Beyond boundries....

Post #156

2010-01-06T11:56:00.001+05:30

I would like to put up 2 interesting posts that i read today!

I believe Amit Verma is right about what he wrote here. Other article is from Vir Sanghvi. Interesting observations he makes here.

And when all this is happening, it seems the book store shelves which housed the 5 point someone copies are fast becoming empty due to the right/wrong promotion ;)

Post #155

2010-01-02T14:59:00.001+05:30

My post written earlier actually the second paragraph of it made me think about a topic even more. I always wondered which one is greater achievement a)Idea/invention itself or is it b)the implementation/bettering the part of the original idea. This particular thought has left me without any answer even after pondering over it for what i feel is ages now. I still believe the original inventor/author of the idea/story has the upper hand. Without whom it would have been quite impossible to have even imagined a whole thing like that. The dimension/angle of thought that took you to all different plane of thought actually is the creativity that is higher than the art of bettering the existing theory/story/invention. Of course it's all together a different capability to package an idea in a very attractive/useful manner. But without the original idea itself, what do you attempt bettering! Isn't it!?

I hope i made my point. :)

Wish you Happy new year!

2010-01-02T14:45:00.001+05:30

Though a little late in writing the post, I guess it makes sense as I'm atleast writing it on 2nd of Jan... ;)

Njoy another year of life and happiness :)

Post #154

2010-01-02T14:11:00.001+05:30

I finished reading the latest novel after a long time. One thing that i would initially like to say is that I liked the new novel cover to cover from Chetan Bhagat, "2 States". Very nicely presented story of a couple who are so madly in love. As you read through it, you feel like letting it go only after reading through it into it's last page. He does have a interesting way to keep the reader glued to the book or at least that's what i think as i ran through the whole book once i started with it in the morning today. The author paints a very nice picture of the plot as the "Indian" family drama filled story unfolds. It's quite easy to relate with any character in the story with a real life character around you at any point in the story. And all way along giving an idea of the kind of pressure that almost any normal human in Indian middle class has to go through. I must say it was fun to laugh at the experiences the protagonists had to go through in the bid to make the families love them and accept them. Then to work on the whole new challenge of getting the cultures to respect each others family and extended family. There are some parts that i felt was unnecessary but i would take them as much as other parts in the story. :) Also what i really liked was that the whole book has it very easy on the language and playing well with the story narration with the right mixture of sentiments. I think this is a blockbuster hindi movie script begging to be made into a movie. Unless the director and producer screw up big time on their part. A lot of good attempt should be made to doom this sort of script. A love story that too with such cheesy lines and fun filled characters is hard to fail!

But after i saw this yesterday on TV, I wish the his books remain only books. Our industries and actors and everyone involved don't deserve good plots and good story line. They are just content copying and showing things that others have written/works. And all they then say after making the movie is the word "Inspired" by. He he... Irony isn't it! Well, this is my personal opinion and people can have different opinions on it. But i won't argue on it!

Post #153

2009-12-30T11:53:00.001+05:30

This post was typed a few days ago sitting in my home when i had nothing to do. I think I'll jus post it as it is. ;)

First day at my native starts with no power! And thus i get a a very "warm" welcome on a supposed to be winter morning in the northern most part of coastal Kerala. In the era when we [read as our democratically elected government] are speaking of computer engineering penetration and rocket science [If you remember the much debated Chandrayan], there is shortage of power. I don't want to make/take political stand here. But it is quite debatable topic if we think of the consequences we as a nation would have to bear in years to come. I'm not sure how the GDP is projected by the authorities when there is such a challenge facing us that will surely eat into our success.

Now after all this and a "couple off" couple off days later, the state of the electricity on an average day, reminds me of my digital electronics experiments in my engineering days. The ON/OFF states off the electricity is practically annoying when they alternate every now and then causing enormous amount of pain. By the way when it is happening inside every chip of my computer successfully, it is something that is pleasurable than annoying! ;) He he..

And as i type this, i see rain drops slithering down the roof of my house and forming a sort of sweet lullaby. This, makes me want to stay indoors sipping to hot cup of tea and watch this interesting match! But i decided to hold on a interesting read by Chetan Bhagat, "2 States". I suggest you buy it from here if you are looking forward to it. Flipkart has given me good service whenever I've ordered books through them. :) Now let me get back to finishing the book. It's cheesy... :)

Post #152

2009-12-24T15:42:00.001+05:30

On a ten day long vacation starting today. Reminds me of the winter vacations i used to have as a school going kid. Feels like life has come one full circle after leaving school. The employer i work for has a Christmas break and there won't be any work carried out for another ten day. So all the employees have some peace of mind knowing that no one would be calling them on their phones even on vacation. This is bliss for another ten days. I plan to do "nothing" for another 10 days other than lazing at my home. Ah!.. I've to stop.. ;)

Post #151

2009-12-22T23:37:00.001+05:30

It's been quite sometime that i've really posted anything other than cricket. Let me promise that this is one post that will end posts on cricket if not for ever but for a while. ;)

We won the quadrangular series that was held over last month and this! A close 15 run victory meant that we'll cherish the hard earned one for a long time to come...

Chasing our target of 155 in 20 overs, Zak solutions our opponents in the finals, fell short of 15 runs when they lost all of their 10 wickets. Thereby giving us reason to cheer in a year that didn't go well in terms of cricket all through out the year. First we had to fight the fact that our teammates were going through a lean patch all at once. Then we had to do away with the fact of "no budget" for our cricket team from the employer and play a series on our own. And then at last we get some good returns for all the hard work in the nets to end the year on a high as a win and to everyone's surprise, we get the budget for the series approved by the employer. Now the hopes are high for the upcoming series starting January second week in the new year. A big 16 corporate teams based event. I'm looking forward to it as much as my eager teammates.

Here are a couple of snaps of our winning team

Cheers!

Post #150

2009-12-22T23:14:00.001+05:30

I gifted myself a Macbook on Sunday. So, here i am typing away my 150th post into my blogger account on my newly acquired "cool" piece of hardware. It's been quite sometime that I've waited upon to get my hands on my own Mac hardware. Though i have earned every penny till date working on Mac, it took me a while to actually think of owning one. Well, thanks to a annoying OS maker which lives mostly beside the doors on the wall, i was motivated to buy a Mac.

Right now the battery seems really amazing. Though i have not yet performed any processor intensive work, I think it is close to living upto the tall claim of 7-8 hours made by Apple. Awesome boost to the mobile users if it so. The multi touch sensitive trackpad is something that amazes me as much as i use it and it always brings that happiness whenever i use it. My heart felt thanks to the original designers of this amazing piece of feature. And yea a thanks to Apple too for getting it on Mac from the iPod/iPhone platform. Other than that it is the same old piece of the mac hardware that i've always laid my hands on. It's fine fit and finish makes it a class apart and i never can stop admiring it's every detail.

Now let me stop at it for a while when i enjoy computing on my Macbook....

post #149

2009-11-25T11:35:00.001+05:30

I'm elated! Our team just did fine on last Sunday again! We beat Zak solutions comfortably with a 42 run margin. How much better can it get than 2 back to back victories after a 3 months long break. On my personal front, I could hit some valuable boundaries which were much needed at the end of the game. My keeping standards need to be a notch higher than it is now. Though I have been collecting all the wide balls, the collection is not as neat as it used to be. The extra weight that I've put on seems to be a slight problem here... ;)

The next match is scheduled in 2 weeks time. And am looking forward to that match. That match is sort of a practice match for us with out team already in the final with Sunday's win. The quadrangular series seems to be suddenly interesting again to me as we are going to be in contention to win the series now!

To provide a brief match summary,

E F I v / s ZAKSOLUTIONS
-------------------------------------
Toss won by E F I & Elected to BAT

E F I : 159 / 7 IN 20 overs
Batting:
Satish 69[52], Anand 36[32], Naveena 24*[12]
Bowling:
Ajay 4-28/3, Vikas 2-13/2, Unnikrishnan 4-16/2, Anand 3-20/ 2.

ZAK : 117 / 10 IN 20 overs,
batting:
Srinath 25[29], Ali 21[24], Raja 24[20]

M . O. M: SATISH from E F I
Match Won by E F I by 42 Runs.

Post #148

2009-11-19T11:10:00.001+05:30

Our sometimes office sponsored and sometimes self sponsored cricket team that i play with more often did great on our first outing (15th Nov ) after the rainy season. This series was sponsored by the company me and my teammates work for. It was not like the earlier series where we had to shell in a lot of cash to enter the series and then went crashing out in quarters after doing well in the initial league matches. Everyone is now pumped up after a good 27 run victory which is a big margin in 20-20 format of the game. The role for me in the team has changed from the last series in the team. I'm now a wicket-keeper batsman who comes down the order to bat. The opener's slot which i used to enjoy for about an year is now taken up by another teammate. With the next match on 22nd Nov, me and my teammates are waiting for the clock to strike 8 Am this Sunday when the first ball would be bowled for the next match. Opponents this time would be Zak solutions and this is one team we have never played earlier unlike the first match where we knew the opposition (MC & A) from a previous match where we had lost to them. Let me hope for the best.

In the mean time the rainy season was a good time we bought some cricketing gear especially the cricket bat which needs seasoning before we play the cricket ball. Hours of knocking with the mallet went in to the bats we bought. Hard work did pay off as we got bats ready in time for the match. I did buy a Kashmir willow bat and it's now seasoned in to be played this season. Hope the sponsorship money pours in and we play more of the matches over the weekend :) And here are some snaps of me knocking in my new bat.

Post #147

2009-11-10T14:21:00.002+05:30

Finding a title for blog is a little head scratching affair every now and then. And now i found a permanent solution for it! Ha!

This song from Cat Steven's is so simple yet very melodious. I just love it.... watch it and enjoy! This song has become a regular in my playlist! And i wish i could play and sing this song along! :)

The life of then Cat Setvens and now Yusuf Islam is very interesting! Read it here.

Hooks and crooks!

2009-10-23T11:13:00.001+05:30

Imagine a giant hook with some good mouth watering food hanging from it. And say the giant hook is attached to a big crane. Now, imagine yourself as very hungry and you ran to take a bite from the food that is lying on the hook!! This seems mouth watering at that moment isn't it! But, say as you lay your mouth on the food and the hook, the crane operator pull you up into mid-air putting you into unbearable pain. You are now stuck and cannot free yourself from the hook and you are struggling with the pain hanging in air! Well, you may now wonder why i'm trying to be all filmi here... But all this because, i came across this! Imagine the fish's plight! Poor thing's only fault is that it is born a so called game fish! And yea, it's going extinct too in some years!

I can understand if the fishing is to feed a dying hungry man! But for fun, you are not supposed to kill a living being! What is the difference between the terrorists and these game fishers!

I wonder what happens when all the game fishes are extinct! Who will be hanged by hook by these game fishing crooks! ? Han?

Commercializing cricket....

2009-10-09T17:41:00.001+05:30

This is a beautiful article on what would happen in the near future or it nicely reflects upon the changing player's attitude in international cricket scene. I'm totally for commercializing the sport. And players staying independent of countries. This also is good for players. No player can be igonered by any country's governing body. A player who wouldn't suit a scheme of things in a particular team, might very well be a good option in another team. The possibilities are far too many. The competition in the sport will do a lot good to the quality of the sport. Innovations happen when there is competition. For example would ever Dilshan had played his strange looking but very effective over the wicket-keeper's head shot if it was not for the T20!

The biggest problem though i see is the fact that these big corporates who bring in players for exponential amount of money compared to the individual's cricketing consistency might one day lead them into doom! So it's all upto the group of corporates who have good sporting idea to take care of it. And not just spend large amounts of money on buying too many star players. After all it's not the number of stars in a team that matter. It's the combination of individuals who eventually play contributing effectively by making up for one another's weakness and strengths that win! I don't want to see a star studded team of the "real Madr!d" style fall dud.. ;)

I hope more tournaments like the ongoing Champion's trophy take place.... I'm bored of seeing the same national teams playing each other.

Bollywood surprises me ever time...

