Went to watch Jhankar Beats yesterday. Good movie, I liked it pretty much. Wanted to write about it. But then I changed my mind. Looking at the last few entries, the page was looking like a movie critics' site! Gives the wrong impression about my priorities...I hardly consider myself a passionate movie lover.
Sumeet remarked this morning that everyone should be passionate about something! In his words, what's the use of life, if you are not passionate about something! He seems to have a point there...having a passion in life does make a person feel worthy if you know what I mean!
I was thinking what I was passionate about! Certainly not movies or music, nor arts. I love computers, but can hardly be called passionate about computers! I may say story books are my passion. I go on reading all the time, you'll hardly find me with no books to read. It is true that the scope of my reading is limitted. I like novels, thrillers, detective stories and science fiction. I prefer light reading, and am fond of comedies. I can enjoy comics, I can also enjoy (to some extent) Shakespeare. Yes, books can be said to be my passion. And I like sports. I love participating in any and every game. I am hardly the best sportsperson ever, but I participate in all. Sort of Jack of all trades and all that. The only sport I was good at was athletics, 100m sprint to be precise, and that too I am no longer in a shape to be a winner any more. But I do love sports.
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Had to share the beautiful Hoganekkal with my readers. I have uploaded some of the photos along with several others on the web. You can find them by clicking here.
By the way, the hit counter (at the bottom of the page) tells me the name of the referrer to my page for every hit. Just found that someone has chanced upon the page from a search for "free photos of bajaj pulsar" on google! Don't believe he found what he was looking for!
*P.S. Tried to post at midnight yesterday, but Blogger didn't allow me! Attempting again now.*
By the way, the hit counter (at the bottom of the page) tells me the name of the referrer to my page for every hit. Just found that someone has chanced upon the page from a search for "free photos of bajaj pulsar" on google! Don't believe he found what he was looking for!
*P.S. Tried to post at midnight yesterday, but Blogger didn't allow me! Attempting again now.*
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
I wanted to write about this sunday's expedition to the Hoganekkal Falls, but it seems Anant beat me to the post! Anyway, that will not deter me from posting my views also!
The place is about 180 Kilometers away from Bangalore (according to Qualis odometer reading) if you travel by National Highway 7 upto Dharmapuri on the way to Salem, before taking a right turn. Some websites however mention the distance as 150 KM, 120 KM, even 80 KM from Bangalore. (Clearly, the author of the final page was travelling by some old dilapidated vehicle, suitable to give competition to Richard Gordon's Hemorrhagic Hilda, with an odometer, which had given up, panting, halfway through!) We were supposed to start around 6 in the morning. We started at 7:30 as expected. There was a Qualis and an Ambassador. The latter had the priviledge of setting the journey time, being the slower of the two (it refused to go above 70 in the best of roads) and the other had to put a lot of fight to keep up (rather down) with it! We reched our destination around noon, after stopping for about half an hour in Dharmapuri for a breakfast of Plain dosa and Ghee roast (which turned out to be a roasted Plain Dosa). Nothing else was available.
The sole and principal attraction of the place at this time of the year is a boat ride along the Cauvery, near the waterfall, through a stream of placid water between banks of sheer rock, which, at places, go up as high as 50 feet. Several local kids show off by diving into the water from these heights, and ask for payment from the people in the boat as entertainment fees. At first site, the feats look unbelievably risky, and they probably are so. But these kids have grown up doing this only, and they don't care. I don't think, they ever pause to think what will happen if they miss a footing, or land in a wrong part of the water. And after collecting the money, they fearlessly scramble up the vertical rock face for next turn.
The boat themselves are unique. Calling these vessels 'boats' is really an overstatement! Rather they are large round baskets made of cane and plastic, with some black material (probably tar) coating the bottom. They look very fragile, but can carry eight to ten people effortlessly. And when not used, the owners just carry them around on their shoulders!
There were twelve of us, so we hired two boats. We first crossed a stretch of about twenty feet of smelly, muddy, shallow water with rocks popping up here and their. When we reached the other side of the pool, we proceeded on foot, while the boatmen carried their boats. Then the river cruise started. The boat first took us near the waterfall. The waterfall itself is not a big deal what with no rain and all, specially compared to its own self after the rainy season, when it is reputed to be miles wide! But there was enough water to get drenched if you are directly below, and thats were the boats took us! The boatman took us right next to the waterfall and rotated the boat, thus drenching all of us to the skin in the torrent of water pouring down from twenty feet above. Then we went for a gentle cruise along the stream. The scenery was beautiful and reminded me of the scenes from the movie 'Asoka' where Kareena Kapoor sings while taking a ride with a raftful of scantily clad women!
