Life's a journey, enjoy the drive!

Every year, we, as a family somehow find time to go off on a vacation.And the most likely place that we visit is Melpal.For the uninitiated, Melpal happens to be my mom's hometown.Or rather,its a small village in the midst of the western ghats of Chickmagalur district.
This time, we planned to do a bit more than just laze around in the midst of nowhere, far away from the din of city life. So we decided to go on a small tour from there, using Melpal as a base camp for our adventures.This time around there was a lot more exictement for me, for more than one reason.First, it was my first really long drive in my adorable red car.And second, this time I had decided to take dad's good old Pentax film SLR.At the end of the trip I was thoroughly impressed by the performance of the car, as well as that of the Pentax.
But post film development, I was a lot disappointed by the dullness of the photos when they were converted from film to digital format.But on paper, the photos looked really crisp and neat.

To get a good photo of nature, I didn't have to look around more than 200 metres radius of my grandmom's house.And this shot, of a rose just exemplifies it



We had planned a pligrimage of sorts and hence,set out to Dharmasthala, which has a very famous temple, about 3 hours drive from Melpal.The roads were twisty and ocassionally bumpy too. In some places the acclivity of the slope never seemed to end. As we reached Charmadi Ghats, the roads seems to disappear all of a sudden.In that part of the world, I figured out that they built roads in the middle of potholes.The pots being bigger than the wheel that makes it.If the roads were bad, the scenery and grenery around made up with their picturesque beauty. The only trouble was, I wasn't allowed to get down or stop the car as mom's absolutely terrified of heights and wouldnt want to look down at the deep valleys around.

From there we went to Karkala, to visit my good old friend Sunil and his family. Then I remembered that he's so fond of birds, even of the winged variety.I managed to get a good shot of one perched like this.



From there on, we went to see his family owned cashewnut factory.This, I was reliably informed by his dad, as the largest in Karnataka.I was simply awestruck to know that a single cashewnut goes through a process lasting seven hard days, before it gets to satiate our tastebuds.

The next place on our route map was Kundapur, via Manipal and Udipi.If I was simply astounded by the town of Karkala, which had a lot of shopping mall like complexes,I was even more impressed by Manipal. It looked just like another upper middle class cosmopolitan neighbourhood of Bangalore. I also got to spot a sleek Porsche Cayenne on the road too, something which is extremely rare even in Bangalore city.

Around Kundapur, we visited a couple or more temples and also got to meet some really old relatives. During this time, we went through one of the best roads and as well as one of worst too.I was surprised and very happy to see a small village road laid out with grand prix circuit like bitumen under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.At the same time was disgusted to drive through what they called National Highway, where it was the car's underbody getting scraped at 20 kmph.I guessed they must have built that highway under the National Highway Ka Paisa Khao Yojana.

Nevertheless, we also got to enjoy a nice sunset that evening by the Arabian sea on one side and the Souparnika river on the other.


Souparnika river looked so calm and serene, giving little idea that it once used to be the habitat for huge wild crocodiles, a hundred or more years back.

We then got back to our base camp Melpal via the Agumbe route. Though the distance was just 135 kms, it was very challenging, as the slopes were so steep at 2 of the hairpin bends, that they had caused the axles of 2 jeeps to break.We also got some time to spend around in the midst of the tea estates close to Melpal, doing photoshoots at will and parking the car at will in the middle of the road.Something like this...




And I also managed to get a pretty decent photo of the coffee beans too...




The next day we had to return back to Bangalore.In 6 days' time, we had covered 1200 kilometres.Each and every mile presented its own challenge, its own pleasures.As I approached Bangalore I was saying to myself that I could do another 300 kilometres in the twisted roads of the Agumbe Ghats, but not many more on the chaotic roads that led to Bangalore.

A Slovenian Rhapsody

I didn't know how to write about my experience of travelling to Bled, Slovenia. Then I remembered the old adage "A picture speaks a thousand words".

