My first post from the United Ishtates of Amreica. The country which will be my home for the next two years.
For me 3 Aug dawned just the same way it does for me whenever I have a journey ahead, and this being a biggest journey of my life till date added some extra time I had to stay awake the previous night.
Had prepared myself thoroughly for the D Day. There were lots of pending work that had to be done, and all this made the time fly faster than it usually does. And in a jiffy it was 4, the time to leave. Hugs, tears, wishes from all the members from my family and was into the car to the airport.
The journey to the airport was spent mostly on the phone and some occasional last minute gyan from dad and mom about how to lead my life in there...
Met the people with whom I was supposed to travel, thanks to Orkut and the other technological advances that has made us to re-think the concept of time and distance. These have made the world a smaller place to live in. The group that I was travelling with had atleast one other friend whom I knew. We got going straight away behaving like a bunch of school kids on their way to a picnic. We did have the license to behave so as we had rid ourselves of the corporate tag and back to being students.
It was time to say good bye to family and friends and as the airport doors closed behind me, I was on my own.
The journey was hectic to say the least. The views from the window were amazing. As soon as the filght took of from BIAL, I felt pang of melancholy seeing the airport road like a ring of beads finally disappearing into the horizon. Landed at Mumbai on time where a pang of humidity hit me as soon as I set foot at the airport reminding me that I am still in India. Waited there for 4 hours, which was not at all boring because of the 10 ppl who were travelling with me. The flight took of frm Mumbai at 2:20 AM on the 4 aug, thus started the longest 4 aug in my life. 26 hrs after leaving BIAL it was still 4 Aug in Raleigh. The path that the plane took to Brussels was a tad scary, passing thru Pakistan. Afghanistan, Iran....
The flight landed at Brussels at 7:20 local time. A very nice ariport, with loads of shops but being a student now could not buy frm any of them :D.
The flight took of frm Brussels to JFK at 10:10 local time, passing over the english channel finally hitting the mighty Atlantic. The plane was flying so high above the clouds that the Atlantic looked like a mighty expanse of blue most of the time covered by a blanket of clouds. The views were amazing.
Flying for over 5 hours over the Atlantic, made me feel helpless and awe struck at the expanse of the ocean.
The approach that the flight took to JFK was awsome. One turn of the plane and the vista of New York was painted before my eyes, an amazing sight indeed. Landing at one of the greatest cities in the world was an amazing experience. The flight was kissing the surface of the Hudson river before hitting the JFK runway.
A word about JFK. A HUUUUGE airport which I think has around 8 Terminals (My plane landed at terminal 8) Immigration was a cake walk and so was customs, with nothing much being asked. With 4 big bangs (the Immigration officer stamping my forms) I was formally allowed into USA. There was a 3 hour wait before we were asked to board the final flight to Raleigh.
A few words about this modern engineering marvel (Being very very sarcastic). This plane was supposedly to fly and we were asked to sit in it!!. It was just like Air Deccan, 100times more worse. The height of the plane was just a shade below 6 feet. From my seat I could see the cockpit which was even more conjusted. The airhostess was cranky. The way she spoke made me wonder whether I knew English. The plane actually waited for a few minutes for people arrived and only when it was almost full did it fly. I was wondering whether they will stop midway to pick up people!! :D
Again the views from the window was amazing. And after an hour landed at Raleigh. I got out of the plane and humidity hit me again, making me feel at home!!. Collected all my luggage and was waiting for my sis to pick me up.
It was still 6PM 4 Aug!!. The only thing that made me feel I was in an alien country was the lack of chaos and disorder. The place I stay is absolutely silent!! No crows!!, I could not even hear one of them cawing!!.
I shall get back with more about my life here in the States.
Goodbye for now..
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
My last day in the Big Blue...
24 July, is a day that will forever be etched in my mind and my heart. A day that I shall never forget.
It was my last working day in IBM and my team made more memorable by the people with whom I have spent most part of my 1.6 years that I have spent in IBM.
The day began in the same way it has begun since a year and a half. Me hitting the gym in the morning, reading the times, getting ready and leaving home by 10:45.
Had a hectic day ahead, had to complete many formalities, leave my lapppie with my team mate, return my badge that I cherished, and my amex card
The first half of the day was spent in taking all my personal mails, personal files from my system, occasionally interrupted by a ping or a phone call wishing me the best of luck.
Many were surprised, shocked that I shall be leaving IBM.
Had lunch with my teammates (A last supper kind of a feeling) Returned to my desk to complete all the exit formalities.
Then Atreya came to office with a big gift in his hand and then I realised that I would be a tough emotional rollercosater ride for me till the end.
Went to a different block to complete my formalities, getting forms signed. Finally returned to my seat and went about going around the entire floor to wish everyone goodbye.
Time was 4:30 and Manish called everyone for my farewell party. Boy!, my ride had begun. My friends had all got it planned. Manish set the tone by playing a nice yanni composition that got my senses tingling.
Every one had samosas and the time had come for the speech. Manish started it. I was very much touched by the words he had for me. Then the unthinkable happened. There were tears running down my cheeks. There were clicks from the surrounding camera, to catch that moment. The perceptions that me being an emotionless guy, the guy who had no feelings, no sentiments, had been broken!! Vibin spoke next, and the next unthinkable thing happened. He chocked and his eyes were brimming with tears. Was a very somber moment.
Praveen was unusually silent and said "Kabhi alvida na kehana" was the song that needs to be played. Then the time came in for the farewell gifts. Manish presented me a greeting, which was signed my all my teammates and a magnificent Pen Set that had the words "Bharat, GIOM-SE" engraved on it. My eyes swelled with tears for the love and affection that poured from my teammates. I never had imagined that I will be liked so much by people, that I shall be missed being in the team. I felt I had achieved something in life.