2009-09-17T11:59:00.001+05:30

I came across this piece of news in some bollywood gossip site or whatever! I'm not sure if it is true. What is interesting about this piece if it is true is that the fact about someone saying a "no" to a composer like AR Rehman. :) People are bold enough to say that! Thats great news. For this song, which was eventually recorded by ARR, it did come out very well. I wonder how would it have sounded if Himesh had sung it ;) Two versions of the song would have had to be on the CD eventually which would read "Fiqrana (Nasal version)" and "Fiqrana(Operated vocal chord version)" ! Makes it interesting.... Almost every movie these days have different versions of the same song. Club mix, remix, rock mix and what not!! So we've a new dimension added to the mixing on song in music CD. Business aspect han! ;)

Metronome for mac

2009-09-07T10:22:00.005+05:30

There are not many metronome software that a user could choose from when it comes to Mac. So i just took some time yesterday to write this and here is the first version of it. Please feel free to download and use it and comment about it. Right now, i think this is pretty basic. It allows you to set a beat per minute from anywhere between 1 and 240. If your Mac has a speaker in it or connected, the default system beep must be heard at the interval you set in the UI. Have a nice time practicing your guitar with it fellas.

UPDATE: I added another feature to this existing version: Please download it from here.

Cyclothon!

2009-08-12T09:48:00.001+05:30

I'm planning to register for the this cyclothon to be held in Bengaluru on 11th October 2009 at 07:00 AM.! The elite 50Km ride sounds pretty much interesting... :)

Cycling to Bannerghatta

2009-08-10T14:15:00.001+05:30

It's been a while now since i have cycled some long distance. Other than the short trips in the weekend stretching couple of kilometers i've not done much. With lot of work looming over me in the days to come at office i needed some break. Also i was tiered after the 3 week's haul of work. So me and one of my colleague decided to bike a small distance early morning. We had done this earlier on a different route which was fun. So we did start early as 6 from my place and went all the way to the Bannerghatta national park. We couldn't anyways get into the park as it was too early. So we just circled around the park and then returned. A good 50 KM round trip did make me feel fresh mentally :)

Some of the snaps here...

This is meenakshi temple that you get enroute:

The tariff board hanging at the park! Should go for a safari sometime ;)

Well, the zoo's Map!!

Njoy!

Oh! Do i love this Judgement? I do.. :p

2009-08-01T11:17:00.001+05:30

Reading this piece of news was fun. Aren't the judges right when they said that there are far more important issues in this nation to be addressed than thinking on "to ban or not to" a TV show! He he! I don't know what's with these people that this moral policing is so important to them! One thing that strikes me here is "Taliban"! Aren't we different from them guys or are we the same? ! common! Let the society take it's course. I don't think moral policing will help anyone!

All said and done! If at all the program "Sach ka samna" is so "vulgar" to some then i think it just needs a flip of channel for those "some". Let me give a small example here, for me personally i don't like the program "Rakhi ka swayamvar". I can't stand the program not even for a frame! So did i go and file a PIL? No, i just flip the channel. I've more important things in life to do than file a PIL on a stupid program! I think the grown ups who understand simple logics can understand what i am saying here.!!!

Well, if the People are really worried about the future of our culture then let me put it this way. It's upto the people of older generation to provide knowledge to newer generation on consequences! And it is upto the individuals to chose what's good or bad for them. Culture cannot be forced. It needs to be coming from the heart.

Pulsar Mania! #!@#!

2009-08-01T10:37:00.001+05:30

I was happy as well as sad reading this a couple of weeks ago!

Lets go back about 2 and half years in time. It was 2nd week January 2007. After selling my old Yamaha Rx-100 off which i had fond memories. It was emotional thing for me to buy a bike that was easily in the power segment then in the Indian market. The choice was simple as I'm not a guy who likes bikes with a lot of fairings. You know what i intend to say here basically ;) Sorry ZMA fans leave me alone!! Well, a walk into the Bajaj showroom in Udupi was just to select the color of the bike rather than to make up the decision on engine size! I asked the customer exec there if Bajaj is planning on a much more powerful bike too soon? To this his reply was an absolute solid NO! Ah! there, he made things simple for me and thinking so i made my choice of a gleaming red Pulsar 180. I got the delivery one week later on 24th Han 2007! All happy for the next 3 or 4 days being the proud owner of then new in market features of digital speedo and LED tail lamps i was in for a shock when i discovered that a 200cc Pulsar has been launched! Only i know how i felt cheated on this news! ;) A month or so later, i was again putting on a wide grin or atleast i thought so when news of fork damages in the new Pulsar 200's started pouring in. Then Bajaj it seems declared a free replacement of the defective forks in 200's. Everything became quiet for some time later a P220 came! And i had no words to explain the sheer joy i felt riding a friend's p220.

And now almost 2 and half year later the all success bike which sold in volumes has been phased out! It's shocking for me. But then the bussiness stand point of Bajaj is understandable. As bajaj has this! Wow! I'm craving to buy the new p220! I would love to beat the shit out of the guys in ZMA's ;) Ah! a la 21 PS engine. I wonder what is stopping guys in Bajaj from rolling out a 30 PS with a 350 something cc engine. I would love to ride this bike as any biking enthu would. :)

But bajaj, if you are listening... please keep the bike styling naked.... please.... It's a request!

Yamaha did the right thing here by bringing out the Fazer 150! Basically people who want style can buy this nothing other than a cosmetic FZ 16!! And hell yes with a fat prize! I don't think it is worth it. Well, thats my opinion ;)

Hail Schumi!

2009-07-30T13:27:00.001+05:30

Ah! I'm thrilled at this. I don't have any expectations of podium. But its sheer joy to see the man drive... :) And what could be better than in a Ferrari F1 machine. :) For now the news itself is very sweet on my ears. Another Schumi era to begin... atleast for a short duration. :)

Some Chords...

2009-07-15T19:45:00.002+05:30

If you have a guitar and would like to try some of the bollywood numbers, try this link... :)
It's fun.

Up and running...

2009-07-12T21:10:00.002+05:30

Except for a few new comments here in this space nothing much has changed in last couple of months. And now today thanks to one of my friend i decide to post here in this space once in a while or whenever i can. I hope this time around i won't stop abruptly like last time... So, to new beginnings :)

The End...

2009-04-06T16:18:00.001+05:30

I've decided to bring blogging to an end for now. It's not the lack of topics that I'm forced to take this decision. But it is the lack of motivation to write about things that i do feel like which has more to do with this decision. To take time off everyday to think and write about things that i want to say every day takes a bit of motivation and effort and I don't have it anymore in me to continue here. So here it ends (at least for now) very close to the day from where i started off an year ago...

Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog all these days and taking time to comment in this space.... :)

And i think I'll not delete this space for a while and the contents would still be available.... but you can stop refreshing this page for newer blogs as nothing new is gonna appear in this space.. ;)

Beware of what you blog!

2009-02-25T14:34:00.001+05:30

Well, check this piece of news which throws some light on how things could take a turn if your blog content or view is not liked by some one!
Bloggers can be nailed for views-India-The Times of India

Happy blogging fellas! :)

WoW!

2009-02-18T11:18:00.001+05:30

These particular lines from Elizabeth Stone impressed me.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It
is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your
body.”

Well, I actually liked the second sentence. It does mean so much. The first sentence as of now is irrelevant to me. ;) I know this post would invite some raised eyebrows but then i would like you to take it in the right spirit. :)

Configure Google Talk account in iChat!

2009-02-17T12:45:00.001+05:30

There are n number if sites which says something similar. And the google site too says this. I wanted to configure my iChat with the Google talk ID i've. Unfortunately, all i was able to see after configuring and trying to connect was a dialog box saying "Unable to connect to host talk.google.com". No progress! And after n searches on the net regarding the same, i was unable to login to my jabber account in gtalk through iChat. Finally a friend of mine did rescue me when he told me to try 443 port. Thanks to Shivanand! The port 5223 somehow fails to work in my office network. I'm not sure what would be the reason. Anyways, i thought i would put it up here in my blog.

Critic's obsessed with Indianess?

2009-02-11T14:03:00.001+05:30

Just found this when i was blog trotting. What this post says is something that i definitely would like to write here again. But then i would not be able to write it again that nicely and so you better read it from source. :)
Wonder what's wrong with all the critics! Every other person has a right to critic a work but then totally ignoring out the work of an artist is not good way to critic too! I loved the movie Slumdog millionaire. The script is something that was very different and written beautifully. Not at any point in the whole movie did i want to stop watching it. Basically what would be a good movie? One that entertains you and walks you along it's run time without boring you. And this movie does exactly that. And i can't understand why people can see only bad things about it! After all what the movie shows is true!
I find a comparison for this instance with an instance in the recent past where Mr.Aravinda Adiga's book won the Booker's. Though the story was well written, most of the critics (from India) found the book was showing India in bad light! Well, i didn't find anything like that when i read the book. Whatever i read were the things that i could find, see or experience here in my nation.
Every single thing has goodness and badness attatched to it... so why do we express such deep anger on things that are portrayed in print or media which actually are real and factual! Probabaly it's hard to accept or is it ignorrance? I'm confused! And the best part is, all these critics finally become more famous and important than the person who actually has done the work which was criticed!! He he he... I see irony...

Fridays become expensive!

2009-02-06T14:04:00.001+05:30

The employer I'm working for has declared four working days as off days in February this year. All the Fridays in this month to be observed as a off day. And these 4 days will actually be deducted from employee's earned leave account. Yea, it's holiday literally but then that's not the end of it. I've to pay for it as well ;) BTW, now i have all the time in the world to blog. :)

With all the letters in the word recession being clearly visible to everyone, our management decided to cut some operating costs. And with the down trend likely to continue in the near future, it seems we need to slow down a bit on what we are doing. I wish everything improves for good but nothing seem to take a positive turn in the economy graph as of now. :( It's been negatively positive year till date.

Let me see how to utilize these extra leaves to the best... ;)

Another year for me...

2009-02-04T13:25:00.001+05:30

Ah! Today i complete 26 years of my life on this planet. Only change in me as a person is in my external appearance from last year as i see is I'm a little lighter than what i was an year ago.. :) Hehehe... must have to do with all the hair i've lost on my head ;)
I know I'm blogging less these days. Lemme see how can my posting rate be improved in another month. Right now I'm tied down with a lot of work at office and Guitar learning sessions at home... :)

A post after a while...

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000+05:30

This blog of mine has been silent for a long long time now. Never been this silent from the day it started. It surprises me that i could actually not post anything here for some time now. Am just back from my trip to a lovely place called Hampi. (Will do a separate post for this later)

And for the blaming part of why not posting anything at all for all these days could well be part of this big propaganda from the weather god to suddenly make mornings very cold in Bangalore. And that I'm not used to it i got a little less of my free time in a day than usual. Ah! now i am happy that i do have reason to stop feeling bad that i could not write something here in this place for a while now. Truth be said and it was only work at office piling up from day to day that kept me in terrible or no mood to write up anything and make a post here.

Traveled home for 10 days in the end of December. Met up with a lot of friends and family whom I've not met in a while now. Had a nice time speaking to them. One of my very good friend got married. And it's becoming so common now with every other person who is single and that i know off are getting married. It becomes a huge get together of sorts. :) Other than that all i did was watch some movies.

Read 2 books. One was "Netherland" from Joseph o'Neil and the second was "Moth smoke" from Mohsin Hamid. Though reviews for Netherland were good, i did not find the read interesting enough. The story was bit of a drag. The other book "Moth smoke" was interesting and short like the author's second novel which was also short and worth a read.

Started to play one of the instruments that i always loved to hear. After some confusion initially i gave learning Guitar a go. I mean i cannot always contemplate as to whether i would continue taking lessons after the initial excitement sinks. I mean, if i always stay fighting myself, when would i learn. So here i am practicing it religiously everyday now. Though it's too early to comment if i would continue to have this amount of interest all through but i would say i feel so much at peace now since the day i held the box guitar and plucked the strings.

A major disappointment for me was not not being able to procure a Macbook. The friend of mine who actually promised to buy it for me before he comes down from US actually couldn't do it for me. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for me, his stay was extended this Jan. And my wait continues. Not sure if this will take some more time.. but my patience definitely is short lived in this regard.

As to say this was not all the disappointment i had during this month, our cricket team did loose 2 very important league games.Now i am not reasoning why we lost. I did bat well in couple of matched but not so good enough that i could win matches single handed for my team. Now i can understand how difficult it must for someone like Sachin Tendulkar to have a billion anticipation on him during a match! So literally we are now out of the contention to pass to the next round. But we do have a league match left to be played next weekend. And hope we win it for some consolation. ;) Who knows this might be the last match we play for a while now as our last year's budget is exhausted and this year seems to be tough for the company in terms of revenue. This makes it very possible that our cricket budget be denied this year.. :( Sad but good if it saves some money for the company for real. :)

Well, i need to warn you before i log out... for people who have not watched "CC2C", kindly do not watch it. It's a blunder of epic proportions. I feel sorry for the people who have already watched it in theatre.. My heartfelt condolences for you... ;)

200 crores for a ...!