For an avid amateur photographer like me, taking a picture needs no second invitation.And the clicking started while we were still on the plane to Ljubjlana.
Being a neighbour to Austria, which has been written as one of the most beautiful places in Europe, Slovenia had to have atleast some this beauty in it too.
And sure it did have loads of it.

The first evening itself we were all spellbound by the quaint setting of this small town called Bled, where we were staying. And this was supposed to be the venue for a test fest.
The most unlikeliest of places for business, Bled was better known for its placid lake, a thousand year old castle and many classy hotels around them.
This town for me defined Europe in one word, "Vintage".

However, since we were there for work and not on a holiday, we had to do what we had to do. During the test we met a lot of interesting people, a few of whom were kind enough to pose in this picture at the social event organised by OMA.
The social event in itself was more of a food and unlimited booze binge party, where we also got to experience some loud and pompous Slovenian traditional music.Not to mention, a dozen types of wines from the region, stocked in the oaken casks of the restaurant's wine cellar.
The food, was .00001 per cent as spicy when compared to Indian food that we get to taste back home.And the Tira Misu tasted as if from straight out of heaven.

We were free on a sunday during which we trekked up the hill to see the castle's museum.And also successfully managed to find a nice wine cellar out there.The person incharge was very happy to know that we were from India, as we were probably the only Indians to be there for a long time.
A nice wine cellar meant a good place to stock up half a dozen bottles of Slovenian wine as souveniers.Little did we know that only half of them would ever make it back to India.

We borrowed a few glasses from the wine cellar guy and also one bottle of white wine.The objective was to enjoy the wine from the best view point of Bled, the castle rock.

Our first tryst with fast cars started right at the airport, where the taxi driver took us to the hotel in a brand new Citroen.For all of us used to Bangalore's 10kmph speeds, the speed of 170kmph that she touched on the highway was an instant adrenaline rush.
During our entire stay there, we got to see some superb cars, which Europe is always famous for. BMWs, Mercs,Audis, Alfa Romeo and the likes were commonplace here.But I also got to spot and capture on camera, a very rare and hyper expensive SLR McLaren Mercedes Roadster.Something which I didn't get to see in my entire three month stay in the rich state of California last year.

After all the hard work, we were left with some free time on Friday afternoon.We tried to make maximum use of this, by going to a place called Vintgar falls, just a few kilometres away from Bled.
It was party time again as Steffan, Vishwa and I managed to make the most of the few drops of wine that was left over during our botched attempt to break open the cork.

Our walk to Vintgar falls, even in fading light was indeed rewarding.We got to see crystal clear water gushing down the gorge, making the view a totally surreal one.
Added to that, the passing by of a train, over an old medieval looking bridge, added to our joy and also left us awestruck.

In all this had to be the best travel experience so far. Right from the ultra smooth landing of the jumbo jet at Frankfurt, upto the equally smooth landing back at Bangalore airport, everything was like a dream.Then again, the unending wait to get our baggage at the airport and the hustle and bustle at the taxi stand woke me back into reality. The reality called 'Life of an ordinary software engineer in Bangalore'.

And All Thoses Crushes Keep Coming Crashing Down!!!

I'm sure that everyone has had crushes on someone or the other at some point of their lives.Some could be their highschool classmates,senior in college, colleague in the adjacent cubicle,neighbour's daughter...and so on.

Some of you guys might be wondering why this topic now.Well, some days back I was reminiscing on how many crushes I must have had till date, and what ever happened to them.Or rather, what happened to me due to these crushes.And guess what! After the flashback, I couldn't find a better heading for this post.This one's going to be long, so get a lot of popcorn while you're reading through it.

The first couple of crushes were, well primary school crushes.The first must have lasted a full week and the second,I don't even remember who that was. Then came the third in the list.Lets call her Miss Smile.For, everytime we passed each other in the corridor, she used to give me a nice smile.And I used to return back with one my clumsy looking shy smiles.She knew that I had a crush on her, but never responded positiely to me.Probably one of the reasons was that she was a full 4 inches taller than me.

