oh fierce tiger, have all this and be happy”
puNyakOTiya mAta kELi kaNNanIranu surisi nondu
kanneyivaLanu kondu tindare mechchanA paramAtmanu
enna oDahuTTakka nInu ninna kondu Ena paDevenu
ennutA huli hAri negedu tanna prANava biTTitu
ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಮಾತ ಕೇಳಿ ಕನ್ನನಿರನು ಸುರಿಸಿ ನೊಂದು

ಕನ್ನೆಯಿವಳನು ಕೊಂದು ತಿಂದರೆ ಮೆಚ್ಚನಾ ಪರಮಾತ್ಮನು

ಎನ್ನ ಒದಹುತ್ತಕ್ಕ ನೀನು ನಿನ್ನ ಕೊಂದು ಏನ ಪಡೆವೆನು

ಎನ್ನುತ ಹುಲಿ ಹರಿ ನೆಗೆದು ತನ್ನ ಪ್ರಾಣವ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿತು

Listening to Punyakoti’s words, the tiger was pained. Shedding tears, he says “If I kill and eat you it will not please God Almighty”
“You are like a sister born with me. What will I gain by killing you?” So saying, the tiger jumped down and gave up his life
satyavE bhagavantanemba puNyakOTiya kateyidu
This is the tale of Punyakoti who believed that Truth is God

People in my inner circle...

In my life i came across so many people but there are only few who are special to me. There are only few with whom i want stay till the end. Lets call them "people in my inner circle". God has chosen most of them for me i.e they are my blood relatives. So i have to thank god because he has chosen some wonderful people to be in my inner circle. Except these god chosen relatives of mine there are very few people whom i find very special. Some of those became special to me in my first meeting with them and some people became special without my knowledge. Just at some point of time i realised that this guy/girl whom i know from such a long time is special for me.



How will i know that a person is special to me?

• If a person is in some problem and if that fact really troubles me then that person is special to me.


• If i am ready to do anything to get that person out of trouble then that person is special to me.


• If i miss someone when i am extremely happy then definitely he/she is special to me.


• If i get a good news and first thing i want to do is to share with someone then he/she is special to me.

I think out of our family we will find very few people who are special to us. Actually 90% of people will not find anyone. We might have good friends in all stages of life but only few people will have same friends in all stages of life. In my case there are only few people whom i can call as my friends. They are my friends for many years now and continue to be my friends for many more years to come. Actually i can count then with my fingers. The number is so less because i am not good in making friendships. I take a lot of time to get close to someone. But if someone enters my inner circle then he will be there for many years.

Crazy Driving in Country Roads.....

Me: "Please Let's Go out of bangalore this weekend.."
Deepu: "OK. But in my bike"
Me: "So where are we going?"
Deepu:"Pondi...?"
Me: "Its summer and i prefer karnataka coast. How about Gokarna?"
Deepu: "Road is not good. Driving will not be fun. Lets go to Tadiyandamol"
Me: " I had been there once but four years back. So not a problem. What about you?"
Deepu: "5 times"
Me: " Did you say 5"
Deepu: "Yes"
Me: "Are you sure you want to make that 6"
Deepu: "Why Not?"
Me: "OK Lets Do it. What time we will start?"
Deepu: "tom morning 5"
Me: " OK then tomorrow morning 5, my place"
Deepu: "Done"

So with a two minute conversation we have decided on place and time, though i was not sure whether we will be able to start at 5 in morning.

Morning 4,30: My alarm goes off. I called up deepu to make sure he has started on time. No Response. I called him up 5 times but ended up getting no response. So this guy is still sleeping. I also went to bed for a small nap.


Morning 5.00: I got a call from deepu.
Me: "Where are you man?"
Deepu: "Outside your house. Are you still sleeping?"
Me: " Just give me 10 minutes."

Morning 5.45: We were racing in empty roads of bangalore city which was just waking up in a festive mood.

