A Trip to Remember...

It seldom does so happen, that parents as far away as 2300 kms travel almost the 'V' of India through the Eastern Ghats as well as the Western Ghats to visit their sons studying at colleges !

Yet, this October it did happen. It is always a fantastic feeling spending time with our parents! The occasion being 'Vijay Dashmi' or as we popularly know as 'Dussera', the celebration of the triumph of the good over evil.

It was unfortunate that me and my brother couldn't make it home this time, due to our exams and assignments. Nevertheless, our parents decided to turn up for the occasion. Even tough we were missing the awesome Puja Pandals in the City of Joy, being with parents is something which cannot be more awesome than !

Visiting the Krishna Temple, in Udupi, in heavy rain after a great lunch at Saiba and then catching a hot soup at Dollops was a perfect start to the trip. No matter what, the campuses at TAPMI and MIT, and the newly constructed Marena does rope in admiration. Even the hostels do.


We decided to book a car and leave on a 2-day trip to Coorg, not far away from Manipal, a place known for its monastery, the waterfalls and the panoramic scenery. It's a 6 hour journey from Manipal, as the road twists and turns through the Western Ghats.

Kodagu (or Coorg as it is known) is a district near the Udupi District, where Manipal resides. Madikeri is its headquarters, and is a definite tourist attraction. We left at 8AM in the morning, and reached Coorg by about 2PM. After resting for an hour, we left for Abbey Falls, not far away from the main town. The weather, as told by locals, remains the same chilly throughout the year. And slight drizzle near the falls, makes it extremely pleasant. Abbey Falls is a fantastic tourist destination, and it simply takes your breath away.

We then made our way to the Omkareshwara temple, situated in the main town, which has in its middle, a temple tank. Then we reached Raja Seat, where supposedly the Rajas sat and discussed with their courtiers. The view from this park is stunning. You can just look at the valley and wonder how far the world reaches out to ! Clouds beneath you, sunset at the horizon, it was indeed so picturesque !

The next day, we visited to the Buddhist Monastery located some 60 kms from the main town. The roads are amazing, and you can easily cruise at 100kph. The Monastery is nothing less than truly beautiful. It houses the Buddhist monks and students, who are imparted knowledge in the Main Hall. There were more than 400 students in the hall, and learning and reciting. It was truly inspiring.


After our short stay there, we left for the Deer and Elephant park, which has a tree-house and lots of monkeys too. Elephants weren't present there as they had been taken to Mysore for the festival, and the monkeys and deers roam about almost freely !


On our way back, we made a short stop at the Kaup beach, famous for its lighthouse. After a few quick snaps, we then headed back to Manipal, where rest finally awaited !! Though the trip was short, it was indeed memorable, and leaves sharp memories instilled forever.

Gokarna Boys!

It was the eve of the 60th Republic Day of India, when night had started to fall in. The day was Monday, squeezed between two holidays, the other being Sunday. To make the most of the holidays, we four friends, decided on an outing. The place of outing was unknown. And since we did not want to miss our labs and lectures on Monday, we decided to leave on Tuesday.

The plan was put in place, and our trip to the beach-town of Gokarna (Karnataka, India) was on the cards. The plan was to leave at 7 in the morning on Tuesday, and return back at 5 early morning Wednesday. The four of us were Priyank, Rishabh, Sarthak and myself. Priyank and Sarthak were busy playing FIFA on LAN, while Rishabh was trying to ward off his cold by applying Vicks Vaporub. Priyank, meanwhile was on a losing spree in the virtual world! :P

However, as the clock turned towards 10.30 in the night, Sarthak came up with an idea, why not leave tonight itself. All of us agreed in a jiffy, and we set out into the chilly night, at 12.30 AM! Some of our other friends had warned that campus patrol officers were inquiring each and every person going out of their blocks, but we were fortunate to have walked past them, without any trouble.