2009-01-09T16:19:00.001+05:30

I'm amazed to read this now! 200 crores of rupees made by the movie since it's relase not even a month ago! Phew! While the actual movie from which this was "inspired" (like most bollywood movies these days are inspired from hollywood) made probably only so much world wide! Ah! I loved watching the Memento! I'm probably not watching Gajini for now. I'm just happy listening to the songs which are just awesome. :)

I wonder what would have happened to this movie if someone other than Amir Khan was in the lead role! Interesting isn't it?

There! Comes dissapointment...

2008-12-23T10:46:00.001+05:30

As i was writing this article posted below, i get a mail from the HR saying, Performance Management Begins January 19^th.
There, the perfect start to the new year...!! BTW, how about copying my last post on the online performance management system? ;)

Introspection and Retrospection!

2008-12-23T10:30:00.001+05:30

An year has gone by and when i look back in time there are things that i think i could have done better. Even though not by a large extent, a bit better here and bit there would've made good differences. But we all know we never have second chances and this is what makes life most interesting as we move ahead trying the uncertainities at our own best as much as we could. Over all i think this has been a year filled with personal highs and also lows. I've made good grounds on the career front and would like to keep the momentum up and going this way for the years to come too. On the personal note, this was more than a bad year for me. I lost one of my closest friend and companion. The less i talk the better here as i don't want to get into something that was foolish of me in the first place and very painful back then in the first half of the year and I've since then decided not to think of it at any stage.

I've successfully lost some weight (close to 7 Kilos) this year. Not with a lot of effort though ;) This is what is quite surprising! It jus happened with my shift to Bangalore (The larger part of it). Initially some Cycling/Jogging did help me focus on loosing weight. But then as usual I did not stick to it for long. Surprisingly, after moving to Bangalore i did no exercise and i lost weight! Might have to do with the food habits. But then it helps. ;) I miss my bicycle here as i have left it behind when i shifted jobs in June. Now i need to bring it here or atleast think of buying a new one soon.

I've shifted jobs after working with my previous employer for a good three and a half years. A mixed bag of experience. I miss my friends from that place and i love my job profile here. I would not say that what i got from my previous employer was bad, but something was amiss. That is what i feel. Or maybe i did not grab the opportunity that was coming my way there. No use contemplating on it now as I've moved on and it is better.

Another notable high is the point that I've started playing again. With the corporate cricket matches organized every now and then in the weekends with the other companies, every weekend becomes somthing that i look forward to on a otherwise boring and low monday. It's something that I always craved for last 4 years since i graduated. The leather ball hitting the meat of the willow sounds music.. :)

More than anything, i loved my decision this summer to start with this blog. I'm happy I did this. I wanted to write on something and i did hold on to a decision of mine (which i rarely do!). And the best thing is, i'm still writing pieces into it. I'm not sure why i started this in the first place. Initially started off anonymously and then i thought i would give away my identity as this was not a very secret stuff that i did here. Anonymous initially was probably because i might loose interest or maybe stop having topics to blog on. So i waited to realize that i would continue doing this for good/worse. ;) One constant piece of criticism that i got from my friends for this page is that it contained articles only on cricket/bikes/movies. He he he. Let me see what i could so about this in the next year. For this year this is the one before another final one.

Now let me look forward to the next year and also deciede what would be my priorities for the year ahead......

ScribeFire!

2008-12-22T07:34:00.000+05:30

I'm now using ScribeFire. After a short stint of using Blogo on my Mac machine. I've now switched loyalties. ;) ScribeFire is a free Ad-on that is available for Firefox browser and is very effective when it is lightweight and very user friendly. I baically need a tool to blog which is very comfortable compared to logging in to the Blogger dashboard everytime i want to make a post. It somehow is "cool" to have a tool to blog. :)

Watched this...

2008-12-19T12:17:00.001+05:30

Had fun watching this movie. It's a kind of movie that i could watch when i am having a terrible mood. It just gives me a high. I liked each character in the movie because all were so individually different and yet gelled together for this story. And what else can i say to a movie which is based on intelligence goof-up. He he he... My country's agency too I'm sure would be saying "so we have company after all as we are not the only ones who don't have a clue what is intelligence!" after watching this movie now. :)

Watermelon prices set to soar!

2008-12-18T12:49:00.001+05:30

I'm sure lemon and watermelon vendors will be out for a surprise when they see the amount of sales they would do!

Reason: Well, see this...

Are any investors reading this? ;)

Our brain has inbuilt noice cancellation Mechanism?

2008-12-17T23:52:00.000+05:30

Most of us would've closed our ears with our fingers or hands at least once till date. And in doing so as a kid would have wondered on what the sound was that we could hear from the depth of our own ear! And as we grew some text book or general book that we read said that it was the sound of the blood traveling through the arteries/veins that made the sound. And yes if we were more enthusiastic, we would at times run hard to increase the heart beat and then check the sound from the ears growing louder when we closed ears after this exercise. And listen to the new sounds that got added such as the air passing through the nose to lungs and yes our heartbeat too was audible which was beating recklessly!

Now the best part is, Why don't we hear these sounds when our ears are open? A perfect noise cancellation mechanism was put into place in our audio processing unit in our brain when we were designed to walk the earth. So beautiful!

I know most of you know this. But jus thought to put it here as what is note worthy is that i never happen to notice this till date that this mechanism was actually there until i thought about a noise cancellation head phone. ;) Man, if god could foresee this detail a long back and had implemented a more complex audio processing unit for us! well, no need to mention BOSE would be out of business.... ;) Hehehehe...
Perfect example for "working out of the box".. the apple istyle... ;)

In-Ear from Apple.

2008-12-16T08:02:00.000+05:30

Check out this from Apple. I admit that the thing looks good on picture, especially that remote which apple calls "control capsule"! Also there is an added advantage of Mic on it! This is cool.
The Spec sheet says it's Frequency response is 5Hz to 21kHz. Sensitivity at 109 db at 100 Ohms.
Sells at "just" 79$ according to the website... ;)
If you're interested on comparing, here is something from one of the best in sound... And it sells at $10 more than the Apple in-ear.

Using this App... "Blogo"

2008-12-15T17:49:00.001+05:30

A publishing tool for Mac platform... This is the first post made using Blogo. Let me see how it goes before my 21 day trial expires... :)

So here it is the first one..

Snap- Devarayanadurga.

2008-12-13T09:14:00.000+05:30

From my friend Abhilash who clicked this beautiful snap.

What is a Merc?

2008-12-11T07:34:00.001+05:30

Click on this and get to know the world of Merc.

Nijagal betta and Devarayana Durga...

2008-12-09T08:07:00.000+05:30

Travelled to Nijagal betta and Devarayana durga this sunday. These places are off the Tumkur-Bangalore NH-4 highway. About 80 KM away from Bangalore south. Easiest access to this NH is through NICE roads and it's a treat to bike through this stretch of about 25KMs. 6 of us made it through with less amount of planning. ;)

We started off as early as we could and that was jus as the sun was rising with his bright orange shade...

It was too cold even with 2 t-shirts under my thick jacket! It took us almost 2 hours to reach the Nijagal foothills.

As you can see it is visible from the NH4 jus opposite a Reliance petrol bunk. We parked our bikes here as there was ample space due to the closed down bunk. Started our trek which is nothing difficult. The path is cleanly distinguishable once you cross the railway track running parallel to the NH.

Most of the monuments here are broken down and not maintained. There's nothing left on the peak other than a darga/temple. Locals flock this place with beliefs. I've seen a lot of chicken offered to deity here by the locals. Further climbing the stone give these amazing views from the top. The rock formations as so beautiful and there is a lot of gap inbetween these round huge rocks which act as caves. And it's a lot cooler with good breeze blowing on you.

We descended this hill as quickly as possible to visit another place called Devarayanadurga. This needed us to go back futher towards bangalore on NH 4 and take a left turn from dabaspete. The access is good as the roads are quite good accept for a kilometer's stretch. Curvy roads on the way up to the hillock. Half or more than half of the hill is motorable so this is not taxing on the legs ;) The view atop this hill is not as good as the Nijagal betta. But worth a visit once.

BTW, i need to mention the beeutiful sky that we had that day... as blue as it can get with white clouds scattered all over... :)

Watched....

2008-12-08T07:48:00.000+05:30

Over the weekend i managed to watch:

Pineapple express was a no pain no gain movie. he he he he. Laughed a lot at the funny moments the movie provided and they do have many such moments. Seth is terrific and also his drug dealer partner and friend. Watch this for good break from serious movies.

Righteous Kill was a bit of a serious movie. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are as good as they always were. Though this movie did not seem to be popular as it was supposed to be, i liked this movie over all.

Couple of books...

2008-12-04T19:48:00.003+05:30

Managed to finish reading a couple of books over the weekend. One being 'The white tiger' by Aravina Adiga and another being 'The reluctant Fundamentalist' from Mohsin Hamid (his home page).

After reading a lot of negative critics i started out reading 'The white tiger'. Basically the critics were against his highlighting India only in bad light. But then i would say the plot required him to do so. I'm not sure to contemplate on the fact whether the book should have won the Booker's this year. It's ultimately the jury's decision. The white tiger is a good read though.

The Reluctant fundamentalist is a superb novel that surprised me all the way. The plot is very gripping and the narration so superb. I jus loved the book. Would want to read it again someday. :) Do read this book which was shortlisted for the Booker's last year.

Drifting...

2008-12-01T12:21:00.003+05:30

This sport is like a fantasy to me that is so true but still far from reach to most of the people around the world. Definitely this is a sport that requires a lot of precision and concentration. I am amazed at how a driver can control the amount of drift at a high exit speed! A drift when out of control can be hazardous! No doubt. No need to wonder at the amount of tires that are burnt in preparation to running a race. I don't think I'll ever try this on my machine(when i own one)for real. I've tried this to some amount of success on some of the games that offered drift in their racing machine ;) He he he.... It was fun when it lasted.... This morning when i found this beautiful wallpaper from the Interfacelift site, all the memories of NFS tournaments we had in our engineering days came back to live those glorious days again for some moments again...

Here is the culprit Image: ;)

courtesy of this amazing pic: http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/1741/the_art_of_drifting.html.

Strange ways of this city!

2008-11-27T07:35:00.000+05:30

This incident happened to one of my friend here in Bangalore yesterday. I want you people to know about this because i never thought some one will come up with such a noble excuse and do a bad thing to a unsuspecting human. Well, the story goes like this. My friend is walking to his place after he gets down from the office transport after the day's work. A normal looking guy comes in a motor bike and stops by my friend. He asks my friend if he could borrow my friend's phone to make a call to a person he knows who has met with an accident and needs help. Naturally if someone comes with a request like this what would a normal guy do is unsuspectingly help the stranger as it might be a emergency situation. Now once my friend has passed this Mr.Stranger his cell phone to make this supposedly urgent call, he promptly takes it and speeds away!!! wtf! My friend is shocked and before he knows what is happening, he has lost his cell! I wonder if you guys have come across such an experience ever but this was something new to me. I've heard people snatching the cell phones away from pedestrians or from people's hands and neatly running away. But coming and making up some genuine looking reason and then fleeing with the phone is something new to me! Now, the question is how to ever trust someone on the street? I'm not sure I'll ever trust people easily henceforth from now on.

Recession! What the HELL!

2008-11-26T07:25:00.000+05:30

Where has all the money in the world gone that seemed to exist an year ago? So everyone was holding on the "virtual" assets all this while? Well, take a look at this interesting article that describes things in a very simple but effective manner as to how it all starts:

[ I found this forwarded to me by my friend. Since he didn't quote the source, i'm not sure who is the original author of this. Please excuse me for publishing it here without the original guys permission. but i couldn't resist but copy+paste it here. Anyways thanks to the anonymous soul for now until i find him ]

Here you go......

Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollars as there were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around.

(1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country. A owned the land. B and C each owned 1 dollar.

(2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, now A and C own 1 dollar each while B owns a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar.

* The net asset of the country now = 3 dollars.

(3) Now C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country, and land is non producible asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he borrowed 1 dollar from A, and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the land from B for 2 dollars.

