MUA : Travelogue - Kemmangundi Trip

Aarokke eneetaalum illenkilum...

Had been saying this for more than 2 months till one fine Thursday evening. I did one final round of calling the concerned parties on phone, before heading for my abode2 - Pluto. Nothing there had a trip feeling. No packing, no maps, no plannings.. I had my shoulder bag packed up. Inspired from me, Gasper too did his bit. Bin and Jim hadnt reached yet from office. Their shift time ends only by 11PM. I slept...

4.30AM... I got up to find "logs" of sleeping beauties beside... Kicked the ass of one and all. Once all booted up, it was (finally) for sure that the trip is going to happen.

Destination: Kemmangundi

Trippers: Rat,Bin,Jim,Gas. Mrid to join on day2

Mode of transport: Bike ! :-)

At 6.15 all were out and on the roads... We did our bit of 'preparation' by filling an empty fuel tank, and also checking the tyre pressure..

Little bit of truck traffic in the initial stretch to Tumkur, but all plain road after that..

Breakfast was at Tumkur..

Toll roads were magical. And the best part was "No Toll For Bikes.. Yippeee". That, pretty much, justified our plan to do the trip on bike :D

The onward route was : Koramangala -> Yeshwantpur -> Tumkur -> Tiptur -> Arsikere -> Chikmagalur

The initial stretch is NH4 and then we hit NH206. The final 40 odd kms to Chikmagalur was not good.. There was a better route to take, but we were unaware..

At 12.30 we had already done 245km and checked into a hotel in Chikmagalur.. All bikes and all bikers in good condition.. Bath, lunch, sleep... Just before the noon nap, it was announced "aarokke eneetaalum illenkilum 3.30 aavumbo blah blah blah". We got up at 5.30 :D

Chikmagalur is a nice tiny town, buzzing with activity all the time. Not much of tourist spots as such, but short rides around the town give as much pleasure... We left for MG Park. Gas tried horse riding. An inspired Bin tried too.. Horse riding is not for kids.. So Rat and Jim stayed out.

Back to room...Eat sleep.. End of Day1

Day2:

Contrary to expectations, guys were out by 6.30 in the morning. But still we missed the sunrise deadline.. Something in the wishlist was to ride 30Km upto Mullyangiri to view sunrise :D

Nevertheless, if not at Mullyangiri, we caught this on the way:

Mullyangiri was awesome.

Trekking would have been a nice experience. But that was never in our agenda. Common sense says that trekking leaves you exhausted. And with 3 persons required as riders at any given time, trekking was an intelligent thing to be left behind.

Lots of gimmicks here at Mullyangiri:

Mis-reading a signboard, we reached Dattapetta (or something like that..) Looked like a gated community stuff.. And one fella came with a receipt the moment they spotted us.. Dint spend a minute there.. Saved some bucks :-)) Back on track to K'gundi...

By 11.30 we reached K'gundi. Multiple disappointing things here:

1. The route which we used was the worse of the two available routes. "Worse" is not the word.. There was no road.. It was all gravel and dust. Poor bikes :(

2. The previous day, in approximately the same duration of time, we covered 200+km. But today, it is just a meagre 60km :'(

3. There is NO room available at K'gundi. The "special officer" was rude when he said "no booking? no room"

4. To top it all, there is ABSOLUTELY no crap thing to see in Kemmangundi. Echoing words of another group of santro-trippers "Hey, there is nothing here.. Its more of hype that was passed on over the years"

Rock Garden, Z Point, Shanthi falls.. my foot..

Rock Garden is no better than an average park in Bangalore.
Hoping to get some breathtaking view from Z-Point, we rode up hill.. but only till a certain bike-able point. Thats when ppl returning from the Z-point said with anguish "Pls dont go there, it is waste of time.. And you will tire yourself..

Phew.. that was one good piece of advice.. After all, the point num 3 above turned to be boon in disguise :-P

Now the only thing left was to visit the Hebbe falls.. Deciding to go against the odds, we said NO to jeepers. They claimed no other vehicle will be able to 'climb' the path. We were adamant and wanted to prove them wrong. We could prove them wrong only for half the distance...beyond which it was the kind of off-road hill climbing that we see on TV, that even hummer-types climbs with difficulty.

The day was turning out to be a flop show.. The only hope ahead is the Kalhatti falls.. We hoped there is at least a micro mini water fall there. In the end, it wasnt too bad. We did our bit of water games at the base.. And trekked to the top, high up, almost till the source of the stream.. Enjoyed the chill of water. Extremely relaxing times...

Had a lunch sorts at around 3PM. Planned to stay at "Birur". But a good samaritan enquired our plans of further visits and suggested we halt at Chikmagalur itself. The roads were good - it was NH206 again. So had a pleasure trip back to the base..

Mridul joined us in the evening. And we checked into another hotel, not wanting to tolerate the poor room service of Malnad Tourist Home.