Image: At the Udupi railway station

We reached the Udupi railway station at around 1.00am, where the Netravathi Express was scheduled to arrive at 1.32am. We had borrowed a camera from our friend Anuj, who was very optimistic about the batteries not getting exhausted. And lo, the camera’s battery exhausted at the station itself. We immediately called up Ebin, who along with Suhail were bringing us a spare camera (Pushkar’s) in their rented car. But alas! Our fortunes were so great that, their car had a flat tyre, and the poor souls were left stranded in the middle of the night, repairing the flat tyre!

In the meantime, the Netravathi Express chugged in the station, and we ran towards it. We were confused as we didn’t notice that it was already 1.35am. However after confirming the train, we ran towards the other end of the train, into the general compartment. But the compartment was the penultimate bogie of the train, and by the time we Usain Bolt’ed to that part, the train had already started moving. All four of us somehow managed to climb into the compartment in Jab We Met style! The next best thing, waiting near the door, facing the chilly winds as the train rocketed past stations, in the passenger-filled bogie. There were absolutely no seats to sit, and it was a unique experience for Priyank and Rishabh as they were travelling in the general compartment for the first time, that too WT (Without ticket)!!! Wherever you are in the world, there is bound to be a first-time experience. We sat on the floor of the compartment and half-slept (It may sound dirty, but believe me, the sleep was just too awesome :P)

The train does not stop at Gokarna Road station, so we had to get down a station earlier at Kumta, which it reaches at around 4.30AM. Bus services usually start at 0530 hrs, and the autos were charging a mammoth 600 bucks to the Om beach at Gokarna! So we decided to sleep at the station for a couple of hours and then proceed. That sounded good, but where to sleep?! Another of a first-experience, sleeping on the benches of the platform at the station! We had towels to cover us up in the chilliness of the dawn! Hardly had we slept, when a super-fast train zipped past us, freezing us there and then itself!

A couple of hours worth of amazing sleep, and we were off to the Kumta bus station, where we ate (urghh) Dosas and caught the direct bus to Gokarna. The route from Kumta to Gokarna, is mesmerizing, with hills and rivers at every corner of the road! We were woken up by the bus conductor who shouted on top of his voice to announce the arrival of Gokarna. The autos at the bus stand charge anything between 100 and 200 to the Om beach (one of the four beaches at Gokarna). But a bit of passion, and that vigour inside you, will make you trek to the beach on these two lovely legs we are blessed with! A localite, who we named "Gokarna Anna", helped us in trekking all the way to Gokarna’s most famed beach, the Kudle beach. It was a long trek, covering almost 3 hills, and a distance of 4 kms, not to mention observing the fantastic panorama from the hill-tops!





The localite was very polite and erudite in nature! He explained to us that Gokarna means Cow’s ear and that Lord Shiva is believed to have emerged from this ear!





Huffing, puffing we reached the Kudle beach. It is by far the most calm and pleasant beach at Gokarna, making it the centre of attraction to foreigners who outnumbered the Indians easily. However, we were more enthusiastic on visiting the Om beach, which as the name suggests, takes the shape of an ‘Om’. The old man then, took us through a tricky route, beside the steep slopes of the hills, to the point from where on the front lay, the huge and endless Arabian Sea, and to left lay the Om shaped beach. It was a fantastic sight, a moment to cherish in this lifetime.






The Om beach is a one-of-its kind beach in the whole world. The waves start and end abruptly here, making one listen only to the ‘chasshhh-shusshhh’ with no inputs, apart from the occasional shouts of the tourists. After having a light breakfast at a sort-of-hut, we then plunged straight into the salty water (which was extremely salty). We splashed and splashed becoming those kids once again (Ironic isn’t it: Give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again)! We enjoyed ourselves for about I-don’t-know-much-time, and then proceeded back towards the Kudle beach (where the sea was much calmer, cooler and less salty).