But that didn't deter me.When summer holidays came,I took my bike(read bicylce) and started cycling 2 hours everyday for 2 months to try and become taller.Incidentally, this was a team effort.Some of my best friends were giving me company in the cycling effort, as we used to make endless rounds around Miss Smile.Only after 2 years did I come to know that, the sole purpose of my friends joining me , was that they too had a crush on Miss Smile. I don't remember if I managed to reach her height, but surely was able to reduce the difference.Come schooltime the next year, and my interest in her gradually waned way for no apparent reason.But the smiles were still being exchanged back and forth.

Then I decided to get rid of diversions in life and become serious in life.And by God, I did become dead serious.After a period of romantic lull, it was time for another crush.This time, I set my sights a lot lower.Meaning that I became interested in Miss Smile's best friend, who was incidentally a full 6 inches shorter than me.Other than her height there was nothing that can be called low about her.She was beautiful, charming and extremely good at studies.For me, it was her eyes that swept me off my feet.Even to this day, I haven't come across a girl who could match the divine beauty of her eyes. Lets call her 'The Doll', for that's how neat she looked.

I confided the news about my new crush with KV,my best friend at that time(He still is a very good friend even today).All he said,"If you want to impress her, then you need to atleast start making some impression with the marks you score."

I'm pretty sure he must have thought I never had a chance to impress her with my soda glass spectacle looks.This statement saw a sea of change in my approach to studies.From someone who was only known for his on field heroics in cricket, to be now seen as someone who was scoring good marks too.The plan was, to be able to match her in her studies and then go upto her and tell her my "Dil Ki Baat".All this was a closely guarded secret for a greater part of one year,with my marks showing improvement with every examination.
But all this came suddenly crashing down, when a friend of mine came and told me that my crush had a crush on him, and that she told him that, on that day.He even showed me her handwritten loveletter to me.This had such a shattering effect on me, that even to this day I mark this day in the calendar as a Black Letter Day.

All this drama also reflected on my marks in the board exam, and somehow managed to get into a decent enough college for my Plus 2.We also became 'just friends' for a brief period, after which due to some misunderstanding, we both cut all types of communication with each other.I recently heard that she got married and is happily settled in the US, 5 miles north of a place where I was living for 3 months last year.I just hope someday she reads this post, just to know that she made a big difference.

The next 2 years or so went in recuperating, and also focussing on studies.This time the studies part was not to impress someone, but to get into a good engineering college, and prove a point or two in the process.Once this was done, there was another momentary lapse of reason on my side.One more smalltime crush, which came crashing down within 2 weeks.This time because I came to know that she got married to someone in far away Kolkata and was getting settled down there.A few days' of incessantly listening to Richard Marx's "I will be right here waiting for you " and Jon Secada's "Just Another Day Without You" and I was back to normal.

Time slipped by, and suddenly I seemed to realise that I was in 3rd semester and still didn't have a girlfriend.Peer pressure was getting onto me.So I started off with my Operation Find Girlfriend.The first step was to catch hold of some juniors for ragging, and then take it ahead from there. I found one such girl of my liking.The start was good.Soon we became good friends.What started as endless conversations on phone, soon became a daily dose of aspirin for me, without which I thought I would have a heart attack.It was this thought that made me weaker by the day.

And when I told her my feelings, all my world turned upside down with her answer, "I never saw you that way...Lets just be good friends...All you guys are the same." By now, everything other than this,including studies had already taken a backseat.This was similar to,"...Steps taken forwards, but sleepwalking back again."All the progress that had made due to The Doll, I succesfully undid that.And perhaps, ended up even worse.

Stubborn that I was not to give up, tried, tried and tried for a full 5 years or slightly more, to change her mind about me.All my efforts would be responded with a single word,"NO!"

This was how this crush came crashing down,almost threatening to bring my life down with it.In retrospect, I felt it was like trying to beat a dead horse to victory.