Back to Jim's Experia.. GPRS.. GPS... and next day's plan was fixed for Belur, Halebidu (and ShravanaBelagola if time permits) Well, Jim says ShAravana Belagola :-))

Using all the info from net, Rat proclaimed "Belur is a must watch. It is 800 years old". Jim couldnt resist screaming "We are all living on earth and it is millions of years old". Rat retired for the day :-S

Day3:

It was only in the morning that we came to know about Mrid's strange dream...His R15 was stolen! Our hero rushed downstairs at 2.30AM to check if the black beast was in place.. He would have hardly got any nights sleep after that.. Cant blame him either. It is a 1.2L thing parked over there !

Checked out from Soundarya Residency at 7 in the morning.

Straight to Belur.

ChennaKeshava TempleAmazing place.. Built over 100 years.. This temple is said to be covered by sand to hide it from Muslim invaders.. Interesting! Not an easy thing to do with just man power..

Jim discovered that even in those days, technology was in good shape.. Chariot wheels hat nuts and bolts on it :P

Off to Halebidu.

Breakfast was from here. It was around 9.30AM. Halebidu is another Hoysala architecture..and pretty much similar to Belur temple. All rock.. All cool.. Places to sit and relax.. And lotsa greenery around.. Left the place at the scheduled 11AM.

Almost got blocked at this "burning tree" but we managed to squeeze ourselves thru..

It was power biking times ahead. The 85km stretch from Tiptur to Tumkur was done in 1hr. Phew!

Lunch at 3PM @ Kamat, Tumkur. For a change, we saw Gasper finding it difficult to finish what was on his plate.. Quite unnatural of him :P

We were at our juice shop near Pluto at 6PM

Tail:

1. The success of the bike trip has inspired into doing more such ventures. But Jim has strongly declared "Next trip will be a car trip". Jim paranjaal appeal illa :D

2. Rat had a day off on Monday on account of Holi. Gasper took leave and slept at home. Bin, Jim slept at a training :D

3. 700km in total

4. Nine days after purchasing his bike, Mrid had already done 1000+km on his R15 :-s

5. Kemman Video is coming soon ! Featuring VTV song :P

Bangalore Elevated Highway

Hosur Road had always been a nasty route on earth for many - particularly the SilkBoard to ElectronicCity stretch. This is the stretch that probably has the greatest amount of 'intellectual' transportation in India - the supposedly top cream of Indian youth sits in EC the whole day to facilitate foreign money inflow into Indian Economy.

No wonder that the government took the matter seriously when people complained about the inadequacy of Hosur Road to handle peak hour traffic. 800+ crores, 3years. And here we have one of the landmark constructions of Bangalore - The Hosur Road Elevated Highway.

Inaugurated on Friday, the 22nd of Jan 2010, the highway will be operated toll-free for the first week. Post that, through traffic towards Hosur is free, I believe, but entry to EC comes at a premium.

I already did multiple trial trips on this highway. The first time on Saturday (2-way) and the 2nd on Tuesday (1-way). On day1, I would have hardly taken 6mins to glide thru the 9km stretch, touching a top speed of 105km. The speedlimit on this road is 80km :P Sensing that bro wasnt appreciating the 'glide' too much, I had to slow down to a comfortable 70. The return was at a slower 50kmph and I felt like watching an art movie, riding at that speed for the entire stretch.

On day2, it was only the return trip that was on the elevated highway. This time, we (me and Doc) did some time-analysis. From the start, to the end of the highway it is 8km. At a consistent 50kmph, it took 8mins to cover the distance. (Now dont use the equations from Kinematics and prove me incorrect!)

A few thoughts on the highway:

1. It eases traffic for sure

2. Gives a good reason for the lousy techies to go to office (no more 2 hr trips to work)

3. Beautifully lit up in the night..

On the flip side:

1. With the road below widened to 10 lanes, traffic was at manage-able levels. Add a fly-over/under pass at 2-3 places and the job would have been done. 80Cr vs 800Cr.. Big waste

2. The side-rails of the elevated highway arent high enough to stop a 'flying' vehicle from landing on an unsuspecting pedestrian/biker on the road below. With vehicles screaming at top-speed on the highway, this is not an impossibility.

3. The lanes are very narrow. One car breaking down would mean congestion on the track.

Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable trip on the highway, as long as it was toll-free :D

A bigger irony is in the waiting, when the toll-gates start getting functional. The very intention of the 800Cr project was to reduce the travel time on the stretch. Starting this week, expect long queues at the toll-gate. 8mins of drive. 10 mins of wait at toll gate.. What a wonder..

This is where it begins...

And we're on top! See the Bosch building..

Almost at the EC-side.. Thats one of the crazy Infy buildings

Tail:

1. We did take some pics. Will post soon. [Update at 8.07PM - Done]

2. It was a peaceful Republic Day this year, but ppl who (accidentally) tuned into Zoom TV would have got frustrated to the end of the world, thanks to their "Phir Mile Sur" telecast in a for-loop. These national integration songs give goose pimples while in front of TV. But their effect stops there! And the re-mix sounded more like a re-mix. Sonu Nigam trying to give it a Rock touch??

Vagamon Video :-)

Of Wedding Bells & More...