We again trekked back to the Kudle beach like Bear Grylls, and saw something, well... ahem ahem... Boys, What happens in Gokarna, stays in Gokarna :P !! We then borrowed a flying saucer from a hotel owner, who was so kind in giving it! We four played with the flying saucer’s in the sea. To be frank, I went the deepest into the sea, for the first time! The time was simple awesome! Out of the lousy lectures in class, we were into a world beyond our imagination (at least when you compare it with lectures, where instead of pens, you have flying discs, instead of those unending slides, you have the unending sea of water!!).





A couple of Israeli foreigners also played flying discs with us. They said we’ll show you how to throw, and their throws were like throwing a shot-put :P!! After completing our game, we retired back to a restaurant at the beach, where we ordered pizzas. The pizza came after an hour, and our stomachs were growling for more. However the waiter said, that any other delicacy will take at least an hour’s time to prepare. So we trudged our way back to another hut where we got instant food! After filling ourselves, we then trekked back again through the hills, to the auto stand who demanded 300 bucks to the railway station. We said good-bye to them and trekked another hill to reach the Om beach auto stand. Alas, they demanded 400 bucks from us, and we were left in a spot!






A person told us that the main road is just 15 minutes from the beach, so we started to walk. Just about a dozen yards away, there was a TATA-sumo. We requested him like anything to drop us at the station, but he was so selfish to demand 500 bucks only to drop us at the main road. Just then, an auto was returning back to the town. We argued with him, and he agreed at 200! However the route from the beach to the main road is miles away. It would have taken us at least a couple of hours to reach the main road, through the hills and trees. The railway station is about 22 kms from the beach, and its a long journey! Actually barring me, all three slept off and woke up on reaching the station!





We bought tickets, again for the general class, and a whole lot of crowd from Manipal was ready to board the incoming passenger train. We somehow fought our way in and spent three hours standing in the compartment, playing name-a-movie-with-the-last-letter game, the whole time. We never knew when Udupi railway station arrived. We squeezed past to get down the train, hired an auto back to the 9th block, where sleep and my next day’s assignment awaited, though I didn’t study for the assignment :P!

The trip to Gokarna was an amazing experience, having to encounter almost all first-time experiences. It was physically exhausting, as we did so much of trekking in those few hours we had done never before (climbing of stairs in the hostel is excluded). In spite of our primary camera failing, my cell-phone’s 2 megapixel camera clicked 103 pics, and it’s battery somehow managed to survive (like Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild) till the end. My trip to Gokarna has been one of the most memorable outings I’ve ever had, and I thank Priyank, Rishabh and Sarthak for making this a wonderful and incredible journey!

After all, we are the Gokarna Boys!

A Start...

As the clock starts to bring all its needles together, on the 31st of December, cell phones start beeping, with messages like “Before the network gets jammed...blah blah blah...”, “Here’s wishing you in advance blah blah blah...” and “Mobile operators will charge tomo for free msgs, so...blah blah blah”, my semester vacations had finally come to an end.

It’s a unique experience to board a train on the 1st of January, but probably a bit more than on normal days! My train was scheduled to depart from the Howrah Station at 14.50 hrs. And being the 1st of TwentyTen, calls and msgs had already started to pour in like football fans pouring for a Barcelona FC vs Manchester United FC football match, from different parts of the world. Even as I packed my things in haste, I found myself saying more than a hundred “Happy New Year”s !

The train departed as scheduled from the New Complex of the Howrah Station. I was travelling with my friend Siddharth, while Shamim was in another coach. As usual our talks began and what all things we did during the semester break. On introspection we found that there was a 3rd year guy from MIT in our coupe! As our conversation progressed we got to know that he was in I&C, his dad a prof in E&E and his mom in E&C! He had come to visit Belur Math, Dakhshineshwar and Kali Temple in Calcutta. They had all got separate berths, so when his dad came we were quite surprised, at the same moment shocked, because he was our BET professor in our first sem, Mr Nagaraj! Out of at least a million possibilities we never expected to see him on this train, let alone this part of the country!

