Karwar Part - 2

I thought I'll post the part 2 the next day...but couldn't. Anyway lets continue...

Sunday morning we got up early. The incentive - BEACH!!!!!! After a long discussion on the day's plan, we decided - breakfast, head to beach, lunch around the beach, boat ride, loaf the town, dinner and board bus. And as ususal we didn't stick to our plan.

The first part went as planned. We had a quick breakfast - upma and shera and headed for the beach. I had a bad cold and had made up my mind to listen to my body, which kept shouting - Don't enter the sea. But then sea won over body;-))

We all had a wonderful time in water. We invented and played some games. The 'train' and 'water fight' requires a special mention. Let me try explaining 'train' - person 1 is the engine and holds the leg of person 2, person 2 holds the legs of person 3, person 3 holds the shoulders/hips of person 2 and person 4 - the guard holds the hips/shoulders of person 3. May sound kiddish but is fulto fun. The second was water fight - we didn't invent this - it just happened. There are 2 parties - Nrutya & Aparna and Sowmya & me. One person in the team would be the 'sarathi' and hold the other by their hips. The other would splash as much water on the opposing party. Total masti and dhamal!!!!

There were a few fishermen in the beach who offered us to give us a ride in their boat after their fishing. They said in kannada 'Cha ge dudu kodi saku' (Just pay us for our tea). I was suprised to hear this. I compared them, wrong word there can be no comaprisons, lets say it reminded me of our greedy city autodrivers. The ride was amazing. And the fishing boad didn't stink of fish!!!! The fishermen were pretty well educated people - two of them were graduates and one them knew Tally. They showed us the Goa border, the ship that hit the rocks near karwar an year ago, the light house, etc. They were such simple and enthusiastic people. We gave them Rs.100 and they were more than happy. A fishermen boad ride is an experience in itself. After about 1/2 hr we were back in water.

I guess we were in water till around 1pm. Nrutya and I decided to return to the hotel immediately. Sowmya and Aparna stayed back built a castle (They claim that). On the way back Nrutya and me had musambi juice - really refreshing. By 3pm we were all clean and hungry. We had lunch at the hotel itself. After lunch we played a few rounds of uno. We cancelled the boatride since we already went for one.

When the sun was down, we all ventured into Karwar town. There was a Sunday sante (market). Was pretty interesting but none of us bought anything. We had 2 rounds of musambi juice and Sowmya promised Nrutya a lifetime supply of icecreams - for what I don't remember. We returned by 7pm, packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Packed some dinnerto have in the bus, which none of them except me had. Back to Bangalore by 7am.

Well, a great trip, like all good things, came to an end. And like Nrutya said - Don't know when we'll get the time to plan another one.

Karwar Part - 1

I wasn't too excited about this trip for three main reasons - This was one more outing without Arvindh (he couldn't have come as he was supposed to go to Bombay) , second - the money factor and third was that I had lost my mobile recently and thought it deserved some mourning. But, I had already committed and Nrutya's mail did touch a cord.

Friday was a disaster for me - afternoon had a bad stomach upset. Left early for home, skipped lunch and slept for an hour. Was feeling better in the evening. Went to mom's house - she cooked some dal and rice for me. Aahh...mom's food after so many days - heavenly. Wanted to leave before Pappa returned home (didn't want to hear a lecture on losing my mobile) but bad luck - he came just when I was about to leave. Anyway, he had just started to crib when I told him I am getting late and left. And inbetween all this galata my patidev calls and asks me very sweetly where exactly I was going? GOD!!!!

Since I had time, I decided to walk to the bus stand - turned out to be a walk down the memory lane. Took the road I used to take for school. Also passed our old house too.
Didn't have to wait too long for the bus thanks to the mobile technology. Mobiles...oh...I have lost 2 of them now. Lets get back, Aparna, Nrutya and Sowmya had got into the bus at Majestic and were giving me the latest position of the bus at regular intervals. Finally got into the bus. The threesome had akki rotis (Aparna's mom's) and chapatis (Sowmya's mom's) for dinner. I just tasted both. Were chatting for sometime and then we all fell asleep.

The first sight I see next morning is Aparna and Sowmya synchronously knotting their hair ;-) Nrutya too had the privilege to see the same sight. Reached Karwar at 7.45am. Enquired about the hotel and walked to the hotel. It was a decent place. Unanimously decided to take it. By 9.30 we had finished our bath and breakfast and were all set to go. The hotel manager had arranged for a cab. We negociated a price and left for Gokarna at around 9.45am.

