Weekend Escape :Bhuleshwar

That day I was reading about Pune and got a very interesting explanation of it. It says, Pune is a place where every hilltop needs to have something on it. Be it a fortress, a temple, a view point and if not anything atleast a TV antennae. I know this is completely out of context but just want it to be on my blog so here it is. Well coming back in context, after a long break I was on roads again this weekend.

To start with, I will confess that some weeks back, I didn’t even know of this place. Thanks to a friend of mine and facebook, the secret broke to me. After doing some google over Bhuleshwar, I found it a very interesting place to dump me this weekend.

Going out of box, a Saturday afternoon start (I usually like an early morning start), a 50KM ride on Solapur Rd. and then a right turn on country roads. You can see the temple from a distance as good as 2 KM. This temple is temple by no means.

The first site of the temple that catches you is an Islamic Architecture styled Tomb and you will forced to reconfirm if you are on the right way or not from a local. This Temple has been razed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in an attempt to mutilate Hindu art and restructured it with a mosque styled tomb. This suddenly took me back to my memories of Babri Masjid. You can find more symbol of destruction once inside the temple.

 In the meantime, as you close the place you will find it walls to be that of a fortress, again confused. Well actually, before being a temple this place was a fortress to pheshwas, east gate to Pune.

Finally when you are in the temple, you will be all taken by the iconic Dravidian styled rock curved sculpture.  The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Bhuleshwar in Marathi means “Lord to Seduction”, and you will agree to it by looking to these sculptures.

Though most of them have to destroyed or disfigured, it will take a very little of your imaginative power to appreciate the art, had that been untouched. One of the very unique and interesting sculpture was of Lord Ganesha in feminine posture. This for sure will be one of its types in the world. I spend good 30 min over here to decide if it was a mistake form artist or he meant something.

The place is very rarely visited, peaceful and scenic in its own. Even if a temple visit doesn’t excites you much, you can drop here to see the sunset. Open landscapes all around the hillock will surely put your thoughts churning and you will return back home satisfied.   

It’s already dark here and time to leave. Sign off!! J

Best LED or LCD TV Under Rs. 35000

So, have you been planning to buy LED or LCD TV? If yes, the time has come to have a look at some of the best LCD and LED televisions within the price range of 30000-40000. So let’s begin with it.

Samsung 5 Series 32” LED TV UA32D5000

Samsung 5 Series 32” LED TV UA32D5000 should be an idealistic choice for all those who are looking forward to a television that looks good and feels good. This television is for you if you want to keep it stylish along with high performance in mind. With brilliant color, vibrancy and absolutely clear HD images, Samsung 5 Series 32” LED TV UA32D5000 also gives you benefits of excellent surround sound features through its hidden speakers. Some of its features include:

• Ultra clear panel 
• Anynet+ 
• Connect Share Movies 
• Digital Noise Filter 
• Hyper real Engine 

This LED TV can be bought at a price of somewhere around INR 37, 699.

LG 32LK450 Full HD LCD TV

LG 32LK450 Full HD LCD TV allows you to grab some of the excellent features such as 100000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio which allow you to enjoy excellent quality of pictures, full HD quality that facilitates stunning quality of images on your screen and many more features. Apart from these features, LG 32LK450 Full HD LCD TV also comes equipped with Divx HD and a feature that enables you to connect visual and audio modes through cable. This is a full HD LCD TV that will give you to enjoy all the benefits of HDTV. Its features include:

• Dolby Digital Decoder 
• Infinite surround sound system 
• PC connectivity 
• USB and antenna connectivity 

This LCD TV can be bought at a price of around INR 24, 990.

Samsung LED-UA32D5000PRMXL

The next on our list is Samsung LED-UA32D5000PRMXL. If you really wish to experience the true picture quality, this television is for you. Three main factors- TC Panel, Backlight and Chipset allow you to have brilliant quality of images on your screen. The Digital Noise filter allows you to have crustal clear sound through the television. Basically, Samsung LED-UA32D5000PRMXL is a complete yes from us! Other features include:

• Anynet+ 
• Ultra clear panel 
• Clear Motion Rate 
• HDMI 1.4 
• Full HD 1080p 
• USB connection 
• Game mode in TV 

This LED TV can be bought for INR 38, 177.