The population of single's in the group is gradually diminishing. And the latest trend of this happening, is all but interesting. Of the 5 knots that happened in a little less than 2 years, all but 1 are "conveniently" arranged ones :-)

The shift in trend is evident. The literate high intellect Kerala crowd is finding it no difficult to embrace it and make no fuss about it. Or blame it on the high self-reliance of the marrying crowd which really gives the parents no choice at all ? But the ones that have happened do not fall in this category. That is a pleasant thing in itself.

The latest in the gang to get 'wedded' is our Ahuja Speaker fame KK :-) And such a lovely pair they make. Thanks to the wedding, got to catch up with a bulk of oldie friends under one roof. Also got a chance to barge into familiar territories and enjoy the hospitality and food alike :)

On the pretext of the wedding trip, we made a slight alternate plan and landed up in Vagamon! A small trio gang of Rat,Sow & Bin. It was nice to see a mini, lesser-commercialized tourist destination, at such a close vicinity. Hardly 70 odd km's from Kottayam town. And Thekkadi is just 76km from Vagamon. Had we got more days to spare, it would have been better !

Thanks to the shooting of the Jeyam Ravi starrer Tamil movie, with Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the villain's role, the decent resorts of the locality were booked out. And we had to spend the night in a luxurious 5-star , single-room, single-bed facility :P

A few pics of the trip:

Is that a screw ? A latch ? A question mark ??

Tea time, in a stylish traditional tea stall

Ota-kaalil thapas :)

And up comes the hero

Sow n Rat on Air !

Diwali Trek

Destination: Skanda Giri / Kalavara Halli Betta, 75km from Bangalore.

A cooked up video of the trek:

Skanda Giri / Kalavarahalli Betta Trek

[This blog is a break from Goa blog, to fill up a commitment :)]

Diwali. 3 day extended weekend.
Off to a trek on Sunday morning at 5.30
(Thats right.. The numbers are true!)

A detailed write-up has been already put up by Gasper.

My part, in this collaborative blog, is to add up a few lines to what he has written. Its nothing but the "lessons learnt" from the rigorous 2.5 hours of knee breaking extravaganza. Here we go:

1. Do proper homework. Get the route map. Get basic stuff - water, bread, biscuit. Get glucose and chocolates too - these are quick energizers.
2. Find out a shoe that resembles MRF Nylogrip at the base, and put it on !
3. Do a fuel-check. Carry the documents! (Jim's pulsar had all the documents till 2 km into the trip, before he lost them :D Luckily, all xerox copies)
4. The earlier the better. We found a group that started by 3AM! The moonlit trek ought to be some fun!
5. A hill-climb doesnt necessarily require a 5m network cable in your bag. Thats what we found in Jim's bag, when we did a reality weight-check at the top of the hill!
6. Minimize the luggage (back-pack) size. Split the weight across, rather than stuffing it all into one bag!
7. Jins had a lesson learnt to add up "Shouldnt we have simply slept away at home, instead of all this ordeal?" :-))


Tail:
1. We had a dog to guide our way down hill. The dog would go down quick, take a nap, and then again get on to its foot, when we reach :P
2. The traffic police had big plans for the day. Found them at multiple points on the highway, but nobody was interested in checking our whereabouts. Good for us :)
3. Had a minor accident. Rat the victim. During down-hill trek, in an attempt to get a little hand-support, fell flat on palm, onto one of the rocks. The rock had thick king-sized 'rock-colored' thorns on it. That was a few drops of redness wasted...
4. To our surprise, at the top of the hills, we found a bread-omlette/tea point. It was 'party time' up there :)

A few stills:

Thats flat terrain. Its gonna change soon!

Stay with the flock

Rock-support!

At the peak

Highly deceptive !

Goa Lekar Jawoo

A very confusing title for a travelogue. But that phrase carries a lot of meaning, and was in some way, the "driving force" for the Go Goa Part II. Incidentally, the Go Goa part I was 4 years back, in Sep 2008 2004. Not much of change to Goa. Its still the same. Except that there was a bigger crowd this time around.

The trip was not the usual long planned one. But we wanted to go on a trip with our favorite character Jim to some place or the other, before he flies to Netherlands. Goa became a unanimous choice. But the plan remained on paper for a couple of weekends.

Then one fine Wednesday, Rat and Bin sets out on a ticket hunt to the nearby travels area. There are a few dozens of travel offices lined up there. Got into more than half a dozen and stood on the busy Hosur Road side with a face that would resemble that of a baby, who dint get his chocolate that his dad had promised to get in the eve.

For one last try, got into one travel office, which is seldom visited. The bluently English speaking gentleman posted a few questions:

Q. Did you try KSRTC?
A. Yes. No tkts (But why would he try get business for KSRTC??)
Q. Train ?
A. No tkts! (Is he now working for IRCTC?)
Q. Then try blight naa......?
A. Oh Thats too expensib, err.. expensive
Q. Hmm...
Q. How many ob you ?
A. 4-6
Q. Oh! Then bhy dont you book a taxi and go ?