* A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B sold his land and got 2 dollars, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollars but with his 1 dollar debt to A, his net residual asset is 1 dollar.
* Thus, the net asset of the country = 4 dollars.

(4) A saw that the land he once owned has risen in value. He regretted having sold it. Luckily, he has a 1 dollar loan to C. He then borrowed 2 dollars from B and acquired the land back from C for 3 dollars. The payment is by 2 dollars cash (which he borrowed) and cancellation of the 1 dollar loan to C. As a result, A now owns a piece of land that is worth 3 dollars. But since he owes B 2 dollars, his net asset is 1 dollar.

* B loaned 2 dollars to A. So his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C now has the 2 coins. His net asset is also 2 dollars.
* The net asset of the country = 5 dollars. A bubble is building up.

(5) B saw that the value of land kept rising. He also wanted to own the land. So he bought the land from A for 4 dollars. The payment is by borrowing 2 dollars from C, and cancellation of his 2 dollars loan to A.

* As a result, A has got his debt cleared and he got the 2 coins. His net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owns a piece of land that is worth 4 dollars, but since he has a debt of 2 dollars with C, his net Asset is 2 dollars.
* C loaned 2 dollars to B, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* The net asset of the country = 6 dollars; even though, the country has only one piece of land and 2 Dollars in circulation.

(6) Everybody has made money and everybody felt happy and prosperous.

(7) One day an evil wind blew, and an evil thought came to C's mind. "Hey, what if the land price stop going up, how could B repay my loan. There is only 2 dollars in circulation, and, I think after all the land that B owns is worth at most only 1 dollar, and no more."

(8) A also thought the same way.

(9) Nobody wanted to buy land anymore.

* So, in the end, A owns the 2 dollar coins, his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owes 2 dollars to C and the land he owns which he thought worth 4 dollars is now 1 dollar. So his net asset is only 1 dollar.
* C has a loan of 2 dollars to B. But it is a bad debt. Although his net asset is still 2 dollars, his heart is palpitating.
* The net asset of the country = 3 dollars again.

(10) So, who has stolen the 3 dollars from the country? Of course, before the bubble burst B thought his land was worth 4 dollars. Actually, right before the collapse, the net asset of the country was 6 dollars on paper. B's net asset is still 2 dollars, his heart is palpitating.

(11) B had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. C as to relinquish his 2 dollars bad debt to B, but in return he acquired the land which is worth 1 dollar now.

* A owns the 2 coins; his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B is bankrupt; his net asset is 0 dollar. (He lost everything)
* C got no choice but end up with a land worth only 1 dollar
* the net asset of the country = 3 dollars.

—————End of the story; BUT—————

There is however a redistribution of wealth.

A is the winner, B is the loser, C is lucky that he is spared.

A few points worth noting –
(1) When a bubble is building up, the debt of individuals to one another in a country is also building up.
(2) This story of the island is a closed system whereby there is no other country and hence no foreign debt. The worth of the asset can only be calculated using the island's own currency. Hence, there is no net loss.
(3) An over-damped system is assumed when the bubble burst, meaning the land's value did not go down to below 1 dollar.
(4) When the bubble burst, the fellow with cash is the winner. The fellows having the land or extending loan to others are the losers. The asset could shrink or in worst case, they go bankrupt.
(5) If there is another citizen D either holding a dollar or another piece of land but refrains from taking part in the game, he will neither win nor lose. But he will see the value of his money or land goes up and down like a see saw.
(6) When the bubble was in the growing phase, everybody made money.
(7) If you are smart and know that you are living in a growing bubble, it is worthwhile to borrow money (like A) and take part in the game. But you must know when you should change everything back to cash.
(8) As in the case of land, the above phenomenon applies to stocks as well.
(9) The actual worth of land or stocks depends largely on psychology (or speculation)

Snaps from the ground...

2008-11-25T07:13:00.001+05:30

Posting a couple of snaps of the match that we lost... The ground was lush green and the track was slow because of the dampness due to the drizzle.

Back to reading...

2008-11-24T07:02:00.000+05:30

A Nicholas Spark novel was the only thing i held on to in the weekend as there was nothing much i could do during the weekend that was so damn lousy. The novel was good. I liked everything except the fact that the novel started with lot of characters already dead and then on it's course it killed a few good ones too.
Hmm.... Saturday our cricket team lost to Microsoft(Bangalore) cricket team in a must win match thus throwing us out of the tournament. :( I'm disappointed not only because we've lost but also because i batted out bad and was in a situation where i could take control for our team and then i let the team down.. And the result is we lost not very badly but then loss is a loss right. No excuses can be made. Hope to put it at the back of my mind and need to get ready for the next game that is coming up soon against the Canon team....
And for the weekend the major show stopper was weather which was so damn cloudy and with the drizzle coming every now and then i remained most of the Sunday inside. Needless to say how disturbing it gets when we least expect it to rain and then it is there not really pouring but making an appearance every now and then just to get us wet.... aaargh!

More or less nothing but a printer!

2008-11-21T09:38:00.003+05:30

All day long i see and deal with printers 5 days a week in my office. And this has just been 5 months now doing it. Already I'm feeling like a printer myself. Not that i'm feeling bad about it nor is it boring but it's jus that I'm saying it out loud now! And as if to add to my feelings i've been transferred more of printer intensive driver work at me now at work from last 2 weeks!! He he he.... Cool. I'm enjoying it at the moment. The first 2 years of my career i dealt with printer based testing in my job. So life has been revolving around printing all these moments and i guess it is something that i cannot help being away too! For once between those first 2 years and these last five months in my career it was bliss at the gaming domain. But it didn't last long and that ensured i move away from it and again it was printing... Hmm, looks like some kinda strong bonding between me and printers! He he he... I'm feeling funny when i think of it.. so I'm not going to bother much on it and jus accept what is thrown at me right now... ;)
Off i go to another training.. :)

Ah! i watched...

2008-11-20T19:43:00.002+05:30

...'The dark knight' finally! He he he. It was wonderful. The way the characters take you into the world of their own is such a worthy experience. Everyone around that is almost everybody i know off have watched this movie a long back. Somehow i could never get time to go watch this flick. And now finally when i'm done watching it am just glad that i have watched it. Maybe a little bit of disappointment on the fact that i actually had to wait so much to watch it. The character of Joker is so so freeky and i loved the character so much thanks to Heath ledger's awesome portrayal of the character. :)He freaks you out.. :)
Other than this i was able to catch up with a couple of movies in all these days that i've been silent on this blog. The mummy 3 and a movie called Taken. Both of them good time pass. Taken is more of a super hero dad who saves his kidnapped daughter! Good watch if you are not in a mood to watch something real attention needing.

Life on fast track!

2008-11-17T08:38:00.001+05:30

My life has been busy all these days... And what a perfect example i have here in the form of a snap of my speedo.. ;)

This was yesterday en route Big banyan tree in Bangalore.... Had a nice ride through NICE road.. :)

Border-Gavasker Cup finally back...

2008-11-10T22:37:00.000+05:30

Ah! The sweetness will lingers around for some time from now after this terrific win against the best team in the world. Auzzies though didn't look like capable of beating India this time. The bowling attack lacked the once know deadliness that they had... I think now Pointing and his exhausted men can go back and think seriously on what needs to be done to get back into the kind of form that they were in couple of years ago. :) And Dhoni now gracefully has been appointed and taken over as the Indian team captain for all forms of the game. Finally a worthy leader has come for the team. Not that there were none earlier but this is the best phase that is going on for the team as i can see in a long long time now. As the man of the moment Ganguly played his last game and bid goodbye to his playing career i remembered all these years that i would watch him play with so much interest. I'll remember him all for right reasons as a man who bought Indian cricket team a lot of respect and fame... :)Wonder who is going to come in for the two greats who have already retired from the team now... and who ever it maybe might as well be as good as these two as it is the need of the hour now....

Watched...

2008-11-04T00:02:00.002+05:30

I found this one an interesting movie....

Interesting plot.... and the characters had a lot of chemistry... :)

Jumbo is gone...

2008-11-03T23:47:00.001+05:30

The Jumbo of Indian cricket team's plans to retire from cricket has not come as a shock as such. As he has been under media and public scrutiny for quite some time now as to "when he would retire?". I feel so much sorry for such a thing has actually happened to a player of Kumble's stature. Anyways, It's good that something actually happened for good when he decided to retire. He is going out of the team with lot of respect and when he was still considered more than a threat to opposition. He is retiring as a potent bowler. No more discussions and no more speculations on his ability. 619 wickets in the longer format of the game of cricket is no joke and as a player most of them can only dream of such a feat! Suresh menon has something to write in his column for Cricinfo and do find it here.
One more final round of applause for a cricketing gaint... :)

Can find more written on him by his peers and others here...

What a piece of software..

2008-10-30T08:01:00.001+05:30

Say you are listening to a piece of music out of a loudspeaker and you instantly like it. How do you find out who's composition is it and how easily can you own this piece of music? Well, probabilities are there that you never find out who's composition it was forget owning it. But this particular job is handled by Shazam software.... I was looking into the iPhone version of it where you record a 15 second clip of the song and send it through the app to their server and the software searches a library which has millions of songs for you with the piece of music you jus recorded and returns you the song details! Ha! Never thought it could be so easy!!

2008-10-27T16:24:00.000+05:30

Watched:

And

The first one was jus superb. It tool me a while to digest the content of the movie... But then it was worth the time i spent watching it.

The second one was a good time pass i would say. Meg ryan acting in it. If you are a Meg ryan fan (like me) then do watch it.... And the hindi movie "pyar to hona hi tha" was inspired from this movie i guess. The hollywood always inspires filmmakers from bollywood.. ;) he he he.

And this is all i did in a day today.... watching movies sitting back at my place on a monday that was off meant for celebrating "Festival of lights". And i did not set my foot out today.... One of those lazy days.. :)

The Snap of the TEAM.. :)

2008-10-22T18:35:00.001+05:30

I know this is too much cricket posts here these days.. but then thought to post this before i move ahead with posts of other topic.. ;)

Fitting Reply..

2008-10-21T19:24:00.000+05:30

When the 1st test at Bangalore ended on 13th earlier this month the scorecard looked something like this when play was abandoned due to bad light. And India were not in a commanding position to finish the test match with not many wickets left. Ganguly was blamed for wasting some time to get his guards on and the Australian media blamed him and some other things for the results jus being a draw and not win for Australia. There was lot of attention and statements in the press on how Australia was given a hard decision in form of bad light... ;)
I think the same media down under should see this now... :)He he he. A crushing defeat in the 2nd test match is the way the Indian cricket team replied the visiting team for all the 'shor sharaba' ;)
This test match saw Tendulkar achieving some milesstone and Ganguly hitting 16th century (what a series he is been having) and a find of a bowler in Mishra and zapping Zaheer's deliveries. :)

Quadrangular cricket series Winners :)

2008-10-21T07:59:00.001+05:30

Had some terrific cricket played this weekend on Saturday. It was the Finals of the Quadrangular series that was going on between EFI, Genpact, Nokia and MakeMyTrip. With us in Finals with the Genpact (to whom we have already lost once in the same series a week earlier in the league match played) and the weather clearing up for the 8AM match after 2 days of heavy rains around Bangalore, it did become very exiting. We Elected to bat first after winning the toss. The openers played their part to deny any wickets to opposition in the first 5 overs. Though the score card took some beating for us it was a very good move to save some wickets. As we started to accelerate, we started to loose wickets and 2 were down before i went into the middle to bat for the rest of the 17 overs that were left. I did manage a 40 run score for myself helping the team to put up some 178 in total. Regular loss of wickets for our team prevented us from getting a huge total but it was respectable enough. When we started to bowl we got some important wickets in regular interval and our bowlers did some great work to restrict the opposition going after our target. A nail biting finish to the match was anyways there in the waiting as it seemed inevitable with us setting not so high total. And so, we got the Genpact team batsmen cleaned up at 172 runs and thus giving us a narrow 6 run victory... :)

I've a snap of my captain receiving the winner's trophy and i would post it here for you. But our team photo is with a teammate of mine and i am afraid that photo is going to make a late appearance in this space ;)

Another step...

2008-10-17T07:16:00.000+05:30

Heard that government owned Doordarshan is planning a national band hunt program on TV soon and preparations have already begun. Good news for aspiring bands. Don't exactly know how this thing works but then i just hope it would be great as Mr A R Rehman himself is associated with the program. Hope this help the upcoming musicians and bands in our so music rich country... :)

For more see here....

