Hungry in Bangalore: Utsav’s North Indian Food

Bangalore is transforming. Its undergoing the same changes Bombay (now Mumbai) saw in the past 2 decades, steady and massive influx of populations from around the country making Bangalore not just their place of work but their homes. This mass of people also brings along great appetites in tow.

Utsav is the tip of the ice berg of what is to come. The new working population is mostly single and living in shared accommodations and usually not too keen on cooking their own food. So naturally a huge demand for messes or joints which make home cooked foods available for reasonable prices. Utsav serves the north Indian or basically all roti sabzi eating demographics well. Located at Katriguppe main road in Banashankari the place dishes out the usual home fare of roti sabzi daal chaval and some times some special dishes. The owner/manager a lady who watches over the patrons caringly adds to the homely atmosphere. The crowd at the joint showed how fond people were about this place.



Sam and Ashu had sniffed this place out about a month ago and it had become their staple place to eat lunch and dinners ever since. It was my first time of many times. I went for the usual roti sabji and daal. With more repeats of the rotis. Sam went for the mooli ka parantha along with the rotis. Very good stuff and for a change there was real ghee on the freshly made rotis. When Sam mentioned Litchee thanda I remembered I had a sore throat and a slight cold. Yeah why not. 50 bucks for such a meal is more than super. 4 Thumbs up for this one.

Weekend warrior: Rock Climbing in Bangalore

Another weekend another shot at getting some adventure, albeit a paid safe one where even school kids are part of the group. 14th November was reserved for Rock climbing, rappelling and related activities at Ramanagara conducted by the Bangalore Mountaineering Club. I have never been on a proper Trek or some real forest outings, due to a lack of options and a fascination of becoming a quick fix spider man I signed up for this one day thingy.

http://www.bmcindia.org/ this lists all the upcoming activities by the club, after a simple e transaction which was acknowledged quickly, I simply had to show up at the pick up point with the right gear. Basically something you can afford to tear and soil and which allows you enough flexibility. Wear a full shirt, trust me all those thorns can be a real and constant pain in half tees, unless you are Arnold. I joined a group of techies, 3 pilots and 2 6th grade school girls, whose high enthused spirit I really appreciate, total 30 of us.

After a small breakfast enroute we reached Ramanagara around 10.45. It occurred to me I had been here almost 2 years ago on a company Out Bound learning session facilitated by the same Jagadeesh; the guide and coordinator. He made us go up a practice trail and up a lot of steps as a warm up, more of a cool down cause most us city slickers had enough trekking for a day in the first hour itself.

Rappelling, involves a controlled descent using rope down a cliff or a steep slope. Jagadeesh led us to a solid rock wall almost 60 - 70 feet high. Two separate rope sets were used for this exercise for 2 people at a time. This was pretty fun and easy, I tried the traditional back way down and frankly it was a bit boring.

Lunch was high on every body’s agenda, but Jagadeesh had different plans. Next up Rock Climbing. The high point of my day. We were led to another stone wall, this one wasn’t smooth and had a crack running along its face. Jagadeesh of course reached the top without a safety harness. Next up was an experienced guy who I guess made it within a minutes time. I started timing the next attempts. Next up Boris, a web designer from Boston who made it within 1.2 mins. I had to beat these guys!

Inspired by the two, many try to scramble up but easily took upwards of 4 mins and some assistance to get to the top. My Turn, I had to do it. The starting step is the trickiest and many required a boost from people helping you. I didn’t want any but someone waiting in the line volunteered to hoist my left leg, unknowingly I lunged my left leg and connected my knee with his chin. It hurt to watch too. Champ was down for 10 mins and out of the whole rock climbing event. Sorry dude. I appreciate the guy to be smiling after some time saying it happens. That’s something to take away from this. Well after some more of my own blood, my right hand was cut in many places, made it to the top roughly equaling Boris’s time. Yeah!

Lunch, and what a lunch it was! It was the best Poori Chhole and the whole usual course eaten atop a rock next to a seasonal pond on a glorious cloudy day! I stuffed my self against someones warning not to. I needed a nap. A nicely sloping stone wall was my bed, a pleasant cloudy sky the ceiling and the balmy cool breeze my blanket. Heaven! Why cant I do this everyday? I wouldn’t believe myself, I actually napped in that state for a full 15 mins till someone woke me up abruptly to gather again. It was another shot at rock climbing, my tummy didn’t agree to it, so off for another dose of Nini time.

Chimney climbing is to climb up a small gap between two vertical walls by gripping the walls with your feet and back. This is tough. Damn tough. Jagadeesh was encouraging everyone to go and do what we felt was impossible. Your legs give away at the middle of the climb, you just wana let go and trust the rope to hold you when gravity calls. But miraculously no one gave up. Scratches on the back, aching hands and cramping legs aside, up is the only way. And the scene on top is beautiful.