Our journey progressed quickly as we ate home-made samosas, pakodas, sandwiches, pastries, chips and puri-bhujia(aloo wali!). The journey from Calcutta to Chennai takes about 26hrs and there are only 7 stops, making it one of the most important trains in Indian Railways (and yes... once in a blue moon its late by even 10 mins). There is a cushion of 7 hrs between the penultimate stop Vijaywada and Chennai, meaning if the train is even 2.30 hrs late at Vijaywada, it can still reach Chennai before time!

We had a near to 3 hr break at the Chennai railway station where we watched the famous advertisements of the man drugging a fellow passenger and stealing his valuables, the famous Saravana Stores ad, and the new Tata Docomo ad! We then had biryani for dinner and boarded the next train to Mangalore (the Mangalore Mail). The Mangalore Mail takes approx 16 hrs from Chennai to Mangalore. It goes down South and travels through Kerela to finally enter Karnataka.

Mangalore is quite famous for its port, and the educational town of Manipal is about 65 kms from it. A bus journey (Express Bus as it is known) takes about 1.30hrs to reach Manipal through the temple town of Udupi. We three then boarded the bus and reached Manipal at 2.00pm. We had a relieving lunch at Dollops and then retired back to our hostels where the cleaning of the room awaited us and the beginning of the new semester.....

Into the Edens...

It was the 24th of December, 2009, a cool morning when I woke up. My vacations were coming to an end, and it was also the eve of Christmas. The Karbonn Mobiles Cup, featuring the cricketing teams of India and Sri Lanka were locked in a head-to-head battle with India leading the series 2-1 after a comfortable win in the previous ODI at Cuttack, the ODI being a low-scoring affair.

However, the pitch curator at the Eden Gardens (Kolkata) Mr. Prabir Mukherjee said the pitch would be a batting one and we could see plenty of runs on the board. Excitement rose throughout the city of joy, and people were cramming for tickets. However since the stadium is undergoing massive renovation work for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the stadium’s capacity has been reduced to about 53%. Only about 45000 spectators would be given tickets, and due to this reduction, no tickets were on sale for this day-night ODI. Only members were given free tickets, which amounted to Rs 20.5 million of loss to the BCCI.



My father had arranged a ticket for this ODI. Block E, below the electronic scoreboard! The Eden Gardens is not far away from my house. A 20 minutes walk, or a bus that takes 5-7 minutes. So I took the latter option and reached the stadium at around 1.45 pm. On getting down, I was greeted by a sea of spectators outside the stadium. The police had made excellent arrangements so that the fans did not have any problems in proceeding towards the respective blocks. On entering I was searched for any suspicious items. No plastics, cigarettes, cameras, water bottles, or fireworks were allowed (And they were very strict about this. Really!! ). There was a huge police force both inside and outside the stadium. By 2.10 pm I had occupied my seat (000130) at the majestic Eden Gardens, the Mecca of Cricket. I could see players like Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja practising near our block. Towards the other side I could see the batsmen.



Ravi Shastri headed the toss and there was disappointment in the crowd as the Lankans won the toss and decided to bat. The match started off with the crowd roaring for every ball bowled. Ashish Nehra provided the first breakthrough for India as Dilshan and Jayasuria (bowled by Zaheer Khan) were shown the pavilion road. After that the crowd saw a magnificent display of batting by Lankan opener Upul Tharanga and skipper Kumar Sangakkara.



There were intermittent displays of the famous Mexican wave at the Eden Gardens. No other cricketing stadium in the world does it better than the Eden Gardens, the place where it all started (in cricket). Just as Nehra was about to bowl the third last delivery of the Lankan innings, the floodlight above us plunged into darkness, so did nearly the entire stadium (A shame to the majestic Edens, again)!


Play resumed after 24 minutes, only after the generator was switched on. Sri Lanka amassed a mammoth 315 in 50 overs, the highest score at the Eden Gardens.