After about half an hour or forty minutes, we reached a sandy beach. The water there was only waste deep throughout. The boatmen set us loose to enjoy ourselves, and that we did! After quite a while of swimming and fooling around, it was decided to head back (by those of us who did not swim or fool around!) On this ride back home, our boatman unveiled yet another of his tricks from up his sleeve. He rotated the boat round and round at the same place at about five or more rpm!
There are quite a few stalls nearby selling all kinds of things including shorts and T-shirts. Several of us availed these services, and changed into new dry shorts before returning! There were also a few food stalls, but we did not try those out. On the way back, we had our lunch again at Dharmapuri, sometime before sunset! We reached home around eight in the evening, tired, wet (some of us) and content. The decision to go to Hoganekkal was not a wrong decision at all!
The place is about 180 Kilometers away from Bangalore (according to Qualis odometer reading) if you travel by National Highway 7 upto Dharmapuri on the way to Salem, before taking a right turn. Some websites however mention the distance as 150 KM, 120 KM, even 80 KM from Bangalore. (Clearly, the author of the final page was travelling by some old dilapidated vehicle, suitable to give competition to Richard Gordon's Hemorrhagic Hilda, with an odometer, which had given up, panting, halfway through!) We were supposed to start around 6 in the morning. We started at 7:30 as expected. There was a Qualis and an Ambassador. The latter had the priviledge of setting the journey time, being the slower of the two (it refused to go above 70 in the best of roads) and the other had to put a lot of fight to keep up (rather down) with it! We reched our destination around noon, after stopping for about half an hour in Dharmapuri for a breakfast of Plain dosa and Ghee roast (which turned out to be a roasted Plain Dosa). Nothing else was available.
The sole and principal attraction of the place at this time of the year is a boat ride along the Cauvery, near the waterfall, through a stream of placid water between banks of sheer rock, which, at places, go up as high as 50 feet. Several local kids show off by diving into the water from these heights, and ask for payment from the people in the boat as entertainment fees. At first site, the feats look unbelievably risky, and they probably are so. But these kids have grown up doing this only, and they don't care. I don't think, they ever pause to think what will happen if they miss a footing, or land in a wrong part of the water. And after collecting the money, they fearlessly scramble up the vertical rock face for next turn.
The boat themselves are unique. Calling these vessels 'boats' is really an overstatement! Rather they are large round baskets made of cane and plastic, with some black material (probably tar) coating the bottom. They look very fragile, but can carry eight to ten people effortlessly. And when not used, the owners just carry them around on their shoulders!
There were twelve of us, so we hired two boats. We first crossed a stretch of about twenty feet of smelly, muddy, shallow water with rocks popping up here and their. When we reached the other side of the pool, we proceeded on foot, while the boatmen carried their boats. Then the river cruise started. The boat first took us near the waterfall. The waterfall itself is not a big deal what with no rain and all, specially compared to its own self after the rainy season, when it is reputed to be miles wide! But there was enough water to get drenched if you are directly below, and thats were the boats took us! The boatman took us right next to the waterfall and rotated the boat, thus drenching all of us to the skin in the torrent of water pouring down from twenty feet above. Then we went for a gentle cruise along the stream. The scenery was beautiful and reminded me of the scenes from the movie 'Asoka' where Kareena Kapoor sings while taking a ride with a raftful of scantily clad women!
After about half an hour or forty minutes, we reached a sandy beach. The water there was only waste deep throughout. The boatmen set us loose to enjoy ourselves, and that we did! After quite a while of swimming and fooling around, it was decided to head back (by those of us who did not swim or fool around!) On this ride back home, our boatman unveiled yet another of his tricks from up his sleeve. He rotated the boat round and round at the same place at about five or more rpm!
There are quite a few stalls nearby selling all kinds of things including shorts and T-shirts. Several of us availed these services, and changed into new dry shorts before returning! There were also a few food stalls, but we did not try those out. On the way back, we had our lunch again at Dharmapuri, sometime before sunset! We reached home around eight in the evening, tired, wet (some of us) and content. The decision to go to Hoganekkal was not a wrong decision at all!