Taking cue from this, we went back home and dialled a few numbers. And the trip was on! Innova AC booked. We start on Friday evening 7pm.

A highly camera conscious Bin dragged Rat on Friday noon to go shopping, lest he should come for the trip in his age old blue pant and the boring dull shirts.

Sowji, Gasper and Jim landed in time. Mridul landed on time. Packed a few well-thought-of stuff into the innova:
1. one fully flat football
2. three helmets :-S
3. one digicam, one handycam
4. sunglasses - one per nose :)
5. 7 mp3 CD's, 1 parody CD :P

Contd...

Tail:
1. The voyagers made sure that the trip plan is communicated to the respective homes. Sowji was seen 'breaking' the news just before getting into the Innova - probably inspired by Bin :D Mridul had bigger plans. Since none of our plans hit the target, he decided he will tell home, only upon return :D
2. The innova came with 4 bucket seats plus one long backseat. That is just the right seating combination for 6+1
3. Whats with that "Goa Lekar Jawoo" ? Thats for the next day's write-up :)

Go Goa : Trailer

Marketing Techniques !

It amuses me at times, to see non-native people in this metro (almost) city, who not just survive, but do it big time! 

There is this bakery near our house. And when u say 'bakery' you can be doubly sure that its run by a Mallu. This fellow, who hails from North Kerala, knows nothing but "Eshtu" (which in Kannada is "How much"). And he runs business at one of the busiest snacks/tea outlets in the area !

the other day, Bin and I went looking for tickets for a trip. Bumped into this Gulte. He speaks Kannada, Telugu, and bits and pieces of Hindi and English. Very much the same as us, except that we dont speak Kannada or Telugu :P

His English was of the funny Bihari type, where there is only bhaiv, and no five. There is only bull buses, and no full buses. But he excels purely on his marketing skill. When the special-bus-with-double-charge scheme dint interest us too much, he started friendly interrogation.

Q. Did you try KSRTC?

A. Yes. No tkts (But why would he try get business for KSRTC??)

Q. Train ?

A. No tkts! (Is he now working for IRCTC?)

Q. Then try blight naa......?

A. Oh Thats too expensib, err.. expensive

Q. Hmm...

Q. How many ob you ?

A. 4-6

Q. Oh! Then bhy dont you book a taxi and go ?

Followed by this, he explained the distance, the cost factor, the luxury factor, and the convenience factor. In the end, it turned out that at a few hundred extra bucks, we would get better facilities, and better time and resource management ! We sat there, pondering why this Helluva-Idea dint strike us before !

The fellow is now in a winning situation, coz he became an instant 'friendly tour guide' to us, giving us so many options, and finally winning a deal for himself (almost)

We left..

We booked an innova (from elsewhere)..

AC !

And we are off today evening.

Bottom line:

WE ARE GOING TO GOA !!!!!!!!!!!!

(ithu parayaanaa ithrem valachu kettiyathu :D )

Coming Soon...

Munnar Falls !

Valara Falls:

Cheeyappara Falls:

Munnar Escapade is On !

And by 5 in the eve, we are gone !

A team of 24 odd are leaving today for Munnar, to gauge the rainfall received in that part of the world (The news from ground zero is that its pouring heavily)

It would be a smart thing to take a helmet along... A space suit would be the best thing, though. To protect myself from rain is one thing. But to protect me from kicks and blows is the primary reason :-S

The plan on paper is simple:
1. Leave from Blr @ 4PM
2. Land in Aluva at 3.30AM
3. Off to Munnar in a chartered bus. Reach Munnar by 11AM
4. Out roaming by 1PM
5. Back in rooms by 8PM
6. Camp Fire, games, sleep

Day2:
1. Up at 5, check out by 6 (these are interesting numbers)
2. Roam around till 11.
3. Start back to station by around 1PM
4. Reach station by 5.30PM
5. Get into train at 6PM

Boyy its a packed schedule !
And with 24 guyz (they will have 124 opinions and suggestions of their own), time management would be the key. As far as rain is concerned, who cares. If it rains, we'll do a 'Tip Tip Barsa Paani' :-))

Lumbini Park Expedition

Post the US-return treat at Magnolia, Koramangala I Block, it was 4pm when we started back our long (1km) trip back home on 4 bikes. Waiting at the signal, everyone remarked in one voice "What a nice climate". And one voice outcast the rest "Lets go to Nandi Hills". And soon, the rest of the gang joined the plan. Hit home by 4.45PM. Aasish left for home saying "brb" and came back with his Swift. Well, not a real good idea, to go by car. But then, he wants to go on a long trip. So no one objected. Started by 5PM. And one hour into the trip and we found we are nowhere near our destination. So a sudden change of plan, and we landed into Lumbini Park.

This, in fact, is our second visit to the place. Last time, it was an all guy gang of 4. This time double the number. And all-but-one guy-gang. Pretz joined us this time.

