a touch down of limits.. KODACHADRI.. continued...

PART II

DAY 2—27 OCTOBER

A long break between the two parts… hmmm… couldn’t have helped it, just got busy with the last ODD -END SEM exams in the college.

Well, starting from the point I left. So, after a true trip cum trek day out, here comes the night… a long one, a cold one, a non-sleepy night. Having given my jacket to GOGO, who had nothing to put on to protect himself from the punishing cold, I had to share a thin blanket with Mr. 6’2”,Alok, which I think I got so conscious of to not to pull from him that throughout the night I only didn’t get anything over me.

Anyways and SOMEHOW the darkness gave way to the sunlight, people woke up, all in the same tone,

“I couldn’t sleep at all yaar, it was so damn cold”. Also, now the much famous (actually infamous and dreaded) Bansal’s loud exclamations of deep sleep getting proper words.

The morning was lovely pink cold with bright yellow sunlight bathing the green slopes. Wohh…!!!! somewhere one would like to stay and spend his life, a beautiful experience, clicked..!!!

A little yes-no but finally we stuffed our breakfast, though I gave it a miss to avoid any of the nature’s call later going down the slopes, u gotta take care of these things :P. Careful and cautious, as we were, we descended the slope in an hour and half, the same slope we took 3.5 hours to climb.

At the base, Santosh Hotel, our lunch was ready. An early lunch was followed by an awesome mimic session with the stylish cat-walks of Tripathi, Shiva, Gaurav, Shenoy and others getting showcased, people getting swiped by a cow and some playing around. This small stoppage gave me a little time with Ro’s pod, a short lone walk with some soul cleansing, and high volume music under the slopes which pumped some serious thoughts in my mind :).

Now was the turn of the most dangerous part of our trek, the one to the Arashinagundi Falls. We had already booked for a guide to help us through the jungle, which I am so glad we did. Through the jungle with regiments of leeches, rubbery slopes and a superfast team of the identical twins, ’guide and Deba’, it was tough to be on the way. So many times it felt like a trek can never get any tougher than this. I kept on wondering how some souls of our class were able to walk through all this. The only one who gave up was, VARUN SHENOY , and it was hell of a task to pull him all through the trek, Sandy did an excellent job in being with him and helping him transverse the miles. Some tense moments with GOGO getting irked with repetitive calls of moving fast, Shenoy’s red, sweaty face and body which looked like dropping any moment. Well, these later gave way to Macha’s OOLA-LALA-LA-LE- O, our anthem for the later stages of the trek. This was real fun with Macha singing his piece and the ones walking ahead putting up a proper response to it. A special mention and thanks must be given to Tripathi for his ‘unintentional and asked ‘ help to ‘just the other gal, Christina’. :P

A few more minutes of rough trekking and we were at the much awaited, rather much wanted falls. Whohh, nice pearly water falling from the top reflecting sunlight and refracting some to form small rainbows. An apt destination of the tiredly and sweat sapping trek. Relaxing by the side of the cold water, resting our heels. A nice little closed photogenic place the shuttermen exploited fully. Though most of us enjoyed the water keeping out of it, but some did get in and took full quota of their fun.

After about two hours of masti at the falls it was time to pull up our socks and start back. The guide left us at the juncture where the track to the gate starts and we started the long 6 km straight walk. This particular stretch was just too much for so many of us to handle, with most of them already tired at the falls, they dejectedly walked the distance. The journey where even GOGO got restless, Shenoy took an oath of never going for a trek in future. The look on their face on finally reaching the gate will be the last thing I’ll forget of the trip.

This brought us to the end of the most grueling, most funfilled trip we can ever go to.

Hope, we can pull off something similar in the next sem.