The classic...

2008-10-16T16:45:00.005+05:30

Today i found this! And yes, it has everything that would make it a dream bike to own. Though i mentioned that Bullet Electra 5S would be a good one to own for reasons that i thought this kinda bike would never again make an appearance in the market. Always felt that need for a single seat bike and that too a saddle seat with springs! The looks of this bike has left my jaw hanging. And i have no words as to explain how am feeling right now after looking at this beauty. This bike has captured my hearts with my kinda imagination running into it's design. Look at the silencers! A classic i must quote again. :)

In short this bike is a single cylinder 4-stroke bike with an air cooled engine which has 400cc capacity and produces 27.2BHp @5250 rpm with 41.2Nm @4000 rpm. It has a 5 speed transmission. All this at a whooping 187Kilos! Boy, it is heavy and meant only for big boys as i can see it. :)

I've hi-jacked some photos from the website home downloads section and am putting it up here. Just for those who would not find time to log on to the site themselves. I hope you are seeing what i've to say about this bike.

And the best for the last.... :)

I think i'll sleep tonight with a dream where i would be riding on this bike on a long vacation... ;)

He he... The Auzziez

2008-10-16T08:36:00.000+05:30

I completely agree with what this guy has to say here...
Sarcasm is the right way to treat the BIG Auzzies.. ;)

Standup and applaud

2008-10-15T15:41:00.003+05:30

Man bookers prize 2008 won by Aravind Adiga for his The white tiger. This snippet gives a small insight into things connected to author and the book.
Here is the booker's home website. You can go through to see his competition and previous winners.
Interestingly, there have been only 3 other authors to win Bookers prize for their debut work and Arundhati roy is one among them(1997). :) That makes it 2 Indians out of the 4.

The weekend gone by and crikeet :)

2008-10-15T07:57:00.000+05:30

Last weekend our cricket team did have a mixed luck. But then we were extreme with our performances. Saturday we did play some crappy cricket with the bowling, fielding and batting all having a confused look. We seemed to have no clue what was happening as Genpact the opposition was hammering away as they batted first. Some loose bowling and pathetic fielding saw they attain 229 in 25 overs! I know, that is shameful.. :( I'm looking for some cover as i say this to hide my face. ;) As i went to open the innings for my team with my partner only thing that was running in my head was the score we needed to chase. Pretty shaky and stuff with lot of score to get, i was playing shots no where near to the ball as it swung out and out. 5 dot balls later, i was snicked a ball outside off stump playing a bad shot to a swinging ball. :( And a long walk back to the pavilion and later, i saw my team crumble for 140 runs! :( Pathetic.

The next day was a lot better as this sense of "we should win" came over us. We arrived late not lot but some 5 minutes late for he match. It looked sunny and bright day and the afternoon was getting hotter. We were put to field by our opposition. They had a bad start with our pace bowlers all over them. And we did see the couple of batsmen quickly come and go. 8 overs later they crumbled and having lost 6 wickets with not so respectable 40 runs on score card. The weather suddenly changed to overcast conditions and down fell the first few big drops of rain. As i looked into the sky as to see if this would stop, it started badly as if all the trouble was not only for the opposition but for us. With the rain playing spoil sport, the match was called off as the ground was more or less a collective puddles of water here and there. So there, what looked like a easy win with the MakeMyTrip team was spoiled for us by the rain God. :(

So we went packing for the day....

And with no other work to do with the coolness of the atmosphere, we did this :

And ya, the good news after all this is that we are to play in the finals of the tournament with the Genpact team :). How? We won a match and drew a match there by loosing only 1 out of the three matches we played. Our run rate is better and that got us a berth in the finals. Wish us luck for the match this Saturday :)

The new Macbook!

2008-10-15T07:39:00.002+05:30

This rocks! Absolute cracker stuff. And hopefully I'll own one in a couple of months... :)

BTW, if someone is so considerate and plans to gift me one then please let me know now as this would save me a some good green bucks.. ;)

Blogathon!

2008-10-10T22:00:00.000+05:30

I'm on a roll here blogging. Ha! what a lousy day it's been today sitting in the office. Out of the 350 employees i hardly see 100 present today! Reason: well, it's festive season and since Wednesday and Thursday were holidays people have taken a connecting holiday. If you ask me why i am not following the others on taking holiday? well, I have no reasons to give as yesterday and the day before were so boring days with nothing good to do. So dragged my arse to office to find the atmosphere even more disgusting. Absolute laziness has crept into me now! Aaaarghhh, it's so boring. So thought will do something worthwhile sitting here in the cabin all to myself! And now blogging is also getting me to yawn.... let me stop before i get bored of blogging too.. ;)
BTW, looking forward to the cricket matches that i am playing in tomorrow and day after for my company team. :)

Recent movie update..

2008-10-10T19:47:00.000+05:30

I'll just give a quick update on what i have watched recently and on how much i liked them. No point in writing reviews and stuff!!! Always found it irrelevant as it's an individuals perspective!! So here i'm jus trying to say what i've watched

21 Grams: Awesome movie. I liked it lot. The movies sends quite a solid punch into you when you know what 21 grams is that the movie is referring to! I thought the screenplay was something that was similar to movie 'Crash'

Married Life: Quite interesting movie. And no wonder Pierce Brosnan was once voted "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine in 2001! Other than him the movie is interesting watch with people who are involved in a bad marriage and two buddies who have interests on same girl! ;) And the dialog, 'building one's happiness on another's unhappiness' was amusing to hear. This is true isn't it? most of the times yes. :)

Simone: Boring movie. Other than Al Pacino as the lead and interesting character, this movie is not that great watch. The theme is on how the movie is bigger than the actor or any individual! This very true though.

The Happening: It still is a mystery for me on what is "the Happening"! And no wonder it's genre is mystery! lol.

IQ test!

2008-10-10T16:36:00.002+05:30

If you are curious to know what your IQ is then you could use this link. It's a painful process you should go through to know what amount of IQ you have... ;)

BTW, don't ask me what i scored because it's give and take policy here.. ;) You show your scores first and then i shall.. ;) Hehehehe

Zardari and palin!!

2008-10-10T15:26:00.002+05:30

Watch this video when you are free!! Couldn't help.. i was laughing all the way. BTW, do listen to what Mr.Zadari has to say.

Interesting....

2008-10-10T14:51:00.003+05:30

I'm a little late in seeing this but it does amuse me when i think of this Banned this Navratri.
I still can't figure out who is wrong. Is it the girls who wear such a dress? Or is it the police who is banning such dresses! Or is the guys who can't take eyes off the bare back? ;) Or is it the tailor who invented this dress!! ha ha ha..... God, this question is seemingly difficult to answer than "did the chicken come first of the egg?"!!!! ;)
Wait, or is this wrong to say this is wrong!! I'm confused!

Hrithik Roshan Priyanka Chopra Hero Honda Karizma Commercial Video

2008-10-10T14:45:00.002+05:30

Hrithik Roshan Priyanka Chopra Hero Honda Karizma Commercial Video

Posted using ShareThis

One word for this ad: PATHETIC.

Nothing against the brand endorsing stars here. But the ad goes on to show how NOT to do an ad! I wonder if the guys would buy the Karizma after seeing this ad! I pity...

Dada!! :)

2008-10-10T00:49:00.000+05:30

I'm happy Sourav Ganguly is retiring from cricket. Not because i wanted him to retire but rather i wanted him to do it when he is in the team and sign off with a memorable high note. He deserves respect for what he has done to Indian cricket. I've been a huge huge fan of him all these 12 years gone by that he has been playing (leaving out the 93 season! I hardly knew who he was then!). He's been a master stroking left-hander, superb captain, comeback man, aggressive cricketer and a delight to watch too. :)

Today morning when i read in cricinfo's site on this i was in for a shock! I knew somewhere this is bound to happen today or tomorrow as he is a aging normal human. And he has to retire and make way for his successors in the team. But who? This is important phase of Indian cricket that we'll see in another couple of years. With the seniors of the game in Indian team are all set to retire now (Sachin i doubt will retire ever! Ha) it's quite interestingly poised.

Lets look at something done by 'dada' during his interesting career here. Quite interesting. :) Atleast for me.

Two things that i would like to say here before i stop this post. One, nothing comes to the timing of the off side shots of Ganguly and second, the aggression he bought into the team as a character cost him his spot in the team eventually. :)

Savanadurga ride..

2008-10-05T14:54:00.001+05:30

Had been to a place called Savanadurga last Thursday. A huge rock which has had some place in the history of this country. My roommate who was also there with us when we went there has a small writeup on the trip. Also posted are a couple of lovely snaps which you could find it here.
This is one place you could look to travel on a nothing-else-to-do day. Not very great but a easy getaway from Bangalore.

Crikeet crikeet crikeet...

2008-10-04T22:50:00.001+05:30

I've something nice to say today. Have been holding it back till the event actually happened and it went right. Have has a fear that things would go wrong as it usually does with me in cricket (usually). I'm playing for my company cricket team now and it's fun to be knocking the cherry red ball around the park. It's more than a month now that i've been practicing with the team now in the nets every weekend for a good 3 hour sessions. The first match that i got to watch our team in action was with the ITC cricket team. Unfortunately i had to sit out as a 12th man for this match. A 20-20 version of the game that is quite popular now. Felt good though to sit out watching the team perform from the pavillion. But at the same time felt bad that we lost this all important match. :( We lost the quarters of the tourney that we had entered. The tourneys are organized by this organizer named Bright sports. He get these corporate teams to play together is some of the good cricket grounds.
Today again was an all important day as this new series with four teams involved has started. EFI, Genpact, Makemytrip and Nokia are participating. We played against Nokia today in the afternoon hot sun. I got into the playing 11 finally as a opener this time. Nokia batted first and our bowlers did a good job bundling them for a paltry 101 runs! He he he. Now it was left for us batsmen to finish the game for our team. The first ball i faced was a bit nervous moment for me as i was playing a match after 4.5 yesrs. The last time i played a match with a leather ball was for my college cricket team! He he he... The bowler balled a wide and i was so relieved. And then me and my batting partner moved from singles to boundaries and we reached the target in the 9th over! The best part being a hundred run unbeaten partnership between us to win a comprehensive victory of 10 wickets over the opponent! Boy, i was happy to be in the middle and my batting partner got the man of the match award for a breezy knock of 52 runs... I was unbeaten at 25 runs. Everybody was in a joyous mood in the team and the mood seems right for the next two matches lined up for this weekend. We play genpact and Makemytrip on saturday and sunday. Loking forward to these matches now... :)

BTW, here is snap of me and Unni (with his man of the match cup). The snap was taken on a mobile cam so please excuse me for the quality of the snap.

Mongols, movie

2008-10-01T18:08:00.000+05:30

Try and catch this movie which is well presented story and some very good acting. One thing that i am not sure is as to how true this story about Jengis khan is. Looks like there has been a lot of effort to shoot this movie in some very rough terrain with extreme weather conditions. Though this movie is not originally in english, the mood of the movie is so good that you don't feel disappointed to watch it with sub-titles. The potrayal of the great warrior and conquerer has been done from his early age to his overpowering the rulers of Mongol. There are places where the story has been abruptly cut and the viewer is left thinking what happened to this part of the story. But it's ok if you consider the whole of the movie. It's a master piece.

A note for the people who are yet to watch this movie though would be that, do read about the warrior before hand if you could. Well, if you don't then there is no big deal in it. Just watch it as the story is quite simple to understand.

I'm very much alive..

2008-10-01T17:06:00.000+05:30

A week gone by has been very quiet. Nothing new and great in terms of the events. It's been the same old routine. At times have been very lazy through out the day and have been pushing around the days. I think this can be made out by seeing the number of posts that has made an appearance in this place. Something in me makes me sulk. Am not in great of my moods. Some old memories are making a quiet comback. They are making me loose concentration and most of all am feeling weak. I need to gather myself and i've lost time doing nothing at all. There have been times i've been frustrated and wanted to shout at myself. Huh!Let me see if i can pull myself together at the earliest.
Today has been a holiday and i had been to a bookshop and bought two books for myself to read. Would read them and let you know on how they are. The actual plan today was to try and watch Dark knight movie in the theatre. But somehow didn't feel like doing a round of the thetre as there was no company. Hmm, seeems like dark knight will have to wait for my viewing. ;) Tomorrow, will be riding down to a place called Savanadurga with my friends. I know it's not been long since i had a very long ride to mysore and back. Will update on the place as soon as i get back. The plan is to start very early tomorrow and comeback early too.

