Geometric Patterns…

I see a pattern, thrice have I been accused of being one of the vertices of a triangle, More recently by immature retards, who I do not give a damn about and about a year ago, by a person, I had great respect for and considered an equal, However one who did not have the spine to accuse me directly, but would go “I trust you dude, she is the one who is putting this kind of stuff in my head”.

Yeah right! Good try dude.

Triangles bore me. Please rest assured, if I were even remotely interested, There would be no triangle involved, you would not be a vertex, and only a straight line would exist on which you would not be a point. (And you know I am right, you insecure idiots).

MUZIK

MUSICOVERY, a new favourite radio. Not in Pandora league when it comes to functionality and simple elegance, but with super cool fluid design (flash, not Java script) and some great variety of music played by Genre/Mood. Got to it from FINK

I am playing…

User’s Atmosphere – Watership Song

Buddha Bar – Sitar Ritual

Red Sparrow – Les Arbres

Dr Rubberfunk – take these drums

Gorillaz – last living souls (I love this band more for the animation)

The Cranberries – Stars

Tarana – Vande Mataram

Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam…

I cannot stand…

Raja Hindustani – aaye ho meri zindagi mein tum bahar banke… this song has been on my lips for a month now :(

It seems to have invaded my sub-conscious, there have been times when I have found myself singing it without realizing it :(

To add to my misery just before we got started on the trek, the hotel radio had this song, siiiiiiiigh its haunting me !

I am singing…

Jaane Jaan - I like the intensity this song generates, I think we sing this well, but my partner in rhyme does not seem to enjoy singing this as much.

Aaj Kal tere mere pyar ke charche – We both love singing this :D

Hichi Chaal turu turu – A very peppy marathi song :D

Aaye ho meri zindagi mein – Damn, how long how long will I sing this song? toooo long toooo long :(

MOVEES

Equilibrium – Christian Batman Bale, good action flick with a some super cool action sequences that introduce us to a fighting technique called ‘Gun Kata’ / ‘Gun Fu’. Superb.

Bourne Identity – Fast Paced and brilliant, true to Robert Ludlum’s style of writing. Matt Damon does a great job and Franka Potente gets to run again 

Bourne Supremacy – Picks up from the previous and keeps going. Excellent. Cannot wait for Bourne Ultimatum.

Ask the Dust – Salma Hayek does not look 40! She is as gorgeous as ever and Colin Farrel does a decent job in this long movie with a thin plot. Brilliant cinematography

Malena – Well I watched it in Italian, who bothers abput understanding the language, when one can watch Monica Belluci :P
It’s a nice movie but what I do not understand is why Monica Belluci is such a popular actor, she cannot act to save her life! Monica seems to be nothing else than a hot bod.

Trek on tracks

The trek was all it promised to be, absolutely brilliant. We took the Rajahamsa from Bangalore to Donigal (a small village 9 kms away from sakleshpur) on the Bangalore- Mangalore highway.
Reaching Donigal while it was dark (4am) we decided to figure out to evenly distribute the baggage. By 4:30 am we were off on the 5 km walk over the highway, that would take us to the starting point of the trek, Donigal railway station





Now the entire trek is of 2 days, that would take us from Donigal to Kukke Subhramanya. Total distance 57 kms. However first we had to get to a station called Yedikumeri (around 18 kms away) and then make further plans.

So off we went, initially feeling very uncomfortable as we were not used to walking on the concrete sleepers of the railway track. But as the bridges and the tunnels began the trek became interesting. We decided to take it slowly and enjoy the scenery. We did encounter a couple of trains but we got sufficient warning to get out of their way :D










The thrill was in crossing long bridges, where we had only the unevenly placed sleepers to walk on and a drop of about 180 metres to worry about.



The longest tunnel we encountered was over half a kilometer (543 metres long to be precise).

At one point we crossed a very high bridge built over a fast flowing river. Just after crossing the bridge we decided to get down to the river, though there was no apparent way through the dense foliage. 5 of us cut through the thorny plants and made our way down to an old unused bridge, and from there we decide to get into the water, and this proved to be the best part of the trek, lying down in the soothing cool fast flowing water.
It was obvious that these were waters untouched by humans for quite a long time, that added to the excitement.



We finally reached Yedikumeri station at 5:30 pm after a 17.2 km long trek.
We camped the night at the station and next day at 5am we managed to hitch a ride in an engine !  to Kukke (a 30 kilometre journey), thanks to a very friendly motorman :))




Riding in the engine over some of the most beautiful valleys and Shola forests was absolutely exhilarating







We got a bus back to Bangalore from Kukke, to end a perfect trek. The gang was made up of wonderfully crazy people, the place was beautiful, the plan was to be agile and everything fell into place like a dream.

As I re-read this post I realize that I have not been able to describe the trek as well as I would have wanted to, but then one had to be on the trek to get the essence of it, and reading it just wont do.

