Yours truly...

... was very busy at work; so he couldn't write anything. But like a phoenix, rising from the... blah blah blah... here he comes...

I am going on a vacation tomorrow - going home! I will eat, a lot, at home (I am already drooling); will try to meet some old friends; hope to meet some older friends from school (thanks to Orkut!); and also hope to click some photographs.

Got to go now... got to start packing!

Trudging to Tungnath

I happen to be in Delhi on official business. And it happened to be a three day weekend due to Good Friday. And a few friends from Delhi and their friends were going on a trek to Tungnath in Uttarakhand. No prizes for guessing what I chose to do!

Tungnath is the third of five kedars (holi places of worship for hindus) – Kedarnath and Badrinath being the better known. The base for this Mandir (temple) is a small village in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand called Chopta. It is about 510 kms from Delhi.

We started for Chopta at 1 a.m. The route we took was Delhi – Meerut – Roorkee – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Rudraprayag – Ukhimath – Chopta. We took two Qualis (for the ten of us) and with a couple of stops, we reached in about 12 hours. The public transport way to reach this place is to take a train / bus to Haridwar. There are regular bus services to Rudraprayag from Haridwar / Rishikesh. From Rudraprayag there is only one cab shuttling (that I could find) to Chopta daily. One might find it difficult to reach Chopta in one day that way though.

Neelkamal hotel was only one hotel open in Chopta. It had several clean rooms with three / four snug beds, and attached toilets. After checking in, we hiked for about an hour up, just to get a feeling of where we were going the next day, and also to get a “higher” view of the sunset. Dinner was an early affair in the small restaurant that operates right in front of the hotel. The menu was simple but nourishing with dal, vegetables, egg bhurji with rotis. The hearty dinner, a tired body and a comfortable bed was the perfect recipe for a great night’s sleep.

The next morning we started at six, for the 3.4 km hike up to Tungnath Mandir. It is a well marked (paved, really) route with elevation angle ranging from mostly gentle to quite steep at places. We also bypassed the road a few times to avoid the snow (yes, you read it right – snow) or sometimes just to avoid the length of the road. For the last kilometer or so, there is no avoiding snow. The only way to reach the Mandir (even in April) is to trudge over the snow, which at times was knee deep. The Mandir site was abandoned: it is supposed to open on 30^th April. Till then there are no provisions of staying up there. Once the Mandir is open, there are a couple of guest house facilities which provide shelter for the night. There is a challenging hike up to Chandrashila from Tungnath Mandir, however, we could not find the route due to snow covering any mark of a trail. We were also stuck there for a while because of a blizzard! Ok, I was taking advantage of my limited vocabulary here – it was more like a light drizzle of snow, but the effects were truly amazing, and the temperatures dropped by a few degrees in a matter of minutes. However, very soon, the snowfall stopped and we were on our way back.

We had planned to hike to Deoriyatal, a lake hidden behind a hill near by, after lunch. However, due to various issues, we dropped the idea, and after a big lunch, we left for Delhi. We only took a couple of breaks, including one for dinner at Rishikesh, and reached Delhi in the early hours of the morning.

Entertainment - redefined (comic) awards 2007

Nominee 1: The cast of Indian cricket team. Need I say more?

Nominee 2: Apocalypto - the movie. I felt cheated... the trailer was in English; the movie was in a mixture of ancient Mayan language and blood. Just intrigued me about inspiration: John Rambo and "Jaguar Paw" have very similar jungle survival skills!

Nominee 3: 300 - the movie. All the controversy about the accuracy of portrayal of historical characters got me interested. But... come on! Who analyzes comic books / cartoons? This is just that... it was a scene by scene copy of the comic book of the same name!

And the winner is '300'. It was an inspired movie! The movie Gladiator had a major influence - even the crop fields shot was inspired by it. Then Troy was a major influence too - I think the ships were same (just a doubt). I felt sorry for the poor captain! He was a captain of Achilles troops too! No promotion in all these years! The disfigured characters of the Persian army seemed to come straight after the shooting of "Lord of the Rings" (remember the Trolls?). Another intriguing thought: The Spartans left for Thermopylae with a shield, spear and sword! Did the Spartans always travel like that? Even when I go for a day trek, I take some food and water with me! Then, I am no Spartan! When I was ten, I did not fight a wolf, which, by the way, looked more like Hagrid's (of Harry Potter) pet than a real wolf!

Anyway... doesn't matter... it is just a comic book, now a movie!

Holi hai!

I was kind of frustrated that I couldn’t go to Kerala this weekend as planned - turned out to be a blessing in disguise. This weekend was a good one.

This Friday, I got to meet a friend who is as passionate about travel as me, plus some. We made some initial itinerary planning for a trip. I also got myself a new pair of sunglasses. Late night on Friday, there was the smallest big party at home. Small in size, only three of us; big in spirit, both figuratively and literally!