Had a one to one meeting with my lead and manager where frank thoughts were exchanged. In the meeting with Manish, I finally handed over the badge and all the thoughts came rusing to my mind. The pride with which I used to say I am an IBMer, the anguish that I felt when my joining got delayed. The euphoria of the first day in IBM, the friends that I made, all of them came rushing and it was a very poignant moment. My pocket felt empty without my badge. Had to send out one final mail about the handover that had taken place. With Vibin behind my back I sent out the final mail and Vibin fully sentimental told me everything was done. I logged out of my official mail one last time and handed over the system to my teammate.
A final round of hugs and handshakes followed. Manish escorted me to the exit. Got down the lift and into the lobby one last time. With a heavy heart went out of the gate into the open air. Would have been very tough for me to complete this journey without Manish.
Said one last goodbye and a handshake to Manish and thus ended one chapter of my life. A chapter that had all the spices that makes a good meal in the right proportions. Met some truly amazing people. made some wonderful friends. But the most important thing that came out of this day was the realization that people will miss me and remember me for what I have contributed. What else can a person ask for.
This is for all the IBMers that have made my life truly memorable.
It was my last working day in IBM and my team made more memorable by the people with whom I have spent most part of my 1.6 years that I have spent in IBM.
The day began in the same way it has begun since a year and a half. Me hitting the gym in the morning, reading the times, getting ready and leaving home by 10:45.
Had a hectic day ahead, had to complete many formalities, leave my lapppie with my team mate, return my badge that I cherished, and my amex card
The first half of the day was spent in taking all my personal mails, personal files from my system, occasionally interrupted by a ping or a phone call wishing me the best of luck.
Many were surprised, shocked that I shall be leaving IBM.
Had lunch with my teammates (A last supper kind of a feeling) Returned to my desk to complete all the exit formalities.
Then Atreya came to office with a big gift in his hand and then I realised that I would be a tough emotional rollercosater ride for me till the end.
Went to a different block to complete my formalities, getting forms signed. Finally returned to my seat and went about going around the entire floor to wish everyone goodbye.
Time was 4:30 and Manish called everyone for my farewell party. Boy!, my ride had begun. My friends had all got it planned. Manish set the tone by playing a nice yanni composition that got my senses tingling.
Every one had samosas and the time had come for the speech. Manish started it. I was very much touched by the words he had for me. Then the unthinkable happened. There were tears running down my cheeks. There were clicks from the surrounding camera, to catch that moment. The perceptions that me being an emotionless guy, the guy who had no feelings, no sentiments, had been broken!! Vibin spoke next, and the next unthinkable thing happened. He chocked and his eyes were brimming with tears. Was a very somber moment.
Praveen was unusually silent and said "Kabhi alvida na kehana" was the song that needs to be played. Then the time came in for the farewell gifts. Manish presented me a greeting, which was signed my all my teammates and a magnificent Pen Set that had the words "Bharat, GIOM-SE" engraved on it. My eyes swelled with tears for the love and affection that poured from my teammates. I never had imagined that I will be liked so much by people, that I shall be missed being in the team. I felt I had achieved something in life.
Had a one to one meeting with my lead and manager where frank thoughts were exchanged. In the meeting with Manish, I finally handed over the badge and all the thoughts came rusing to my mind. The pride with which I used to say I am an IBMer, the anguish that I felt when my joining got delayed. The euphoria of the first day in IBM, the friends that I made, all of them came rushing and it was a very poignant moment. My pocket felt empty without my badge. Had to send out one final mail about the handover that had taken place. With Vibin behind my back I sent out the final mail and Vibin fully sentimental told me everything was done. I logged out of my official mail one last time and handed over the system to my teammate.
A final round of hugs and handshakes followed. Manish escorted me to the exit. Got down the lift and into the lobby one last time. With a heavy heart went out of the gate into the open air. Would have been very tough for me to complete this journey without Manish.
Said one last goodbye and a handshake to Manish and thus ended one chapter of my life. A chapter that had all the spices that makes a good meal in the right proportions. Met some truly amazing people. made some wonderful friends. But the most important thing that came out of this day was the realization that people will miss me and remember me for what I have contributed. What else can a person ask for.
This is for all the IBMers that have made my life truly memorable.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
An ode to my bike
I started riding a two wheeler way back in 2000. Fallen in love with riding ever since. Had a Bajaj Boxer 100cc (99.94 to be precise) to support my heavy frame (Not that heavy now) Went on my first bike trip in a pulsar. When ever saw a bullet on the road and the gleaming eyes of the rider, I wanted to own one. Joining IBM gave me the freedom to think about investing in the bike. First month into my job, I was scouting the net for a used bike, when my eyes fell on a Bullet Electra. I called the owner pronto, saw the bike the next day and mom loaned me money to buy the bike the next week. Two kicks and the engine was up and running. Feeling the engine, I fell in love with it.
The feel of the bike, the steady thump that moves from the engine and all the way to the entire body, only a bulletteer can explain the feeling and cannot be comprehended by a mere mortal :D
Riding the bike on the highway, with the sun shining on the chrome, the wind blowing on the face, the mind, body and the bike all in sync, the only sound that can be heard is the sweet thump of the bike ahh such wonderful moments of peace, tranquility and harmony. The way it responds to the throttle, purring like a cat when fondled, a wonderful machine, a wonderful feeling.
People may think that I am crazy ( I am not including those that have already considered me crazy). But riding a bullet, one connects to it. A kind of bond develops with you and the machine.
Not riding my bike for a few days will make me miss something so badly, that I take it for a ride irrespective of the distance. The first few kilometers and no matter how low I am it never has failed to bring a smile across my face.
I will miss my bike terribly when I leave Indian shores for my masters abroad. I hope that the next rider to ride my bike will share the same feeling and connect to it in the same way as I have.
Adios
Bharat and Tornado (My bike)
The feel of the bike, the steady thump that moves from the engine and all the way to the entire body, only a bulletteer can explain the feeling and cannot be comprehended by a mere mortal :D
Riding the bike on the highway, with the sun shining on the chrome, the wind blowing on the face, the mind, body and the bike all in sync, the only sound that can be heard is the sweet thump of the bike ahh such wonderful moments of peace, tranquility and harmony. The way it responds to the throttle, purring like a cat when fondled, a wonderful machine, a wonderful feeling.