Happily tired, I felt a wonderful accomplishment. The escape from the urban jungle was an awesome respite. I paid 700 rupees, I gained experience worth a million, and now I am hungry for more.

The Hot new Mobile phone/ Mini PC you can talk to

Check out the new Motorola Droid available from Verizon in the US....remember Motorola ??




This phone was meant to do one thing - kick iPhone's A$$. This is best part of Competition. New platform (Android), Cam, Power, Apps and the list goes on..basically a more powerful functional and well equipped phone as compared to the i who should not be named.

Check out the ad on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYM-XTqcec


If you wanna read more, from the tons of reviews and stuff out there -

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ci.Motorola-DROID-US-EN.alt

Ajab Pu Ki Gajab Review

Review by Her Highness Ms.Pu

Ajab prem ki gazab kahaani has no kahaani in the first place .. its bout a no good fellow called prem who falls in love with jenny who is an orphan adopted into a christian family .. The first half has is somewhat funny and sweet when the two of them become friends . But in the second half the story takes wild twists and turns that fail to excite you or even amuse you.. A lame movie to be watched if you have excess cash and time or your bored to death.

Dandiya Nites in Blore

Navratri 2009!

I can’t remember the last time I had been to a Garba, perhaps it was in 2001 or 2000 in my colony Bombay. Its 2009 and I never imagined I was to attend a Garba and Dandiya again on the night of 26th in Bangalore of all places. And never ever could have imagined writing this sitting on a rooftop in Bangalore in a cool golden Bangalore evening with a cold tea cup and Sheryl Crow providing me company (acoustically). Things just fell into place for my Vacation, day -1. I needed a break. IT can get unforgiving at times, and best way to keep the steam up is to get away from it. More to come on that. Now Navratri.

As expected it was Sharayu who drove things to the end, with help from Swati this time. Gotta hand it to these two iron ladies to bully a bunch into the long forgotten art of having fun. The plan since last 2 weeks was to attend the Navrati celebrations at the Samyukta Mandal in Jayanagar which finally came through on Friday. The best plans are made last moment, and so I got a call at 5 ordering me to come for the do tonight. There were to be 4 confirmed people me, Sharayu , Swati and Kavitha. Sandy and Kamal were teetering on a go – no – go decision. What boosted our Enthu was Murli, a senior guy with equal enthu as us teenagers (mental age). I wish I could give him an award, but I guess my Dandiya sticks would have sufficed. I managed to get my tired self to this do knowing very well that I had a packed day tomorrow as Mom and Bro were to come to Blore. But since it’s a once in a decade event, I can miss my sleep for a night.

We reached at a very proper 9 pm to the venue which is just off the parallel road to KFC jayanagar. We could see the energy to be involved in the revelry, outside the venue with the colorful traditional Garba costumes people were coming in. Our group was one of the fairly well dressed I felt what with the ladies in great Punjabi suits and us guys in Kurtas. Swanky cars displayed the economic achievement that the Gujrati community has become synonymous with. The venue was a large school indoor audi which we entered for a ticket fee of 200 per person, pretty decent given that the big mandals charge as much as 500. The scene inside the audi struck us like a car. Packed with people already dancing in the circle, the whole place had a festive energy like none other. A professional navratri band was playing and almost every body was up on their feet and dancing and singing, the best way to worship the Goddess.

Immediately Sharayu, Swati, Kavitha and Me joined the circle absolutely clueless on how to dance the Garba. Never the less improvisation and a few mini disasters later we all managed to pick up the steps which are pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Sandy and Murli jumped in after a few rotations. The star of the show was Kamal! The shy fellow was replaced by a guy who truly danced, as the saying goes, as no one is seeing you dance. He was thoroughly into the groove and enjoying himself as were the rest of us. The tempo kept varying and we learnt some variations in steps to the Garba, basically a 4 step combo with claps.

We took a well deserved snacks break which was a cool surprise in itself. A great spread of Bombay theme dishes like Vada Pav, Pav Bhaj, Dhabeli (this stuff is awesome in Bombay) which was kinda OK and Gujarati dishes like Dhokla, Khaman chivda etc. We had some of everything and ended it with multiple Golas. Refreshed, we were looking forward to the Dandiya round.

Dandiya Raas is played with sticks (Dandiya in Gujarati) in two counter rotating circles where two people, or solo sometimes, are involved at a time. It requires some practice or Gujarati genes to kick it off the first time, but once to many I ended almost hurting people around me. People who knew how to play did so brilliantly. I was dazzled at times and stopped to see them but each person had a step on every beat and so had to keep on playing to avoid disappointing the partner who switches after every 4 steps. I played with Kids, teens and the seniors alike. Especially the seniors played splendidly with their ease and grace. Also present were the flashy young guys and girls with fancy costumes, steps, makeup and funky Dandiyas (one guy had a cool pair of rotating silver colored dandiyas ).