Sony LCD TV- KLV-32BX320

Sony LCD TV- KLV-32BX320 gives you WXGA (1366×768) display resolution, advanced contrast enhancer, 3D comb filter and intelligent picture PLUS features for excellent picture quality. Apart from this, as far as sound is concerned, this LCD TV allows you to get features like various surround modes including sports, cinema, game and music, various sound modes like standard and dynamic and Dolby Digital feature for better sound quality. Other features include:

• Digital Noise Reduction 
• MPEG Noise Reduction 
• 24P True Cinema 
• Bass Booster 
• BRAVIA Engine 3 Video processing 

Sony LCD TV- KLV-32BX320 is available at a price of around INR 29, 372.

Panasonic VIERA TH-L32X30D 

The last, but definitely not the least on our list is Panasonic VIERA TH-L32X30D, a television from a different family apart from Samsung and Sony. This is an LED television set which offers you feature like five selectable modes, three selectable sound modes and USB connectivity. Other features include:

• HDMI Input 
• USB port 
• 32” screen 
• One year warranty period 

The price of Panasonic VIERA TH-L32X30D is INR 33, 990.

Finally, if I need to recommend you something out of these five best LED and LCD televisions; it would definitely be the very first option on my list! It is a bit expensive, but is completely worth!

Also Read: Best Digital Camera Under Rs. 10000

Weekend Escape :Tulapur

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning.

My clock has positioned its needles at 217’ 30’ and 90 degree to the zero point for the smaller and bigger respectively (it is 7:15 in the morning). My GPS is perfectly doing its job, uttering “Somewhere 20 km Northeast of Pune”. My best pal, my phone, sitting beside me is singing “MA REWA” of Indian Ocean for me. The climate has also made the all thing perfect for me. A slow breeze is waving things left to right and temperature is not more than 14 degree on Celsius scale. All other things are going as perfect as I would have liked it.

And to add more beauty to this there is a ‘Sangam’ of rivers Bhima, Bhama and Indrayani. Probably that’s why “MA REWA” was the first choice to me here. I’m sitting at a river bank facing east (actually want to say braving sun) with my jeans pulled up to my toes and legs dipped in water. It’s all green all over and the yellow is slowly gaining grounds. Beside me, sharing the screen with me, are few more creatures, a sparrow, a kingfisher and few fishes, to name a few.

And after detailing down all the particulars, even now you find it hard to picture one for yourself here is one for you.

After a heavy week at my desk, I badly needed a cut off. And what better time can be to use the cycles, my company have now allowed be with you even on weekends. It was some of very few weekends, where my plan was set. All started with early retirement to bed on Friday night and hence an early start on Saturday morning. Paddling down some 20-25 km, ‘m here, TULAPUR.

It’s a place not far from Pune but of course not very popular, one the best place to dump you down for weekends. Out from busting traffic and howling crowd, you will get a feel, might be a pinch of it, of traditional Maharashtra hinterland.

In case, you are one who needs a destination to travel up to (I mean all those who find it hard to enjoy a travel to nowhere), there is a temple named “Sangameshwar” and also “Samadhi” of Raje Sambhaji (son of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj). I always feel irked to give such nitty-gritty details of a place, but then some of us like it to be complete, END-TO-END, as my managers says.

Well, it’s 9 in the morning, and time to get back to my world. There is good number of action items waiting for me. Will sure update you once find a new to place to explore.

Signing Off for Now…..

Remembering Pather Panchali

I love Trains.

 Given the fact that in my 4 years of my college life, I have covered more that 16,000 Km on wheels, even today every moment on railroad is so speacial and awaited for me.  

For some reason each time I’m on a train passing through vast fields in the Indian hinterland I’m reminded of the unforgettable train scene from Satyajit Ray’s classic Pather Panchali when Apu and his sister Durga ‘discover’ a train in a field of Kaash flowers.

Born into an accomplished Brahmin family himself, second to none in their achievements in the Arts, Ray’s Pather Panchali(Song of the Road) is a story of a poor Brahmin family from rural Bengal in the early twentieth century and charts the story of Harihar Ray’s impoverished family struggling to make ends meet. In a backdrop as grim as this the film belies the seeming futility of their existence with its portrayal of Harihar Ray’s children, Durga and Apu, as alive to possibilities of life, and ever ready to imbue meaning into the simplest of things that simply being alive had to offer.

Riding on their unaffected childhood innocence that manifests in their discovery of the world beyond their immediate circle of life the film unravels time to the pace of Durga and Apu’s life, and nowhere more so when Durga and Apu find themselves in a field of Kaash flowers, possibly drawn to the humming of high tension electricity wires, only to hear an unfamiliar sound carried their way on the breeze. Never having heard a train before Durga stills herself, her eyes having averted to a non existent visual frame before her, only the occasional jerk of her face in the direction of the sound indicating she was seized of the unfamiliar, and Apu having gone quiet, looking for cues in Durga’s absent gaze presses his face to the high tension electric metal pole even as the Kaash flowers sway gently to the breeze now bringing the mystery to the fore.