People may think that I am crazy ( I am not including those that have already considered me crazy). But riding a bullet, one connects to it. A kind of bond develops with you and the machine.
Not riding my bike for a few days will make me miss something so badly, that I take it for a ride irrespective of the distance. The first few kilometers and no matter how low I am it never has failed to bring a smile across my face.
I will miss my bike terribly when I leave Indian shores for my masters abroad. I hope that the next rider to ride my bike will share the same feeling and connect to it in the same way as I have.
Adios
Bharat and Tornado (My bike)
Monday, April 27, 2009
The phoenix has risen
It has been an incredible year. A roller coaster of a ride. The heights of happiness and the ebbs of despair.
Time has indeed blazed past me the last year. There were moments where I had my feet in my mouth and moments of pride. Silly moments of stupidity
and grandeaur moments of success. Things both materialistic and natural has brought me peace, and the trivial human behavior has brought me agony.
People around me have forced me to change and for the better it has been. I have been profondly influenced by people around me who have forced
me to alter the way I looked at life.
But the year ahead is teeming with opportunities. I will be for the first time stepping out of my house for a good amount of time. Higher education beckons me..
Stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, learning to live on my own, stepping back into student life again after two years of enjoying work and a salary...
Phew!!! all these make me look at the year with slight apprehension
I believe that every person on this planet is ordained to serve a purpose.
Whether the decisions I take now will help realize that dream only time will tell, but for the time being, the only
thing that is in my hand is to give a 100% in every thing I do.
Time has indeed blazed past me the last year. There were moments where I had my feet in my mouth and moments of pride. Silly moments of stupidity
and grandeaur moments of success. Things both materialistic and natural has brought me peace, and the trivial human behavior has brought me agony.
People around me have forced me to change and for the better it has been. I have been profondly influenced by people around me who have forced
me to alter the way I looked at life.
But the year ahead is teeming with opportunities. I will be for the first time stepping out of my house for a good amount of time. Higher education beckons me..
Stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, learning to live on my own, stepping back into student life again after two years of enjoying work and a salary...
Phew!!! all these make me look at the year with slight apprehension
I believe that every person on this planet is ordained to serve a purpose.
Whether the decisions I take now will help realize that dream only time will tell, but for the time being, the only
thing that is in my hand is to give a 100% in every thing I do.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sharavarhy Valley Trek
I was longing for a trek after the experience I had at KP. And it was in my wish list to go to a trek with a bunch of people who are unknown to me. Providence seemed to be on my side this time. I saw a post in the Bangalore Trekkers community in orkut by Santosh Kumar that there were a couple of places available to accompany him on a trek in the Sharavathy valley. It was a thursday and I replied to his post that I am interested. Bang came the reply!!. He added me on Gtalk and so began my association with Santosh. Seeing his orkut snaps I could make out that he was a nature freak like I am and my gut feeling told me that it will not be a bad decision to go on this trek. And indeed I will not regret my decision. The fact that it is a beautiful trek and the chance of meeting new people made my decision to go stronger by the minute.
But the kind of person I am, always pushing decisions to the last minute until my rear is on fire, Santosh pinged me on Friday afternoon asking me my decision and told me that he will be booking a qualis if I am not coming. I jokingly asked him whether he is booking a bigger vehicle just for me (and thought to myself how in god's name did he come to know about my build??) I said yes, a decision that I will never regret taking. It was decided that we will all meet at majestic at 10 PM.
I called mom and told her that I will be going for a trek with a group of people whom I have not even met and know. Mom's reaction was quiet understandable. She kind of resigned to the fact that I have made up my mind and gave her ascent.
Reached home at 9:30 and left for the trek at 9:45. I reached Majestic at 10:15 where I was told that a tempo traveler would be waiting for us.
It sometimes happens that the first time you meet a person you cannot help liking that person and the reverse is also true. I liked Santosh, the first time I saw him. The bushy moustache and his joking eyes, you can actually see the twinkle in his eyes even though they are covered by glasses :-) made me feel that I knew this person since ages. Getting into the bus I was introduced to my fellow trekkers and was surprised to know that I had two people from my company to accompany me.
Coming to the people in the trek.
We had Geetha and Shilpa from my company. When I first spoke to Geetha, I kind of got a feeling that she is a tom boy kind of a lady. Ready to take the bull by the horns, a thought which proved itself later. Shilpa was more of a timid lady. I could actually sense her fear and apprehension, always ready to get into the shell at the first smell of danger. Her voice was like a small bird chirping with fear. Next I was introduced to Pradeep, who accompanies Santosh on most of his treks. He is a constant chatterbox, loved his demeanor.You cant help but always laugh in his company. Then I was introduced to two westerners. I could not get both of their names in the first attempt. More on them later. There were three more people, Harish, his wife and his kid. More on them later.
After the introductions, we left Bangalore having picked Jagadeesh on the way, another techie working in Accenture.
The driver of the vehicle, I believe was out right sadistic. He wanted all of us to be awake along with him. Putting blaring kannada songs, driving like an ego-maniac, and constantly spitting outside the window. Phew!!! that was quiet a journey. Reached Shimoga in record 5 hours. We freshened up in a lodge in Shimoga and got moving towards Sagar. We picked up our guide along with all our rations and headed towards the place where we would start our trek.
We had an amazing breakfast at a local restaurant, filled our tummies up to the brim with Idlis, vadas and local buns (It is to be called buns even if you eat on buns, Queen's English has no followers here) It was here that I started talking to Laars, a German, who was on an Internship in India. We started discussing about the culture, our travels, his biking trip in Vietnam was awesome!!.