When I realised that it was not working out, I had completed a year in my job, by which I got better things to think about, for 12 hours a days, than about love life.This was probably the second best thing that happened to me.The first best thing is a secret that I can't share.Thanks to those 2 good things that came along, I still happen to be alive and kicking.The next two years were uneventful with no crushes at all,leading to make me think that I was romantically challenged.
After all that I've been through, I never could muster courage to fall in love again.But that didn't mean that the wanderlust mind of mine didn't find anyone interesting enough.I switched jobs, and then saw a very interesting girl in my adjacent row in a training programme.Lets call her Deep Blue Sea, simply because a friend of mine gave her that name.Almost our entire group would go ooh - aah about her.A big smile was what that struck about her the most.Everyday she used to come twice a day to our floor, to have coffee with her teammates.We friends used to hang around in the vicinity of the coffee vending machine, harmlessly staring at her.But as always this crush too came all crashing down, when I heard her saying, "My husband and I..." and also later came to know that she was pretty much older than all of us in our group.

The next blow was when we found out that she just disappeared all of a sudden.The news was that she quit the company.To be honest Manju and I had some difficulty in finishing our lunch in the cafetaria for a week or two after that.We were so used to having it sitting in the vicinity of where she sat and of course, harmlessly staring at her.Later I came to know out that she was into creative writing, bigtime.She'd even won some competitions in office.So there lies the inspiration of me starting to blog.When I started of blogging, I wanted to add her name in the credits section, but later decided against it.

Then there was another girl whom I shall call 'Raindrops', for her name nearly translates to that in Sanskrit.She's someone whom I happened to pass one evening on the way back home from office.She had a very pleasant face, immediately reminding me of seeing her somewhere before.Then it struck to me that about four years back,we used to wait for the bus at the same bus stop.She waited for her college bus,while I waited for the BMTC one.I used all my intelligence sources to find out more about her, and finally found out her name, where she works.It also turned out that there's also a common friend between me and her.But I was fully confused whether to take it ahead from there or not.And having such a fantastic track record with crushes, I decided against it.

And finally there was this girl at my cousin's wedding,from the bride's side whom I felt seriously interested in,.And going by past experience, I knew that this interest was all one way traffic in a No Entry streey.And this being a family affair, I had to be overly discreet, so as to not attract any raised eyebrows.And even all my intelligence gathering couldn't get me enough information.I could not be even as succesful as finding out her name to start with.Being such a superstitious person, I finally gave up on her thinking that a job not so well started, is best left undone.

From all these crushes, I was able to conclude that every girl that I'm interested in, is one of older than me,married,committed or all of these.If its none of these, then definetely that girl's not interested in me.

That's why I say, "And all those crushes keep coming crashing down all the time!" And I'm happy being single still. And waiting for the next fleeting crush to come across.


PS: Names have been replaced with nicknames to ensure privacy.

Jana Gana Mana

A.R Rahman's genius can be seen yet again in this masterpiece that he's put together, alongwith maestros in Indian music.The whole composition was simply awesome. The video is close to 3 years old,but played on national TV only recently as part of the independance day promotional activity by Airtel.
Though I loved every bit of the music and the video, I was simply annoyed by the fact that our National Anthem was being played out across all TV channels every 10 minutes.Any other song other than the national anthem is OK for me, but definetely not the national anthem.Its simply uncool. But there was another video that simply inspired me.It was about a small kid who seemed to be wishing an aged person happy birthday and goes about to ask him his age.When he finds out the answer as 60, the kid replies, "Oh!So now you are a senior citizen" and then goes on to say that he doesn't have a gift for him now.Then promises that he shall take care of him when he grows up. I didn't find the clip on YouTube, but the day I do, I shall post it in this space...
Now this, was something superb and cool too.A nice subtle message for every one of us, reminding us of our responsibility for the country.
Just imagine a country which has the largest population of people in the age group of 25 to 35 years, in the world.If everyone contributes their bit, then we could definetely take care of our senior citizen.Just think like this.All these 60 years we were ruled by ageing people themselves.With their efforts, today we still can see ourselves catching up with the rest of the world.
I think now its time for us to play our part and not only put India ahead of the race, but also lap the others a few times over, so that catching up for others is not only difficult, but also impossible.And to do that, we should let our senior citizens take rest, while we start running the race ourselves.
JAI HIND!

Yoboseyo!