30 bucks entry fee! Phew! And an extra 30 bucks for camera. Too much (for a 2nd visit) :-)
So we saved the camera 'entry-fee', by 'stealing' it in :-P

We had missed boating last time. So this time, headed straight into the boating area. 4 pedal boats. 30 rupees per head is the ticket. For 20 minutes. A pedal boat comes to you at a 40 rupee deposit (perhaps to ensure an on-time return of boats!)

There are a few rules, that we learnt while on boat. (Rules that we should have been aware, even before getting into one!)
1. You shouldnt try hit-and-go. Human beings aint amphibians, you see :-)
2. These boats are better operated in seated position :-S
3. When it rains, you get wet !! (That was the best learning of all !!)
4. The speed of the boat doesnt have a direct relation with the speed at which you pedal. Its all in the rhythm.
5. The boat is usualy for 2 ppl. But if you have a child below 0Kg, then its okay to hav him/her seated too :-S


Having learnt all the rules, and going through an on-the-job training, it wasnt long when we got a call from the base - to get back. Running out of time, you see!

Back to base. Collected safety deposit. And off to an evening walk.

Gasper made an attempt to try a few PJ's of his standard, and we was taken airborne in an attempted effort to nose-land him into the water below... Suddenly we realised that we were inviting a lot of attention from the fella-visitors :-P

The rest of the evening was spent taking profile-pics one after the other in the same frame, in the same spot, in the same background. (And profile-pics are already on air :D )

When light faded, and when there was no one left out to take a profile pic of, we called it quits and left to Pluto. Back home by 9PM. Wondering what would have been our fate, had we decided on to stay on to our original plan (of Nandi!)

Tail:
1. Magnolia is a good place alright. But its expensive! Think of a number between 400 and 500 for per-head expense !
2. Rain did not play much of spoilsport. We just got a slight blessing type drizzling while on boat.
3. The plan of all of us going to drop Pretz to Mlswrm dint really kick-off, coz after a few mins into the return trip, we found all of us split into 3 different directions :-D
4. Voila! There is a new fly-over constructed near Windsor Manor. What a dirty construction!
5. The race course road (in front of Le Meridien) now looks majestic! New lanes added, flat re-tarred road, with rhythmic white lines running over it. Beautiful!

Munnar Escapade

After the highly successful "Tour De Kodai", this time its "Munnar Escapade" - HW team on tour! It was a tough ask to get an apt name for this adventure trip. Options tried included "Morons to Munnar" and the likes. But dint suit a professional setup. Hence resorted to Synonyms in MS-Word and the name was fixed :-)

As last time, this one is going to be be the same organizing committee (code-named Escapadians). Hope none of the committee fellas 'Escape' to make the name true :-S And challenges remain the same - Will it rain? Will we be able to cover all the spots in time? Will we be able to setup a camp fire? And since the place is in God's Own Country, need to watch out for God's Own Celebration nick-named 'hartal'. (For the record, it was hartal in Munnar for the past two days - one of 'em to celebrate the petrol price hike) :-D These are a bunch of fun-loving (read hartal-loving) ppl!!!

Yet another challenge is a critical project, which might very well lead to a postponed trip (or even a cancelled one) :-D

Whatever it is, the Escapadians do not seem to care. They are on the go !

Travelogue: MUA Kannur Day II

Saturday night ended with a splendid planning of going to Kadirur Sri Surya Narayana Kshetram (Temple) in the morning at 6. Well, you know what would have happened on Sunday morning. Yes, you guessed it right - Nothing happened :-)
No one even bothered to prove the myth "There is no 6AM in the day - particularly on a weekend" wrong!

Well, the marriage party starts from home by 9.30-10. Muhurat is from 11 to 12. And its a one-hr trip from the groom's house @ Pinarayi to Sadhu Kalyana Mandapam @ Kannur town. We opted to skip going to the groom's house, and hit the Wedding Hall directly. Having ensured that the kitchen is emptied to the fullest extent, we left the house by 10.20. Safe driver Gasper in the driving seat. So nobody expected to reach the venue, any time on that day. He is still in the Avenger 40kmph mode :D But thanks to minimal Sunday traffic, and thanks to my vast "knowledge of shortcuts", we reached the hall, just in time, when the groom and bride got up to the stage.


Guys with camera hav the exclusive privilege of watching the wedding proceedings at one-hand distance from the bride-groom :) I ws one of 'em :D

Post wedding, handed over the gift to the couple. And I wished 'em "Happy Birthday". And the bride was shocked and surprised altogether. Ente oru kaaryam :-S

For quite a while, the camera was in Gasper's custody. And he filled the memory stick with all sortsa colors - orange, blue, violet and the sorts.. There is an interesting anecdote to this episode, when we get back to Aishwarya :-)))

Sadya was super. Payasam was good too.