Finally 12 hours after leaving the concrete jungle, we reached the actual jungle. By god it was a jungle. Completely unexplored, the sun never touching the ground. The trees were towering all round us. It gave me an eerie feeling that the entire forest was keeping an eye on us. There was absolutely no trail on the ground. Had it not been for Narayana, our guide it would have been another season of LOST. Narayana, a moving GPS, was a former surveyor in the forest department. Extremely nimble footed, sprinting like a gazelle, always on the move and rattling the names of the trees, it was indeed amazing to move with him. After an hour of trekking in the forest we hit the river bed. It was here on this bed that our remainder of the trek was to be.
Ten minutes in to the trek on the river bed we had our first casualty. Lakshmi (Harish's wife) had a first fall on the boulder almost bringing me also on the ground. Pradeep tending to her wounds, we were on our feet again.
What made this trek unique from the other treks that I have been is the relative obscurity of this place. It has not been pillaged by hordes of people and absence of plastic. Also it was a trek which was not steep, but it was very tricky. Tricky, because we always had to walk on boulders, some of which were loose and needed some guile to cross them. We walked on the river bed for another 30 mins, when we had our second casualty. This time it was Geetha. Geetha tried and succeeded in climbing a tree across the river, and it was during this adventure that a big thorn went parallel in her feet. I am very sure that it was causing her a lot of pain. It would have doubled when Pradeed and Jagadeesh started probing for the thorn, cutting her skin with a blade and finally pulling that thorn out of her feet. All this time, not even a sound came from her. In fact she was happily taking pics of the thorn all the time. Hats off to you Geetha!!!
There was another casualty, but this continued through out the trek. It was Shilpa. She was on her first trek and this being tricky took a toll on her. Constantly slipping and falling, her confidence took a beating. But her never say die spirit was on full display as she got up each time she fell and continued the trek.
Lunch was a gala affair. Our lunch consisted of rice, sambhar and pickle. Thats it. We ate on the leaves that we plucked from the trees, sitting cross legged on a bark of a tree and gorging on the heaps of rice and sambhar. Wow!!! that was a lunch I will never forget. The sambhar was simply amazing. Cooked on a wooden fire added to the taste.
Continuing on the river bed for another 2 hours, on the way climbing precarious ledges, going underneath barks of trees, getting scratched by the numerous thorns, we reached the place where we had to say good bye to the river bed and enter the forest again. This time it was a gentle climb for around 1.5 hrs to reach a clearing, where we all rested to catch a glimpse of the sunset.
I love sunsets and sun rises. The sky will be always be vividly coloured, the yellows, the oranges, the blues, always looks like nature painted the sky with her full palette of paints. After taking some nice snaps of the sunset and taking our group photo, we headed to the place where we were to spend our night.
The place where we spent the night was a local tribal residence. We all sat on the courtyard, being treated to an amazing performance by Harish's kid. He demonstrated what in my time (when I was a kid) was though to be impossible to be performed by kids of his age. He was very agile with the digital camera, could rattle the names of the capitals of most countries and could perform yogic postures. All these at the command of his parents. Well, when I saw his performing to the commands of his parents, I could not help drawing a similarity between his acts and the acts of a monkey that does tricks at the commands of its master.
I am not being critical of the kid's prowess, but I am critical of his parents. I felt that he was not at all like 4 year olds. His parent's constant glare was always on him. They were watching over him like eagles, least their son, learns something bad... I always feel that kids should always be their age and that itself will help in their grooming. I am afraid his parents did not let that happen to him. I think it is not even the parent's fault. The cut-throat competition that exists today, the parents will also be under tremendous pressure to ensure that their kids are the smartest of the lot, are into the brightest of the schools and all turn out into Einsteins, or Edisons, I pity them, not able to enjoy their childhoods like children his age are supposed to enjoy.
Well, after this theatrical performance, we all sat round the campfire. We were all given Kashaya, which is a herbal drink. It revitalises the body and was a drink fit for the gods. Sleeping on the backs, with the warmth of the camp fire and the starry sky above, I was fully at peace.
Dinner, was another sumptuous meal, with rice, sambhar, chilli bajjis, and kheer. After such a heavy dinner we were all ready to hit the sack. Me and santosh decided to sleep in the open, under the starry sky. Well, this is one thing I will never be able to forget.
The entire night sky was filled with stars. Watching a few satellites and meteors, my eyes closed shut for the night.
We had to get up early in the morning to visit a near by water falls, which Santosh had promised will be heavenly. Waking up at 6 and having a breakfast of upma and rottis (which was made of rice flour) we set off for the falls.
It was a trek of almost 2 hours. Stopping on the way for some brilliant views of the distant arabian sea, we reached the water falls.
Here we had to do some rock climbing to reach the base of the falls. The water was pristine and soothing. Having splashed in the water for some time, it was time to head back. We reached the place where we had camped for the night, finished our lunch and boarded the bus back to bangalore.
After 8 hours of travel, stopping for Masala Dosas on the way I finally reached my home at 12:30 in the night, drawing curtains for another successful and a memorable trek.
Adios till next time
But the kind of person I am, always pushing decisions to the last minute until my rear is on fire, Santosh pinged me on Friday afternoon asking me my decision and told me that he will be booking a qualis if I am not coming. I jokingly asked him whether he is booking a bigger vehicle just for me (and thought to myself how in god's name did he come to know about my build??) I said yes, a decision that I will never regret taking. It was decided that we will all meet at majestic at 10 PM.
I called mom and told her that I will be going for a trek with a group of people whom I have not even met and know. Mom's reaction was quiet understandable. She kind of resigned to the fact that I have made up my mind and gave her ascent.
Reached home at 9:30 and left for the trek at 9:45. I reached Majestic at 10:15 where I was told that a tempo traveler would be waiting for us.
It sometimes happens that the first time you meet a person you cannot help liking that person and the reverse is also true. I liked Santosh, the first time I saw him. The bushy moustache and his joking eyes, you can actually see the twinkle in his eyes even though they are covered by glasses :-) made me feel that I knew this person since ages. Getting into the bus I was introduced to my fellow trekkers and was surprised to know that I had two people from my company to accompany me.