We ended the experience at 3 am, but because of the amount of the festive fun we had; I am sure no one slept for atleast another hour. Now I need to find out where to get those silver colored rotating dandiyas for next year…

Wake up Sid....Zzzzz

Pakau.

I labored through this uneventful movie like sitting in a bus for a long long time with a full bladder. Forget waking up, half of the movie hall was asleep in the night show. My Brother slept through 70% of the movie easily.

Good night.

Bowled out by inSwing

"Doctor I can only see Ducks"
Doctor - "Have you seen an Optometrist?"
"No, only Ducks".

These and other cricket themed rib ticklers and trivia adorn the table mats on this quaint eatery. Blink and you miss, situated in a nook on the first floor above Overhaul accessories in Banashankari BDA complex in Bangalore, this place has been a favorite for many people for different reasons. Firstly the theme - cricket. Cricket greats are remembered in many Black and white photos, their anecdotes and feats captured in frames which cover the walls. They enthrall me everytime that I come here. You have to spend a minute checking out the painting of Ganapati in 8 forms with Bats and cricket pads, the ambiance will catch you with a surprise! The food - is homely North Indian; affordable and very tasty. You can find some new thing to like when you come here. Today I discovered the Onion rings, superb stuff. The Chaas here never bores me. Highly recommend the Palak based dishes as the palak gravy is too good. Dont expect a mughlai feast, this is homely food so its made the usual down to earth, moderate style - which I love.

Cost comes down to the strictly moderate slab - 3 Thaalis with starters and drinks comes to about 300 bucks, super score. Watch out for the sly waiter, he will count your orders twice on purpose (experienced this on two outings), but you wont regret the extra helping. I am sure you would want to play more Innings with inSwing..

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb..

Total Human annihilation was never so hilarious! This is dark comedy at its best. The picture above is of a Bomber commander wearing a cow boy hat riding a nuke to its target, talk about hi tech guidance systems hehe. The satire maintained in this film never becomes farcical even for a moment. A great movie to see the works of Stan Kubrick and Peter Sellers. A must see to realize the importance of your bodily fluids ...

Amelie

The power of expression can change the world. A story can make you live an era, a picture can take you to different lands, a song can make you laugh or cry. Likewise a movie will let you live someone else’s life, albeit for some moments.

I have been captivated by some wonderful movies, one of which is ‘Amelie’. No wonder this movie was nominated to the Oscars (in 5 categories ) and won many European awards. A run of the mill story about a girl meeting the love of her life – in a fantastical script set in Paris, crafted with superb movie making. This movie blew me away with its creative usage of artistic tools like animation, metaphors (the garden Gnome photos from around the world! ), music and the consistent pleasant visual theme . More than anything, it takes me to a place I yearn to visit – Paris. This movie lets you into her small world. How she makes a big difference for everyone in that small world, touching aspects of people’s lives which result in fantastical outcomes, makes you realize reality should not be so complicated and sometime you need to look at it through the sepia tinted glasses that Amelie uses.

Audrey Tautou (who is also simply great in ‘Priceless’ BTW ) is just the cutest ‘pretty girl who lives on the 5th floor ‘. I reserve the next few lines for my favorite actresses playing my favorite characters – I wanna marry her!

Bangla in Bengalore - Bengali food at Bangliana

Heres a cool place to try some authentic Bengali food in Bangalore. These guys make it the authentic way, vouched for by a semi-Bong and a full Oriya, right from the ambiance which takes you to a cramped Kolkata eatery decorated with Bangla curios. No ac, no cushion seats, Bangla music and a real high pitched owner makes you feel right at home.

Ok Food. The Vekthi(or Bekthi) is to die for ( I dont know how its supposed to taste and since this is my first encounter with Bangla food I will let Sandhya and Ashu to judge on that). And it was superb. Its a fish preparation wrapped in a leaf with spices and fried in the typical Mustard oil. The flavor hits you like a truck so be careful digging into it like tandoori chicken. This is the first time I had a leaf cooked fish or anything and it tastes quite good. Thats not quite the best thing here though.

The fish curry and mutton curry were nice. I notice the good dose of mustard oil makes the dishes a bit getting used to initially. So dont get spurned away at the first bite. They also serve some tasty fish heads chutney. This is sure to drive away all Veg readership.