Monday, June 23, 2003
Most of my readers must have surely found mentions of him in quite a few of my posts. I have variously referred to him as Anant, Anant I and my roomie. He is the football pro I was talking about. He is also a great writer (also mentioned in one of my earlier posts). His short stories have been published in magazines, some editted, some intact! And he is my partner in cooking up the story, of which we plan to make a movie!
Some lesser known facts about him: He is a top graduate from IIT Madras in EE and working in the same company as I am. He takes interest in a variety of activities apart from writing and putting MOS transistors together. He is a connoisseur of good food, specially fish in all forms. He also claims to be an expert cook, although I am yet to taste any of his culinary creations. And a lot of other things.
Welcome Anant S. Kamath to the world of blogging!
Some lesser known facts about him: He is a top graduate from IIT Madras in EE and working in the same company as I am. He takes interest in a variety of activities apart from writing and putting MOS transistors together. He is a connoisseur of good food, specially fish in all forms. He also claims to be an expert cook, although I am yet to taste any of his culinary creations. And a lot of other things.
Welcome Anant S. Kamath to the world of blogging!
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Last post was too morbid! Have been feeling great since posting it!!
Watched Matrix Reloaded yesternight. Didn't like it. Some parts are good, but overall, it is no where close to its popular predecessor.
The enjoyable parts are the fight sequences. And there is plenty of that. May even be said that there is only that! The mind-boggling concepts and common-sense defying logic that enthralled the viewers in the first part, are totally absent. The Reloaded is a thing to watch, and get a kick out of the Out-Of-This-World action, and not something which provokes thought.
Enjoyed the bike ride part of it, and the fight on top of the speeding truck. Hated the ending. To be fair to the movie, there is no proper ending, it will be concluded in the next part. Overall, I enjoyed because I wanted to! Now, that is one correct observation made in he movie, if you want, you can do (almost) anything!
Watched Matrix Reloaded yesternight. Didn't like it. Some parts are good, but overall, it is no where close to its popular predecessor.
The enjoyable parts are the fight sequences. And there is plenty of that. May even be said that there is only that! The mind-boggling concepts and common-sense defying logic that enthralled the viewers in the first part, are totally absent. The Reloaded is a thing to watch, and get a kick out of the Out-Of-This-World action, and not something which provokes thought.
Enjoyed the bike ride part of it, and the fight on top of the speeding truck. Hated the ending. To be fair to the movie, there is no proper ending, it will be concluded in the next part. Overall, I enjoyed because I wanted to! Now, that is one correct observation made in he movie, if you want, you can do (almost) anything!
Have been feeling rather misanthropic since yesterday evening.
Is it because time and again my ideas are rejected because people are too indolent to move out of their inertia of rest?
Or is it because of the widespread 'herd' mentality which prevents people from giving an honest opinion of their own?
Or does it have something to do with the hidden deals which lurk out of every corner, any time you agree upon something with someone?
Is it because time and again my ideas are rejected because people are too indolent to move out of their inertia of rest?
Or is it because of the widespread 'herd' mentality which prevents people from giving an honest opinion of their own?
Or does it have something to do with the hidden deals which lurk out of every corner, any time you agree upon something with someone?
Thursday, June 19, 2003
We are having some technical training everyday from 10 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. It started last monday and will go on for whole of this and next week. What with the new project about to start, it eats away a lot useful working time. Specially so because, I am in no mood to work beyond office hours right now, but would like to get started with the new designs before the official kick-off of the project. Of all this, what may be of interest to the readers is, the posts will become more irregular from now on, and dependant on how much work I have at that point of time. Also, I may not get to check all my favourite blog links at the same time, and may need to stagger my visits to the different pages.
Speaking of the training, I found a certain incident in today's class quite humorous. The professor from IIT Chennai, somewhere in the course of the lecture asked us a question. "Suppose we have an oscillator, comprising of two integrators and an inverter in a ring. What is the oscillator called?" We all chewed our pens and racked our brains for an answer. Some people came up with the names of some exotic oscillators. The professor just shook his head and smiled. "You surely know the name. Picture the oscillator. It consists of an integrator followed by another one, then an inverter, and finally, output connected back to input. What is it called?" More blank looks on our faces. Ultimately the professor gave us the answer. "Why, a double integrator oscillator!!"
Of course an oscillator with two integrators is a double integrator oscillator! A pointless answer to a pointless question! But then giving pointless answers can be fun. Remember the following conversation I had with Sumeet the other day. We were walking down a road in our main office campus. The road had been recently repaired, and there is a lot of white sand still left on the road.
