Viva la Vegas viva la Grand Canyon

I don’t know why i chose that name for the post. Google tells me it is Spanish for either “live the Vegas” or “Long live Vegas”. I prefer the latter. Long live Vegas long live Grand Canyon.

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the state of Nevada U.S. Las Vegas is internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining and night life and is leading financial and cultural center for southern Nevada. Well I think we all know what Vegas is known for so let me just get straight to my little story (‘ll try to keep it short, and I’ll try my best to give tips wherever possible).

Short history: I was working on something amazing, and I was to display that to a limited group of people in CES 2014 (a.k.a Consumer Electronics Show). So I got my visa and left for the USA on 29th Dec 2014. I was in California for about a week and then I left for Vegas on 3rd Jan 2014 (just 1 hour flight from SFO airport). I will write about whole trip in may be another post, this is specifically for Vegas and Grand Canyon. I stayed there for about a week.

So I landed on Vegas McCarran Airport by about 4:30 PM. My obvious feeling was “OMG it is Vegas. OMG it is the sin city of the world, hope I don’t commit any sins on the way to my hotel. OMG what if there is strip joint on the way?”. I controlled the feeling, took my luggage off the belt and went outside. I was all alone, my colleague left Santa Clara one day early, I was there all alone with address of my hotel. Believe it or not the first girl I saw in Vegas was working in the airport in orange dress, covered from neck to toe. Mental note, stay the heck out of stereotyping, not all the girls you see in Vegas are exotic dancers, I had this whole other notion of girls in Vegas. I moved on. So there I was standing outside the airport, all by myself. There were so many strange faces, not strange exactly, different, different is the right word. Well this is my first trip out of my country, so basically every other face is different. Some faces with same complexion as mine looked at me like I was some sort of sex addict, “I am here for business” I told one of the guys. He replied sarcastically “Yeah we all are”, what the hell?, I came here for attending CES? God I hated that. But I was too busy processing the information like new place, new airport, new roads, new taxis, new ambiance etc. to be even thinking about other things. Unlike other U.S. cities I visited, smoking is allowed almost anywhere in Vegas (don’t know if it is legal). I have been craving for a drag for almost 8 hours, finally I got to. Heaven.

After I gained consciousness, I looked around and saw like hundreds of pretty faces and a long queue for taxis. I saw a prepaid sharing cab booth with rates chart. Just about then a women probably in her early thirties walks to me and says “I know the rates are off the charts, wanna share a cab? Is this your first time in Vegas?”. my subconscious responded “yes…”. She said “great, I am Jenny by the way, where are you headed ?”. I remembered some lessons from old schools about not talking to strangers and I have seen Liam Neeson’s Taken 1 and 2 (not that I am pretty enough to be kidnapped or something, but still new place so extra precaution). “I meant yes this is my first time in Vegas but no thanks I am waiting for a friend here”, a straight lie, a white one though. She said “oh okay, nice meeting you” and left. She was probably not what I thought she was, damn you stereotyping mind. After about 30 minutes I hopped in a cab for MGM grand hotel. The cabbie was a nice guy, he told me some places of interest in Vegas (really interesting places of interest, commission I guess).

Vegas from The Venetian

After struggling for about 30 minutes at the reception I was finally given a room (some mishap with the paperwork). The hotel is so big that they should announce it a city, first at the reception there is a huge queue 24/7, then there is hardly any place in the ground floor as it is full of people with cigarettes in one hand and poker chips in the other and thirdly there are 2 theaters and about 25 fancy restaurants on the ground floor for heaven’s sake. The room was nice, but nothing compared to my room in Santa Clara, CA. Who cares, I am in Vegas. I freshened up for the next exploratory walk in the land of sins.

After about 2 hours of official meeting and dinner, I started to look around inside the hotel. It was like a shopping mall with almost everything in it, a food court, a couple of fashion stores, a souvenir store, couple of Starbucks, McDonald’s, a wedding chapel, a very significant amount and variety of restaurants (from Italian to Mexican to European to Chinese). All inside my hotel, that was huge. I couldn’t explore much as we planned to visit Grand Canyon the next day. I have no idea who planned the Grand Canyon tour, but I didn’t wanna go, I mean just think about it, you are leaving Vegas to visit some other tourist place? Vegas is the biggest and fanciest tourist place ever, why go to some Canyon which is like a 6 hour drive? But I had no say in the decision, so I tagged along. I had to 😦

Grand Canyon is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. After we reached there, I thought when would I ever get a chance to visit this wonder of nature? my unwillingness to take part in the trip abated gradually, plus this is in that movie called DUE-DATE (Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis). It was chilly there. First time in my life I experienced negative 10 degree Celsius. Thank god I brought some warm clothes. The view was mesmerizing. It is literally more than a billion years old. Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long with width up to 18 miles (29 km) and depth over a mile (1.8 km).