All the while we were talking about orange and blue. Soo dint seem to appreciate all this, very much. And she remarked "orange um apple um. kekanda enikku" :-S

Now that the most important activity of the whole wedding function is over, we called it quits, and got into the wagonR and left for the next venue. BTW, the 'orange' was at the entrance of the hall, and seemed to wave 'tata' with her eyelashes :D (atho enikku thonniyathaano?) :-S

Straight to Papinishery Snake Centre - the only anti-venom centre in Kerala. Among the different animals on display there, the Goose and the Peacock grabbed our attention. Goose, coz we had a similar version with us:



Peacock, coz he performed a dance show for us :-)




There used to be a snake demo at Papinishery at every hour. We were there at the wrong time, and we were told, it will be 45 mins before the next demo. Since the day's schedule was tightly packed, we left for the next place - Parassini Muthappan Temple. As is the fact, techies usually dont spend much time in divine spots. So we could quit soon from here.

Next is Mridul's house. Boy! Nothing short of a palace! Traditional construction with a 'nadumutam in the centre. When it rains, the nadumutam gets filled with clean bubbly rain water. Amazing!


Mridul's muthamma and mom decorated the table beautifully and called us. By the time, they returned with hot tea, the table was empty :-S
Muthamma remarked "Sadya okke kazhinju varunnathu kondu valya vishaponnum kaanilla ennaa vichaarichey". Gasper was prompt "Athu pinney, ithrem saadhanangal okke snehathode kondu vechaal, enganeyaa kazhikkaathirikkunney" :-D

We got an offer of a 2nd visit plus stay when we are in that part of the state :-)
While parting, muthamma called her elder sis and said "I'm sending some kids with Appu. Take care of them" Kollaam ! Another round of tea/juice and snacks ;-) Finished the table decorations there too and set out to Payyambalam beach.

I had never seen the beach so crowded! For that matter, it was almost 8 years since I came to this beach... It was a touch and go here, coz time was running out.


Dropped Mridul at bus bay, and back to Aish.

Quickly all the photos were copied on to the system, and a pre-view show started. Gasper seated in front of the PC. Sand beside him, and I behind them. Started off with the trip pics, then to the wedding pics... and right when the 'orange,apple' pics came Pop came dad :) Dad entered saying "oh, wedding pics r ready?" Gasper started sweating.. "Yes" - but with no pic of the bride and the groom :-)) Gasper clicks next photo - apple. next one - orange! Sand started giggling.. I quit the place singing a song (Smart me). Sand managed to steal himself out, on the bahaana of taking bath and getting ready. Gasper was left all by himself, switchng between the apples and oranges. Finally he got his breath in place, when a bride-groom pic came on screen. Phew :D

I was prompt to go straight into the kitchen and share the 'news' with mom and Soo. They could see the whole happenings from there, and couldnt stop laughing :-))


Later Gasper unleashed some of his favorite words onto us, before saying "Thank God, uncle didnt ask who took the photos. If he had, I would hav said Rat" :-S

Come dinner time, another comedy.
The table was full with chapathi chicken curry and fruits. The obedient and sincere (to-food) gang finished off teh chapathi container and got up. Later I overheard from the kitchen "ithraykum njaan pratheekshichilla.. njaan vichaarichu, kuttikal kazhichu kazyinjittu achanu kodukkaam.. pinne randennam raathri Julie kkum kodukkaam.. ithilippo onnum baakki illallo!"

:-))) Mom would be better prepared next time !

Out at 8.30PM. At Kadirur Bus Stop at 8.45PM. Into bus at 9.30PM. Back at Kalasipalya at 6.10AM. At home by 7.45AM.

Post-publish-edit
Tail :
1. Soo pointed out that I missed putting a reference to the super hit movie (??!@!#$()*$) which was played during the return trip in the bus. Read it here :-)

Travelogue: MUA Kannur

An MUA to Kannur wont pass by the ears, without a chill in the bones. Kannur ? Isnt there any better option ? Are we not planning any other MUA after this one ?! Do we need to prepare our wills prior to the trip ?!!!

All these proves incorrect. And that was one super successful trip to Kannur. Of course, with a special reason attached to it - Bin's Bro's Wedding. Except for me, none of the touring gang has even seen the groom. But as the saying goes.. "Cake khaane ke liye hum kahi bhi pahonch jaate hain" :D

Thanks to Pritz (she has becoming my official ticketing agent :-s), got all 6 tkts in the same bus, all of 'em paired up. To reach Kalasipalya on a busy Friday evening is a big ask. We 4- rat,gas,mri,jim - got into an auto by 7.15. Sand,Soo had already got into a red volvo from their place to reach the destination. In the end, we were the ones to reach first. At 8.15PM (The bus is scheduled to leave the place at 8.30PM). Sand-Soo too landed in 10 mins.