SHINING STARS of the trip:

FLYING DEBA, DEEPTI ‘the WONDER GAL’, DARSHANJI ‘the PATH SHOWER’, GOGO ‘the gravity defying heavyweight’, TRIPATHI n CHRISTIE ’the unbreakable pair’, DD ‘the JOINT convener’, MACHA ‘the OOLA-LALA-LA-LE- O man’, GAURAV ‘the MULTI-WOMAN man’, SHIVA ‘Mr. CHEMICAL trip’

DOOMING STAR of the trip:

VARUN SHENOY, VARUN SHENOY AND ONLY VARUN SHENOY , “ cramps”, “this is highly impossible”, “my body can’t take it”, “I can’t climb this”, “I am very upset with my physique” etc. etc. etc.etc.

a touch down of limits...KODACHADRI

Well... this one'll be a long one, no doubt about it...!!! So will be putting it in parts.

Much before I came to the college, after my fling with Chennai, I had this thought lingering in my head, 'this is the last year in the college and I better make it the most memorable one'.
Guess what..!! One of the ways of doing that was to have frequent class trips, spending more quality time with the people closest to me in the college (counting the fact that I feel myself a little too much attached to my class).
So, after I got done with my placements and the class also got free from their engagements (placements, GRE,TOEFL etc. etc.), I sat down planning for an outing for us.
After scanning places throughout Karnataka and calculating pros 'n' cons for each of 'em we 'finally finalized'(after 5 date changes) down on KODACHADRI.
After a no. of class mssgs, personal calls to evry one, face 2 face persuasions and plenty of hours put in planning, 27 out of 34 of us set out for the trip on 26th morning.
The plan was simple-- a day trek to the Kodachadri peak, spending a night there, trek down to the Arishinagundi Falls and finally back to college on 27th evening.
We knew it will be a difficult trip, so got ourselves ready for it... shoes, jackets, eatables, salt to shut out leeches, glucose, ORS etc everything in place.
PART I
DAY 1-- 26 October
The trip started with a visit to the famous MOOKAMBIKA TEMPLE in Kollur, which I wanted to happen to pray for a safe outing for the class. It was really a beautiful temple, of which I realized much later that I'd been earlier.
Next stop was the Karakatte Gate, the starting point of our trek. Few group pics and the climb began. 10 mins into the trek and I heard the first of the 'many to come' frightened screams, the tormentor being Mr. Leech and the tormented being Christina, who for reasons out of my head, didn't come in proper footings and so became an easy n the first target. Socks from Sandy and sandals from Shenoy made her resume the journey, though she kept checking for any other leeches after every 20 m she transversed.
After a very easy trek, when compared to what we faced later, we reached our first pit stop-- Santosh Hotel, don't go by the name, it's just a small eatery u get only pre-ordered meals, else be ready to have IDLIs(which we had to content ourselves with).
Post lunch, the real climb started...steep inclinations paved with rocks, slippery mud, sapping overhead sun. Everything took a toll on each of us, the worst hit was Shenoy. After cramps, he was hardly able to snail his limbs but was brave enough to continue, thanks to GOGO and Tripathi along with decent amounts of glucose and ORS, who helped him and his 'really heavily stuffed bag'(despite clear warnings against it).
Snap shooting hundreds of scenics, joking around, plenty of breaks (esp with Shenoy) to reinstate energy levels and shouts of being together so as to not get lost; we made up to the guest house. Salutes to the first batch, the front runners, comprising of Darshan,Pani,Deepti,Ro and Deba, who made to the guest well before the tottering last batch, the one of Shenoy,GOGO,Bansal,Sanj,Dipankar,Raj,Arati and me.
Ohh...!!! What an achievement after 3.5 hrs of muscle swelling climb. Everyone fell down onto whatever slim bedding (only for the sake of being called one) they got.
With discussions galore about the mountain victory and a bit of nursing ourselves during the 45 mins rest at the guest house, we started the last phase of climb to the peak. Shenoy, Christina and Sandy decided to stay at the guest house. This was the most beautiful part of the whole climbing experience, with a top of world feeling with cold ambiance. Amazing scenes of multi-shaded green mountains. At the peak was the sunset point and a small temple which supposedly was Shankaracharya's meditation habitat. In absolute harmony with nature, a secluded heaven; no questions why Shankaracharya chose the place.
Spending some time there, though missing sunset :( for reasons of it getting dark, we left the place and came back to the guest house.