Saturday was a typical lazy weekend day. Lazed around, read books, watched some football on TV. In the evening, hanged out with Samarth and Sushant at a place called ‘Take 5’. Their Long Island Iced Tea is about the most potent I have ever had! The food is good too! Late at night, Arun’s parents reached Bangalore.

Sunday was Holi-day! Celebrated Holi, in its true spirit, after several years. Several friends came over to celebrate at home, and we took turns to soak everyone! There was hardly a square inch area spared on anyone! The supplies from the kitchen was steady too – the ‘pakodas’ and ‘gujiyas’, all thanks to Aunty (Arun’s mom). Then went with Sushant to his friend’s place for the second round! A nice lunch afterwards and a game of ‘antakshari’ with new friends was just the perfect way to bring the Holi celebrations to an end. The bath lasted for over 30 minutes, and I can still see traces of the colors applied on me! Will take a couple of industrial strength cleaning agent wash to get them off, I guess! I don’t mind… after all the fun I had!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend too. Happy Holi to all of you!

Boys have all the fun!

For the last few days, life has been hectic! At office, had a lot of work. But every evening, somehow, managed to enjoy a lot. Except for one day last week, happened to gather somewhere with friends. Samarth is the main culprit here, leveraging on the facts that he doesn't have much to do at office these days, and also Anu (his wife) has gone home for a few days. Apurvo is the other one to be blamed, while his intentions were not bad - drinking to get rid of his cold! I was just trying to give them company :-P

Anyway, the three of us headed out of Bangalore for Yercaud early on Saturday. Its a small hillstation about 40 kms away from Salem, the steel city in Tamilnadu. Its one smooth (mostly) straight road from Bangalore to Salem through Hosur, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri. The drive from Salem to Yercaud is especially nice, gaining altitude rapidly (from 350 m to 1500 m) through the steep curvy roads. The main attraction in the town of Yercaud is the lake and the Anna park, both of which we saw from the roads and didn't venture in. Both were thriving on school / college boys / girls! The Pagoda point (4.5 kms away) gives one a nice view of the valley below from the top of the cliff.

I was really impressed by the Shevaroy hotel. The suites and villas were of high standard at a very low price. No wonder they call Yercaud poor man's Ooty! The food was not great there, but anyway, we survived on the 'bhajjis' from the lake side stall. All kind of bhajjis - onion bhajji, potato bhajji, cauliflower bhajji, chilli bhajji, banana bhajji with hot tea... I am still drooling!

I did manage to click some photographs! However, since my numerology guru says I should only 'download' them in units of 36, I am waiting for some more opportunities to click and then 'download'! Hope to complete this achievement next weekend, when I am off to the backwaters of Kerala. This photograph is courtesy Samarth: from left to right: Apurvo, Samarth and me.

Some nice music on the way back, thanks to DJ Apurvo! The trip ended with the resolution of de-tox for the next one week.

Dubya's vocabulary has increased

• IED (Improvised Explosive Device) is the new WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction).
  
  
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the new Saddam Hussain.
  
  
• Iran is the new Iraq.

Adding on 16th Feb:

Watch CNN... you will know what I mean by the lines above!

George Dubya Bush is adamant that Iran is sponsoring terrorism. Apparently some explosives that were used against the American soldiers in Iraq are made in Iran! Every question about Iran, he doesn't forget to mention "We do know that the Kudz forces are behind the IEDs; we also do know that the Kudz forces are the part of the Iranian government." and also "I will do everything to ensure the safety of the American soldiers."

Bandh - Full Stop!

A 12 hour Karnataka 'bandh' was called to protest against the Cauvery river water distribution verdict of the Supreme Court of India.

One of the main functions of the Supreme court is to fix disputes between states (like the Cauvery case). Here's how Supreme court's jurisdiction webpage start: "The Supreme Court has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. Its exclusive original jurisdiction extends to any dispute between the Government of India and one or more States or between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more States on the other or between two or more States, if and insofar as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or of fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends. (Contd...)"

When a protest against a Supreme Court of India ruling is done, isn't that contempt of court and law? I am sure an appeal process exists. Bandh cannot be a means of appeal!

Supreme Court of India in a ruling in 1997 said: "... There cannot be any doubt that the fundamental rights of the people as a whole cannot be subservient to the claim of fundamental right of an individual or only a section of the people. It is on the basis of this distinction that the High Court has rightly concluded that there cannot be any right to call or enforce a "Bandh" which interferes with the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of other citizens, in addition to causing national loss in may ways. (Contd...)"

So, isn't it illegal for any political party (or any other organisation) to call a bandh? How do the political parties get away with this?