Finally a post after brief hiatus.The last 2 months were very hectic to say the least.I could find very little time to post anything on the blog.Sometimes I used to find that time was not the real issue, but it was the energy levels.Work was taking so much away, that by the end of the day, the only thing that I could manage to do was snuggle back into bed.

Now that I'm through in giving a nice excuse to myself, about why I didn't blog, let me try to recap on what happened over the last 2 months or so.

Ever since I came back from the OBL at Pegasus, the work pressure seemed to increase all of a sudden.We were having some bad days in our project.And to sort out some things, 4 of us from our team had to travel to Suwon in South Korea to get some things completed.For the uninitiated, Suwon is where the Headquarters of Samsung Electronics is situated.

The rest of this post will mostly contain my experiences in South Korea.My thoughts on what I felt being there.

We reached Seoul Incheon Airport via Singapore.Suwon's about a 90 minutes drive by airport shuttle from Incheon.And these 90 minutes were enough for me to have a fair idea about the progress and development that the country has made.

The highways looked just as good as the freeways in the US, if not better.One could find a profound US influence in that country.The way the highways are designed, numbered and the way the city roads are planned and laid out, are just small examples of that.The big cities have an extremely high population density, meaning that I didnt miss being away from a crowded Indian city like Bangalore even for a moment.

The next day, I had to go to the Samsung Electronics complex to report for work.What I saw there simply left me stunned.And it stayed like that for a few more days.The security personnel and the receptionists at the visitor centre resembled that at the defence establishments such as ISRO,DRDO, etc in India.The only difference was, here the receptionists were all babes, er very well dressed pretty ladies who were more than eager to help us.And the security guys also were just as courteous, to say the least.

This complex was huge,atleast a few hundred times bigger than what I imagined it to be.By my conservative estimates, close to 25000 people or more work in this complex, which has shopping plazas,a football stadium,a sports complex, 4 helipads and a number of buildings, both big and small.I could compare this campus with that of Infosys campus in Bangalore.I was also reliably told by a friend of mine, that the 3 large corporations of South Korea i.e Samsung,Hyundai and LG totally contribute close to 50% of South Korea's GDP.

During the weekdays, the only thing that I got time to do is, work.In addition some work related issues from back home also added to the pressure.Putting in 12 hours of time in the office is a routine thing here.This is not only in Samsung, but in the rest of South Korea as well.Its a nation of workaholics, I think.One day, we met a school student,who gave all of us a shock when he told that his normal school timings are between 8AM and 10 PM, 6 days a week!

I guess this is a countrywide policy to replace creativity of a human being with the monotony and repeatability of a machine, in the name of higher productivity levels.How well this ploy is succeeding, I really dont know.I felt that the kids in India study only half that time, and are still are a lot smarter.Maybe they don't teach in school that "All work and no play make Kim a dull boy".The same schoolkid also complimented my friend, saying Indians are very good at Mathematics.I thought yeah, why not!After all we invented the zero, without which every mathematical equation in this world comes to a nought.

I stayed there for close to 4 weeks.Almost every weekend, we used to visit places of interest.Seoul was the place that impressed me the most.Its a huge metropolitan city with myriad 4 lane highways, bridges across the River Han,huge skyscrapers and ofcourse, the Seoul Metro.The Seoul Metro, also known as the subway forms the backbone of the infrastructure of not only Seoul, but also the entire Gyeong-gi province.It resembles a lot like the London Underground, but a lot more modern in that a few prehistoric stations in London Underground are devoid of an airconditioning system even to this day.Metro lines crisscross the city to form a complex infrastructure network, most of which is underground about 200 metres below the ground level.

KLI-63,Yeongsan station,Woncheon Water Resort,Suwon fort, Jebudo,Seoul Grand Park, Sports Complex, these were a few of the places that I got to see over the weekends.This was all possible, thanks to a highly energetic gang led by Chethan and Bhavya.I guess that having such a group was the single biggest reason why a visit to all these places was a very enjoyable one.It was tiring too.I still remember how achy the legs used to get due to all the walking done while sightseeing.If I was alone, or in a different group, I would be more than content to lazily doze off in the guest house and seeing nothing much more than the closed window panes of the room.