Now started the evening quota of fun, Tripathi’s fundae on Christina (his frank opinions) which ultimately got summarized distortedly by us to the ‘vicious circle- dumb—tease—gets angry—becomes even cuter---so like her---so dumb ‘. Our version of WWE, with GOGO and Sandy’s tag team losing to the ‘lankies’, Alok and Shiva and as in most of the fights, the referee—me here—getting thrashed :(. Some good songs from Indu and Darshan, with me in chorus. A decent dinner followed by few hours by the bonfire. Nothing better to finish off a tiring day with.

Next to come was a shivering night and the never forgettable day ahead, which will be in the next post.

me, myself and some questions.

Got this questionnaire from Mr. Dhole O'Brien. Nice time pass, though have answered it in a candid way.

Last movie seen in a theatre:
Rock On

What book are you reading?
The Client by John Grisham

Favorite board game:
haven't played much but like Scrabble, Checkers

Favorite magazine:
India Today

Favorite smells:
Smell of soil after the first rain, December fog and Adidas 'dynamic pulse' deo

Favorite sounds:
heavy flutes

Worst feeling in the world:
The feeling of not being able to communicate innerself.

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
To be true, 'will there be water in the bathroom taps..??'
kya karoon, final block...!!!

Favorite fast food place:
In college, definitely SUNDER. Back in home, KAMDHENU SWEETS.

Future child’s name:
Yeh kya question hai...?? lot of time left to ponder over the names.

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”
extravagantly spend it, wat else..???

Do you drive fast?
driving slow is not for me. 'accelerator' is my best friend on the vehicle.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
This baby has never done that.

Storms - Cool or Scary?
gr8 feeling of gushing air on the face, luv it so find it cooool..!!

Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
never ever.

If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
i think yellowish brown.

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:
Allahabad,Bhadohi,Mau,Gorakhpur,Lucknow,Mangalore(Surathkal),
Chennai(2 months :( )

Favorite sports to watch:
Cricket,Tennis,Football.

What’s under your bed?
A pair of shoes stuffed with a pair of long-washed socks, dumped 'VITRUVIANS(college yearbook) and some bloody mosquitoes which come out only in night to suck my precious blood.

Would you like to be born as yourself again?
would like to try some other life may be. Though am very happy with my present life.

Morning person or night owl?
'Early to bed and early to rise'

Favorite place to relax:
my bed back there in my home.

Favorite ice cream flavor:
Kesar Pista, Chocolate

have known 'em.... probably

An uncountable number of times i have seen people, a lot of which are my friends, go around burning tobacco or may be swinging around with an alcohol filled glass.
Having asked so many of them, i've got more or less a common set of answers.They all say that 'it' gives a certain 'kick', an 'out of world feeling', some thing that 'makes you more bolder' or may be 'takes you to a state where anything, mind ya, anything can be done or achieved'(associated more with alcohol than tobacco). It sometime compels me to think 'whoohh..!!! wat a wonderful feeling it would be' that no body wants to call him/herself out, once plunged in.
A thousand of times i have been offered the so called means of achieving the 'never been there state', but to their disappointment i have been solemnly refusing them, no matter what the occasion be.I can't exactly define the reasons of doing so, but have never rubbished their 'tastes'.In these three and a half years of college, after having lost close to 40 pounds on the weighing scale, shrinking down by around 7-8 inches on my tummy and blowing away half of my scalp growth, i have inhaled volumes of burning tobacco smoke and smelled vapors of almost all kinds of fermented sugars.This probably gives me the right of not being called a 'wet behind ears' when it comes to 'these' stuffs, so what if none of 'it' has gone in intentionally. Or does it..?? i dunno...!!!! and neither do i want to.
And as far as the feeling of 'neverland' is concerned, i think it depends on your then state of mind, which can be elevated by other 'n' no. of ways around.

packin up..... am goin home babay...!!!