Coming to the people in the trek.
We had Geetha and Shilpa from my company. When I first spoke to Geetha, I kind of got a feeling that she is a tom boy kind of a lady. Ready to take the bull by the horns, a thought which proved itself later. Shilpa was more of a timid lady. I could actually sense her fear and apprehension, always ready to get into the shell at the first smell of danger. Her voice was like a small bird chirping with fear. Next I was introduced to Pradeep, who accompanies Santosh on most of his treks. He is a constant chatterbox, loved his demeanor.You cant help but always laugh in his company. Then I was introduced to two westerners. I could not get both of their names in the first attempt. More on them later. There were three more people, Harish, his wife and his kid. More on them later.
After the introductions, we left Bangalore having picked Jagadeesh on the way, another techie working in Accenture.
The driver of the vehicle, I believe was out right sadistic. He wanted all of us to be awake along with him. Putting blaring kannada songs, driving like an ego-maniac, and constantly spitting outside the window. Phew!!! that was quiet a journey. Reached Shimoga in record 5 hours. We freshened up in a lodge in Shimoga and got moving towards Sagar. We picked up our guide along with all our rations and headed towards the place where we would start our trek.
We had an amazing breakfast at a local restaurant, filled our tummies up to the brim with Idlis, vadas and local buns (It is to be called buns even if you eat on buns, Queen's English has no followers here) It was here that I started talking to Laars, a German, who was on an Internship in India. We started discussing about the culture, our travels, his biking trip in Vietnam was awesome!!.
Finally 12 hours after leaving the concrete jungle, we reached the actual jungle. By god it was a jungle. Completely unexplored, the sun never touching the ground. The trees were towering all round us. It gave me an eerie feeling that the entire forest was keeping an eye on us. There was absolutely no trail on the ground. Had it not been for Narayana, our guide it would have been another season of LOST. Narayana, a moving GPS, was a former surveyor in the forest department. Extremely nimble footed, sprinting like a gazelle, always on the move and rattling the names of the trees, it was indeed amazing to move with him. After an hour of trekking in the forest we hit the river bed. It was here on this bed that our remainder of the trek was to be.
Ten minutes in to the trek on the river bed we had our first casualty. Lakshmi (Harish's wife) had a first fall on the boulder almost bringing me also on the ground. Pradeep tending to her wounds, we were on our feet again.
What made this trek unique from the other treks that I have been is the relative obscurity of this place. It has not been pillaged by hordes of people and absence of plastic. Also it was a trek which was not steep, but it was very tricky. Tricky, because we always had to walk on boulders, some of which were loose and needed some guile to cross them. We walked on the river bed for another 30 mins, when we had our second casualty. This time it was Geetha. Geetha tried and succeeded in climbing a tree across the river, and it was during this adventure that a big thorn went parallel in her feet. I am very sure that it was causing her a lot of pain. It would have doubled when Pradeed and Jagadeesh started probing for the thorn, cutting her skin with a blade and finally pulling that thorn out of her feet. All this time, not even a sound came from her. In fact she was happily taking pics of the thorn all the time. Hats off to you Geetha!!!
There was another casualty, but this continued through out the trek. It was Shilpa. She was on her first trek and this being tricky took a toll on her. Constantly slipping and falling, her confidence took a beating. But her never say die spirit was on full display as she got up each time she fell and continued the trek.
Lunch was a gala affair. Our lunch consisted of rice, sambhar and pickle. Thats it. We ate on the leaves that we plucked from the trees, sitting cross legged on a bark of a tree and gorging on the heaps of rice and sambhar. Wow!!! that was a lunch I will never forget. The sambhar was simply amazing. Cooked on a wooden fire added to the taste.
Continuing on the river bed for another 2 hours, on the way climbing precarious ledges, going underneath barks of trees, getting scratched by the numerous thorns, we reached the place where we had to say good bye to the river bed and enter the forest again. This time it was a gentle climb for around 1.5 hrs to reach a clearing, where we all rested to catch a glimpse of the sunset.
I love sunsets and sun rises. The sky will be always be vividly coloured, the yellows, the oranges, the blues, always looks like nature painted the sky with her full palette of paints. After taking some nice snaps of the sunset and taking our group photo, we headed to the place where we were to spend our night.
The place where we spent the night was a local tribal residence. We all sat on the courtyard, being treated to an amazing performance by Harish's kid. He demonstrated what in my time (when I was a kid) was though to be impossible to be performed by kids of his age. He was very agile with the digital camera, could rattle the names of the capitals of most countries and could perform yogic postures. All these at the command of his parents. Well, when I saw his performing to the commands of his parents, I could not help drawing a similarity between his acts and the acts of a monkey that does tricks at the commands of its master.
I am not being critical of the kid's prowess, but I am critical of his parents. I felt that he was not at all like 4 year olds. His parent's constant glare was always on him. They were watching over him like eagles, least their son, learns something bad... I always feel that kids should always be their age and that itself will help in their grooming. I am afraid his parents did not let that happen to him. I think it is not even the parent's fault. The cut-throat competition that exists today, the parents will also be under tremendous pressure to ensure that their kids are the smartest of the lot, are into the brightest of the schools and all turn out into Einsteins, or Edisons, I pity them, not able to enjoy their childhoods like children his age are supposed to enjoy.
Well, after this theatrical performance, we all sat round the campfire. We were all given Kashaya, which is a herbal drink. It revitalises the body and was a drink fit for the gods. Sleeping on the backs, with the warmth of the camp fire and the starry sky above, I was fully at peace.
Dinner, was another sumptuous meal, with rice, sambhar, chilli bajjis, and kheer. After such a heavy dinner we were all ready to hit the sack. Me and santosh decided to sleep in the open, under the starry sky. Well, this is one thing I will never be able to forget.