Now the best stuff. Bengali Sweets. The magical originals were present in their true forms competed to win our taste buds. Rossogolla - super soft and sweet just to perfection. The Mishti Doi was awesome. Its like a Shrikhand only a bit more runny. Then the Payash, synonym for the south Indian 'Paysa' was the super star. Sweet Mango chutney was delightful. The winner hand down was the Payash. If not the main courses or the usual stuff - the desserts will have you running back to this place.

Csst - Rs.1050 for 6 hungry people and 1 non participant who did eat later on for a fully satisfying belt loosening Bangla experience.

Song - 'Every Build you break ' :D ROFL

This is a superb (hilarious) example how creative software guys can be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVc_VPMsj7A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fxteam.us.oracle.com%2Fblogs%2Fblog4.php&feature=player_embedded

Business Intelligence for the Mafia! Mogambo interested

Travel and Transport, Education, Governance - all these domains are done. The pond has been fished out and face it..there is not much new stuff people can do in Business intelligence. You gotta create a niche. Turn your attention to the other great organisatons in our society's the friendly neighbourhood mafia. Efficient, extremely profitable and agile and highly liquid with funds ( some of that stuff is solid too :D ) these wise guys can be the best clients you could ask for.

For example Mogambo would have achieved his dastardly plan if he simply let us do all that pointing and making people jump in acid tanks and basically wreak havoc on the world. That we can do sir, we can perfectly do. Infact we give you a 6 month on site guarantee our application can make you the emperor of the world within 3 months, of course we have to account for the odd attack on the main frame by Mr.India. Which we will take care of in the next upgrade ( as if ).

Uhh Mr.Mogambo...stop whipping our developer please ...

The first 2 hours of your day

The first 2 hours of your day

Some fiction for a change. I am counting the number of people in a bad/sad mood.

You get up in the morning; curse the short sleep, bad dream, whatever (1). Get ready for work, in the process mess up the stack of clothes roomie had kept, forget to order some drinking water in the hurry (2). You rush down the stairs and almost bang into the old lady from 1st floor whose son is in the US hasn’t called her since a month (3). Zoom past the nepali watchman (4), walking briskly towards the bus stop. You get onto the bus brooding like a villain from a Z grade movie. There are the usual passengers, the new mother who never gets any appreciation from home nor office, the manager fast approaching 50’s yet unable to afford a decent flat, the group of four Keralite bachelors - some of whose fathers and brothers have come back from the gulf after they lost their jobs – you wish they stopped their yapping in Malayalam, the urban hotshot whose parents live in the same city but prefers to live alone and is worried about his credit card loans and the quite girl from the village who never speaks to anyone because she dosent have any confidence to have a long conversation (lets say 12 so far). You sit in the last bench. The bus driver has a really bad time negotiating through the traffic. It’s a deadlock. Not a single vehicle is moving from its place at the intersection. Everyone wants to be the first one out of the mess, is causing the mess. There is an ambulance wailing at a distance (almost 32). 2 hours up.

32 people minimum are in a bad/sad mood. Probably half of them (optimistically) will become happy in the other part of the day, for the other half it might be another forgettable day.

You get up in the morning, thankful for a new hale and healthy day. Get ready for work with nothing bad on your mind to bother you. You remind roomie to call up his sister to wish her luck for her exams. He also calls for the water to be delivered that night from the shop. You head down the stairs and meet the lady from 1st floor and ask her whether her left knee injury had subsided. She said it was getting better and in the evening she expects you to come to her house for some puja sweets. You tip the watchman as it festival time, which means he can send some money for new clothes for his new born daughter in his village. You board the bus with a bright smile. The bus was filled with comments on your goofy new yellow shirt which was so bright it could land planes. The new mother jokes that the shirt will drive away all your girl friends, she feels 5 years younger already. You congratulate the manager about his account getting an award. The Keralite guys ask you exactly who is the younger of Kareena and Karishma and offer you some coconut chips, of which they have a ton stocked at home. The packet of chips makes rounds of the bus making its way to the driver. They start discussing in Malayalam how you look like a comedian in a certain regional film. You nod like a similar fool in agreement with the conversation you cant understand which they explain later after a good laugh. Hotshot asks what might be a good bike for him so that he can go back to living with his parents while keeping some of his freedom intact. ‘How much maximum HRA component can we declare in the tax declaration?’ was the question out of nowhere from the quite girl who usually wouldn’t have asked anyone. You spend 5 minutes on explaining the details. In the background at the intersection, the driver senses a deadlock and stops for the other drivers to cross the intersections. Drivers of some of the other bigger vehicles see him slowing down and sense the same and wait for the smaller vehicles to go. The bus driver meanwhile finishes the packet of chips. Everybody reaches office in a good or better mood that day. They all greet the pantry guy who makes the worst possible tea, except that day they all had the best tea after lunch from the same guy.

How would you like spending the first 2 hours of your day?