Seconds turn to minutes and as Durga breaks into a run to meet the mystery, Appu follows her. There among the head high flowers they pause unsure of the direction the sound was coming from, their heads still, the sound grows louder, and in the split passage of a moment on the threshold of unfolding the unknown, realization dawns, and their heads jerk to their right just in time to catch sight of thick black smoke in the distance gusting back above the heads of Kaash flowers, the engine and coaches hidden from view. Pushed back by the force of air yielding to the train’s momentum as it hurtles across the plains, the swirling black smoke might as well have been a demon snorting rage. Appu breaks into a run to meet his defining moment as he comes face to face with a steam locomotive for the first time in his life.

In that one moment of sprinting innocence I understood the Indian hinterland from a different perspective and my travels by Indian Railways were never to be the same again.

And yes, when back to my world and hunting for this artistic iconic movie of Indian Cinematography on google, I came across a postage stamp dedicated to this film. It might seem purely out context but I cannot avoid myself from posting it. Here it goes……

Why Being Simple is Complicated

And so I spent another day wasting a lot of time online, supposedly working, but actually doing a lot else. I have turned a little bit of a net junkie, though I will not, will not admit it! Following one link after another, I came across some articles on the Amish people in theUS. I often tend to read up a lot on some topic that catches my fancy (there is a word for that sort of reading, I just can’t remember what it is now) and while doing so I ended up watching a documentary on them. It was specifically about the practice of ‘rum-springa’ (loosely translated to mean ‘running around’) that allows teenagers to live like the rest of the world for about a year or more. After that they have to choose to either be baptized or leave the community if they prefer not to follow the customs of the Amish.

Now for those of you who haven’t heard of them, the Amish are an ultra conservative community that is mainly known for simplistic living and for shunning all modern technologies, including electricity, cars and communication devices. Children study only up to class 8 after which they are baptized and work in the fields from dawn to dusk. The patriarchal system of society emphasizes on family, the church and the community and discourages much contact with theHigh People or The Englishers as the non-Amish people are called. Predictably, there are several cases of crimes of hate against these people who continue to drive around in horse driven buggies and wear 17thcentury clothes.

Watching the videos and reading up on them, I got thinking (what else could you expect, eh?). I remember vaguely an old Readers’ Digest article on them, talking about how they churn fresh butter every morning. The pictures were taken at dawn, a cow and some Amish people around a table. Addicted that we are to modern amenities, I wondered how easy (or not) it would be to go to a simpler life. No, I don’t mean the Amish way, which would be rather regressive in these times. But then, hear me out here, will you, do we really need all that we burden ourselves with?

There was a time when I was mighty interested in the idea of kibbutz and even contemplated visiting one. I would be the last person to be comfortable living without my personal space but these experiments in alternative living (I believe ‘conscious living’ is the fancier word these days) have long fascinated me. A kibbutz is where you work for the community, where the kids live in separate quarters and there is no concept of individual space. I wonder then what role individualism plays in the creative process of a life. If all things are for and by the collective, would creativity still thrive? Or in the other case of places like Auroville, where nothing belongs to the individual, would it be an ideal field for a creative process to take root in? I have often wondered.

In that light, I sometimes wish (call me regressive, or perhaps idealistic) for ignorance. Ignorance of how big the world is. Ignorance of how many ideas there are. A simple life comes with simpler concerns at least. But when you have seen the other side from over the window, it is just too complicated to let go. To let go of complications in life. To choose the simple over the so-not-simple. To find my way out of another tangle that I have landed myself in with these paragraphs here!

Within the blink of an eye, we go from what is simple to what is twisted, drawn like the proverbial moth to the fire, singeing its wings on the burning blue edges, yet unable to turn away. When simple has been the way things were for longer than they were complicated, why should it be so tough to revert? But it is. Or maybe I am just peeking in from the outside through the coloured panes of the window.

The Rat Race Syndrome

While I was sailing across the net (worthless to say, worthlessly), came across this very interesting image. And here are the thoughts that yelled out in me until I was forced to be pulled out of this.

When the flight lands, we get up from our seats and head for the exit. So what if the exit door is still closed. At least when it opens, we won’t have to wait behind a zillion people before we get to alight. When in a traffic, if on a bike, we always have to zig-zag our way to the front. When standing in queue, be it in the airport, mall, temple, some stores or in the bus depot we have to jump the queue.