9th may, was the date i stepped out of my home, with horrible and gruesome images of Chennai in my mind. i still remember, the train got late by more than 24 hours and i was pushed by people around me, to cancel my plans ("of gaining valuable industry exposure and experience ha ha..!!! sounds a joke now). A part of my brain wanted to stay back and enjoy the comforts, leisure in my dwelling but the other part carried me to the train and brought me to Hyderabad and then to Chennai. After two months of physically, mentally, visually draining experiences in the southern city, an experience which deteriorated my taste buds, 'the white starch' being the primary tormentor, i had expected a better scene in college to relax my heels.
But i guess, it was not destined to be. Dropping placements' curve, companies backing out, restricting their intakes, a 'more than busy' academic semester, nothing looked like going the dreamt way. Anyhow, got sumthing, to make the placement website popster showing 'congratulations on your success' (only God knows if it is really worth of receiving wishes).
People coming and saying, "congrats dude", on face but on my back ,"why did he take the company,i dint sit for it, wat a waste man". I guess, it was supposed to be the way it is now.
BUT NOW is nothing to think upon but the fact that am going home after 4 months and 9 days, to be precise. Though for a short period, missing a pot full of events and classes of course, it has to serve me the much required dosage of rejuvenation, energization and unclamorous outing i've been waiting for. Gosh...!!!! the very thought of goin home is givin me frissons.
Next stop----> 254-c, Allahabad.
Go go go...!!!!

यूँ ही चला चल राही

मधुशाला में मदहोश ना हो जाना,
महफ़िल में खामोश ना हो जाना।
राह में बहक ना जाना ऐ मुसाफिर,
बहुत लंबा है अभी सफर।।

छूटने पर कुछ कभी, अश्क ना बहाना,
और मिलने पर ज़मीन न छोड़ देना।
ग़म और खुशियों के आयेंगे मुकाम अक्सर,
क्योंकि, बहुत लंबा है अभी सफर।।

अमावस के अंधेरे में कभी, घबरा ना जाना,
और ना ही दिन के सूरज से चौंधियां जाना।
शोर और सन्नाटा, रहेगा हर पहर,
क्योंकि, बहुत लंबा है अभी सफर।।

गिरने के बाद कभी, उठना ना भूल जाना,
और ना ही भूलना गिरे हुए को उठाना।
रहमत तो हमेशा ही रहेगी तुझपर,
क्योंकि, चाहे जितना भी लंबा हो सफर, मंजिलें आती ज़रूर है नज़र।।

Next ON is RoCk

Two of my all time favorite flicks have been DCH and JHANKAAR BEATS and yesterday i got to revive their 'magik' by watching 'ROCK ON'.
All courtesy Midmac's newly caught fish 'APTE BABA', had a blast watching the movie much talked about. Pretty much like the two mentioned above,ROCK ON boasts of decent storyline, gud music(although didn't like it when heard before seeing the movie, but now, totally mad) and a strange zing that never loses on u.

STORY: is predictable but u never want to come out of the flow, little slow(esp after interval) but u would never want it to pace up, few unused or unwanted plots like Farhan Akhtar's(Adi) pre- marital love or may be Luke's(Rob) final stage brain tumor but u dont want the same boilerplate drama, or may be the ego spat between Farhan and Arjun Rampal(Joe) but again there u desperately want them to patch up and get down to their 'magik muzik'.
All in all, story about the reunion of a rock band,initiated by the lead singer's wife(played by Prachi Desai) after a split(that happened ten years ago), projects to be different and involving.

MUSIC: is fresh with new throats used (esp Farhan Akhtar) which makes it raw and so re-listenable. An awesome use of 'sticks and strings' which stands out(karaoke the songs and u feel the real stuff). Broken and graffiti lyrics adorn the scores with a oozing masti feel.
take this,
'meri laundry ka ek bill,
ek aadhi padhi novel,
ek ladki ka phone no.,
mere kaam ka ek paper'
A sure stuff to bang your head on.
My fav one being, ' TUM HO TO'. Excellently sung.