Sumeet: What's this white stuff?
Me: Its sand.
Sumeet (giving me a How-Informative! kinda stare): Why is it here?
Me: So that people riding bikes slip and fall. (Noticed that the look on Sumeet's face had intensified and decided that he wanted more explanation.) Its like this, the road-makers want people to spend more time on their road. So this is their way to bring people down, and lie about a bit.
I really enjoyed the look on Sumeet's face! Giving meaningless answers to questions can be fun!!
Speaking of the training, I found a certain incident in today's class quite humorous. The professor from IIT Chennai, somewhere in the course of the lecture asked us a question. "Suppose we have an oscillator, comprising of two integrators and an inverter in a ring. What is the oscillator called?" We all chewed our pens and racked our brains for an answer. Some people came up with the names of some exotic oscillators. The professor just shook his head and smiled. "You surely know the name. Picture the oscillator. It consists of an integrator followed by another one, then an inverter, and finally, output connected back to input. What is it called?" More blank looks on our faces. Ultimately the professor gave us the answer. "Why, a double integrator oscillator!!"
Of course an oscillator with two integrators is a double integrator oscillator! A pointless answer to a pointless question! But then giving pointless answers can be fun. Remember the following conversation I had with Sumeet the other day. We were walking down a road in our main office campus. The road had been recently repaired, and there is a lot of white sand still left on the road.
Sumeet: What's this white stuff?
Me: Its sand.
Sumeet (giving me a How-Informative! kinda stare): Why is it here?
Me: So that people riding bikes slip and fall. (Noticed that the look on Sumeet's face had intensified and decided that he wanted more explanation.) Its like this, the road-makers want people to spend more time on their road. So this is their way to bring people down, and lie about a bit.
I really enjoyed the look on Sumeet's face! Giving meaningless answers to questions can be fun!!
YESTERDAY!!!
Quote of the day:
Will find that out in 1 milli second....that takes about half an hour. - Sumeet.
PJ of the day:
How can you wear swimming trunks? They are swimming! - Again Sumeet, the birthday boy.
Excerpt of the day:
"Then I decided that there were two or three volumes on subjects like public health and biochemistry that a rising surgeon could do without. Later I unashamedly took the lot, one after the other, to the second-hand medical bookshop in Gower Street, saying at every meal a grace to its provider. Whitby and Britton's Disorders of the Blood gave only bacon and eggs and coffee in a teashop; but Price's Text-book of the Practice of Medicine was much more nutritous, and ran to tomato soup, steak and chips, a pint of beer, and apple tart. I saved up Gray's Anatomy for my birthday, and when I at last carried The Encyclopaedia of Surgical Practice downstairs I booked a table at Scott's. - Richard Gordon, DOCTOR at large.
Lessons learnt (a few days back):
The burnt child fears the Engine Exhaust Pipe!
Quote of the day:
Will find that out in 1 milli second....that takes about half an hour. - Sumeet.
PJ of the day:
How can you wear swimming trunks? They are swimming! - Again Sumeet, the birthday boy.
Excerpt of the day:
"Then I decided that there were two or three volumes on subjects like public health and biochemistry that a rising surgeon could do without. Later I unashamedly took the lot, one after the other, to the second-hand medical bookshop in Gower Street, saying at every meal a grace to its provider. Whitby and Britton's Disorders of the Blood gave only bacon and eggs and coffee in a teashop; but Price's Text-book of the Practice of Medicine was much more nutritous, and ran to tomato soup, steak and chips, a pint of beer, and apple tart. I saved up Gray's Anatomy for my birthday, and when I at last carried The Encyclopaedia of Surgical Practice downstairs I booked a table at Scott's. - Richard Gordon, DOCTOR at large.
Lessons learnt (a few days back):
The burnt child fears the Engine Exhaust Pipe!
Monday, June 16, 2003
How does one spend the weekend effectively? A very important question, one that most of us face all the time. The answer is different for everyone. The key lies in the interpretation of the word 'effective'. The ultimate aim is that you shouldn't feel afterwards, "I should have done this..." or worse "I shouldn't have wasted time doing this..."!!!
Probably the most popular way to spend the weekend is to do nothing! We had a personal effectiveness seminar a few days back, in which the point was raised that there should be some time kept aside in our lives, when we should just be. The question asked was, "Are we human beings or human doings!!!" A nice point nicely made! The problem with that is, we do it all the time. I mean we 'be' all the time, every weekend! After spending weekend after weekend doing nothing but sleeping till late and watching TV, one does crave to do something different!