In a temple, we also have a VIP entrance. For those impatient to stand in the serpentine queue and await their turn, you simply have to pay extra to get access to God’s attention a lot quicker than those guys standing in the queue. When in a Movie theatre, we wouldn’t mind buying tickets in black, if we know we might end up not watching the movie. In the station we have to be the first to board the train. How else will we get vacant seats to sit on? While on a short distance trip, I took a train back to Lucknow. Inspite of having booked my tickets in advance and got my seat numbers too, I found a family of four occupying my seat. I only got to sit after they had alighted. By the time we were approaching Lucknow, I was not the only ones sitting. I was sharing the seat with some five odd people.

What right do you have to sit comfortably on that seat when there are 5 other people standing? It is not a request. It is their right.

Its starts right from the beginning in the schools, I think. The teacher writes a sum to be solved on the board. “Whoever finishes solving the problem, put up your hand.” You have to be the first one to solve the problem, correctly. The one, who solves the problem and is luckily the first one, not only gets all the praises but becomes the envy of the class too. What pride in that :D So much of joy to watch your fellow classmates look at you with envy.

“If you come first in the class, I promise you a laptop.” And your child’s eyes grow wide with excitement. He indeed tops the class.

I often wonder, if there is no other way of living our lives. But probably, there is a reason why we are the way we are. It’s all about the survival of the fittest. We are after all, a population of 1.21 billion. Can you imagine? How else do you survive? The day you stop competing, that is the same day you stop surviving… Little little things we do like jumping the queue, sends cues to our unconscious or probably conscious brain that ‘Yes, we are still in the race…STILL COMPETING…STILL SURVIVING…’

Operation Entebbe: A Saga Of Courage

If you know about Operation Entebbe, then there is nothing mind blowing for you here, so I will suggest to end your reading here (with a usual visit again smile). But in case you don’t know anything about this, here is a story:

My job asks me to interact with more number of Israelis and past one year have given me all the possible opportunities to understand why they are called the most intelligent brains in the world. Their views, imaginatively, perception and quest to know are the things that for which this breed is known for. But what I didn’t know of them till last Wednesday was of their good sense of humor and sheer courage and bravery.

Well it all started with a normal conversation that day, and here are the extracts:

I [3:37 pm]: 

Well for that you need to walk down a 1000 mile to India and find me in a population of 1.2 Billion.

He [3:37 pm]: 

Well, You don’t worry of this. I will do an Operation Entebbe and will find you.

And by 3:38 pm I was all in Google looking what on earth is this Operation Entebbe. And as started knowing more on this, the more I started looking into it. Anyway, after a good 10 min I replied back stupidly with “HAHAHAHAHA”. Saale in isrealion ke joke samajne ke liye bhi google karna padta hai :)

For those who are still reading this and want me to pour the details of this here, I would rather provide a brief of the things and links to all I have read on it.

Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and flown to Entebbe, near Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Here is the link to wiki, a series of documentary on YouTube, and a beautiful movie on the theme. Go and have a look on them.

Welcome Back. No ‘m not going to say a word over the political correctness of the proceeding nor will I try to draw any parallel between “The Kandhar Episode” of India. I don’t want to jump into the mess, but to simply celebrate the courage and determination of a small nation like Israel. All I want to appreciate is level of perfection of Intelligence (Mossad, it is known as), dare-devil act from commandos 14000 mile away from their place and a near zero causality successful rescue operation.

Before I drop my pen, I leave you with the most influential lines I read in the course. These were said by the Ambassador of Israel in Security Council post to the operation:

We come with a simple message to the Council: we are proud of what we have done because we have demonstrated to the world that a small country, in Israel's circumstances, with which the members of this Council are by now all too familiar, the dignity of man, human life and human freedom constitute the highest values. We are proud not only because we have saved the lives of over a hundred innocent people—men, women and children—but because of the significance of our act for the cause of human freedom.

- Chaim Herzog

Thank God They Are Not CREATIVE

My day starts early by cosmos standard and the first know-by-face person I meet is a lady that sweeps the pedestrian way through which I jog. She does her job in the most un-creative way one can. Starts from same end and ending at same, piles up the kuda at the same place and guess what dump it in the same very dust-bin. So very repetitive, no fun. And on the same pathway, I try to jog by million a way. Sometime sprint, sometime side-hop other time back-side, because ‘m creative you see.