God bless my nation!

2008-09-24T08:35:00.002+05:30

I got to learn something today when at office i and some of my colleagues had a conference call with the CEO of the company i work for. The company is headquartered in Foster city,USA. So he was on phone from the US and we had to join other employees who were online from different parts of the world. It was 10 AM in the morning for us here and that means it should be 10.30PM in the Foster city area the same moment. The moment we connected to the conference call that was taking place then, our HR said a hi to our CEO and he inquired on how many in numbers were present in the room? Our HR said, near to 40 of us. His exclamation came just as our HR's reply faded as to "Where are the other 10?". What attitude!! He waited for all the people who were supposed to attend to reach the room before starting. Attitude matters.
Now take this scenario out of politics in India or say a parliament session, even if 20 out of 50 attendees were present for a session, it would have started as it should have without bothering if the rest were present or not. This is not the only place that we can expect this to happen though... There are many such instances but this is the one instance that matters the most to India as of now. There is confusion everywhere. There is confusion is setting up of SEZ, setting up of industries, Land acquisition, compensation being paid and not paid, Terror, encounter, Communal fights, Laws against terror, Flood and what not? If US economy is hit and that is the form of worry in the west (also here in the east), it's something else here in my country. Overall it's testing times ahead for a lot many people.

Something funny but not that funny anymore...

2008-09-22T20:34:00.001+05:30

I got this in a email forward:

Investment analyst and entrepreneur Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

'The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part.'

So the Americans are fighting reality and so are the other parts of the world.

GopalaSwamy betta & Mysore trip

2008-09-21T19:50:00.005+05:30

After a busy week in office what else could be better than a getaway with friends on bikes! 6 Friends and 3 bikes. 2 days and lots of time to kill. The beauty about this trip was that nothing was planned until the last moment. Hell a lot of confusions and finally the outcome was great... I'm a happy and relieved man today as i write this post after the road trip... The trip meter reads 522 KM! Woo.. this is something that i wanted to do in a long long time. A 500 KM plus journey on bike. On one occasion me and my roommates from udupi had ventured to do this in one and half days traveling on 3 bikes then to chikkamagalur and it we had screwed up the whole process royally. :) The thing was we forgot to get our bikes checked before we left and one bike after the other gave troubles then and we returned back without seeing a place. A disaster.. :( but this time everything went off well.

BTW, thanks to one of my friend from Mysore who did give me some suggestions on the Friday to help us travel better. And luckily Hotel Mahesh prasad was good enough to have some descent Vegetarian food in Mysore. I'll talk on this later.

Started out bit late on our schedule on saturday morning.. was supposed to be early but then a few guys delayed it.. but since the roads are good towards Mysore we made some quick distance covering on our bikes. We took about 3 hours and a little more to reach Mysore managing a good heary breakfast on our way in Ramnagar. Let me tell you something here. I belong to a place near to Dakshina kannada or Mangalore. It's the place where Tulu language is spoken by and large in common. And you'll find a lot of people working in different parts of the world in hotels or owning one. Every one in India must have heard Udupi hotels (Some of them are fake though and nowadays most of them are!). udupi is also a place adjoining Mangalore. And in this Hotel that we stopped for some breakfast yesterday morning, we friends were chatting loudly in Tulu language and suddenly the waiter stops at us and asks if we were from Kudla(that is what Mangalore is called in Tulu). And hence this became one of our common aspect through out our journey.. every single restaurant that we stopped in this tour had someone or the other belonging to the Hotel speak the langugage! Now i know why the bunts and Udupi guys are known for hotel bussiness! Some people might differ though.. ;)

After reaching Mysore we first headed off to the famous Chamundi hills. Chamundeshwari temple had some crowd. The full view of Mysore if breath taking. The Nandi on top of the hills is carved out of a monolith (not sure though). One thing that i liked about this hill is that the thing is visible from almost all the places in Mysore. Sort of good navigation help through out travel in the city. After the hills, we headed off to the Karanji lake which is just by the foot of the hills. The lake is surrounded by some cool trees and a stroll in the evening would have been better. But then we were there right in the middle of the lake on pedal boats in the hot sun... was fun though chasing each others boat that we had hired. The water seems to be very dirty and the lake looks like hasn't been cleaned in ages! The giant swan that i saw was something that i east expected. The birds that are collected in the park are great. I saw a white peacock for the first time in my life!And some long legged bird which looked like ostrich to me though.. he he he seriously i did not bother to ask any one around. ;) We did walk some distance to see what would be there in butterfly park but we were disappointing to find none. For some consolation did find a couple of them but nothing great.. some black butteries with white dots.. :(
Mysore has wide roads as i could see and city is more or less nicely planned. But then, the roads have lots and lots of potholes. :( The moment you pick some speed, Boom, there your tires fall into one after another pothole. :( Found the hotel for lunch that we were searching for with little search. But then the place was full! A bit of impatient waiting from all of us at 3 in the afternoon was worth it. And we got to have some descent south indian and more of karnataka lunch. :)

Satisfied and full on stomach we set out to search for some place to put up for the night. And as we were searching, someone from our came up with an idea of staying in Youth hostel! He he he... We got hold of the number of the place some how and got to know that we could get accommodation for 6 people for the night. For people who do not know the concept could go through this site here. The government of India does do something good at times you know.. ;) (kidding here) But then the hostel does take time to go to some of the most beautiful treks people can ever think. I had heard earlier but then this is something i got to see up close. The trek to himalayas does seem in interesting enough. BTW, people who want to stay in youth hostel in Mysore can stay there without any trouble. The place is cheap and clean. Believe me, the thing is dirt cheap and people who can are used to Dormitory can find some accommodation here. And when in a big group this is the best. :)

After finding this place we planned to visit the palace. A bigger piece of the Mysore history belonged to Wodeyar dynasty. BTW, i had not been to the place in my earlier trips. But believe me the first thing that i could say when i saw this place was "It's huge". Really, the palace is so majestic and huge structure! I was awed by the structure. The rest of the evening was spent in going around this beautiful structure that i fell in love with. I was traveling back in time when i was doing the rounds. How majestic it would have been this place of power. The life of king and his family would have been so much full of grandeur. Phew! and the place is getting ready for the annual festival of Dussera which is celebrated with such pomp and show here. The best part is that you are not supposed to take the snaps inside this beautiful place. :( BTW, we got caught carrying a camera inside the palace.. though it was in one of my friend's pocket safely switched off the police caught us and started all the drama. All he needed was us to grease his hands. He made 200 bucks from us.. forget the crap the guy had to say to make his way into our purses... Beware guys, please deposit the cameras you have in the camera deposition center outside the palace and escape getting caught. :(

Hotels in Mysore is hard to find. Of all the streets that we biked through hardly we could sight any good restaurant. And even if we managed to find one, they were all taken and full... :( Had to wait a good half an hour for a lunch in Mahesh prasad! It's tough you know at 3PM in the afternoon waiting for lunch that too when you are really hungry and tiered. Huh! Mysore needs some more restaurants. Well, i eat vegetarian so i am speaking of good south Indian veg restaurants. I wonder what would be the situation during the festivities when a lot of travelers crowd the city!! The Dussera preparations were in full swing in the city as it is only a couple of months away. The street are being fixed with lots of lighting arrangements.

Moving on, we missed visiting KRS deliberately because we thought it would be late when we return from there and this would affect our early journey the next day. We had come to Mysore with the objective of traveling down to Gopala Swamy betta which is about 70km from Mysore towards the border of Karnataka, kerala and tamilnadu. A place 4400 odd feet above sea level. So we crashed off in our beds and got up early the next day and left Mysore at 6 in the morning. Rode as quickly as we can to the foot of the hills. The roads from gundlupete(about 45km from mysore) to hills are pretty bad. Motor able but then lots and lots of potholes. Hmm, once on top of the hill, it was bliss. Cool breeze and fresh atmosphere made it a really worthy experience. The greenery and the sight you could see to miles away on a sunny clear day is beyond words. With western ghats running on one side and clouds flying past you it is awesome experience. The place is frequented by many people in the weekends i felt as there were about 100 people by the time we got ready to leave at 10 AM after a small hike on the hills. Good picnic spot all in all.

The foot of the hills you find all villagers with their heard of cows, buffaloes and goats and sheeps passing by on the road. The drive back was monotonous as it was straight roads and we sped past Mysore in an hour and half's time only stopping by before that for a brief visit to Nanjangud temple. The outer ring road seemed too long in Mysore. We reached the Bangalore state highway and made our way back. Stopped at shrirangapattana for a sight of Shri ranga swamy temple. Here the temple deity is in a lying position and it's a pretty old temple. This place used to be a summer palace for Tippu sulthan who died fighting here in this very same town here. His death and his burial took place here. So historically this place has some importance. Grabbed some lunch on the way back in Mandya and headed straight to Bangalore. Made it to my place at 5 in the evening.

I'm all set to explore more towards Mysore area of Karnataka in the near future.... Looks like there are lots of places that i could visit here....

Also in this trip i did a stretch of 100km/hr plus many times... i clocked the highest of 118Km/Hr in one stretch that i got. And i am thrilled at it as i never thought i would travel so much on my bike someday.. :)

Terror trails...

2008-09-15T20:56:00.001+05:30

Bombs have been going off in our country regularly now in a planned manner for past year and a bit more. It's taken LIFE. And it's injured many LIVES. It's been planned and executed to perfection by the extremists who GOD knows are upto what next. The NEWS says its Mumbai next. But who knows as to it would be Mumbai for sure. Bangalore already went through the scare once in the recent past. And then it was Surat and Ahmedabad's turn. And then Delhi! The capital of India. To a common man it might sound just another city. But, the reality is that by bombing Delhi now in such a precise manner, aren't we being questioned about our ability to control terror in our country. Aren't they questioning our sovereignty. The place of power, the capital of the world's largest democracy has been terrrorised and there is nothing that we could do. Innocents lost their lives and many lost their loved ones. The government that WE elect is still searching for a clue if i can guess so by reading the articles in the daily. Forget zeroing in on the criminals, we don't even have a solid Intelligence network, security nor a fighting force against terror. And if at all our security forces trap the criminal it'll be only days before he is allowed to go scott free with signing some bond or whatever it is. An enmy of the state, mind it as i say. An enmy of the state was asked for presidential pardon and the president is confused whether to pardon him or not!!! What the ....? How do we need to think if we should pardon an enmy of our counrty?!!! Don't you feel like laughing at the kind of judiciary and laws we have in our country? Laugh on the helplessness of the system and the common man?
I as a taxpayer and above all as a citizen of India expect the goverment to do it's duty of protecting it's people. As i go out everyday from my dwelling, i should be assured that i would reurn home to my loved ones safely day after day untill i die normally. Isn't that why we elect the govenment for? Isn't it their primary duty? And what if i die in a bomb blast? A compensation to my surviving family? He he he. And they think that solves it all. Probably Lives means some lakhs of rupees for them... as cheap and as much available in numbers of vote they buy during election :)

myPulsar...

2008-09-13T18:59:00.002+05:30

Bajaj as a company has come a long way from the days as a popular scooter manufacturer in the country. After Kawasaki and later bajaj built the pulsars and the popularity of the bikes shows if you step out into the roads in sheer volumes. :) And i am one among the thousands of pulsarians.

Well, today i had to go to the service center to get my digital speedo rectified. The thing actually was replaced last year's rainy season as the coastal rains screwed it up and it stoped functioning. It was perfect after the replacement till this gone thursday. I noticed that it's started to reset itself all by itself!! Aaarrrgh... what a pain it is mentally when i see the thing reset when i am actually running the bike. BTW, i thought it was because of the headlamp replacement i had last week ( headlamps took off last week). I think this is because there was rains here and i jus wonder if the parking of the bike is creating all this problems. Though i don't do his regularly, i am compelled to park out when i go out. The switches are behaving funny after a park in the rain!! He he he... And today the service station guy told me the pulsars with digital meters having black displays have problems if it is parked in sun for more than 5 hours continuously!! Guess what? apparently the digital console consultants were from UK and they had suggested black background and since black absorbs a lot of heat creating problems for the LCDs!! wow! Now the pulsars have a background with the mixtures of white shades :) I wonder why a company as monstorous as bajaj, goes to consult with a firm in UK!! Don't the so called home grown pulsars have some designer from india do it and more over Indians know what the climate in India is like than a firm in UK! ;)

Another thing that is troubling is my Silencer. It's caught some rusting in the end. I asked the service center what could be done. As it started rusting a year after i bought it! The replacement warranty has some clauses it seems! Since i used my bike i the coastal area (udupi) it was bound to rust it seems! And the best part is that when i bought the bike no one told me that it would rust ;) BTW, the Yamaha RX 100 (1995 model) never had a dot of rust until i sold it off in Dec 2006 to buy this bike! I argued with the service center manager and all he had to say was that 2 stroke silencers and 4 stroke silencer work in different ways. Well, i agree on the point that he said as 2 stroke bikes have a coating of oil inside the silencer and hence this prevents rusting from inside. :) And when he said the black silencers that pulsars get now are apparently Stainless-steel!!! Very surprising fact that stainless steel rusts..He's sent the snaps of my silencer to the company and i'm now keeping my fingers crossed for replacement...