ACTS: Farhan Akhtar simply rocks, first as a lead singer of a rock band and then as an investment banker, doesn't look like a fresher in acting.Nothing much comes for Purab Kohli(KD) and Luke Kenny(Rob) except some comic lines and a 'brain tumor' respectively.
Same for Prachi Desai, who gets to thank her husband's ex-galfriend and the role of throwing husband's b'day party to start the reunion process.The performances that stand out is of Arjun Rampal and his onscreen wife Shahana Goswami, both brilliantly done. With Arjun Rampal sizzling as an ethical, long-haired lead guitarist and Shahana Goswami perfectly handling the 'family macchi business' having dropped her fashion designer dreams.

SCENES WORTH SPECIAL MENTION:

1) The band playing 'saanson ki zaroorat' in a dandia night , in their style with non-blinking faces to collect funds for their instruments. One can't stop laughter on it.

2) A compromise and then signature on the album contract with the 'close to heart' song being scrapped to pave way for a petty remix just to catch up with the shaadi season.

3) Climax scene with Arjun Rampal on strings, in the crowd, after having ditched 'a much needed job' just to play for the final time for his band.
A mind blowing one, you want to jump in the crowd to feel the vibes of a rocking rock show.

In all, a great movie with flaws you would want to overlook.
A definite one to get the 'cult status'.

keep trying

have been trying not to match 'it',

have been trying not to like 'it',

have been trying not to think of 'it',

have been trying not to get fidgety of 'it',

have been trying not to bruit 'it',

have been trying not to follow 'it',

have been trying not to yearn for 'it',

but deep inside of me,
the facts are homed,
the efforts are futile,
because
the flame is too yellow to extinguish,
the rein is too tenacious to loosen,
it's too green for autumn to set in,
and am too big a dolt to understand.

yellow fever ...

It has been the topmost thing on my mind to write upon but just cudn't get sum good time to put my thoughts together.
The 'rejection', for which i ditched an 'opportunity', made me pretty lackadaisical for sometime.
But before it, i faced 'the thing' ,which 1.1 billion other Indians also did and that was 'goosebumps of winning an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL' . Sumthing my generation has felt for the first time (considering the fact that the last time 'it' happened was 28 years ago).

Mr. Bindra's feat is certainly a huge thing to have happened to our country's already fragile sporting (minus cricket of course) fraternity. Sumthing that will certainly inspire thousands. The first story starting at Beijing itself when another 'haryanwi' , pugilist AKHIL KUMAR after seeing Bindra, decides to aim nothing less than a gold. After beating world champion, Sergey Vodapoyanov of Russia,in pre-quaterfinals, Akhil says, "He (Sergey) is a world champion. It was a tough fight, but I am here to win gold. No silver, no bronze, but only the gold. There is nothing like being No.1 and I want to be No. 1,". Now he says that he wants a 'a piece of yellow metal' that is only his. In his own words, "Abhinav(Bindra) has just showed us the way and I want to follow in his footsteps".

None of us would want to forget the following famous picture.

All thanks and salutes to Mr. Bindra for blessing us with the best gift for the 62nd independence day.Not just the medal, but most importantly, the belief that 'anyone can aim and achieve the pinnacle', be it anything.

hmmmm...!!!

rue not , for something u didn't try,

think not, of something u didn't think,

many aspirations still left, to be
converted to achievements,

egress not, out of something u haven't yet
gone in.

allah ka banda

ek H aur

the two most visible things in chennai were mad Rajnikant fans and glorifying posters of political personalities of different parties, all of whom , for reasons unknown to me, had only red and black colours on their 'flags'.
well the 'rajni thing', which struck me today, made me read the preview of his latest movie, 'kuselan'. nothing abt the reviews but it rekindled one strange fact i observed back in chennai.
It was the inappropriate (at least i found it) use of the alphabet 'h' and the word that made me recall the 'h' saga, was the name of one of the actors of the movie named 'Pasupathy'.
Pronounced as पशुपती, the spell didn't go well with me when i first encountered it. i thought , instead of following 's' the 'high h' slipped to the place after 't'. But after a little more 'journalism', i realized it was not the slippage but the ingrained habit of using an xtraa 'h' after 't'.
Some examples, 'sangeetHa', 'saktHi', 'Anbu UmapatHi(another name)' etc etc , the god of all being ताज महल spelt as ' tHaj mahal'.