The entire night sky was filled with stars. Watching a few satellites and meteors, my eyes closed shut for the night.
We had to get up early in the morning to visit a near by water falls, which Santosh had promised will be heavenly. Waking up at 6 and having a breakfast of upma and rottis (which was made of rice flour) we set off for the falls.
It was a trek of almost 2 hours. Stopping on the way for some brilliant views of the distant arabian sea, we reached the water falls.
Here we had to do some rock climbing to reach the base of the falls. The water was pristine and soothing. Having splashed in the water for some time, it was time to head back. We reached the place where we had camped for the night, finished our lunch and boarded the bus back to bangalore.
After 8 hours of travel, stopping for Masala Dosas on the way I finally reached my home at 12:30 in the night, drawing curtains for another successful and a memorable trek.
Adios till next time
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Trek to KP
KP aka Kumara Parvatha, Pushpagiri is supposedly one of the best trekking places that one can hope to go. The first question that any person whom you meet and tell him/her that you are a trekker, they ask you have you scaled KP?
Out tryst with KP began with much hype and hoopla. Sandy being very much depressed (I don't blame him) with all his unsuccessful attempts to get our group to trek passed the responsibility of mailing people about our plan to me.
Me being an optimist sent out the grandiose mail about our plan to around 15 people some 15 days in advance. But the software engineers that we are and procrastination being embedded in our genes, the final group of 7 people was finalized the day before we were to leave for KP.
The brave souls (may god bless them) who agreed to the trek were Me, Sandy, Vasanth, Karthik, Arun, Suman and Jugnesh.
Fortunately or unfortunately since it was a long week end (26 Jan being a holiday) we got bookings on a Suvarna Sarige (the semi deluxe) bus to Somvarpet from where we decided to climb KP and climb down to Kukke.
The bus which was supposed to have left at 9:45 PM finally left at 10:45. The bus was filled with mostly trekkers. You can call them Software trekkers as most of them were software engineers. Some of the locals in the bus were so pissed of with the noise that one of them mentioned that (ee call centre jana yella raja anta oorige hogttare) when translated
means (all these call centre employees go out of the city during weekends). Forgive me for not being able to translate their anger. Even the bus conductor was yelling at the top of his voice, making all the good kannada grammar into use. Yelling at the people and the government. He was a sight to behold.
The initial boyish enthusiasm, the noise and the excitement in the bus slowly gave way to sleep and drowsiness even as the bus continued to fill with people standing all the way. Karthik even found a fluffy pillow to lean his head on when a beer bellied person stood next to him with the mass of flesh stuffed against his face :D
The bus finally reached Somvarpet at around 5:30 in the morning. The only local coffee shop there was filled with trekkers. We cursed our luck when a mini bus filled with trekkers rolled in to the town. They had their cuppa coffee and started off again. Damn, it would be a fair up at the top.
There was a local bus that we had to catch to Bidalli ,from where the trek was to begin. It was in this bus that we met a guy who continued to haunt us all till the end of the trek. I keep bumping into this guy sometimes in office. To start off the conversation he asked the most dumbest of question. He asked us are you all going for a trek? Boy!!! We all thought to ourselves that we were there to meet an important client!!! The next question he asked further reinforced our belief that even mother nature can make mistakes in creating such a wonderful humanoid. He asked us are you trekking to KP?? Good god!!! No we were trekking the Everest I thought. Vasanth's face was
truly memorable...
A rickety bus journey for an hour took us to the place where we had to start our walk. Getting rid of the ammoniacal fluids from our body, grabbing a quick bite to get us going and a pic, we started the climb to KP.
We walked for 2 kms on asphalt, to reach Heggade mane. There is a small temple there and sometimes they do cook food for trekkers for a small amount. From there there is a path to the right that takes us to the trail to KP.
The initial huff and puff slowly gave way to a rhythmic breathing. Walking for around 20 mins took us to the forest check post, where we had to shell out Rs 115 per head. Taking a few snaps of some cute pups we got going trying our best to keep away from that weirdo we met on the bus. From here we entered the forest and for the next 4 hours the forest was where we trekked.
Three-fourths into the trek you will come across a small sign pinned to the tree written in kannada, which even a kannadiga like me found it tough to comprehend. It talked of a view point to the left. Taking a small detour to the left took us to a point where there was a magnificent view of the vista. Mountains all around, with a gentle breeze blowing across, it was heavenly indeed. We then retraced our steps to continue our climb up.
This time nature gave us a rude shock. There was a 70 degree rock wall that we had to climb. What made this even more daunting was that there was no foot holds and the only way for us to climb this was to climb on fours. Thanks to our ancestors from the trees, we were able to climb this one on fours and reach the top. Thinking this would be the last one we continued our upward journey only to find another wall that we had to overcome. With sheer determination and guile we climbed this one as well. From here on it was a gentle if not too steep climb to the peak.
We reached the peak of KP at around 3:30 PM. Immediately we set about finding a suitable spot to pitch our tents. There were already few tents visible in the vicinity. After some scouting and discussion we hinged upon a suitable place for our tents. We then decided to have lunch. The so called lunch comprised of bread (Guys forgive me for bringing that particular variety of bread) The bread that we ate was supposed to be ragi bread, but it turned out that who ever had baked that bread forgot to groun
d the flour. It was like eating whole grains. But we were so hungry that the bread went down silently :-) We had some jam to compensate it though.
We then decided to pitch our tents. After putting up a tent sandy and suman went a kilometer downhill to get some water (bless you guys...). The remaining people fixed the final tent and waited for the sun to set.
The sunset was truly memorable. The colour of the sky was so vivid. The images are etched in my mind for ever. With the setting sun, the temperature also gradually started to dip and the chill started creeping up our spine. Snuggling in our tents with our pullovers, we stretched our legs for sometime. Even the hard rock felt so good after the gruelling climb.
We all decided to survey our surroundings and crept out of the tents only to find an amazing star filled night. The enti
re sky was lit up with stars. The ill effects of civilization dawned on us...