It is sad that the trains will start in a few weeks putting a stop to any further treks here. However I am glad that I managed to experience this unique trek :)

Photu of the Week

This is one of my favourites :D :D

Check-list

- Tent

- Sleeping bag

- Rucksack

- Knife

- LED torch light

- MTR food packs

- Machar ka Boss, Odomos

- Salt, Dettol, Lighter

- First aid kit

Off I go :D

The Club

We have decided to start a club, the MAMOOAMH club.

Also called the ‘Make A Mountain, Out Of A Mole Hill’ club, Now this club is necessitated because of so many MAMOOAMH events that we see around us.

Too many stupid discussions and message threads that have no value other than providing a forum to some people who like to hear themselves speak.

Now the as with all clubs, there are rules…

1. Any ‘discussions’ held should deviate from the topic as much as possible and should make as little sense as possible and should not be brought to a logical end.
2. The aforementioned topic should be of least significance to any character/ person either fictional or real.
3. The message thread (if any) will not, so to speak be a thread it will be more a bunch of threads that have no origin and no potential destination.
4. Usage of words/phrases such as ‘Absolutely’, ‘Definitely’, ‘Most Certainly’, ‘I would beg to differ’, ‘I think that is an interesting idea, but…” etc is most certainly encouraged
5. Usage of technical/Management jargon (existing/just invented) such as ‘Cognitive Dissonance’, ‘Test Harness’, ‘Helixity’ is a must.
6. If you are someone who enjoys speaking in abbreviations, most welcome.
7. All the better if you enjoy making long discourses in languages that none of the involved parties understand (I had such a discussion on the chat recently, it works like a dream).

Symptoms of the above are relatively less in India , however strains of the above exist, and there have been many meetings/message threads elsewhere, where I have felt like saying ‘Why are we discussing such a trivial issue?”.

Until recently I thought something was wrong with me, but recently have met like minded people who feel the same. Hence the club, maybe it will help us get into the ‘flog a dead horse until its soul dies’ mode.

Piano Man

He says

son can you play me a memory

I am not sure how it goes

But its sad and its sweet

And I knew it complete

When I wore a younger man’s clothes

Sing us a song you are the piano man

Sing us a song tonight

Well we are all in the mood for a melody

And you got us feeling alright

- Billy Joel

Weekends...

Aha, what are Saturdays meant for if not lethargy, eh?

Back in school, I would love nothing more than to be cooped up in a room and read on a weekend. I hated any form of socializing.
Years of reading made me realize that an addiction to anything (even reading) is bad.

Weekends through 11^th and 12th were spent playing cricket.

Most of my Degree weekends went into either practice or cricket.

The concept of weekends was forgotten during MBA.

Presently my Saturday consists of Cricket or football in the morning, catch a movie on TV (any movie, today I watched “Ice princess” a chick flick :-| ).
Afternoons spent hunting for books or dvds. Mebbe a date or two in the evening :) and up reading or listening to music till very very late.

Sundays are ofcourse meant for the inner circle.
However I need to learn that Long Island Ice Tea's, Daiquiris and Margaritas may make a great companion on sunday evening, but makes a bad one for monday mornings :(

P.S: Sunday evenings the beautifully lit Vidhan Soudha looks wonderful from '13th Floor'

Listening to…

DeVotchka – Queen of the surface streets

Uthe sab ke Kadam – Baaton Baaton mein
(this is a great duet song, we are practicing it, also practicing “Jaaneman Jaaneman” :) )

Purple Raiders – Mrs Robinson (I prefer the Simon and Garfunkel one)

Don Mclean – Its just the sun.

Moxy Fruvous – King of Spain

300

Frank Miller ! 300 is a lesson in history. Brilliant….One of the best graphic novels I have read in recent times.

300 tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in frank miller style. A must read!

“The Persian arrows are so great that they will fill the sky and block out the sun”

“- Good, we shall get to fight in the shade!!”

A Classic :)

Looking Forward

Recently had been to Dharmasthal, to a Shiva temple.

Dharmasthal is an 8 hour drive from Bangalore on the Mangalore highway. The road condition on the ghat section was such that I can safely say that it was the worst ghat road I have ever seen .

However the scenery along Western ghats is breathtaking. Parallel to the Ghat road runs a river and also a railway track that is being converted to meter broad gauge.

This track provides a great opportunity for trekking.

In December the trains will start thus closing the trek route. So this may be the last few days that the trek is open. Hence a trek has been planned and am looking forward to this one.

The trek is along the track, and better known as a Tracking expedition, I am looking forward to this trek especially because

• A goods train comes along once a day and if at this point one is stuck on a bridge, then the only way to get out in one piece is either to jump into the river or run back along the bridge. What could be more exciting ?
• There are quicksand traps along the trek and this provides a whole new meaning to the word adventure
• Snakes, Bats and Leeches make it all the more fun.

I have encountered Leeches at Coorg, I think leeches have some of the coolest mechanism when it comes to sucking blood (they actually inject a chemical that has anesthetic qualities, hence one does realize there is a leech until it bloats).

I had a very close encounter with bats in a cave formation near Bangalore where we had to lie down on our backs and slide down a cave on Bat Guano, with Hands touching the cave ceiling. That cave was a nightmare I will never forget. (I slid down the wrong fork in the cave and got lost, this was in total darkness as torches would disturb the bats, and panicky bats in a claustrophobic cave that’s 3 feet in height is not the best situation to be in).