My Holiday in Ruins

I wanted a getaway, from a lot of things. Work, pollution, grey cubicles and routine; just seek new experiences. My friend’s wedding started a perfect getaway in the last weekend of May. Joining me on the trip was Krishna, best known by everyone as KK, and Anirudh. A Tamilian, a Telegai and a part Maharashtrian Kannadiga (myself) who spoke 5 languages amongst themselves and spent a weekend on an unplanned trip in the great outdoors. How best to spend the weekend eh?

Saturday morning we reached my Mom’s native of Dharwad. Dharwad, the Oxford of Karnataka. I spent many a vacations in this quite town. Green and cosy, this wasn’t a village nor was it too big to make its citizens feel lost in it. Its University is marvelous and its education renowned. I loved the rains here. Everything would be so fresh and green. The Hordes of black faced Langurs have stopped marauding the fruit trees in the ancestral home. There is no ancestral home anymore to speak of now. It was years since I had been to this place. This was a wonderful opportunity to go back to those years.

The night in the train was a sleepless one. We arrived haggard at the place we were put up called Sevashram. It was a Christian institute with dorms. We freshened and changed quickly into Kurtas which we had coordinated. KK looked like he was coming straight from a communist party meeting. The marriage venue had my Family name, a lot of places do in Dharwad. The guys were teasing that I owned half of Dharwad. We decided to walk the short distance from the dorm to the venue, providing the natives a rare sight of three Kurta clad individuals walking. Rare because I guess it has unfortunately become de riguer for people to use vehicles even for short distances, especially if you are affluent moreso for a marriage. Yes I am a part time Tree hugger.

We met up with many of our friends from Bangalore at the Venue. This was the first Konkani wedding I was attending. The ceremonial dresses were quite unique. Ceremonies and rituals differ in different cultures and communities. This was another unique one. Anirudh was trying to compete with the official photographer and was doing a good job too actually. One mention – the Casio camera which he was using is very impressive. My friend, the bride’s, brother was running around to managing the event, which was flawless, reminded me of the duties I would have to do when my Brother will be getting married. Better start going to the gym :D . Best wishes to the lucky couple.

It was Saturday Afternoon. Now what? We have to do something. All the resorts were full because of school vacations. The archeological ruins at Badami, Aihole, Pattadkallu circle were off season. For a good reason. It was summer, in interior Karnataka near the Maharashtra border. It was blazing hot. It would be nuts for anyone to roam around in that heat. Lets go.

We went around Dharwad looking for anymeans to go to Badami, but as it turns out Dharwad is a little bit too laid back to have people at the ticket counters to even guide us. We took the next option of going to Hubli and trying for a way to get to Badami. Hats off to KK who ignored my whining to stay back in a hotel in Hubli and Dharwad and waste precious time. Hubli is the bigger of twin city to Dharwad. It was a big lucky break that we caught the only bus to Badami – the glorious Rani Channama Private Bus service, I will call it the RCPBS cause we will need it again later. Now RCPBS can give the airplanes a run for their money. They have Two screens and a DVD player! Plus the bus actually flies, low. Our host started the Kannada movie ‘Rama Shama Bhama’. This I truly enjoyed. I had seen the Hindi version –‘ Biwi No.1’ which was a murder of the movie. I didn’t notice the maniacal way the pilot/driver reached the destination in good time. My recommendation, catch the film, worth 2.5 hours. Oh Garcon, the champagne please….

It was dark by the time we reached Badami. We made our way to the closest decent hotel – Rajsangam which seemed to host a lot of foreign tourists during peak season. We bargained a decent 600 Rupees for a 3 bed room. Had a simple dinner of masala dosas and crashed. We would need all the energy we could for tomorrow.



The rates for Taxis, as usual of Tourist places, were too prohibitive for our budget. The rickshaws offer a far better deal. Airy and comfortable for the three of us, the whole tour for 350 rupees, the rickshaw was a super deal. 350! You say, the rates start at 600 for the record. An important advice for everyone at this place at this time of the year, stay hydrated. To do so we had to down almost 4 litres of water, a couple of cold drinks and 4 coconuts. Trust me its way better than sunstroke at this place.

First stop were the Badami caves. Just a few minutes from the town, these four temple caves were built by the Chalukyas in various centuries. The approach towards the cave complex, if you notice, is uphill a path bordered by huts. If you see closely is a proper path with way stones probably for a ceremonial route in the ancient times. We skipped getting a guide who would charge a flat 200 rupees for the gyaan which I was sure to forget in 5 days. The caves were as far as I can guess a Monolithic structure. The cave temples were for different deities. Vishnu and Shaivaite temples were the dominant ones, but surprisingly the last temple was a Jain or a Buddhist temple, that’s why you need a guide. The temples were made in different centuries by the Chalukyas. It is impressive that a kingdom can last for so long, so much so that there was even a shift in the faith of the people. We were really impressed by the carvings. They were incredibly detailed, beautiful and more importantly flawless. These were no idols or individual sculptures that you could replace if you goofed up while making them; they were part of the monolithic structure. The cave complex had a superbly built tank, rather a lake next to it. It was easily the size of a 50 Olympic swimming pools. Credit goes to the Archeological Survey of India for doing a good job here. In a day’s journey from Bangalore, I was standing in another century altogether.