Off to the park for some perspiring. And I meet the gardener doing his job the same way for ages. He always rolls the garden from left to right, never try the other way. The Serbs remains in the same shape all their lifetime courtesy to him. He plants the same type of sapling every rains, never try to be differentt. On the other side, since last 4-5 years everyday, at least I spend my two minutes of my day thinking had this bench been there it would had been better. Or had this tree not been here it would had made the perfect view. Again imaginativity, you see.

Few hours late in office, I meet the Housekeeping Lady. She spent all her day in the pantry, same as ever, probably from the times of Napoleons. She does the same job (cleaning slab, washing cup, dumping waste) same way everyday. No change in the routine. Not at All. But I, yes you guessed it right, being innovative do the same thing in hundred uncertified way. Someday washing cups for myself, other day sliding from one end to other of the slab (whenever ‘m in rolling mood) ultimately to land it in sink. And when time permits, putting all my knowledge of projection physics and dynamics to make the paper-plate- turned-ball into the bin.  Needless to say, I want it different everyday.

I case you have been more than confused by now, all I wanted to say to all those who believe that had not the man been creative (I also part of this mass) man would have remained apes. Pal, you are wrong, you can stand and proudly boast of being innovative is because of millions of people like them who have chosen to be uncreative only to hold your base tight. Had they been there to hold the ground intact, your glasshouse of innovatively had never been here. It’s only because these happy-doing-same-things people, you get space to try new. Had all apes gone out to do thing their way, leaving of making up to manship, I doubt if we could have managed to remain ape itself.      

Had not people like them confined themselves to being repetitive, probably you would have never got a ground to sketch your creative world (imagine the world where everyone tried to do everything differently everyday). So next time you conclude being creative, spare a second to thanks all those who chose not to be as creative as you. 

Pawankhind :Water Soaked Trip

Well, I have been keeping the tradition and going to places for last couple of weekends. In the same series, me and a few of office friends went to Pavankhind Resorts to enjoy and relax. 

Now before I dive into the details of my trip here are a few facts. ‘Khind’ means a valley in Marathi. This valley has a historical significance, as Shivaji Maharaj escaped through this valley only after his 300 brave Maratha soldiers led by sardar Baji Prabhu Deshpande laid down their lives so that Shivaji could get time to escape. As per the local folk lore, Despande fought so hard that his limbs continued to fight even after his head was severed from his body!! A bravery and commitment so hard to find in today’s times.

I began our journey early in the morning. The time when the night is at its darkest and the moon glow the brightest. But since we are professional, can’t afford of not being late. By the time we left Pune, sky was good soaked in a vivid array of yellow.

Once fed and watered our bus trudged on. Here I’d like to congratulate the excellent driving skills of Balaji. Full marks to him for his skills which I can only dream to emulate.

After a four and a half hour ride in our green chariots we reached our resort which was to be our abode for the next 2 days and a night. The place where Rohan would refine his star rating policy and award us stars for any work done for him!

Now something about the resort: This resort (Pavankhind resort) has all the amenities you can dream of in such a place. They have everything right upto a swimming pool, library and a table tennis table (jungle mein mangal).To add to it, they give you such personalized attention and service that you really miss them when you leave the place. Plus, the food there is simply awesome and instructions at each step detailed and to the point with a touch of humour. Also, one very important point to note is, this resort is perennially under the curtain of a drizzle which makes cool pleasant weather and mind blowing greenery omnipresent. A full evening swimming made it for the travel.

On this picture perfect location we had a sumptuous breakfast with a pre-recorded announcement chalking out our iternary for the day. The first was a sightseeing trip on the roof top of a jeep. The ride on the roof was again an amazing experience. Through dense forest and fog our jeep went on. Stopping at amazing sites where the pre-recorded announcement gave some brief info on the location. Each turn was more beautiful than the last and each tree greener than the previous one. All the while, a slight drizzle and cool wind was a continuous companion.

We even trekked downhill for a good 30-45 mins to enjoy the beauty on foot. Finally, after some more adventurous trekking we reached the base of a water fall. Boy! We had the time of our lives there. It was like the world’s largest shower with no end to water. And to add to the sense of adventure, there were leeches around to give us company. One managed to drink a lot of blood off me. But it was fun, the waterfall I mean. (Sadly no pics of the place as we were too busy enjoying than risking our cams there). When we were done bathing and felt cleaner than we ever had, up we trekked back to a waiting cup of hot tea and coffee. Even the rain Gods blessed us and halted the near incessant rain for a few minutes.

The journey up was made more adventurous courtesy to some of my wild fantasy which wish I could post and for the down, rains had its share of wildness. It started raining hippos and rhinos and I being in front had it all. It was a good lesson how a silent stream turns ghastly in just a 20 min rains here uphills.  