Though I am quite terrified of caves with tiny crawling spaces. Bats, Leeches and snakes (provided anti-venom is at hand) are fine. It’s the lizards that I fear and until I don’t have to deal with them I am ok.

More on this trek once I am done with it. Hope it materializes….*rubs hands in anticipation*

Comic Crazy

I am on cloud number nine…I got my hands on some of the all time classics

Sandman – Yeah I got the entire sandman series, Neil Gaiman rocks. Death is a beautiful young girl with a perky smile, Dream her elder brother is the super cool dude dressed in black also known as sandman/morpheus etc etc.
Along with Destiny Despair etc they are the seven siblings known as the ‘Endless’. The central character being dream.

Terry Pratchetts death is a cool hooded skeletal figure who speaks in CAPITALS (if discworld were a movie I would cast Johnny depp as Death). Neil Gaimans death is more human but I prefer Terry anyday.

300 – Frank Miller. need I say more ?, from the master who gave us ‘Sin City’ and ‘Ronin’

Watchmen – Alan Moore, I became his fan when I read ‘V For Vendetta’. The movie was pretty decent too, but the graphic novel was just brilliant.

I lost my copy of Batman Year One :( :( Damn my all time fav. I have said it time and again that no character is as powerful as the batman.

If you want any of the above, lemme know.

Watching Birds of the feathered kind

I stay close to Lalbagh Botanical gardens, a sprawling 250 acres of beautiful gardens right in the middle of the city.

I guess this explains the variety of birds that come down to our window sill to feed on the food we keep there.

Crows, Mynahs, Parakeets, Cuckoos…to name a few. (We even get lots of Squirrels, but sparrows seem to have gone extinct in the city)

The crows eat right out of our hands literally (I think crows are really beautiful), The cuckoo an ugly bird with a melodious voice is more shy, So was lucky to shoot one (with a camera of course).

Here are some pictures i clicked right out of the kitchen window...

This is the Male, the Female of the species is speckled grey, does not have the sing song voice of the Male Cuckoo and is camera shy.

Next Change…Bangalore

Aha! And we were wondering when this would happen? From the 1^st of November Bangalore is out and Bengaluru is in…siiiiigghhh Bangalore goes the Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata way.

Mumbai was bad….VT (Victoria Terminus) became CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus) Looks like the same is going to be the case with Bangalore…already there are some "tasteless" (read amusing) sms’s doing the rounds about the fate of localities/roads with names such as 'Cox Town' and 'Dickinson Road' :P

Shiny Black Headgear

Yeah the title is misleading, I agree there are red and blue ones too…but as one looks at the sea of traffic, it is the black ones that you notice.

Wearing a helmet is mandatory = brisk business for the helmet stores…I even noticed a couple of mobile helmet stores in form of autos selling them.

There are brand new, shiny helmets everywhere.

Movies

It's been a long time since I have watched a Johnny Depp movie (I even missed Pirates-2). ”Corpse Bride” has been on my ‘to see’ list for too long. It has 3 major attractions

- Johnny depp - Tim Burton - Animation

Can anyone think of a better combo?

Over the past week watched

“The Grudge” – Decent

“Sentinel” – Presidential security guy, affair, First lady, terrorist, assassination attempt, gunfire, president saved. Use these words, Make a coherent sentence and you have the plot…yaaaaawn.

“Inside Man” – Denzel Washington, movie no good.

“The Interpreter” – With Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman in the cast one expects a magical movie. Good but not great.

“Hard Candy” – Whoa! I wonder why I watched this one. Its about a 14 year old gal who seduces and then castrates a pedophiliac. Yucky.

“Shawshank Redemption” - After the list above I needed a shawshank again…(that sounds bad. hehe)

“Saw II” - Brilliant! I wondered if they could match up to SAW. This movie equals SAW on all accounts. The gruesome, ingenious traps. The terminally ill psychopath Jigsaw is back to what he does best. Kill people while giving them a chance to live.

Cannot wait for Saw III to be released in India

While we are at the topic of movies, let me rant…

Daniel Craig?? James Bond?? WTF? Daniel Craig cast as a spineless villan in “Road to Predition” was perfect.
Me thinks Pierce Brosnan = Bond, reminds me to try and see if I can get “Remington Steele” somewhere.

Song in my head...

Am stuck on Silk Route's 'Boondein'. Singing it evoke feelings of pure joy and shape twinges of sadness, A joy that knows no bounds and a sadness whose source I can pinpoint.

Sublime lyrics...

khoyi ho yaadon main

palko main boonde liye

aaiena bani yeah aakhe teri

dheemi se kushboo hai

hawaoon ke jhookon ne

jo chooke tujhe choorai


Sanso ki raho main

kya milsakenge kabhi

dhoonde tujhe nigahein.. meri

sathi the janmo se

rahoo main Kyon kho gaye

manzil hamein bulaane lagi

Photu of the Week

I guess if one does not do any, there is not much scope for answering any ;)