Grand Canyon 001

Me in the center with my team

Me at the viewing area of Grand Canyon

Sedimentary rocks I guess

A different view of the grand Canyon (those white patches are a week old snow)

The Colorado river view at the canyon

The Colorado river creek at the canyon

A small natural crack

One of the many info plates at the canyon

I was half archaeologist by the time I finished reading all such info plates (pic above). We stayed at a motel in a small town called Williams in Arizona. Got high, watched an awesome Bollywood classic, discussed some intellectual stuff and… well passed out 😉

The next morning I saw some traces of the stale snow in the motel vicinity. That was great, although it wasn’t fresh, it was the first time I ever encountered snow, so a pretty big deal for me. We had some breakfast and left for Vegas. On the way back we stopped at Hoover dam. That was classy.

Hoover dam once known as the Boulder dam is concrete arch-gravity dam in the black canyon of the same river (Colorado river). It is at the Arizona-Nevada border. It was built in early 1930’s. That was another wow addition to the trip. The whole way we listened to Bollywood music. Here are some snaps:

The Hoover Dam

at the Arizona-Nevada borders

another view of Colorado river somewhere near Hoover dam

The way back was superb, party because of the awesome experience and partly because we were going back to Vegas. As soon as we entered Nevada we saw a hotel cum Casino, no surprises there. We had some Mexican (most probably) for lunch and after like 2 hours of shopping at bestbuy we went straight to the hotel. That was once in a lifetime trip. Trusting the instincts works sometimes.

Now CES was scheduled from 10:00 AM-06:00 PM 7th-10th January, being an exhibitor I had to be there by 9:00 AM which means leaving the hotel by 8:00 AM. So getting up by 6:30 AM. This was pretty tough (Staying up till morning is easier than getting up at 6:30 AM). First day was cool, I displayed my product to like a pro (at least, I think I did). But enough about work, I don’t really know if I am allowed to talk about it. After that We wrapped up by 6:00 PM. Work, Work, Work all day long. I think I am not doing justice to my interest and my work, let me rephrase, for me it was cool. Loved mine and my team’s work. But for now let me just say work, work, work, blah blah. That’s what other story tellers do, don’t know why. I stayed in Vegas for a week, I was busy almost all day. Even our evenings were full.

A few pics from inside the Venetian. This hotel is where I was working.

Vegas is one of the costliest cities I have ever visited, costlier than Williams, Arizona and Santa Clara, CA. What the heck, I said and continued to roam around my hotel. You can literally buy almost anything inside the hotel. I watched many games in the casino, some I understood, some weren’t allowed to watch. Singles, group of singles, couples, a couple of couples, gangs from around the world, all under one roof, for one purpose, entertainment. The definition of entertainment may differ from person to person (if you know what I mean). The city never sleeps not even at 4:00 AM. I crashed into my bed soon after.

The next morning I headed towards the food court for breakfast as decided. In the elevator, this woman says hello and starts talking to me for no clear reason. People in US are kind of friendly. She said stuff like “it’s cold so beware of static shocks, this walkway reminds me of inception the movie, I am here for business but I think I am gonna stay a little longer etc.”. I responded with single words “great, awesome, yeah etc”. I never had this kind of chat with strangers so I wasn’t really up for any conversation, she took me by surprise “you talk so less for a young man” were the last words I remember. She briskly walked in the other direction. I was preparing myself for any such encounters when I heard “YO!!! You in tights”. Shocked. I looked at my pants, and they were pretty damn tight. I turned around and saw two very pretty, extremely hammered girls, in their pajamas. It’s 7:30 in the morning. I said “excuse me”. The tall girl replied “shake you booty for me baby”. This was new, “what?” I questioned. the short one said “booty, you know booty as in hips, shake them baby, shake them like this” and started dancing in circles around me in the middle of morning crowd. I couldn’t hide a smile, I looked around and saw people staring at me like I have some sort of superpower. “Stop, what are you doing? who are you?” I asked. “It’s Vegas, what a rhetorical question, shake ’em come on”. “May be later” I said and got the hell out of there. Boy, that is too friendly, over friendly, more than I can digest. I finished my breakfast and headed for the exhibit with my teammates. The short girl was passing by and  said something in very unclear, drunk voice, I gave her a thumbs up and went in my direction. One of my team mates gave me a very questionable look. can’t blame him.