The thought of eating bread again for dinner made us think about all that we missed at home. Walking along the slopes we came across the group we met at the slopes. They were all at the camp fire they had built preparing maggi :-) Yum yum yum.
We exchanged pleasantries and found out that we shared common interests in trekking and wildlife. Then they invited us to stay on for dinner. After saying no for the first time, hoping they would force us to stay on. I think god was smiling on us that night, they did force us. With no second thoughts we gorged on the food they served us. One plate of maggi and around 10 chappattis.
Even Harry Potter would be amazed by the speed at which they vanished. After a good dinner, we returned to out tents, on the way finding the weirdo and his gang dancing and shouting around the camp fire they built.
I am very sure that the mountain gods would have firmly believed that their creator colleagues had indeed made a mistake in creating people with such profound ape like traits...
After hearing from the fellow trekkers that we had almost 8 hours of descent, we decided to leave early the next morning after the sun rise. Wishing goodnight we settled in the night in our tents zipped up in the sleeping bags.
The next morning we all got up at 5:30 imagine this!!!! It was a chilly morning but the view that we got was out of the world. The sky changed colour like a chameleon. As the dawn started to loom over the horizon, we could make out the silhouettes of the surrounding mountains covered with clouds. The sky turned from black to blue with the horizon painted with orange. Nature is indeed wonderful. After watching a glorious sun rise we packed our tents and started the climb downhill.
We had to cover 13 kms to reach kukke. Our plan was to stop at bhattaramane, for lunch and then continue downhill to kukke. The descent was tricky indeed. It is a continuous downhill. After some time we really began to pray for something to climb. We reached sheshaparvatha, which many people who trek to KP from the kukke side think to be KP. The view from shesha parvatha was something that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
We continued our monotonous descent to reach mantapa for breakfast. This is the second place where there is water. The next stop where there is water is Bhattara mane. For breakfast we finished with the last of our bread and biscuits. We had enough bread to last us for months...
We reached Bhattaramane by 12. Sandy who had reached there earlier told us that it would take an hour for lunch. To tell you about Bhattara mane. It is a small house run by a brahmin family who also owns land. It is the only place on the entire trek where we can hope to get food. For a sum of 50 Rs, bhatta will serve rice, sambhar and butter (unlimited). One can also camp at bhatta's place.
Finally at 12:45, bhatta and his bother placed a cauldron of rice, sambhar and buttermilk. It is self service by the way. We were all famished and rice starved. We hounded on the rice like hungry lions. It was a truly amazing lunch. We filled our huge tummies with humongous quantities of rice, impervious to the fact that we had another 3 hours of rigorous descent ahead of us. But who cares!!! We all had hot rice in front of us and that was all that mattered to us...
Leaving bhattaramane at 1:30 we continued out descent. This time the grasslands that accompanied us all the way to bhattaramane from KP gave way to thick forest. Thankfully that protected us from the scorching midday sun.
The monotonous and challenging descent continued for another 3 hours. This time I was half an hour behind the other guys. Being a slow climber downhill, I had time to talk to many trekkers downhill. The conversations were truly memorable indeed. Suddenly the climb ended and I could see the rest of the gang waiting for me.
Gulping down water in gallons and resting for a few minutes we reached Kukke to catch a bus to Dharmasthala, from where we took a night bus to reach Bangalore at 7:30 in the morning, closing curtains to a memorable, challenging and beautiful trek.
Till the next time it is good bye from me.
Out tryst with KP began with much hype and hoopla. Sandy being very much depressed (I don't blame him) with all his unsuccessful attempts to get our group to trek passed the responsibility of mailing people about our plan to me.
Me being an optimist sent out the grandiose mail about our plan to around 15 people some 15 days in advance. But the software engineers that we are and procrastination being embedded in our genes, the final group of 7 people was finalized the day before we were to leave for KP.
The brave souls (may god bless them) who agreed to the trek were Me, Sandy, Vasanth, Karthik, Arun, Suman and Jugnesh.
Fortunately or unfortunately since it was a long week end (26 Jan being a holiday) we got bookings on a Suvarna Sarige (the semi deluxe) bus to Somvarpet from where we decided to climb KP and climb down to Kukke.
The bus which was supposed to have left at 9:45 PM finally left at 10:45. The bus was filled with mostly trekkers. You can call them Software trekkers as most of them were software engineers. Some of the locals in the bus were so pissed of with the noise that one of them mentioned that (ee call centre jana yella raja anta oorige hogttare) when translated
means (all these call centre employees go out of the city during weekends). Forgive me for not being able to translate their anger. Even the bus conductor was yelling at the top of his voice, making all the good kannada grammar into use. Yelling at the people and the government. He was a sight to behold.The initial boyish enthusiasm, the noise and the excitement in the bus slowly gave way to sleep and drowsiness even as the bus continued to fill with people standing all the way. Karthik even found a fluffy pillow to lean his head on when a beer bellied person stood next to him with the mass of flesh stuffed against his face :D
The bus finally reached Somvarpet at around 5:30 in the morning. The only local coffee shop there was filled with trekkers. We cursed our luck when a mini bus filled with trekkers rolled in to the town. They had their cuppa coffee and started off again. Damn, it would be a fair up at the top.
There was a local bus that we had to catch to Bidalli ,from where the trek was to begin. It was in this bus that we met a guy who continued to haunt us all till the end of the trek. I keep bumping into this guy sometimes in office. To start off the conversation he asked the most dumbest of question. He asked us are you all going for a trek? Boy!!! We all thought to ourselves that we were there to meet an important client!!! The next question he asked further reinforced our belief that even mother nature can make mistakes in creating such a wonderful humanoid. He asked us are you trekking to KP?? Good god!!! No we were trekking the Everest I thought. Vasanth's face was
truly memorable...A rickety bus journey for an hour took us to the place where we had to start our walk. Getting rid of the ammoniacal fluids from our body, grabbing a quick bite to get us going and a pic, we started the climb to KP.