The other most popular weekend activity is to hang out in one of those popular hangouts that every city has (like M G Road here in Bangalore). And believe me, that too can become boring after hanging out a few times! So what do you do then?
One fallback option (for those who love to write) is to spend more time on the blog! Or write stories. My roomie is a good writers, and when he feels bored on the weekends, we are blessed with some great short stories to read in the weeks to follow. I have also tried my hand at writing. I am not that good, but I enjoy writing. But the problem is that I do not like short stories. So I start long ones, with intentions of churning out novels and thrillers. Only, I generally do not go beyond the first few pages. I have several such unfinished stories on my comp.
One can occasionally go places on weekends. It could be a long trip involving three nights and two days. Or it could be a one day episode where you drive over to some place close by, spend some time there and come back refreshed. It involves some amount of planning, but is really enjoyable, if done once in a while.
One bright idea that I had was to make a movie! Not a 10 crore budget Yash Chopra saga or anything! Just a zero budget thing, which we ourselves would write the script for, direct, act, edit, and....don't know what we will do after that, but this is enough to keep us busy for quite a few weekends! The idea was received enthusiastically by Anant (my roomie) and a few others. Me and Anant, we had decided that we will come up with the story, script and all, and then tell the others. But when we failed to come up with any good storyline that satisfied both of us for a couple of months, we decided to involve the others in the project from that moment on. But the thing did not take off. Others were not all that enthusiastic as I was, and interest fizzled out after one meeting.
I still keep hopes to take up the project again some time. I had even started writing the script for a particular story that I had thought of. But this project also had the same fate as all other of my literary endeavours! The first two acts have been waiting for months now for the third act to be created!
Probably the most popular way to spend the weekend is to do nothing! We had a personal effectiveness seminar a few days back, in which the point was raised that there should be some time kept aside in our lives, when we should just be. The question asked was, "Are we human beings or human doings!!!" A nice point nicely made! The problem with that is, we do it all the time. I mean we 'be' all the time, every weekend! After spending weekend after weekend doing nothing but sleeping till late and watching TV, one does crave to do something different!
The other most popular weekend activity is to hang out in one of those popular hangouts that every city has (like M G Road here in Bangalore). And believe me, that too can become boring after hanging out a few times! So what do you do then?
One fallback option (for those who love to write) is to spend more time on the blog! Or write stories. My roomie is a good writers, and when he feels bored on the weekends, we are blessed with some great short stories to read in the weeks to follow. I have also tried my hand at writing. I am not that good, but I enjoy writing. But the problem is that I do not like short stories. So I start long ones, with intentions of churning out novels and thrillers. Only, I generally do not go beyond the first few pages. I have several such unfinished stories on my comp.
One can occasionally go places on weekends. It could be a long trip involving three nights and two days. Or it could be a one day episode where you drive over to some place close by, spend some time there and come back refreshed. It involves some amount of planning, but is really enjoyable, if done once in a while.
One bright idea that I had was to make a movie! Not a 10 crore budget Yash Chopra saga or anything! Just a zero budget thing, which we ourselves would write the script for, direct, act, edit, and....don't know what we will do after that, but this is enough to keep us busy for quite a few weekends! The idea was received enthusiastically by Anant (my roomie) and a few others. Me and Anant, we had decided that we will come up with the story, script and all, and then tell the others. But when we failed to come up with any good storyline that satisfied both of us for a couple of months, we decided to involve the others in the project from that moment on. But the thing did not take off. Others were not all that enthusiastic as I was, and interest fizzled out after one meeting.
I still keep hopes to take up the project again some time. I had even started writing the script for a particular story that I had thought of. But this project also had the same fate as all other of my literary endeavours! The first two acts have been waiting for months now for the third act to be created!
Friday, June 13, 2003
Sumeet says he doesn't enjoy these 3 day trips so much, specially the first two weeks and the last two weeks of each!!
The first two weeks are the time we spend on planning for the trip. As is the case when many people are involved (9/10 in our case), there are different and clashing opinions, and it does take some time to iron out these differences. The last two weeks are when everyone orders copies of the photos taken. Putting together everyone's demands and distributing the copies afterwards do take a lot of time. I do not mind these two plus two weeks myself. Planning is fun (except for the arguments part)! Also, all these signify something different from the normal daily activities and it also feels good to meet up and spend some time together, with all the different remarks from everyone about the photos, and remembering all the moments!