After the exhibition, we did some usual shopping, had dinner, hopped into monorail and went to our rooms. The next day almost the same. If you are buying a monorail pass, make sure there are no grand events happening in Vegas, or else there will be a huge queue, and you will waste you 28$ 3 day pass. That was it. The exhibition was over by 9th Jan 2014 evening. I had the evening and the next day to explore Vegas. Now the original plan was to get drunk and visit some places that showcases exotic female dancers. Step one was over as we had booze in our possession. But everybody ducked out, and I was on no mood to visit such places alone, this is my first time after all. So around 2:00 AM, I stepped out of my room and went to the casino area, I wanted to play some blackjack. I took a cup of coffee from starbucks and was enjoying my coffee next to a blackjack table. In the next 15 minutes or so, 10 hookers approached me. “Looking for a date are we? wanna have some fun sweetheart? Want a good Vegas story to tell your friends back home?”, good thing there was security, that kept a check there. at around 3:00 AM I stepped out of the hotel and went to this club sort of thing called…. something ugly, it was in New York New York (yes the replica in Vegas). Had a good time there, came back and slept at around 5:30 AM. A piece of advice do not take your fiancé or girlfriend to Vegas, you are definitely gonna regret it. It’s not me its the whisky and experience talking.

Next day we explored the streets of Vegas. There are many characters there, you pay them a tip and have a pic with them. Wonder woman, Spiderman, Batman, Alvis presly, Mettalica, minions, transformers bumblebee, slutty cops, sex bunnies, Captain America, toy story guys, Alan from Hangover the movie and many more. I took some snaps. Here:

Me and Captain America

woody buzz and me

2$ gone, totally worth it. Then there is Paris Paris, New York New York. Harley Davidson Cafe etc. some more pics.

Paris Paris (inVegas)

Harley Davidson Cafe

New York New York (in Vegas)

a minion (Dave I guess, near Caesar’s Palace)

There was this beautiful water show in hotel Bellagio. We watched that water show, that went on for like half hour, worth it, totally worth it.

My return flight was on 11th Jan (LAS-LAX-DXB-BLR), I came back to India by 13th Jan 3:00 AM. Awesome trip. I have been to many trips, this was once in a lifetime trip. If I ever get a chance (and sufficient amount of money and time), I would love to go to Vegas anytime. Las Vegas is truly amazing, not just for the reasons we see in movies and television shows.

For me it was like a rainstorm in a desert, never been out of my country, and in first trip I saw Vegas. Sounds so made up. Except it is not.

There is no best time to visit, you wanna go to Vegas, you go to Vegas, do your research later. Good Luck.

Long live Las Vegas, Long Live Grand Canyon.

– Kaushal Dhruw

heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

Road trip to western Karnataka (Gokarna and Jog Falls)

OM Beach, Gokarna (clockwise from left. Rahul aka Jason, Swatik aka Balboa, Varun/Golu aka Rust, Prateek aka his holiness, Piyush aka his highness, me/kk/kaushal aka sir, Deepak aka Snow (all the aka’s are not to be used without prior consent))

First things first. If you are looking for something to spot the tourist spots of Gokarna and Jog falls please consult Google, this blog post is about me and some friends relaxing on the beach (not exploring it, what am I Charles Muntz). This blog post is pretty huge, gather patience before you start the next para. Anyway here is something straight from Wikipedia. Just some history and etymology before I begin:

GOKARNA: Gokarna means cow’s ear. It is believed that Lord Shiva emerged from the ear of a cow in this place. It is also located at the ear shaped confluence of two rivers Gangavali and Aghanashini. Gokarna is in Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka state in India. Gokarna is referred in a number of Hindu historical pieces. The Beaches around Gokarna serve as main tourist attractions. It is believed that the warrior sage Parshurama came to Gokarna from his wanderings and threw his axe to prevent erosion of the western part of India. Gokarna is full of coconut and palm trees, blue seas and clean sands (I highly doubt the clean sands part). Gokarna is a traditional town with a tile-roofed brick houses. Gokarna is about 580 km from Bangalore.

JOG FALLS: Joger gerosoppa Falls or Jog falls is the second highest plunge water fall in India, located near Sagara, Karnataka (first being Nohkalikai Falls in Meghalaya). Jog falls are created by Sharavathi river falling from a height of 253 meters with an average flow rate of 153 cu. m per second. Associated by the river is Linganmakki Dam. the power station there has been operational since 1948 with a capacity of 120 MW, one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in India back in 1948. These falls are a major tourist attraction

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The plan was final. There was off on a Friday, and we intended to spend the long-weekend wisely. We were to leave for Gokarna at 10:30 PM. We were 7 guys, me (kk, later renamed to sir), Deepak (later renamed to Snow), Rahul (later renamed to Jason), Golu/Varun (later renamed to Rust), Prateek (later renamed to his holiness), Piyush (later renamed to his highness) and Swatik (later renamed to Balboa). My other two friends couldn’t come as they had something more important. “Next outing” they both said with an affirmative tone.