Another intesresting fact i got from him was about spares. According to the owner of the place the spares being replaced are getting less in terms or volume. Meaning the parts quality is bettering. Well, i would get to know practically about this as my bike ages.... On how better are the parts. :) I'll update...

Clear skies...

2008-09-13T18:53:00.003+05:30

It's been many days of overcast skies in the evening and today somehow turned out to be a great evening. I miss the beaches here in bangalore.. :(

And here is a consolation for that... i love the flower and the dark green leaves of this tree... Jus by the place where i live in Bangalore.. :)

Arrived!

2008-09-12T08:06:00.002+05:30

Today early in the morning i was wondering what would be the spelling for marvel! He he he.. I'm not kidding i was confused with 'marwel', 'marvell', or 'marwell' !! Now this is when i realized that I have arrived in the internet world :)In the age of auto-spell check and online dictionary, seldom we care to learn the spelling. Casually we just note it down for one time and then do not bother to give it a second thought. And there, i'm already struggling. :(

BTW, I also noted that there is something in the way English as a language works. This is me now speaking purely with some layman's thoughts on the language. Some alphabets can coolly become a substitute for the real ones in a word and produce almost near pronunciation of the real word and hence we stay confused. A super example would be "tyre" and "tire" :) European and American form of same word! ;) And here, adding to the confusion are the two different parts of world who speak English :)

All in all, language is just a means to communicate. If the other person can understand quickly and effectively on what you intend to convey to the other every thing is fine.. or is it just a reason for me escape bad spellings...!! ;)

blessed?

2008-09-11T07:26:00.000+05:30

Yesterday when i was returning after my day at office, i happened to witness a sight which actually moved me. I was sitting in my office transport and the vehicle was waiting for the signal to clear. The signal located in 'Silk board' is well known for it's sheer volume and too being very nasty during peak hours. It takes hours to travel a couple of kilometers sometimes! What actually i wished say here was i saw a sight of an elderly couple walking by the road on the footpath where the husband was blind and he was helped by his wife to walk. He seemed to have no idea of the directions and had to be guided every single step. They walked a couple of meters ahead and reached the signal lamp post. Looked like they were trying to cross the road. Ah! they were unable to as in one or the other direction the traffic was always ON! And with the speed that the man walked and the amount of direction he needed it was tough to get him across the street easily. Finally after trying a few times the woman gave up and spoke something to the traffic policeman who was standing just around the corner of his post. And he too was reluctant in the first place as he probably was worried about the traffic. Finally they managed to cross the street with his help.
Now, there were two thoughts that came into my mind that moment. First, aren't we the normal humans blessed to be able to have all the parts of our body working great and in this case, to see this world through our eyes and do whatever that we wanted to do independently? Secondly, Don't our city development authority have the slightest sens e to provide an over pass or underpass for the pedestrians to cross the road in such a busy junction of the city? Huh!!
Probably this is a rant but then do think on it...

Rock on!

2008-09-10T07:07:00.000+05:30

Watched this movie last week. It has a freshness about itself. A message to go do things what you've always wanted to do. A story of friendship and teamwork. As the name suggests the movie is about a rock band and it's 4 members. I never ever imagined in the first place that Bollywood would ever ever have a movie made on Rock band!! Woo.. a movie with music and that too rock music as the theme!

The actors were superb in their display of acting skills. The story apt in telling each character and it's peculiarity! As normal humans they all have the same common emotions portrayed in the characters. Be it the way the lead character dumps his girlfriend and then marries another girl and gives her no pieces of his past life or be it the lead guitarist of the band who gets pissed off with the double standards of the video makers and breaks up with the band! And his wife nagging him to hold on to a good paying job steadily. Every scene is so perfectly carved out. Though i could predict the story before it came, i just wanted to watch the movie and just leave it at that. I was engrossed. Did i tell you that the music so so so rocking. I love the part of the movie where the band reforms and goes on to sing the Sindbad sailor song . And hats off to Mr.Javed Akthar for writing lyrics for a rock band :) Just awesome. And music could not get better than that when Shanker, ehsaan and Loy combine. Everything was in a right mixture to deliver a potent combination of a hit movie.

The movie has proved that it's not the theme that matters but how well the characters and story gel together with each other and above all the storyteller needs to be very precise in delivering the right emotions in the right place. It's all about human emotions right! :)

Do try and catch this movie in a theater for a satisfying experice. BTW, i'm gonna watch it again soon... :)

Media and it's ....

2008-08-27T19:40:00.003+05:30

Some months ago there was this huge huge publicity given sometime in Feb-Mar about how rupee is bettering in terms of dollars. Then a dollar was somewhere around 43 times the value of a rupee. Hmm, and when all these articles on media were being published, the rupee held on to the growth and 1 dollar was equivalent to 40 rupees or slightly less at one time. Interesting than this was all the media hype that surrounded this rupee trend. All the IT companies in Bangalore were projected as if they would have to stop doing business around the dollar as in some amount of time (read infinite) the rupee would be better than the dollar!! he he he!! And then another morning (that horrifying morning for IT employees) there were discussions about the annual hike that happens in IT industry towards employee's salary being affected this year because of the rupee strengthening trend!! Such was the hoopla surrounding it that every single employee would fear thinking about the approaching April month. Well, came April and as feared, most of the companies which had given a raise of about 30% annually last year gave a 8%-12% hike. And some, believe me deferred it till July and there after. And the funniest was my previous employer who said something like this in a presentation, 'The dollar value is predicted to come down to 35 rupees in another couple of months' and we were not expected to get good raises and so on you know it how...(This was in May as i can remember). And the hike was post postponed to July there too. But i guess my previous employer game a descent hike in July. Kudos to them on that.

Now, it is August and i think the media hasn't noticed (neither have the employers) that the Dollar value as mentioned by the media or in the presentations hasn't gone down to rupee in any way as they've projected it would. In fact the Dollar is still climbing and it is a good 43 rupee (yesterday it was 43.75 i guess) even to this day!!

What does this all mean? Was this a very well thought out ploy to reduce hike? Is there a corporate lobby for getting the wrong impressions into the media and the public in general? Is this misleading or just one of those management 'games'? Hmm... probably most won't know... Ah! i rest here leaving it for you guys to think.....

Electra 5s

2008-08-25T21:47:00.000+05:30

It's been a year since i seriously started to like this. About a couple of months ago i couldn't get to see a lot of them on a regular basis on road as i was in Udupi. Though there were a few around, they all were either the older versions of the Bullet or the locally converted diesel engines. Nothing that i hate off in them but then Electra somehow is the variant i love of all the bullets. Now, in Bangalore i notice a lot of them around and nothing beats the Royal Electra. The thump and the presence of the bike in the traffic just blows my mind away. One main reason to select the 5s is that the 5 speed left sided gear shifts. I really am not fond of the right sided shifts. Somehow they tend to be a bit uncomfortable with me. It would be bliss when i would own this one..

Surprised!

2008-08-24T22:39:00.000+05:30

This was a google ad that was displayed along side my mail box window! (See the contents of the box marked in Red)

I was just too surprised after reading this for any words! phew! For a moment i thought i had read it wrong. 'Marry a well settled girl in Chennai'! Hmmm, good. So, guys who are home makers are required i guess.. ;) he he he... If this is true then there is a huge phase shift we are going to see... ;)

A few good men...

2008-08-23T10:04:00.000+05:30

I've wanted to see this movie in a long time now. This because, i had seen the adaptation of this movie in hindi couple of months back. It was called the shaurya. Maybe it would be wrong to compare the two of the films to each other. Because the audience it was made for were different and hence you see changes here and there in shaurya to the original 'A few good men'. So on and so forth I would say both were equally good in their own way.

Well, now getting back to 'A few good men'. A court room drama surrounding the court martial of two marines who are guilty of murdering a junior marine in Guantanamo bay training base. The story builds up to the court scene beautifully. And the very witty portrayal of the young, handsome defense lawyer of tom cruise demanded him to perform to his best and he did. While Jack Nicholson like always does a lot of justice to his role as the commanding officer of the base. His voice and acting skills are top notch. Just love the way he delivers his dialogs. I loved the last courtroom scene between the two. Also the scene where cruise asks the witness to show where the dining room was in the rule book was awesome and timely!! :)

Tom cruise looks very young in this movie compared to his recent movies. Obviously because this was a 1992 movie. But, what i meant to say was he really looks cute(what girls say!) he he he. Hmm... after saying the last line it would be wrong if i don't appreciate that Demi moore was absolutely gorgeous! huh! A beauty. All in all a good movie to spend your time on and yes it is quite lengthy. So be prepared.... :)

Talking straight...

2008-08-21T09:10:00.001+05:30

This is one of the best books I've ever read entire life. Iaccoca is a master in writing and he puts into words some of his experiences which he encountered when he was in Chrysler. And the way he put it made me read this book end to end. I did take a lot of time to finish this book considering it took me a long 3 weeks but then i did not want to run through this valuable writing of one of the most celebrated persons around the world and successful CEOs of the world in a hurry. He's put in thoughts on values he has, be it family/work he has a way to do everything. I picked this book up to read from a library near by but, now i feel strongly that i should get myself a copy of this extraordinary piece of a book. Though I've not read the biography Mr.Iaccoca has written, now after reading this book, i certainly am looking forward to it. I like the humorous part of Iaccoca a lot. He has a different way of putting things into words.

The part which touched me most was the importance of cutting down on military expense and putting them into educating the future population of the nation! I think that is noble. On how a country's assets are it's people and it's the government's duty to look after them. How a country can be a little considerate in forming laws that could help the home industry survive and fight external competition. And some of the trade practices followed by Japan and Korean companies were a eye opener! His sense of patriotism in the book shows and that is the kind of love every citizen must show to his motherland.

And so it goes.. with a wide variety of topics put up chapter wise very nicely. Do read this book when you have time to spare. You won't be disappointed. :)

Reading habits!

2008-08-20T08:10:00.002+05:30

An article that says it all on how bad we Indians are at reading/buying literature. :( Link here...

I was wondering about this a couple of days ago and now i read this beautiful article on the reading habits and comparisons of what an average person could/will spend to read is written in a logical manner. A good writer like Amitav Ghosh sells only 30k books in India!! that is serious question that cries to be answered. Is it that we don't have the reading habit (leave newspapers)? Or is it just that lot of us look for public library or just conveniently read some pirated e-book out of the internet? Don't know. Now i wonder even more on what the regional language books would sell like? (i'm not speaking of the periodicals and magazines here) No wonder we have produced less number of literary giants in the world of story telling (forget bollywood/tollywood/kollywood...). Maybe, the urge to become an literary figure dies off when one notices the amount of struggle he/she will have to go through in the path (if) opted. A person who dares, must be a financially well off guy and writing comes to him second. Hmm.. so there is nothing in there to get more people to write and sell more books here as of now. But hope things improve. uff....

Update..