This weekend all the comps at the office are going to be shut down for some upgradation work. This starts at 6:00pm today and will go on up to 6:00pm on Sunday. The significance of this is that we cannot check mail, or do any work in the office for that time. Also, everyone will be leaving office very early today. (To digress, this also means, I will be away from the BlogWorld for the two days.) Taking the oppurtunity, I proposed that we go somewhere this weekend (another one of those 2/3 day trips).
The earlier trips have included visits to Koorg which is a district in Karnataka, and a trip to Waynad, which is a district in Kerala. There are usually about nine or ten of us. However, it seems that a few of us have other appointments to keep this weekend. Koushik has to spend some time with his parents. Ashish, Tonmoy, Prerna and Anant II will be hunting for houses to shift to. Anant I (my roomie) will be
going to Mysore with his parents. Swapna also is tied down on Saturday, as she has to be there for her cousin's birthday.
So we changed the plans. We will be going for the trip next weekend. (As Sumeet points out, comps don't need to be shut down for us to go somewhere on weekends!) As for this weekend, few of us will be going to Mysore on Sunday (one day trip). The house hunters may join in if they are lucky on Saturday itself!
Places of interest in Mysore are the water theme park, Brindavan gardens and the palace under lights. Some of us are not so interested in the first, while for me that is the most attractive of the three. Also, I proposed that we go there on bikes, but it seems that I may be voted down on that matter!
We haven't had a single meeting on the proposed 2 day trip yet. I foresee several sessions of deliberations on that matter in the evenings in the coming week. Any suggestions from all my readers (still very few!) are welcome.
P.S. Info about our trip to Koorg is available somewhere in the archives of Sumeet's blog. The trip was in the first half of December, 2002. Some snaps from the Waynad trip are available here.
The first two weeks are the time we spend on planning for the trip. As is the case when many people are involved (9/10 in our case), there are different and clashing opinions, and it does take some time to iron out these differences. The last two weeks are when everyone orders copies of the photos taken. Putting together everyone's demands and distributing the copies afterwards do take a lot of time. I do not mind these two plus two weeks myself. Planning is fun (except for the arguments part)! Also, all these signify something different from the normal daily activities and it also feels good to meet up and spend some time together, with all the different remarks from everyone about the photos, and remembering all the moments!
This weekend all the comps at the office are going to be shut down for some upgradation work. This starts at 6:00pm today and will go on up to 6:00pm on Sunday. The significance of this is that we cannot check mail, or do any work in the office for that time. Also, everyone will be leaving office very early today. (To digress, this also means, I will be away from the BlogWorld for the two days.) Taking the oppurtunity, I proposed that we go somewhere this weekend (another one of those 2/3 day trips).
The earlier trips have included visits to Koorg which is a district in Karnataka, and a trip to Waynad, which is a district in Kerala. There are usually about nine or ten of us. However, it seems that a few of us have other appointments to keep this weekend. Koushik has to spend some time with his parents. Ashish, Tonmoy, Prerna and Anant II will be hunting for houses to shift to. Anant I (my roomie) will be
going to Mysore with his parents. Swapna also is tied down on Saturday, as she has to be there for her cousin's birthday.
So we changed the plans. We will be going for the trip next weekend. (As Sumeet points out, comps don't need to be shut down for us to go somewhere on weekends!) As for this weekend, few of us will be going to Mysore on Sunday (one day trip). The house hunters may join in if they are lucky on Saturday itself!
Places of interest in Mysore are the water theme park, Brindavan gardens and the palace under lights. Some of us are not so interested in the first, while for me that is the most attractive of the three. Also, I proposed that we go there on bikes, but it seems that I may be voted down on that matter!
We haven't had a single meeting on the proposed 2 day trip yet. I foresee several sessions of deliberations on that matter in the evenings in the coming week. Any suggestions from all my readers (still very few!) are welcome.
P.S. Info about our trip to Koorg is available somewhere in the archives of Sumeet's blog. The trip was in the first half of December, 2002. Some snaps from the Waynad trip are available here.
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Congratulations to Sarika on being the 100th visitor to my blog.
Have reached 3 figure mark at last!!!
(Won't mention how many of the hits are mine!)
Have reached 3 figure mark at last!!!
(Won't mention how many of the hits are mine!)