It was a easy driving in city roads at 60 till we reach our first stop after kengeri for fuel. Within couple of minutes Avenger's tank swallowed 14 litres of petrol. We opted for a full tank. From there it was my turn to ride the bike. It was my first date with avenger. So i preferred driving at slow pace till i get good control of bike. Its an awesome experience driving Avenger on bangalore mysore highway. After Bidadi it was time to push accelerator. We were just cruising around 100 and never felt that we are hitting 100. We took first piss stop after mandya and there goes a red car with couple of babes in it. Now Deepu wants to chase it so he takes control of riding.He was just ripping it at 120, overtaking everything on way. In Srirangapatna we went past red car and there was a smile on Deepu's face. Around 8.00 we reached GTR in Mysore for breakfast where PC our host and sponsor er for breakfast was waiting for us.

After eating masla dosa, idli vada, uppitu and kesaribath one plate each, we started off from GTR. PC told that he will follow us till vijayanagrar. But I did not see him after one km from GTR. Our next stop was hunsur some 50km from Mysore. Deepu has spent all his childhood in this town. So he showed me couple of places, his school and started with his childhood stories. He showed a hill which he used to climb alone and sit on top of that and enjoy.

By the time his stories approach a end we were racing inside Rajiv Gandi National park. I was curious to see some animals in national park. But we were able to see only dozens of monkeys, couple of peacocks, a elephant and lot of birds which i have never seen before.

We reached Virajpete at 11. So we were ahead of our plans. Thanks to some ripping from Deepu. This is the last town we will be getting, so we did a quick shopping of food and beverages :). Now I started feeling hungry and we have already left virajpet and there are no more hotels ahead. Deepu came up with this idea of visiting Iguthapa temple where prasada will be served till 1. He told that it was a remote temple and no one will be there. I did not see any other options so we headed towards temple around 10 km from our base camp. It was a remote place and I thought no one will be there. But for our surprise it was Ugadi and some 150 people were there in traditional madikeri outfits. My God! Girls really look sexy in madikeri style of dressing. After a quick lunch we started towards our base camp. Now I got a call from home and i told sis that i came to madikeri in a bike. For a while she thought i am kidding.

Tammaya - friend of deepu and owner of room where we are going to stay in base camp.

We reached Tammaya's house and luckily rooms were empty. After some rest we went for a walk. It was cloudy so we decided to trek next day morning. After thirty minutes of walk we reached the base of mountain from where actual climb begins. Now i can see bunch of bangalore engineering students climbing ahead of us. They had left base camp almost a hour before us. Deepu wanted to reach top before them and i thought its very difficult as they are way ahead of us. So we decided to give it a shot. We started to climb very quickly and went past that group in less than thirty minutes. It was still 4 in evening and was getting very cloudy. So after some climbing we reached the top. The whole top was covered with clouds and visibility was less than 10 meters.

After some time students group reached top and they were very excited. They were planning to camp on top all night. One of them had a chat with deepu and was thrilled to know that we came in a avenger all the way from bangalore and this is deepu's sixth visit. It started raining and i just felt sorry for these guys because i am sure they will not find any firewood here and it will be very cold in night. Deepu gave them some instructions and we left the place after wishing them good luck and started to climb down. For our surprise it was raining only on top of mountain.

After reaching room it was time to do some preparations for night. We lit up a fire and sat in front of that before it gets dark. Then it was just chatting couple of hours before we finish cup noodles and biscuits. After 280km of drive and trek i was really tired. So wanted to have a nice sleep.

Next day i thought Deepu will not wake up before 9 ( i am sure you can guess why ???). But he woke up before me and we started off early in morning. We took a break in virajpet for breakfast and i got second call from home My mom was bit furious about this whole trip thing. I just explained that i am fine and had fun. Its an awesome experience to drive in empty roads of madkeri covered by green estates. Actually Deepu had some work so plan was to reach bangalore as early as possible. So just took one break in Maddur Macdonalds for lunch and by 2 we were back in bangalore.

The problem with Avenger is pillow rider seat is very hard and small. So if roads are not good then bottom is going to get some nice beating.

Overall it was a very new experience for me because it is the first time i travelled such long distance in bike. There was no gang and we were only two people, so decisions were quicker and were more crazy than before.I just hope that it is the beginning of a new ride.