The privileged duo had already had their dinner @home. The remaining 4 of us took refuge into a 4-wheeled 5-star thattukada. The food wasnt any bad, lemme tell you ! Pritz joined to taste the food, before getting into her bus. We got into our bus, when the driver decided its time. Luckily no 'Kalabhavan Mani' movies in the bus. Nice sleep (of course, keep aside the 1 hour ghat stretch, where there used to be a tarred road) :-D

7AM Sharp. We deboarded at Ponniam Road. 7 mins walk to Aishwarya. Dad n mom welcomed us at the door. We were alloted rooms at level 2. A bed tea, after freshening up. Followed by a heavy breakfast of putt and kadala. After almost half an hour into this exercise, mom came to the table and asked our man "Gasper, mathiyaakkiyo?". Gasper seemed to have taken that to heart, and made it a point to leave no trace in the putt vessel :D

Wasting no time, the team of 5 (note that Mridul continued his journey in the bus, to get down at Kannur) got into silver WagonR to head towards the first destination of the day - Telicherry Fort. Among the series of photos taken were a new set of pics - code named Mat Pics - of Gasper. Mat stands for 'matrimonial' :D After fort, off to Tly Sea View point, Tly Fishing beach (the "fragrance" is still around :D ) and then to the abandoned sea pier. All this, under the hot sun :) Gasper was constantly worried about his complexion. Jim too :-D


Muzhapilangad drive in beach was planned for post-lunch. But all of a sudden, we had a lot of time in hand. And we set off to the drive in beach - the longest in India (I heard a version, where 'india' is replaced with 'asia'. might be true!) Awaiting us, here was a team from Aero India. They had organized a para gliding session - well, not exclusively for us, but we formed a big chunk of adventurers to try it out. A nice thing to do. And for 250 bucks per person, not a big hole in the pocket.. It wasnt as scary as it looked to be. Climbing up was smooth. Getting down was easy too. And to get a birds eye view of the entire place was a thrilling sight.

The bravest among the lot, Jim, opted not to try this 'wild' thing. He preferred to be on ground - which was stabler when it comes to PE=mgh calculation. And he had cam in hand, so we had these images captured, even while we were airborne.

Soon after the last man standing flew and landed, we packed back to Aishwarya. Yummy lunch was waiting us - served hot on plantain leaves. Post lunch, a short trip to Mahe Tagore Park, Mahe Church, back to Tly to the 2-rupee park (:D). Then a call to Bin "Daa... biriyani ready aayo?". A positive reply saw the wagonR charging towards Pinarayi. Since I was 'reasonably well aware' of the route to his house, I asked him to pick us up from the nearest known landmark spot. Reached house by 7PM. Korachu neram thirinju kalichittu nere dining table ilottu chaadi veenu. Koyi biriyani :)

After foodings, Bin took us for a round trip of the place - all the neighboring buildings are his relatives'. There is a temple inside the compound. There is a pond too. And there is a martial arts centre, where he claims to have undergone kalari-payatu training. (lavane kandaal parayoola) :D

We quit the place, dropped the movie plan and dropped into Tly City Centre. Well, this is not Bangalore, and 8PM is shut down time. Nothing much to see there. We aimed for house. Bath. Sleep.. ZZz....

Continued...

Random Shots:

Shadow Play @ Underground Hide-out in Tly Fort
_______________________________________________


Abandoned Light-house at Tly Fort
_______________________________________________


Abandoned Sea Pier at Tly Fishing Beach
(ee naattil ellaam abandoned aanallo :-s )
_______________________________________________


Adventure Sports @ Muzhapilangad Drive in Beach
_______________________________________________


View from the 2-rupee park :)

MUA Kannur: Coming Soon

MUA Kannur !

Kicking off a mega MUA plan - the MUA Kannur !

This would count as the most hyped MUA of the century, due to the sheer reference to the mega metro city of Kannur :-D And all the major tourism attractions of Kannur would be covered in this mega event.

Well, not the right time to go for any kindsa mini/normal/mega MUA to any parts of Kerala. But when opportunity knocks, we seldom sit and smile back :)

The MUA will be a 6-member team, hitting the roads on Friday night. Kannur metro will be blessed with the footsteps of the voyagers by early morning 6 on Saturday. Followed by a freak-out session of 2 days which will cover Thalassery Beach, Fish market (:-S), Thalassery Fort, Muzhapilangaad Drive-in beach (the longest in India)...

Well, for the detailed "project plan", read the section below!
1. Get into Ashoka Travels at 8.30PM from Kalasipalya - Seats 21 to 26 :)
2. Reach Aishwarya by 6.30AM on Saturday
3. After BF, go for a pre-lunch roaming.
=> Thalassery Fort
=> Thalassery Meen Market :-s
=> Thalassery city !

4. Lunch at Aishwarya.
5. Post-lunch roaming

=> Muzhapilangaad Beach (Asia's longest drive-in beach)
=> Dharmadam thuruthu (land in sea)

6. Hit Bin's house by 7PM
7. Put and 'Kadala' from his house :)
8. Back to Aishwarya. Sleep!

Day2 - Sunday
1. Early morning(?) getting up and going to temple. 14 mins walk from house
2. Post BF, go to Bin's house.
3. Off to Kannur town with the wedding party
4. Put and 'kadala' again (after the wedding of course)
5. Check out by 2PM.
6. A lil bit of Kannur Town roaming

=> Parassinikadavu Muthappan Temple (bhery bhamous)
=> Papinissery Snake Centre (Kerala's only anti-venom spot)

7. Back to Aishwarya by 6.30PM
8. Catch the return bus to Blr by 8.30PM
9. Back at Kalasipalya by 6AM. There will be drop-buses to Marthahalli, Madiwala

Pls note that Day2.6 would be highly tentative...
Samayam, ksheenam, dooram angane korey constraints..
Patunnidatholam polikkaam.
Samayam undel kalyanathinum povaam :-S

Trip to SFO Golden Gate Bridge

Destination Golden Gate Bridge.
Saturday the 15th was a busy day. I think I slept alongside the laptop, and when I got up music was still playing. That day, did some local trips. Been to the furniture super bazaar - IKEA. Thats a Swedish store, and that name too is Swedish, I guess.