Monday, June 09, 2003
Sarika's anti-ant antiques reminds me of some more down-to-earth problems
that we are facing with representatives of the crawling creatures clan! To put in a nutshell, the earthly problem that we are facing is that earthworms have started making excursions out of the bathroom drains, and taking sight-seeing tours of the bedroom next to it.
Now, when we signed up the agreement to move into this new house, we frankly expected to share the house between the two of us, and not have to entertain guests on a daily (or rather nightly) basis! And specially when the guests are of the slimy, spineless variety, who prefer wriggling around the floor, their visits are particularly unwelcome. I suppose everyone will agree to me on this count.
After spotting the first specimen of the species, we did plan a counter attack against the worms. We armed ourselves with phenyle and some bleaching powder (which had been thoughtfully left behind by the previous tenants, or so we thought), we proceeded to wage war against the worms with zeal. I was slightly surprised when I discovered that the bleaching powder lacked the familiar odour of chlorine, but nevertheles continued to apply the same to the drain. Only, I discovered, it was not actually bleaching powder, but lime (chuna) that I was using!!
Meanwhile, the steady flow of the earthly molluscs (thats what they are, i suppose? My biology is a bit rusty!) continued with a small change. The worms still came out of the hole but, started to die off once they reached outside. Maybe it was the phenyle which caused their untimely demise, without having any oppurtunity to relay their plight to their peers and warning them!
It was at this point that our land lord stepped in, followed by an intrepid plumber with a bag of cement and a hammer. They dug up the drain cover, found a circular cavity around the side wall, and proclaimed that this was the source of the onslaught! They cemented up the hole, put the cover back and instructed us not to use the bathroom for half an hour, an instruction we abided to the letter.
Alas. All the efforts went down the drain. Or rather, the cement did, and it clogged it proper. As a result, we now had not only worms crawling out of the hole, but also water flowing back!! Fortunately our landlord returned with another member of the plumbing community, who dug up whatever the previous guy had left behind!
One problem was solved...the water now flows out without any further dissent. But the ughhly worms still continue their nightly misadventures! Any suggestions what to do?
that we are facing with representatives of the crawling creatures clan! To put in a nutshell, the earthly problem that we are facing is that earthworms have started making excursions out of the bathroom drains, and taking sight-seeing tours of the bedroom next to it.
Now, when we signed up the agreement to move into this new house, we frankly expected to share the house between the two of us, and not have to entertain guests on a daily (or rather nightly) basis! And specially when the guests are of the slimy, spineless variety, who prefer wriggling around the floor, their visits are particularly unwelcome. I suppose everyone will agree to me on this count.
After spotting the first specimen of the species, we did plan a counter attack against the worms. We armed ourselves with phenyle and some bleaching powder (which had been thoughtfully left behind by the previous tenants, or so we thought), we proceeded to wage war against the worms with zeal. I was slightly surprised when I discovered that the bleaching powder lacked the familiar odour of chlorine, but nevertheles continued to apply the same to the drain. Only, I discovered, it was not actually bleaching powder, but lime (chuna) that I was using!!
Meanwhile, the steady flow of the earthly molluscs (thats what they are, i suppose? My biology is a bit rusty!) continued with a small change. The worms still came out of the hole but, started to die off once they reached outside. Maybe it was the phenyle which caused their untimely demise, without having any oppurtunity to relay their plight to their peers and warning them!
It was at this point that our land lord stepped in, followed by an intrepid plumber with a bag of cement and a hammer. They dug up the drain cover, found a circular cavity around the side wall, and proclaimed that this was the source of the onslaught! They cemented up the hole, put the cover back and instructed us not to use the bathroom for half an hour, an instruction we abided to the letter.
Alas. All the efforts went down the drain. Or rather, the cement did, and it clogged it proper. As a result, we now had not only worms crawling out of the hole, but also water flowing back!! Fortunately our landlord returned with another member of the plumbing community, who dug up whatever the previous guy had left behind!
One problem was solved...the water now flows out without any further dissent. But the ughhly worms still continue their nightly misadventures! Any suggestions what to do?
Saturday, June 07, 2003
The match was supposed to start at eight in the morning.I woke up at 7:30. Which was surprising given the fact that I had gone to bed after 1:30 in the morning after X Men 2 night show, and a movie on Action channel after that. Anant was already up, so was Koushik, who had stayed over with us after the night show. We were all set by 7:50. Several conversations with Ashish on the mobile and we knew that he was coming, so was the other Anant (Tonmoy's roommate). Tonmoy himself has been indisposed following a leg injury from a minor bike incident a couple of weeks back. A quick call to Sumeet K. and he was also coming. We gathered up Ankur Saboo's brother, and made our way to the field. Ankur declined the offer to join us, but promised to come over in some time, if only to watch us play.