The spectators too had a little break, they had their usual snacks and the clothed themselves with enough to protect from the chilly evening, at the same time gearing up for the much awaited Indian chase.


Just as the crowd was settling down, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar entered the ground. When either one of them walks into the ground, the crowd goes mad at the Edens. Imagine what a scenario we had here. The crowd was literally roaring like 45000 mad lions on rampage, I being one of them! And slogans like “Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega”, “Indiaaaa, Indiaaaa... dha dha dha” (where Indiaaaa was often replaced by Viruuu or Sachinnn) were being shouted at will.

As promised by Viru, India got off to a fantastic start, with 12 runs in the first over. The crowd fell silent, as soon as Viru was caught. The Lankans shouted and applauded their members. In came, Gautam Gambhir, Edens has not seen much of him! Sachin bolted another couple of fours, when he too was silenced by Lakmal.

India were bleeding profusely at 23/2. And when there is pin-drop silence at the Eden Gardens, you know from miles away, India is in a spot. Nearly 10% of the stadium emptied then and there with Viru and Sachin back in the pavilion.

But who knew, we would witness magnificent innings by both Gambhir and Virat Kohli. Back to back centuries in consecutive balls by these two players made the Edens roar to life yet again!


Their 224 run 3rd wicket partnership (the highest for any wicket at the Eden Gardens) saw India through and in the end, Gambhir hit a classical four to finish off things for India with his unbeaten 150. The whole Eden Gardens erupted into joy witnessing something extra-ordinary at this majestic ground.

It is a dream for any player to play at the Eden Gardens and Virat Kohli with his knock of 107 and Gautam Gambhir (150 n.o.) made it one of their most cherishing innings of their careers. It was also the first time the Edens witnessed a pair of centuries in an innings, and the highest run chase in a limited overs match.



On stepping out of the stadium the people were seen celebrating, shouting slogans and lauding the Indian Cricket team for their astounding performance!
Realising that it would be difficult to get a bus or a taxi I started to walk towards the main road. To my speculation, there were no taxis or buses. People were seen frantically searching for any means of transport. In the meanwhile, I started walking towards my home (only about a couple of kms away). The chilly breeze from the river Hooghly, hit my face, and gave me goose bumps! I continued my long walk at 11pm in the night guiding some people also towards the next bus stop. I reached home at about 11.15pm, fully exhausted and tired.

But I will cherish the match, my first at Eden after a gap of 8 yrs (last one was the historic 2001 India-Australia test, I’m sure cricket fans know all about it!!).

2009: A Flashback

Hey Readers,
I have compiled some of the best and worst of 2009. This is purely based on my opinion and readers’ opinions may definitely vary. Please comment on what you liked and what you think could be the best and worst to make this article more exciting !




BEST Moment:
Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar mission, finds evidence of large quantities of water on the Moon’s surface.


WORST Moments:
• Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.

• Outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza virus. (Swine Flu)


DEFINING Moments:
• UPA's 2nd term (Dr. Manmohan Singh became the first PM since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to win re-election after completing a full five-year term.)

• Death of American Entertainer Michael Jackson

• US President Barack Obama receives Nobel Peace Prize 2009!


BEST Film (Bollywood):
3 Idiots


BEST Film (Hollywood):
Avatar


BEST Movie Sequel:
Ice Age 3: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs


BEST Actor:
Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123)


BEST Director:
Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds)


BEST Sportsperson:
• Pankaj Advani (For winning the World Professional Billiards title and becoming the only man to hold both the world amateur and professional titles at the same time.)

• Usain Bolt (100m and 200m World Records)

• Saina Nehwal (Badminton)


EMERGING Sportsperson:
Saina Nehwal (First Indian to win a Super Series tournament, Indonesia Open)


BEST Sporting Moments:
• Indian Cricket Team becomes World No.1 in Test Cricket for the first time in history.

• Roger Federer winning his first French Open (The then 14th Grand Slam)

• Usain Bolt breaks his own World Record at 100m and 200m.