With all the trekking and bathing we were hungry as hell despite our heavy breakfasts. Off we were shepherded on top of the jeep to a waiting hot lunch. It was a meal fit for a king. I’ll just jot down a few items if not all... Roasted chicken, boiled corn, roasted potatoes, brinjal, capsicum & onions (a local delicacy), gulabjamuns, raita, dal, roti, vegetables, etc. etc… And to cap it all there was a bonfire lit where we could sit and dry ourselves!!

Once we were all dried and rested the jeep was ready to take us back to our resort where we would spend the night. But well, all is well that ends well. We reached back safe and sound, had a hot bath and spent the evening chatting and relaxing. Ah... Life….

And with a content smile and tired but happy legs we dozed off. That was how Day 1 went at Pavankhind Resorts. Well actually not, all the pokers in my room didn’t let me sleep till 2 am.

Day 2

Day 2 dawned on a lazy note. Had a late breakfast which comprised of hot poha, curd and misal. An ideal meal for the cool morning on the mountain. I’ll keep this short as we didn’t do much this day but see some fabulous sites. Here pictures speak more than words... :)

Read my other travel experiences like Dandeli Jungle Safari, Kundilika River-rafting, Bhimashankar Treking, Benaras:Journey Back into Ages,Konkan Railways

Konkan Railways : Journey to Heaven (Cont.)

Here are few more clicks which I have taken from the Train window only....

Hope you also like them

BACK


Read my other travel experiences like Dandeli Jungle Safari, Kundilika River-rafting, Bhimashankar Treking, Benaras:Journey Back into Ages, Konkan Railways

Konkan Railways : Journey to Heaven

It’s monsoon time in India and I have a promises to keep.

Keeping up with my annual date with Konkan Railways for the third consecutive year, this year also I made the all famous Panvel-Madgaon Trip with Konkan Railways.

It all started on Friday night(and yes, only after having two boring meetings and a last minute checkin’s), I board a train to Kalyan . This route is far more than familiar to me to excite me but that can never take away the scenic beauty on this route. How I can forget the Arab couple who have flown down to Mumbai for a one day only to have a MUMBAI-PUNE-MUMBAI trip by train and experience the virgin beauty of SHAYADRI Range(I met them way back in 2007).

Anyhow I made it to Panvel  by 5:00 am, had a light breakfast and aboard the Janshatabdi Express to Madgaon. The moment train left the concrete jungle of Mumbai suburbs in peeped the natural, pure and untouched beauty to the Konkan, it felt like you have moved into heaven. Firstly I had plans to put all my experience into word but latter did I realized that my vocabulary is far too poor to pen down this enormously fulfilling, exceptionally thrilling and deeply pacifying trip.

So I decided to take shelter of the Photos I have taken(all on them are taken from train only). ENJOY!!!!

For More Pic Click Here

I alighted the train at Thivim around and took a 3:00pm and took a heavy Konkani lunch(you can avail wide variety of veg. also in Konkan). My back train was at about 5:30 pm in the evening and it was bang on time. Not to miss here is that Konkan railways is a engineering miracle(I think I might need another blog space to discuss it).

The best part of this trip and for the first time in all my trip came soon after before the train was approaching SawantWadi. It was just a picture perfect scene to see the sun calling it a day behind the rain soaked green coated mountain ranges. As the day fell to its end, the scene grew far more heartthrob and  dearer to share them all on this blog J .

Finally, the trip ended on Sunday afternoon with another promise made to be back next year.


Read my other travel experiences like Dandeli Jungle Safari, Kundilika River-rafting, Bhimashankar Treking, Benaras:Journey Back into Ages,Konkan Railways

It's All About Numbers

I was discussing blogging with a friend yesterday. He was of the opinion that quite a few people (including me) take the online life too seriously. Be it blogging or other social networking sites. People take part in contests, get offended on remarks made on social networking sites, bash others and react on such trivial things and such. Well, a few of the things are applicable to me, like I feel really offended if someone writes wrong things about me or tries to malign my name and reputation which is too dear to me. Defending that is taking online things seriously, then yes, I do take it seriously.

When it comes to blogging, I write when I feel like and time permits. I neither write for numbers or comments since the time I have started blogging. I don't take part in blog contests too if you ignore my BPL participation which went on for quite a long period as we won it! 

But my dear friend is unaware that there are people who really take the online world way too seriously. Whatever he mentioned were not even the qualifiers for being "serious" about social networking. He is a very busy person so I can't ask him to check a few blog communities or twitter, but the day I do, he will call me the sanest person he knows on this planet earth!