We started at 8:30. Only half an hour late, by our standards, that was nothing. There were seven of us to start with and we divided the teams with Ashish, Anant II and Gaurav on one side and Anant I, Koushik, Sumeet and me on the other. However, Ankur came over and joined in on Ashish's side before we started.
The first part of the game was really energetic, and as usual, Anant I and Ashish made their presence felt above the others in no time. Anant II wasn't bad either. The first twenty minutes or so saw a lot of scurrying around, false and ambitous shots going meters over the goal and plenty of ups and downs, the later including Sumeet's downfall!! It was Ashish, I believe, with whom Sumeet collided, and hurt his nose. In fact, there was some blood shed also.
At this juncture, the players took a welcome two minutes break, before resuming without Sumeet. He however showed his grit, and joined in soon, sore nose and all. It was at this point that the opponents (Ashish and Co.) started gaining some ground. They came perilously close to the goal on quite a few times, and it took all the defense's cunning to fend of Ashish's repeated attacks. We however had the first real chance to score, when Anant I's shot went inches above the goal (the goal was about 10 inches high, a stone bench really!) It was then that Ashish and Anant II's foxy maneuvres paid off and they scored, partly helped by a lapse in the defense.
However we did not give up at this minor setback. We pressed on hard, and slowly, the game took a turn our way. After a few more failed attempts, at last we scored, when Anant I's shot from a pass from Koushik scraped the top of the bench before rolling out. As per predecided rules, it was a legal goal. At this point of time, the players decided that they had had enough for one day. Time was called in a mood of mutual tolerance, and a sense of equality.
The two Anants and Ashish were undoubtably the best players. Ankur also came up with some fine display of footballing skills towards the end. (We were short of one pair of boots and Ankur had played the major portion of the match in his slippers!) readers may have noted that I haven't mentioned any of my own contributions, but that is hardly surprising. Footballing skills is not exactly what I advertise in my bio-data, and I generally do not like to mention my contributions to the game, since they usually are favourable to the opponents! Well, you just got a golden hint about a particular lapse in the defense mentioned somewhere earlier. No prizes for correct guesses about it!!!
We started at 8:30. Only half an hour late, by our standards, that was nothing. There were seven of us to start with and we divided the teams with Ashish, Anant II and Gaurav on one side and Anant I, Koushik, Sumeet and me on the other. However, Ankur came over and joined in on Ashish's side before we started.
The first part of the game was really energetic, and as usual, Anant I and Ashish made their presence felt above the others in no time. Anant II wasn't bad either. The first twenty minutes or so saw a lot of scurrying around, false and ambitous shots going meters over the goal and plenty of ups and downs, the later including Sumeet's downfall!! It was Ashish, I believe, with whom Sumeet collided, and hurt his nose. In fact, there was some blood shed also.
At this juncture, the players took a welcome two minutes break, before resuming without Sumeet. He however showed his grit, and joined in soon, sore nose and all. It was at this point that the opponents (Ashish and Co.) started gaining some ground. They came perilously close to the goal on quite a few times, and it took all the defense's cunning to fend of Ashish's repeated attacks. We however had the first real chance to score, when Anant I's shot went inches above the goal (the goal was about 10 inches high, a stone bench really!) It was then that Ashish and Anant II's foxy maneuvres paid off and they scored, partly helped by a lapse in the defense.
However we did not give up at this minor setback. We pressed on hard, and slowly, the game took a turn our way. After a few more failed attempts, at last we scored, when Anant I's shot from a pass from Koushik scraped the top of the bench before rolling out. As per predecided rules, it was a legal goal. At this point of time, the players decided that they had had enough for one day. Time was called in a mood of mutual tolerance, and a sense of equality.
The two Anants and Ashish were undoubtably the best players. Ankur also came up with some fine display of footballing skills towards the end. (We were short of one pair of boots and Ankur had played the major portion of the match in his slippers!) readers may have noted that I haven't mentioned any of my own contributions, but that is hardly surprising. Footballing skills is not exactly what I advertise in my bio-data, and I generally do not like to mention my contributions to the game, since they usually are favourable to the opponents! Well, you just got a golden hint about a particular lapse in the defense mentioned somewhere earlier. No prizes for correct guesses about it!!!
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