2008-08-18T07:38:00.000+05:30

Had been following on the games all these days when i was at my native. And what a finish it was to the already glittering career of Micheal Phelps! A total of 8 gold medals with 5 of them being in individual events. What should not be missed here is that the other 3 gold were from the group events or relays rather. His team mates were equally good to keep up to their best performances in helping Phelps achieve his Golds. Now Phelps is in an league of extra ordinary sportsmen. As i was watching the 100m butterfly i was sure Phelps would loose it and was filled with disappointment but alas, the last minute plunge saved him or rather the new electronic time machines saved him i would say. Cavic was the proud though he lost the medal by hundredth of a second even after leading the race all the time till this last plunge.! Read this article here. Doing the unbelievable was something Phelps took as a challenge. Be it hanging the photo of his rival who bet him in a race in world championships to get inspiration or accepting the huge challenge of breaking the world record the great Spitz had set decades ago, he has won all the challenges fighting for every chance that came his way. Read here a good article again from ny times.
Another event that was most awaited was the 100m dash that took place on Saturday. And Usain bolt seemed to be knowing of what he was doing and took control of the whole event from the second go till the end. Finishing it in style, the sprinter was already celebrating past his 80 meter mark as his challengers unable to catch up with his speed and they were seen to be gasping behind him to catch up with the ace. A world record followed the gold medal finish here which was shortened by .04 secs to 9.68Secs. I thought Asafa powel would be finishing second at least but then he disappointed. Anyways luck didn't favor the sprinter. So the fastest man in the planet would be Usain bolt for the next four years. :)

Other than that did nothing much all these 4 days. Got to know when i weighed myself that i've lost a good 2 kilos in last 2 months! :) Good for me i guess.... He he he. Back in office and to the routine after a small change.. :)

Holidayzzzzzzzzzz..

2008-08-13T19:32:00.000+05:30

Extended weekend this week too as am off to my hometown today with loads of movies and books with me. Hope i get some time to read while i am home for the next 4 days. Looks like will be watching some movies that i've been waiting to watch from a long time now. Last week was a extended weekend too with my employer planning a day's off with all of us from office taken to Club Cabana. Was a fun trip with my colleagues. The place is descent enough for a day's outing with lots of recreation facilities. After all the fun, this Monday i was sulking to start to office in the morning after 3 days of rest. I have a hunch that the next Monday will be even worse. Let me see after all it more in the human nature and i expect it ;) All said i had lost track of time once i reached Bangalore. It's been two months since I've last visited my parents. Quite long in terms of number of days. i don't remember in the recent past that I've not been there in such a long stretch. Must be those 11th and 12th standard schooling days. But that was long ago. From the day i set foot here 2 months ago to till this day, days whizzed through as i was kept busy in office and had something or the other to be done in the weekend. And i was too occupied to complain and now I'm not complaining that i should've complained.. ;) Anyways, see you all in 4 days time.

Another day of glory!

2008-08-13T08:47:00.004+05:30

And again, the whole of world must be knowing now that Phelps has won another Gold(4th in a row) in this Olympics and that too in a record time again! I'm in awe of this personality! How can he manage to do it time and time again multiplying his success in water in such close repetition! Boy, he is good or should i be telling 'He is great'! I think words would exemplify his spirit. Cheers to the guy...

NYtimes news

After this, there is another swimmer who is fading into the dusk of his career (more looks like it now). But, he seems to be doing it gracefully. He is Brendan Hansen. Read this article.

Abhinav Bindra has done a country of billion people proud. I'm proud to be Indian more than ever now. A gold medal in Olympics in 100 years is an achievement. And you could read through this (what looks like) temporary blog (looks genuine) of Abhinav to see what he has to say. Is our 'Neta' listening? :( Bureaucracy kills sport every second in this country of mine... Anyways, Abhinav needs his share of appreciation for weathering it all to win and realize his and a country's dream. :)

add on to last post..

2008-08-12T14:58:00.002+05:30

Got these two interesting links:
Here and Here...

Found them when browsing along. I found them interesting hence go through in your free time. Nice read...

Swimming & summer Olympics!

2008-08-12T07:39:00.001+05:30

Every four years when the Olympics are held, Doordarshan is one channel that airs the events live or sometimes a repeat telecast of the event. And as a kid i used to hate watching the swimming and boxing (both for different reasons) events on the TV. Swimming never made any sense to me as i had never jumped into the pool till then and boxing because i thought it was inhuman to box or punch one another (which i even to this day think so). But during my engineering days i got into the pool to learn how to swim thanks to my ever pestering friend, i had to oblige and accompany him. Hmm, i feared initially but then everyone knows this who's been in water and then you over come this particular point when you know how to swim. Though to this day i have not perfected the art, i know a bit of it so that i can survive if i ever fell into water. ;) But somehow once i tried out swimming, i had huge interest for the sport and respect too. It requires a lot of stamina and hell a lot strength and not to mention the right technique!

Now again the Olympics sporting extravaganza has started and DD sports channel is airing the events. Swimming not to mention seems to be there the event that happens to be shown every time i get to see the TV! Somehow over the years, I've found a soft spot for the sport (only watching). And, also thanks to the stars like Alexander Popov, Pieter van den Hoogenband, Ian Thorpe to name a few. They've popularized this sport. Bought commercial interests into this sport. And as Ian Thorpe made an exit everybody thought he was the greatest swimmer the world has ever seen but, there was another guy around the corner called Micheal phelps. I fail to understand how he manages to beat his own records every now and then. It's like he is competing against himself. New records and then again new records. He just keeps going. And if you check the wiki site, there is this 2008 Beijing summer Olympics games section in the article where there is an table showing what he is going to do and already done in the Olympics this year! I was just wondering, 8 days flat the guy will compete every single day to fight for the 8 Golds that he is expected to win! 8 days! How can he concentrate and keep his body together for so many days is the question! I just can't believe a person can stay focused so long at such high competitive level to achieve this. Whatever, i wish he does it. I'm a huge fan of the guy now after reading through his achievements. He has already won 3 Golds out of the 3 events he competed in and the next 5 events are eagerly awaited. :)

The world's fastest Indian...

2008-08-03T20:30:00.007+05:30

This post is sort off continuation of my last post. This was not intentional but then it just happened to be so. It turned out to be a rather boring Sunday morning until i decided to watch this movie called the "The world's fastest Indian". I had this copy of the movie with me for a long time now since i got it from a friend of mine and some way or the other didn't happen to sit to watch this movie. Sunday morning was the perfect time when there was nothing to do and the sky was cloudy and it promised good rain that i happened to remember about the movie. Anthony Hopkins doesn't need any introductions of sorts as to what an actor he is. But then for every actor it's a new opportunity when it comes to another new movie and the performance and story should gell together to get the best out of him/her. The character portrayed by Hopkins is that of an real life hero(there is nothing wrong in calling this man a hero) Mr. Burt Munro. A terrific human who cannot be explained completely in words when you think of what he had achieved. Get some insight as to what kind of a character he was here and here. The kind of determination he had and the things that he believed in and himself were just too good. He believed in something and stood for what you believe in. Had a dream and lived to achieving that. And when this is the goal, life becomes fun. :) Every moment lived leaves you with happiness that lasts for eternity. Such a character was well portrayed by Hopkins when he played it in the movie. With such great poise he bought in some respect and a also bought a worthy story to screen in the best possible way. I also think Roger Donaldson (director and writer) did excellent job by making this movie. Watch it surely if you need to know about Burt Munro or if you are an avid motorbike fan or need to cheer up. And what he said about some people living life in 5 minutes more than others who don't live that in a lifetime was so true to the context.

Words that inspire...

2008-08-01T22:56:00.000+05:30

I jus happened to come across some very inspirational quotes when i was reading something. The first one was:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

And then some time later i got to see this:

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”

and this too:

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result”

Wow! all these three quotes were stated as said by none other than Mr. Mahatma Gandhi regarded as Father of my nation. A wise man whom i respect for some of his ideologies. Leave what i don't like about him as it's significance is so small considering the stature of the soul being a great leader that he was.

The third quote is something that i strongly believe in. There is nothing called luck if you don't try something at the first place. Luck comes into picture only when you start doing something and you get lucky to have luck on your side. :) Imagine yourself wanting to play in Indian cricket team and you do not plan to hold the cricket bat/ball and practice. You do not play the game saying it is not your cup of tea after giving it a small try. And then later you blame it on luck saying you couldn't be the player you wanted to be. People don't get lucky so easily. But some do ;). But inorder to get lucky you need to play and play and play and do not quit until you can play no more. Now you get lucky during this period of time that you kept playing the game to the best of your ability. Not only do you keep your self in contention of being lucky enough to get selected, but also get your skills that you've honed during this struggle to show it's colors. So don't blame it on luck any more and quit doing something in a cheap way but you rather keep trying and increase the probablity of getting lucky and have some self respect.

Second quote is something that just made me recognize that i'm a dishonest person that i've never imagined to be. :( At times more than once i belived in something and have not stood by or lived upto what i've belief in. Hmm, time to re think and act on them. For some things i won't be able to amend damages already done but i can bring a change and make things better.

The first quote in itself says it all. This post started off with me reading that quote and one thing led to another and i was reading all the 3 quotes and i just thought to write it down.. :)

A visit to Melkote..

2008-07-28T22:06:00.006+05:30

It seems my friends here in Bangalore had been planning to go to this place called Melkote for quite sometime now. But the plan left to be executed from a long time. A very quick exchange of mails followed early last week and it was decided that we all travel to this place on Saturday the 26th of Jul. I waited a couple of days impatiently for this day. Finally when it was Friday i was more than happy that the next day would be a long ride and a day out on the roads riding my bike again with my pals. But then, Friday turned out to be a nightmare when the whole city went berserk when reports started to pour that there was a bomb blast in Bangalore. I initially thought nah, this was not happening in Bangalore. But then this was a reality as the TV started blaring the flash news of bomb blasts. The singular somehow became plural and then it didn't take much time for the news to pour in on the serial blasts. Slowly the number of blasts started to increase and i counted till 7 and then i closed my ears. ;) All my colleagues left early as the management deiced to close down the office. But this bomb sounded disaster for the peace loving city and to our trip as well. We thought it was rather wise to drop the plans for Saturday and sit cozily inside the comfort of our dwellings. By evening when the picture on the blasts became much clearer it was obvious to us that all the blasts were nothing major in terms of damage and somehow were glorified crackers. Though some people were injured seriously and there were a couple of deaths, the damage done was not that disastrous. Hence we had to rethink on our canceling the trip late in the evening. Later we deiced it was OK if we could leave our place early.

And so we got up early on Saturday to a bright sunny day and so the 6 of us on 3 motorbikes started off towards Melkote on Bangalore-Mysore state highway. After a brief stop in ramnagar for breakfast we made good ground to Melkote. The roads were wonderful with very less traffic and the distance of 130 kms were not that tiring. The road stretch from mandya to Melkote was a bit bad at some places as the roads were not maintained that well. The place Melukote is ancient temple city and has its place in history. Get some information here. Interesting!
The Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple is situated atop a big boulder on a hill. Once on top on the hill, the view is astounding and it takes a few steps to be alighted as more than half the way to the top is kept motor able. We also visited the Kalyani or Pushkarani Pond situated in the foot of the hill which is quite big and beautifully constructed. The Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple nearby is also know for having a lot of devotees. A visit to this temple and later we decided to explore around Melkote. The place has a huge stone pillared entrance built during vijayanagara emporer's rule. A lot of movies have been shot here with song sequence from recent movie Guru also been shot in this location. A small garden and couple of ponds surround this monument. We stopped by the sides of one of these ponds to have a some Puliyogare that we had packed from a vendor near the temple. Eating it we realized that it was one of the tastiest puliyogare we all had ever tastiest. The sweet pongal was also extremely good. And this lead to us following back our path to the vendor and ordering in for more of the eateries. Please do not miss to eat puliyogare from an Iyengar serving here in Melkote. You'll know what i'm saying if you taste it sometime. :)

The vendor was kind enough to let us know that if we wished there was a large lake near by that we could visit. It was called Keretonnur and was about 15km from the temple. We thought we might visit the place as well as we had lots of time to spare before we planned to return. So we all set out to this huge lake that covered a enormous 1390 acres of land. Huge by what I've seen for a lake. Nice place to spend an evening. To reach this place take the road that takes you to mysore from Melkote and take a left once you reach Madeshwarapura. A 3km on the same road gets you to the lake. Shrirangapattana is just 15km from here and we had thoughts on visitng this place to visit the palace of Tipu Sulthan but a couple of my friends turned the thought down and hence we decided to head back. It was saddening to head back when we knew that the places were close by. An architectural Marvell called Somanathapura temple also close by was indeed close by and we had to skip visiting this place as the skies were dark with clouds starting to look very dark. And on our way back it rained cats and dogs once we crossed mandya. A half an hour later once the weather cleared and we managed to ride along to Bangalore without much delay. Another of those wonderful days came to an end with a 300km round trip
and i was more satisfied than i ever was. Enjoy some of the pictures I've posted of the place.