Ha ha.. above was just too much for me to handle, so just went to clarify the concept with a friend of mine, who told me the reason for this 'h' obsession is their way of putting त as 'tha'. After a long discussion none of us were ready to back off,so no results.
Theek hai, koi baat nahin,but going by their 'habit' shouldn't
तमिल नाडू be spelt as 'tHamil nadu'..???
just imagine, a tHaj mahal for MumtHaj .
:)

'the DAY' of my life

Getting up at 6 in the morning, bus ,office,bus,room at 6 30 in the evening. This was the only routine being followed in CHE(read chi)NNAI. Full tired of , not working, but of the same monotonous way of life.
Well, as a much needed break, this short, sand-clocked period of time came when i got free from the usual boilerplate activities.
The chosen day being a Monday,30-06, became special for absolutely unknown reasons and one of the very few highs in the "metro" city. Those few hours full of freedom, self-realizations, absolute loneliness left me with a strange feeling of fullness and peace. No second thoughts on my actions-every thing done in a blink of time, no holding back-all extended to infinite limits.The long direction less, full of varied observations, thoughtful walk down the unknown city roads(without making any landmarks), the atrociously spicy and pocket-unloading dinner (that later took its toll on my already badly infected throat), that 10 rupee note to the begger(who thought i was joking with him and have given a forged piece of currency)etc etc, all seemed to be so true and free flowing.
Nothing big happened in those few hours but the small events did effect me in a big way, changing my paradigms on few fronts, giving me the required thrust to work upon the things i was neglecting for so long, also a fresh approach for the work being done there in that place.
Hope to fall into more of these ' experiences'.
:)

struck on face, twice in 24 hrs.

Not something to write about but didn't find a way to vent it out..
For last one week , was literally painting these two events in my mind
but the almighty had other plans.
he, who i am the closest to,here in the college, wasn't accorded something he deserved the most. The look on his face after the declaration of the results keeps haunting me, since then he has stopped behaving like real him.This is just not going down well with him and so certainly not with me. It feels so helpless not being able to comfort him out of this.
Within 24 hrs, i had it again, the most fitting person to one of the most important jobs that possibly affects our job placements, was denied of the post. why...??? all b'coz of some baseless, parochial thinking and petty group ism by the classmates.
Personally, now it seems that i was disillusioned earlier that the deserving gets what he should but now those notions seems to have taken a walk away from me, for never to return.
Don't know why, but more than the above two unfortunates , i feel like having lost on quite a few fronts in those nightmarish 24 hrs.

having shaken the foundations down under....

1984--- NO
1992---NO
2004---NO
2008--- finally a big YESSSS...
So here we are, the champions, throughout. After a long winter, quite verbal one, the result that pops out is that we are the only one who can give Kangaroos a run for their money. Well, it is not just a flash in a pan, it is just a small trailer of the coming future...picture abhi baaki hai mere dost..!!! For the next few weeks Kangaroos and a monkey will be looking for the reasons for the outcomes, my advice--biting nails won't help. :)
To our boys, now that u've shown it once, pls..pls... make it a little more customary.
Mr. Gilly, sorry for the unpleasant bye, but hats off to you for changing the way the glovemen were looked upon.

Proteas nd Kangaroos, both rocked...!!!

One day, two stories. really big ones..!!!
It is not often when in one part of the world we beat proteas to become a world champion and in other part, we beat world champions, once invincible kangaroos.
Three times in the last three decades we've been trying to pocket kangaroos but each time they jumped over our heads. Not this time...!!!we've claimed the first blood in the tri-series finals with a stunning six-wicket win and hope to seal a historic series win on coming Tuesday. With the 'master blaster' himself crafting the win, nothing much can an Indian fan ask for.
Hoping that Ponting's remark of " no need of third final" falls on our side. :)
Emulating the 'big bros.' , the juniors went one step ahead to the zenith making us a WORLD CHAMPIONS again after the successful African Safari last year. Gr8 going boys, kudos to you.

MARCH 2, 2008 .... bookmarked....!!!