I did the mistake of asking for some music, we got some blaring music which was hell bent on busting our eardrums. After a few requests we got it to bearable levels. We stopped at a
Ganapati temple on the way. After prayers there we headed to Gokarna. The view around the road was great. Aparna was busy clicking snaps.

As soon as we stopped at Gokarna, a priest approched and wanted to 'help' us get darshan. We entered the temple and another priest offered to do archana for 50 bucks. Aparna and me agreed. He said the same mantras asking for gotra and nakshtra. He took us to the actual shrine and we performed puja there. He asked us to touch the atma linga. It felt like touching Gurudev's feet.

After pradaksina and visiting a Parvatidevi temple, we headed to the Om beach. We planned to be there for sometime and then visit all the other beaches - Half Moon, Paradise and Kudle...well only if things always went according to plan.

There are a set of steps you need to get down to reach the beach. The view was amazing. Guess by the end of this post I'll either run out of superlatives or end up repeating myself a lot. There was a rocky tract which we all ventured into - me with a lot of help from Nrutya. Spent sometime there and headed to the beach. There was hardly any crowd and we found a water crevice. All of us settled around it and enjoyed watching the crevice widening itself. Spent quite sometime there...just sitting sometimes silent sometime chatting away. Sowmya, Aparna and me decided to get into the water. Played for sometime. Then climbed a rock to dry ourself. By now we were famished. Headed straight to a hotel on the beach. Ordered some food, which took long to come - or rather felt long becoz of our grumbling stomachs. The potatos were good.

Finally with stomachs full, we left Om beach. On the way back, we realized that to reach Halfmoon and Paradise, we need to trek from Om beach. So gave up the idea of going to the beaches and headed back to Karwar. The journey back was fun. We laughed a lot (even the driver- Vinod, commented) thinking of our good ol' college days, discussed some future plans, pulled someone's leg...overall had a great time.

We had a lot of time on hand and the driver said he'll take us to a spot in Karwar from where the sunset is beautiful.(I don't remember the name of the place he took us to.) The place was on top of a small hill. What an amazing sight from the top!! We could so clearly see the Kaali river joining the Arabian sea. There were also some carvings on the trees. The carvings reminded me of the Arumbaya Fetish in Tintin and Broken Ear. There was a beautiful stump with carvings like a fort.

The sun played hide n seek with us. By sunset time he was completely hidden in the clouds. We were disappointed. But that didn't stop us from enjoying the view. It was absolutely breathtaking. We settled on some of the rocks around and a good time discussing what else - life! We decided to walk down the hill and asked the driver to pick us up from the bottom of the hill.

Reached back hotel around 7pm. After a quick bath we headed for dinner. After dinner we had a few rounds of Uno which I kept losing, thanks to the Draw 4 and Draw 2. And Nrutya always lost when she opened her mouth before any game. Uno was fun as always. By 10pm Aparna fell asleep, Sowmya followed and then me too.

Shall stop for the day. Will post the the second days events tomorrow.

Want to share two incidents - both related to BMTC bus drivers and conductors.
First one was yesterday evening, when I was returning home from work. It wasn't such a overcrowded bus but people were standing on the footboard and the driver couldn't close the door. The driver devised a clever plan to get all people inside and close the door. He stopped the bus and told all to get in. Few obliged. Instead of picking a fight, the driver started the bus and drove so slowly that you could get down and walk and still overtake the bus. This did the trick and slowly people squeezed in. Simple and effective idea. But the end was an anti-climax. The driver over did it and continued his tantrum even after he had closed the door. This irrked the people. What happened I don't know...my stop came and I got off.
The second one was today morning - this is just some statements that the conductor said. They were pretty funny. Or rather they sound funny in kannada. A school kid, carrying her school bag on her back got in. The counductor asked her to put the bag down. Then he went on to say - "Put the heavy bag down, else all the breakfast you have eatten will be used in carrying the bag. Then in school you will not be able to learn anything that your teacher teaches"

Hmm...haven't been doing anything in office these days. Surajit(my teammate) is working hard on the histogram and other stuff. I thought I'll do the process identification - pretty boring work. And to top it all I'm leaving for Karwar tomorrow. And the icing is Venkat(my PM) isn't around. Well...guess work will get done only next week.