Watch out for monkeys at the place, if you are not careful they will swipe your food primarily or your digicam if they are bored with the ones they had swiped before. Monkeys are OK, it’s the humans that consistently make me angry. Do you have to have a picnic at such a beautiful Archeological place? Gangs of picnickers desecrate the place with bottles and leftovers, at all the places we went to that day. Sometimes I feel these places should have stayed hidden in dirt because we don’t deserve to see their beauty.

Badami caves were a great appetizer for the main course coming up. Next stop Banshankari temple. As we were to see, this day we were going to set personal records in number temples seen in a day. This is a revered Devi temple, with people coming here from all over the nation. For sale were the crispy tough bhakri rotis and their accompaniments – chutney and curd. Mind you, if you skip the curd you will end up with a real bad stomach ache. We didn’t have the guts to try it.

Next up – Mahakoota. I have limited knowledge of this place, but if you are a Shiva devotee, you gotta come here at least once in your lifetime. I guess it has the largest number of Lingas in a single place. I can easily estimate more than 150 easily seen Lingas. There were replica or representative Lingas from all over India in small temples. There was a small tank at the centre with a small temple embedded inside enshrining a Linga. We were amazed at all the Lingas here. The number of Lingas was simply incredible.

We quickly moved to Aihole. The road to this place was almost alien. Dry, black and rocky, I am sure NASA can do some experiments around here. We reached the town of Aihole after quite a long drive. This was another temple complex from the Chalukya dynasty. These temple structures were Huge. They were beautifully stylized, and the construction was intricate. Its simply hard to not say how did they do it! You would definitely require modern construction techniques and the architecture acumen employed for this level of beauty would have been outstanding. I am sure if they updated Wikipedia back then, we would have made the Eiffel tower atleast 8 centuries early in stone. By this time fatigue had set in. The heat had taken its toll and we were hungry already. We had a forgettable lunch at the fabulous Mayura guest house, a government run tardy and inefficient facility, expected. We still had Patadakallu to go..

We were tired, despite the constant drinks, the heat had exhausted us. Patadkallu was still on the list. And it did not disappoint us. This was by far the best of all. The ruins here were big and beautiful. The temples were literally crammed in a small place. This place had a lot of variety in structures. The entire place was laid in stone and it seemed like a very important place of worship. Some of these structures were very spooky. A whole day of ancient temple watching was obviously monotonous but this place rocked! A definite must visit, I would recommend heading to this place before Aihole or Mahakoota. Patadkallu was a perfect ending for the tour.

We reached our room just after 4 PM. We had to get the bus to Hubli in time to make it for our train at night. We packed up and hurried out of the Hotel at 5, but we missed the Rani Channama Private Bus service (RCPBS). This was disheartening, frankly worrisome. Transportation wasn’t easy in these parts and there was the possibility of missing our train. We waited an hour for the next RCPBS, which was the same one we came in. The in flight movie, no prize for guessing, ‘Rama Shama Bhama’. This time we enjoyed it even more. The pilot got us into Hubli in good time. We headed straight for the Dharam Singh Line Bazar Shop to buy Dharwad peda. Sacrilege if you don’t get Dharawd peda if you visit Hubli-Dharwad. KK got a lot of that stuff. We had a simple Dinner at the Kamat’s. I would recommend some other place though. If anything the ‘Majgi’ saved the day for Kamat’s.

The train arrived 1.5 hours late, which got us into Bangalore 2.5 hours late on a Monday. A perfect start for another week of work. I wonder will I ever be able to see such work as done by the Chalukyas in my life time?

Not bad for my first decent article after my brief experience with RSI.

Station 24

On 24th of March 2009 I turned 24 :D . Magic number. I honestly don’t want to get all fancy with words, but this train simply rolled into Station 24.

This is my second Birthday in Bangalore and it had gotten better this year. Thanks to my friends, birthdays are really something I cherish and look forward to. I now have a reason to be happy to grow old. This wasn’t the case a few years ago.

Birthdays in Bombay were a simple affair. My humble background and deep rooted moderation in everything restricted most forms of exuberance. Without that I wouldn’t have been where I am today and pretty sure would not have been able to achieve what I have. Birthdays were placid with an expected cake in college, if I was lucky, followed by some more of it at home. Mom makes some sweet at home (she still does and I miss it like anything). Bachelor’s life in Bangalore has turned many things on its head and bottom.