WORST Sporting Moment:
Tiger Woods' marital infidelity shocks the entire World as the World No.1 takes an indefinite break from Golf.


BEST TEAMS:
• FC Barcelona (Football: Winners: La Liga, Supercopa de España, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League 2008-09 – the sextuple)

• Brawn GP (Formula 1: Driver's and Constructor's Title in Debut Season 2009)


SPORTSPERSONS of the DECADE:
• Michael Schumacher (7 times Formula 1 World Champion)

• Tiger Woods (Too many awards to be mentioned here)

• Roger Federer (15 Grand Slam Titles)



BEST PC Game:
Plants Vs Zombies


BEST Indian ENTREPRENEUR:
Pawan Munjal (CEO, Hero Honda)


BEST Indian POLITICIAN:
Pranab Mukherjee (For skilful handling of one of Indian economy's worst recessionary and turbulent phases.)


BEST in ENTERTAINMENT (Indian):
A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty (Oscar Winners for Slumdog Millionaire)


BEST Comeback in Market:
Microsoft (Windows 7)


ANIMAL of the Year:
Ox


CAR of the Year:
Opel/Vauxhall Insignia


BEST Cellphone of the Year:
Nokia 5800


WORD of the Year:
Unfriend


INNOVATION of the Year:
Vodafone (Zoozoos) :)

17 methods to catch a lion !!!!!

1. Newton's Method:
Let the lion catch you. For every action there is equal and opposite reaction. It implies you caught the lion.

2. Einstein Method:
Run in the direction opposite to that of the lion. Due to higher relative velocity, the lion will also run faster and will get tired soon. Now you can trap it easily.

3. Schrodinger Method:
At any given moment,there is a positive probability that lion to be in the cage. So set the trap, sit down and wait.

4. Inverse Transformation Method:
Place a spherical cage in the forest and enter it. Perform an inverse transformation with respect to lion. Lion is in and we are out.

5. Thermodynamic Procedure:
Construct a semi-permeable membrane which allows everything to pass it except lions. Then sweep the entire forest with it.

6. Integration Differential Method:
Integrate the forest over the entire area. The lion is some where in the result. So differentiate the result PARTIALLY w.r.t lion to trace out the lion.

GOT FRUSTRATED ?

Wait.. There are some more unique techniques !!!

7. Govinda method:
Continuously dance before the lion for 5 or 6 days.

8. Rahul Dravid method:
Ask the lion to bowl at you. You bat for 200 balls and score 1 run. Lion dies after a spurt of continuous madness.

9. Maneka Gandhi method:
Save the lion from danger and feed him with vegetables continuously.

10. George Bush method:
Link the lion with Osama Bin Laden and shoot him!

11. Software Engineer Method:
Catch a cat and claim that your testing has proven that its a Lion. If anyone comes back with issues, tell that you will upgrade it to Lion.

12. Indian Police Method:
Catch any animal and interrogate it & torture it to accept that its a lion .

13. Rajnikanth Method :
Keep warning the lion that you may come and attack anytime. The lion will live in fear and die soon in fear itself.

14. Jayalalitha Method:
Send Police commissioner Muthukaruppan around 2AM and kill it, while it's sleeping !

15. Manirathnam Method (director):
Make sure the lion does not get sun light and put the lion in a dark room with a single candle lighted. Keep murmuring something in its ears. The lion will be highly irritated and commit suicide.

16. Yash Chopra method (director):
Take the lion to Australia or US.. and kill it in a good scenic location.

17. Karan Johar Method (director):
Send a lioness into the forest. Our lion and lioness fall in love with each other. Send another lioness in to the forest, followed by another lion. First lion loves the first lioness and the second lion loves the 2nd lioness. But 2nd lioness loves both lions. Now send another lioness (third) into the forest. You don't understand right... Okay....read it after 15 yrs, then also you wont!

Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it .

Read the message, then read it again in REVERSE.

Which generation do you belong in?