People breathe sites. They kill for numbers. When I was new to blogging, I got many comments saying - "nice blog. Please visit mine too, follow and leave a comment". I knew so many bloggers who used to visit 50 odd blogs a day just to get those 50 comments each day! They seldom read the posts, maintained a style and words when it came to commenting, ALWAYS praised the blogger to be in her (well, it's usually her. very few visit his blogs!) good books. And it worked too for many. They always got the "desired" number at the end of the day. The only thing they cared for - the number! In case of comments, followers, hits, page views. 

Slowly the "follow blog" trend shifted to facebook fan page. People sent invites left-right-center for asking friends to be the "fan" of their blog page. After that faded away, now it was Twitter's turn. And when it comes to twitter followers, people still fight for them, cry when they un-follow and celebrate when they have a "special" number as followers like 500 or 1000 etc. Recommendations, follow friday, mutual admiration clubs are few of the main features of twitter. 

Ah, it's all about numbers these days. Number of comments on blog, number of fans on facebook and number of followers on twitter. 

My dear friend should see those numbers, then he will know that I am but a minuscule (rather, non existing) part of this social networking bandwagon. I am sure his definition of "celebrity" will change after that for sure!

Legendary Rivalries of Tennis

I thought I would list down some of the Legendary Rivalries in the world of tennis (sport that I love), I’m not looking at team rivalries, but some contests between some highly talented sports personalities, these rivalries have made people flock to courts… they excited people they wowed them for different reasons… 

 I am not listing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in this as they are still going…

1.) Boris Becker vs Stefan Edberg

This was the beginning of my introduction to this sport… I hated Becker but he was a worth while opponent to say the least… the serve and volley of these two and I have seen countless video’s of them even on repeats. When these two would play it would be excitement and nerve hopping.. When they played Wimbledon finals and Doordarshan would telecast them it was like bliss… !!!

Not too many heavy aces and not too many big ground strokes unlike today where every one is an athlete and blasts winners like crazy…. but subtle serve and volley… the old fashioned Tennis as they call it now… I loved their contests where it would be topsy turvy.. A truly sensational rivalry without any real bad blood and no raw passion from fans either… !!! Which was a welcome relief in a way..

Here is one really interesting video of the two in a tie-breaker at a Wimbledon Finals…

2.) Steffi Graf vs Martina Navratilova

One of the biggest sporting personality for me in the world of female sport was Martina Navratilova she was the epitome of fitness then… she would simply win them, be it singles, doubles or mixed doubles and still be hungry for more… in a way the ladies sport then became boring coz there was almost no match. Chris Evert was a competitor but nothing like you would want for a champion like Martina….and then came this almost shy, sweet smiling but unbelievably tough cookie to set up a rivalry… These two remain the best two tennis players in the history of female tennis for me…

In the initial phase of steffi’s career after she beat Martina in the 1987 final in French open to win her first Grand slam but the Champion beat her back to back in the Wimbledon and US open finals… thats when the era of these two started… and we would all sit in anticipation hoping the top two seeds would reach the finals…. I cannot pick who was my favourite among the two…

Two true champions again… !! here is another fight of the two on video again in Wimbledon… and if you haven't realised… Wimbledon is my favourite tennis tournament… I love the green grass… the whites… and the ladies errrr… the tennis players on it…

3.) Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi :

On one side was the best serving player the other side the best returner of serve.

On one side was style on one side doggedness.

Flash vs Grace.

The most endearing rivalries… While I believe Pete Sampras was one of the best players ever on fast courts… Andre Agassi was one of the most versatile players… These two when against each other was the biggest treat you could ever imagine… I still remember one match at the US open in the quarter finals of the year 2001 where Sampras defeated Agassi 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. If ever there was a perfect match this was one. The two players do not make errors… they only either force errors or get points by winners. This is one heck of a roller coaster match and the level of tennis in this match is of really high quality !! just watch it ... here are a few highlights of that match .

Driving in India

Rules Of The Road, Indian Style

Travelling on Indian Roads is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable — and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous.

Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on a Sanskrit text. These 12 rules of the Indian road are published for the first time in English:

Article I:

The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

Article II:

Indian traffic, like Indian society, is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to:

Cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs, pedestrians.

Article III:

All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers’ mantra.

Article IV:

Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):

Cars (IV,1,a-c):

Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, i.e. in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.

Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, i.e. to oncoming truck: “I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die”. In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).

Single blast (casual) means: “I have seen someone out of India’s 870 million whom I recognise”, “There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)” or “I have not blown my horn for several minutes.”