SFO plan got deferred to the next day, due to want of time on Saturday..

Kir had some touch up work to be done in office. Hence the trip starting point was his office. And the official start time : 12.26PM (proof given below)


First to a filling station to top up fuel, and to do a car wash. I heard him murmuring on the rising fuel prices.. But I opted to keep quiet rather than spitting out stupid lines like " This time, I'll pay for the gas ". At times I like my low-profile-ness a lot :-D


The car wash is too hi-fi! Sit in the car and drive thru the car wash area, and at the other end of the tunnel, you have a clean glowing color coming out! Awesome. It takes hardly 2 minutes, but it takes 6 dollars :-)

Then comes the 51 odd miles stretch to GG Bridge. Out here, people are familiar only with miles. If you say 82.0765 km, they will stare dumb at you. (Seeing this magic number, are you doing the same?!!).

Kiron was behind the wheels. And I was the navigator, trying to read out strange names that are have no vowels in the second part of it (Marina Blvd, 19 Av and the likes). Kiron went mad, listening to my directions. But he was kind enough not to kick me out on to the highway :D


Closer to the destination, there was heavy traffic. And a lot of signals. In the end, we reached the Golden Gate Bridge toll gate by 1.55 PM. Northbound trip is free! No toll. So as long as you are going to make a tent and stay on the other side of the bridge its a free trip. But if u wanna go back home, and sleep cozy, then you need to shell out 5 $ , for a return trip thru the bridge.

When the bridge was right in front of me, 3 thoughts ran into my mind:
1. Wowwwwwwwwwwww
followed by...
2. Voila, its not golden! Gimme back my money!
3. And where the heck is the Gate ?! Dont tell me that the 'toll gate' is the gate !


A little study revealed the fact behind the name of the bridge. If you wanna know go find it for yourself :) I found this page very simple and informative..

Drive over the bridge was such a feel. The bridge is 6 lanes. With ample space on both sides for pedestrians. The lanes are adjustable. Read somewhere that in the peak hours when south bound traffic is more, the lanes will be 4 south, and 2 north. Its not a hi-fi automated adjustment, but manual one :-)

We parked the car at the 'Vista Point'. Not a perfect view point for the bridge, but its a nice place to get a view of the bay and the yachts in the bay, and the long view of the city - peeping sharp into the bay.






After a round of left-right photography, we decided to have the feel of walking on the bridge. The driving lanes were crowded and so were the pedestrians lanes. Most of them tourists, some jogging, some walking 'just for a horror' and a few cycling. Walking gives the real picture of the enormosity of the bridge. It has got two huge towers, on which the entire bridge is supported. From the base of the tower, u can have a feel of the size. And the stretch between towers is also a lil too much. Walking over it to and fro will definitely burn some useless calorie from the body..








Had some snack at the other end of the bridge. That was Kir's lunch. I had a brunch, not much ago. I too joined him for company. While eating we saw some gathering not far from there. There was a man floored, and cops all around him. Lotza a police cars too. Dint go any close to it. I dint hav any proof of identification with me. No passport nothing. Big risk :)




Roamed around the places on the south end of the bridge, and started the walk back. After a few minutes of walk, when I saw the pillar, I thought 'thank God, we have reached'. Thats when Kir asked me to turn back to check for the other pillar. It wasnt there !! It disappeared ?? Or.. err.. well.. is this the first pillar in the stretch? Yes it is ! :-S
sigh.. its gonna be a long day !

Back at Vista point, we decided to go to Pier39 and find out what it is all about. And by sunset, we thought of returning to the GG bridge to take a nice lit up snap.

Pier39 was close by. Around 10 mins thru the traffic. Its just one of the piers, with a serial number attached to it, and is developed into a tourist/commercial spot.


Lotsa shops, hotels, seafood, carnival like atmosphere, live band, live performances etc... A colorful place.





Sun had set by the time we came out of pier39. Kir fetched his tripod from the car, and did some pro shoots.

Back to GG bridge by around 7.45.
Played around with the exposure time, and got some stump images !






Left the place by 10PM.
Home by 11PM. Tried controlling my sleep, sitting beside the driver. But slept off the last 5 or 10 miles :-P

Some interesing pics:
1. Technical Spec!


2. Oh Mommy Look at That !!


3. Woman at work !


4. Bay Bridge. View from Pier39 foot overbridge



5. Bus Bay in the eve


6. Bus Bay by night


7. Kir with tripod


8. Boats at the pier