These were the last few days before Station 24.

22nd : Ayush had come down to Bangalore for some official work and was to spend the weekend with me, Chandu and Adwait. Busy man that he is, he had a packed schedule so did I with my cousin’s engagement. Sunday was the last evening Ayush would spend with us so we headed to the most happening place – Brigade road to catch up with a few friends.

Adwait’s birthday was on 18th. That night I, Chandu and Lakshman had surprised him with a face full of Chocolate truffle cake which had become a tad too hard because of refrigeration ( sorry dude :D ). We did a good job of the surprise and I am proud of us especially since Adwait is as alert as a cat.

We paid a rather late visit to another friend, who I have to mention, a very unique person indeed – full of spunk and always glowing. After escorting the person home Ayush had the fantastic idea of walking home a long long distance fully aware of the hatred stray dogs have towards me. Thankfully an Auto rickshaw guy rescued me from the harrowing march. One more day to go for my Birthday, I said as I stepped out of the washroom. 12.30 Am.

The dreaded cold chocolate truffle cake. Pushed very hard on to my face to compensate for the lack of adhesion. But its a day earlier! Neverthe less a surprise indeed! Now that’s a surprise. This was followed by a white forest cake (!). Thank fully not graffiti-ed the way I had vandalized Adwait’s cake 4 days ago. Hot milk accompanied the feast of a cake. My family in Bangalore – my roomies had superbly executed the plan. I may be bragging, but I am telling you I have the best roomies in town :D

It took me quite a while to get the cake off the floor and my face. I uploaded the pics quickly and the wishes started streaming in on Orkut.

More was in store.

23rd : The day after. I was confident my gang from office was up to something. I could bet my life on it. A give away of the plan came from Snehaji when she accidently mentioned about Ashu behaving rather excitedly at their office. I could imagine Ashu frantically waving his arms to motion her to not mention anything. I headed home pretty warily to avoid any accident on my way back. ‘Not this day please ‘I had prayed , and it had worked thank God. On my way back I picked up big bags of
chips and some cold drinks for the party that I hoped will come.

Adwait and Chandu were exhausted with all the excitement from yesterday. It seemed if any action were to happen, they would opt out. Chandu dozed off as soon as he came in and so did Adwait. Nothing. No shifty behavior, no hidden stuff in the fridge. I was worried if people even remembered its my birthday. I tried to trick Chandu into telling me if there was any surprise “ How much chips shall I get and cold drinks too, tell me cause then I don’t wanna waste anything”. He didn’t reply much in detail – usual case with his tired days. When I came home he started having some of the stuff which I assumed were meant for later. Means there was not going to be any party! I asked him again “Uhh..why are you having the stuff now?”. “Cause you brought it, is it ok I have it?” was his reply. “Sure, hmm so theres actually no party” I said.

Pretty obvious, I thought. People are already stretched at work. Far off offices, tight projects and schedules did not allow much respite for my gang. Its Ok I thought. I had a party yesterday night. Its Ok if my gang dosent come tonight. Convincing yourself can be tough.

12 am 24th March everyones asleep. I get the first call from Kavita at 12.05 AM. She’s the winner of the first wish contest. Then the calls trickle in. One by one. Everyone’s home. Wishing me and excusing themselves for not being here. I fake energy into calls, perhaps even over compensating. The house is dark and I actually felt sad.

12.35 Am I am in my bed ready to go to sleep. I get a call from a very good friend which warms my heart, particularly because I guess calling so late at night is not an option for her. I had left my bedroom door open and I suddenly see Adwait wearing a shirt ( apart from the usual vest)!

The lights go off. I excused myself from the call. Suddenly I feel someone jump on me! The lights come on and before I could react a whole lot of cake avalanched on me – propelled by the whole gang. I suddenly realized what getting a full body massage with a cake on your own bed feels like. Its awesome!

The gang had come. Thanks :D

I had a rather long bath to get the rather oily cake off myself. A quick change of clothes and I am in the living room where a Chocolate fantasy cake was waiting for me. Ashu, Sam, Sharayu, Victor, Shiv, Syed and Sandhya had made time for my Birthday which was truly a surprise. Hats off!

This was followed by the ritual spinal realignment. Everybody were party to this merry affair and I suggest wearing jeans when you undergo this. Thankfully this year it was a single round compared to last year’s 4. A message to all ladies who partake in ‘Birthday Bumps’ - leave it to the guys! They know where not to hit!

Shiv started the second round of caking. Some precision chocolate decoration for my face. Another bath. The maid’s reaction the next day was “ You guys keep playing with cake or what everyday?”. As I write, there is still some cake along the bed’s headboard.