Went to see Priya's child yesterday ( he was born on October 9th 1.05pm) . Its something holding a new born in your hand. For some time he was sleeping ad then he opened his eyes. An over excited Harsha started shooting our little hero's first film. Guess our hero too realised and started making all kinds of faces. Cho Sweet...Priya is fine and recovering. We were then discussing names for our hero. Dhruv was liked by most of us.
On the way back was wondering when I'll have my child. Then remember the talk we had. Aah! these responsibilities.

Today, found some more names for him - Amogh, Mayur, Shlok, Akul, Abhav,Darsh,Tarun, etc. Shall pass it to Priya.

Writing after a long time. Hofully this will continue.

Sachin's new innings

Yesterday Sachin Tendulkar made an important century...most important for him. When most critics wrote him off and some legends also suggested his retirement...this innings was an important one for him. Though I couldn't watch his innings and also couldn't catch the highlights (when I switched on the TV, Gayle was in full swing, so switched it off), from all reports I think it was a pretty good century. 5X6's indicated he is still has power enough to hit the ball all the way.

India's cricket God is back...with a big bang. He has started his new innings with a huge 6. We have to wait and watch how he unfolds in the remaining of his innings.

Weekend enjoy maadi

Weekend enjoy madi
Matte baralla e gadi

Mall hogi, movie nodi
Swalpa amma na kadi

Maneyalli chill madi
Bore aadare nanage call madi

Helona kelona swalpa chadi
Swalpa nadeyona nenapena dhari

Weekend chill madi
Matte baralla e gadi

My Team in GE

I wrote this for my team when I left GE...

Chaile milete hai mere team se
MR S/W kahete hai ise

Hai yeh hamare team ke mezbhan(host)
Sab ko affect karta hai inka kaam

Sab se loud hai team recon
DPServer ke bina inka na koi kaam

Viz karta hai image pe kuch
Doctors dekh ke ho jate hai khush

Ye karte hai help aur support sab ko
Tools team kehte hai hum inko

Is team ke trimurti hai yeh
Sandesh Shyam Amiss hai yeh

Chodke jaa rahe hai inhe hum
Leke thodi khushi thode gum

Four Years

I wrote this almost an year ago for my friends....

Four years ago we parted ways
Two went to Bombay for a few days
Chennai took one more of us
And GE the rest of us

We've shifted companies and houses
Some of us have found our spouses
Looking ahead I can't think much
Only hope that we still keep in touch

The 7 o'clock Deadline

“My dad will kill me”, the girl standing in front of me said. I ignored her and thought she was speaking to herself. She was a good looking girl in her late teens. She was wearing a pink chudidhar. Nice chudidhar, I thought. A minute passed, and she went on “Oh shucks, oh shucks”. After about a minute, she glanced towards me and said it again, a bit more loudly “Its 7.15 and my dad will surely kill me”. It was hard to ignore her this time. I realized she wasn't talking to herself, but to me. But I was in no mood to start a conversation with a stranger in a jam-packed BMTC bus. I looked at her and gave a puzzled look. It was like a green signal to her.

“I'm late today. I should be home before 7.00pm..” I smiled. “ My dad is very strict. 7o'clock is my deadline. I am late.” she continued. I thought about my college days, and the deadlines I had. If my father knew I was going out (this would be for combined studies), then deadline was 7o'clock. If father didn't know (this would be for going out with friends, going for movies etc), deadline was 4.30pm. (My father came back from office at 5o'clock and I had to be home before that). She continued talking about her strict father and I took a walk down my memory lane. How I would come back at 4.55 and mom would yell asking me to come early. “I'll die of high BP” was her favorite dialogue. And how we had our signs. My red towel hung in the balcony meant that father was home already and I better cook-up a good story. I smiled to myself. The driver hit the brakes and I came out of my memory lane. The girl next to me was saying something about her tuition teacher taking extra classes. There were no brakes in her speech.

“Why don't you call up and tell him you are delayed. He'll stop worrying”. I interrupted her. “I lost my mobile yesterday. He is upset about that too.” she replied in a sad tone. “You can call from mine” I said and started digging my bag for the mobile. “Its OK, best not to remind him about mobiles. I'll go and face the music.” she said.

She was silent for sometime and I was thinking of the stories I cooked up for being late – bike tyre puncture, extra classes in college, studying at the library, friend sprained her leg so, had to drop her home, etc. The bus stopped. “My stop” she said. “Thanks for listening. It was nice talking to you.” I smiled and wished her good luck. With so much of westernization coming into the urban Indian society, I thought the 7o'clock deadlines were a thing of the past. This girl proved me wrong. The 7o'clock deadline still stands.