Trucks and buses (IV,2,a):

All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: “I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could.” This signal may be emphasised by the use of headlamps.

Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

Article V:

All manoeuvres, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

Article VI:

In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.

Article VII:

Rights of way: Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.

Lane discipline (VII,1):

All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

Article VIII:

Roundabouts: India has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.

Article IX:

Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you.

Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centres. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing — and one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

Article X:

Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

Article XI:

Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in India has reverse gear.

P.S. I got this in an email. This is not my original post. If you find out a source then please let me know. I shall gladly oblige.

HOW TO CRACK INTO TCS

PHASE ONE: APTITUDE TEST
We had an Online Aptitude Test...NO NEGATIVE MARKING BUT SECTIONAL CUT-OFF(so everyone attend every single question,provided you have the same conditions).

We had three sections in the Aptitude Test:
Verbal was difficult....in the sense that it didn't have words from previous papers!!!
Quantitative Aptitude was the easiest,i had already seen 90% of the questions from this section,in the previous TCS papers.
Logical Reasoning or whatever one calls it,was Latin and Greek for me. I think one can get a good idea about it from BARRONS 12th EDITON.

PHASE TWO:TECHNICAL INTERVIEW
Once you clear the aptitude test(level one) you are  75% done.We then move on to the Technical interview.The interviewers were really friendly...especially mine.There was a gentleman(also a KVites).I opened the door and asked their permission to enter,with a 1000W smile on my face.They asked me take my seat...I thanked him and sat down.My resume was on my lap..they never asked for it.All they referred to was the application form that I had filled.

The gentleman(sadly i do not remember his name) broke the ice by asking an informal questions...anyway my reply was confident.He then asked me about my favourite subject,which was as i said,Physics(surprised??so was i,when he asked about school subjects!!).

He asked me what SONAR meant...i really didn't remember..so i managed by telling him,it was related with sound and had DOPPLER EFFECT as a basis.He said,"That's good.But can you explain?". I told him i didn't remember.

Then he asked me about Concave & Convex Lens and Kepler's Law Of Gravitation. I managed both correctly,and we moved on to the core subjects(at last!!!!). My areas of interest are DBMS. He asked me about the Various Phases of S/w Engineering (a very general question). I was able to answer them. Then I was asked to write a c-program to reverse a string(a success) and later on,the question was about Singularly Linked-List from Data-Structures.And finally,DBMS concepts were touched upon....i spoke confidentially for two minutes,when they asked me to stop. I had the feeling things were going to turn out well...!

In between I had actually stammered once,but I was not reprimanded.They reassured me by letting me know that they knew exactly how I was feeling.I was asked to relax,ask a glass of water if needed and then to continue…from hereon I spoke confidently till the end of the HR,making sure i made no lapse in speech.

At the end,they asked me weather I had any questions..I enquired about the prospect of higher education through TCS.After giving me satisfactory answers,they asked to wait outside.

And there I was,waiting nervously outside my TECHNICAL interview room...and when finally,I was asked to go down for the MR(same as HR) interview.....RELIEF ebbed through my entire body.I knew for sure that once I had reached this level,i was not going to return home disappointed.

THE FINAL PHASE:
I could see happy faces outside the HR room..evidently fuelled by the fact that they will get selected.I had to wait a long time to meet my HR interviewer(he was a bit busy) which I did not mind at all.Meanwhile I asked my other friends as to what they were asked…some unlucky guys were drilled a lot on tech..most of the people had just a casual chat.
Finally i went in to meet my interviewer.I was beaming at him and when I reached the table,we shook hands and sat down.He was really sweet.He actually apologised for the delay(3hours actually)..i said it was no problem.

He initially asked me why i wanted to join TCS..i answered it straight from the books.
Next,"OK these are the reasons u want to join TCS. Why should we hire you?". Bookish answer again.

Moving on,we had a good chat on F1 as he too was a follower.We had a good fight over whether "Micheal Schumacher" should return or not. Later did i realized that it went too informal, i should have restrained from being too augmentative. Finally he asked me as to weather i have any questions....i asked him not one,but THREE!!

1.sir,the prospects of higher education in TCS.
2.What does TCS actually expect from its newly-joining freshers??
3.What actually happens during the training?and after the training??

When we were finished, we shook hands and left with the words,"it was a pleasure meeting u Sir." I had a feeling of jubilation when i came out. It was a long wait for the results starting at 5pm which eventually ended at 8:30pm. When my name was read out it was like,” oh my god, I really made it through”.I was delighted. I thanked GOD and congratulated all my friends.