We walked for 2 kms on asphalt, to reach Heggade mane. There is a small temple there and sometimes they do cook food for trekkers for a small amount. From there there is a path to the right that takes us to the trail to KP.
The initial huff and puff slowly gave way to a rhythmic breathing. Walking for around 20 mins took us to the forest check post, where we had to shell out Rs 115 per head. Taking a few snaps of some cute pups we got going trying our best to keep away from that weirdo we met on the bus. From here we entered the forest and for the next 4 hours the forest was where we trekked.
Three-fourths into the trek you will come across a small sign pinned to the tree written in kannada, which even a kannadiga like me found it tough to comprehend. It talked of a view point to the left. Taking a small detour to the left took us to a point where there was a magnificent view of the vista. Mountains all around, with a gentle breeze blowing across, it was heavenly indeed. We then retraced our steps to continue our climb up.
This time nature gave us a rude shock. There was a 70 degree rock wall that we had to climb. What made this even more daunting was that there was no foot holds and the only way for us to climb this was to climb on fours. Thanks to our ancestors from the trees, we were able to climb this one on fours and reach the top. Thinking this would be the last one we continued our upward journey only to find another wall that we had to overcome. With sheer determination and guile we climbed this one as well. From here on it was a gentle if not too steep climb to the peak.
We reached the peak of KP at around 3:30 PM. Immediately we set about finding a suitable spot to pitch our tents. There were already few tents visible in the vicinity. After some scouting and discussion we hinged upon a suitable place for our tents. We then decided to have lunch. The so called lunch comprised of bread (Guys forgive me for bringing that particular variety of bread) The bread that we ate was supposed to be ragi bread, but it turned out that who ever had baked that bread forgot to groun
d the flour. It was like eating whole grains. But we were so hungry that the bread went down silently :-) We had some jam to compensate it though.We then decided to pitch our tents. After putting up a tent sandy and suman went a kilometer downhill to get some water (bless you guys...). The remaining people fixed the final tent and waited for the sun to set.
The sunset was truly memorable. The colour of the sky was so vivid. The images are etched in my mind for ever. With the setting sun, the temperature also gradually started to dip and the chill started creeping up our spine. Snuggling in our tents with our pullovers, we stretched our legs for sometime. Even the hard rock felt so good after the gruelling climb.
We all decided to survey our surroundings and crept out of the tents only to find an amazing star filled night. The enti
re sky was lit up with stars. The ill effects of civilization dawned on us...The thought of eating bread again for dinner made us think about all that we missed at home. Walking along the slopes we came across the group we met at the slopes. They were all at the camp fire they had built preparing maggi :-) Yum yum yum.
We exchanged pleasantries and found out that we shared common interests in trekking and wildlife. Then they invited us to stay on for dinner. After saying no for the first time, hoping they would force us to stay on. I think god was smiling on us that night, they did force us. With no second thoughts we gorged on the food they served us. One plate of maggi and around 10 chappattis.
Even Harry Potter would be amazed by the speed at which they vanished. After a good dinner, we returned to out tents, on the way finding the weirdo and his gang dancing and shouting around the camp fire they built.
I am very sure that the mountain gods would have firmly believed that their creator colleagues had indeed made a mistake in creating people with such profound ape like traits...
After hearing from the fellow trekkers that we had almost 8 hours of descent, we decided to leave early the next morning after the sun rise. Wishing goodnight we settled in the night in our tents zipped up in the sleeping bags.
The next morning we all got up at 5:30 imagine this!!!! It was a chilly morning but the view that we got was out of the world. The sky changed colour like a chameleon. As the dawn started to loom over the horizon, we could make out the silhouettes of the surrounding mountains covered with clouds. The sky turned from black to blue with the horizon painted with orange. Nature is indeed wonderful. After watching a glorious sun rise we packed our tents and started the climb downhill.
We had to cover 13 kms to reach kukke. Our plan was to stop at bhattaramane, for lunch and then continue downhill to kukke. The descent was tricky indeed. It is a continuous downhill. After some time we really began to pray for something to climb. We reached sheshaparvatha, which many people who trek to KP from the kukke side think to be KP. The view from shesha parvatha was something that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
We continued our monotonous descent to reach mantapa for breakfast. This is the second place where there is water. The next stop where there is water is Bhattara mane. For breakfast we finished with the last of our bread and biscuits. We had enough bread to last us for months...
We reached Bhattaramane by 12. Sandy who had reached there earlier told us that it would take an hour for lunch. To tell you about Bhattara mane. It is a small house run by a brahmin family who also owns land. It is the only place on the entire trek where we can hope to get food. For a sum of 50 Rs, bhatta will serve rice, sambhar and butter (unlimited). One can also camp at bhatta's place.
Finally at 12:45, bhatta and his bother placed a cauldron of rice, sambhar and buttermilk. It is self service by the way. We were all famished and rice starved. We hounded on the rice like hungry lions. It was a truly amazing lunch. We filled our huge tummies with humongous quantities of rice, impervious to the fact that we had another 3 hours of rigorous descent ahead of us. But who cares!!! We all had hot rice in front of us and that was all that mattered to us...
Leaving bhattaramane at 1:30 we continued out descent. This time the grasslands that accompanied us all the way to bhattaramane from KP gave way to thick forest. Thankfully that protected us from the scorching midday sun.
The monotonous and challenging descent continued for another 3 hours. This time I was half an hour behind the other guys. Being a slow climber downhill, I had time to talk to many trekkers downhill. The conversations were truly memorable indeed. Suddenly the climb ended and I could see the rest of the gang waiting for me.
Gulping down water in gallons and resting for a few minutes we reached Kukke to catch a bus to Dharmasthala, from where we took a night bus to reach Bangalore at 7:30 in the morning, closing curtains to a memorable, challenging and beautiful trek.
Till the next time it is good bye from me.
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