I saw the gang off till the gate as they went back pretty late in the night (1.45 Am), trouble for us office goers in the weekdays.

I uploaded the few pics we managed to take on my cell cam and my well wishers could see a little bit of what happened.

But I wish I could print the whole experience so that I can share it with my brother, all my friends my relatives and more importantly me. The train will roll onto different stations via different routes, never going back. These photographs, these memories and this blog will remain.

Holi 2009

Holi the festival of colors. Lost amidst gray cubicles. That was 2008

But this year it was different, fun and totally unexpected and unforgettable.

7 pm at office at Bannerghatta road, an hours travel and I was exhausted. The night before was a sleepless one. Naturally when Ashu’s SMS came instructing me to be ready for Holi, I called replying a rude no as I was tired and Holi simply didn’t seem like a good idea. This thought would have surprised me a few years ago. I was un excited and actually didn’t want to have fun just cause I was tired. I loved Holi. It’s my favorite festival. But like a lot of things, I had lost interest.

I reached home to find none of my roomies Adwait or Chandu were present. I wanted to play some PS2 for a change. That did it. Couldn’t reach Ashu on his cell I called up Sharayu – another true blue Mumbaikar, asked if they are really going to play Holi at the company office in the night. Seemed like a crazy idea. Of course we will play was the joyous reply. It’s a festival and whats left of us if we don’t enjoy festivals. Codejunkie – my cousin’s word echoed.

Ashu the ever adolescent had kept up the tempo and excitement for this year’s Holi along with Serious (about fun) Sam. I wouldn't have believed myself - I called them up saying I am going to join the group for Holi. I was to report to Ashu’s apartment dressed in my most expendable attire which will get dyed to an unrecognizable hue and as was to turn out –to be almost torn into bits.

Driving blind without my spectacles ( my only pair ) I met fellow blind without my specs Ashu and Sam joined us in some moments. Ashu and Sam had purchased a good quantity and variety of colours. Sharayu, Sandhya, Victor and Syed were waiting for us at office as we entered the office at 8PM, dressed in old track pants, worst of the lot Tees and slippers. Hope the big brass dosent sees us in this avatar. We got rid of the bags by sweet talking the security guard to stash it near his desk (who had become accustomed to our odd timed outings and whacky activities being conducted by us or originating from this office).

We couldn’t wait to get out of the main gate and near the main road. In full view of the public, abandoning any coyness we tore open the Gulal packets and the celebrations began. The 6 of us were unrecognizable after a few minutes. Each of us were covered by Gulal ( pink), yellow, green and violet. Ashu had also got some synthetic dye (Which makes my hands and neck look candy pink for another week). Sandhya ( and Shiv to come) was the only amongst us well dressed. We made her regret wearing those clothes. So was to realize Shiv. Black Raymond’s pants? Not anymore. Try this new yellow briefed one we just made :)

Shiv arrived from another office. He needed some convincing. Like Sam hiding in the bushes to ambush just as he was to get out of the protection of the office. After a handful of yellow gulal, Shiv joined us with a vengeance. We did another round of Holi play adding to the several layers. It turns out people in Gorakhpur and Orissa play Holi a tad rough. They like to tear clothes it seems. And so Ashu’s shirt got a decent amount of stretching. Next in the firing line was my own shirt. I bargained for a sleeve. So Shiv and Syed tried – and did not succeed in getting even a stitch out of plcae (that shirt was from Belgium. Thanks bro. There I said it for the record. I can explain why I was wearing that shirt :) ) Now it was the turn of any body we recognized near the office. A few of our colleagues joined in the revelry.

By standers were enjoying simply watching us play. I could see that they badly wanted to join in, but they couldn’t. They had to get back to office next day. It was late already.

Victor couldn’t participate due to lent. But being a true sport he did let us color his face yellow a little.

We ended the night with photographs to preserve the memories we would never want to forget.

Notting Hill or Nothing Hill

Not much for mush movies..just wanted to capture a defining moment from this film which has many.

Julia Roberts plays a very successful yet unloved actress stands in front of the Book store owner Hugh Grant, asking for him to love her despite all she has put him through. The simple and affable Hugh still forces a smile and asks her permission to say no. She says ' fame is not for real. After all I am a still a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love me'.

Of course he runs back to her through a very mandatory climatic, romantic, dramatic end.

Mush movies make you feel mushy. So defined. I like them. But things dont work similarly in real life though. Its ok to be inspired by such on a date, but not in real life. Even if you do get inspired, think .5 times before you do anything stupid. So dear kids, you should stick to wonderful movies of Uncle Rambo and Santa Bourne.

Waiting to be convinced here...

p.s: Am not drunk nor did I have a recent breakup or both.