KLI-63 is the tallest building in the Korean Peninsula, standing 63 floors tall.A capsule elevator takes us up onto the 61st floor from where one can have a bird's eye view of Seoul city.The fog on that day spoilt a bit of the view, I must say, but still was an awesome sight to see.

Yeongan station is a Metro station that comprises of an electronics shopping mall,food court, a sponsored concert area, amongst many other things inside the complex.Needless to say, such a fun filled place is never short of buzz, excitement and of course, massive crowds too.

Jebudo was another place worthy of mention that we visited.This is an island situated about an hour's bus journey from Suwon station.The claim to fame of this place is that the road connecting the island and the mainland just disappears under water during a high tide.The ride till the island was nothing short of a roller coaster ride.We had to hire 2 taxis to take us to the island before the high tide set in.The taxi drivers were driving at nearly 100 kmph on a road just as wide to allow 1 car to pass.And all this in the middle of a paddy field full of twists, turns and bumps.We took a long walk around the island, which is famous for beaches, birdwatching - both winged and non winged varieties, jet boat rides, banana boat rides, and of course, a hundred or so eating places.

The visit to Seoul Grand Park was a good one, albeit a tiresome one due to the amount of walking involved in it.The most notable things that I got to see was the Seal and Dolphin show, and of course the Indian Peacock.Even though its the national bird of India, I never got to see one in so much leisure.

We also got to visit Sports Complex, popularly known as Seoul Olympic Stadium, which played host to the 1988 Olympics.Having seen utmost 1-2 stadiums in Bangalore, I was simply amazed by the enormity of this complex.There were atleast 8 stadiums in this complex, with atleast 2 of them being bigger than Eden Gardens in Kolkata.Availability of such facilities, no doubt will foster an environment which can earn gold medals in sporting events.I believe every major city in Korea has similar facilities for development of sports of all kinds.

We, as Indians find it difficult to survive in a country mainly due to food and language problems.The food part was taken care of, on most days as we were staying in an Indian Guest House, maintained by extremely friendly Nepalese people.There was 1 restaurant for every 10 shops around the place the guest house was situated, but it takes some courage to stand the wierd smell of Korean food, let alone enter a restaurant and eat something there.Practically everything that crawls is captured, cleaned, cooked and then devoured.

In all, it was a memorable trip, more so because our team was able to successfully complete what we were sent to do in the office.I found the people to be very peaceful and calm sorts, and to some extent hospitable too.I am not sure about how good or bad their social life is, but it looks largely westernised. But somehow I felt the quality of life is not the same lavish and relaxed kind that one sees in most developed countries in Europe and US.I heard that the cost of living is pretty high here, and living a luxurious lifestyle is not that easily afforded by the common man.There seemed to be a hustle and bustle associated with the place.To me, Korea looks like a country always in a hurry and a nation that has just developed.

Now, some things about the Koreans which struck me the most.

One, was the the commitment to their work.I don't want to comment about the productive output part by only working hard, but in the long run it has worked for them.

Two, was the peaceful nature of people.Hardly did I find people shouting, yelling or showing any kinds of angry outbursts at other people.Controlled aggression is what seems to be their approach at doing things.

Three, in work and family matters, they maintain a strict heirarchy, which is never bypassed.I always saw any Korean counterpart of mine in office talking to his/her supervisor with utmost fear.

But the thing that impressed me the most, is the fantastic way in which the Korean ladies dress up and maintain themselves.Most of them were dressed up more perfectly than mannequins in an Indian saree showroom.In my entire stay there, I could count the number of obese Korean ladies using the fingers of one hand.However, I stop short to say that they are beautiful.In this, the Indian ladies beat them hands down.The Korean ladies wear dresses that look good on them, and also viceversa.This kept the eyes cool, even though the mercury was rising in a typical Korean summer comprising of extremely humid and warm days interspersed with days of nonstop rains.

In all it was a great trip.I got to see a lot of places, meet different people and learn a few things from the people there.