We were all gathered at my place by 10:00 PM. The cook showed off his prowess and made some veggie and non veggie snacks for the journey. The Tempo Traveler (herein after referred to as the traveler) was on time and the driver Hanumanth knew the route very well. There are two routes to reach Gokarna, one via Hubli and the other via Jog Falls. I recommended the former route (it was shorter and better) but Hanumanth decided to take the later route instead. The Jog fall route is all Zigzag-y and like a labyrinth, that’s what Google maps told me. I finally agreed to take this route, as I’ll get to see Jog falls as well. Snow had a little mishap at his gym and two of his right hand fingers were heavily plastered. His highness on the other hand brought his guitar to everyone’s surprise. Jason and his holiness brought 7 couch cushions for the journey. Balboa got a 30 liter can of water. Rust and I joined shortly. You can see how enthusiastic / crazy we all were. I mean, come on! couch cushions and water can. Later those came in handy. Due to this 11th hour preparation we were delayed by 30 minutes or so.

Jason brought 10 cans of beer (3 and a half drinkers (half being his highness)), some smokes and some home made snacks. Time to get the party started, time to get hammered. The way out of Bangalore was pretty tight. Lots of traffic and lots of traffic signals. As soon as we hit the highway the fun part began, although for the drinkers the fun started a long time ago, god bless the inventor of alcohol. His highness spilled a can of beer, but he is as you know his highness so everything is allowed.

I and I believe everybody else is accustomed the busy life and streets of Bangalore. The free roads inside the city are as rare to us as oxygen on mars. The breeze is always there in this time of the year but for some reason the breeze from open windows of the traveler gave me goosebumps. Balboa worked for almost 2-3 hours to collect a variety of songs for the trip from various sources on a 16 Gigabyte flash drive (retro, dance tracks, foreign, Punjabi, movie tracks etc). 16 Gigabyte of pure awesomeness.Soon there was a Punjabi track, Jason got up and started dancing on the traveler despite his non-quick figure. I joined despite of the same, so did Snow despite his injured fingers. Balboa and Rust were enjoying the view. I don’t really know what they were watching it was dark outside, almost midnight. His holiness gave equal attention to the drinkers and to the non-drinkers. We had everything needed to survive the 8-12 hour journey (counting the halt at Jog Falls). We had light meal at home, so we opened the snack pack and everybody attacked as if it were jaggery and we were flies.

The traveler made its way through the national highway till Tumkur, after that we took the Honavar-Tumkur highway (aka AH 206). We halted at several places for tea/coffee and to stretch our legs. Hanumath was a very prompt driver. We crossed Tiptu, Kadur, Shimoga and entered Sagara with ease. Everybody was asleep by then (except Hanumath of course). I woke by dawn to find Rust and Balboa awake. And as Google had suggested, We were on a zigzag path. Felt like a roller coaster ride. I don’t really know if the driver was confident or stupid he drove at above 40 kilometers per hours in that godforsaken road. Soon we were entering the Gates of the tourist spot Jog falls. I had to pay 70 bucks as entry fee, I don’t know what is the government charging  for? The ambient light was still dim. Hanumanth parked the traveler at the parking zone. We were in our shorts and tracks and there were some very provocative dresses, legs and faces in the vicinity. There was gang of girls, a gang of co-eds I guess, some couples and some singles. I and Balboa stepped out, and I guess the rest were dressing up (in the confined space of the traveler) for a fortunate accident with those pretty faces. Balboa and I walked briskly towards the falls. Balboa had a digital camera and I had my phone. There were many people as if in a gathering. I saw the signs that said “Jog Falls” but nothing was visible.I could hear the sound of water splashing on rocks though. There was far too much fog. The fog was very mysterious, one of the guards stationed there said there is no telling if the fog will abate. We were lost in the crowd and there was still no sign of the others or the falls. We still took some snaps. Luckily the fog receded and a very vague glimpse of the falls was visible. With fog the vagueness also receded. There it was the. THE JOG FALLS. (god bless the creator. Oops God can’t bless himself)

Jog Falls, Karnataka

Jog Falls, Karnataka

 

Jog Falls, Karnataka

Jog Falls, Karnataka

The Falls were as awesome as I imagined it’d be.Probably better. Much Better. The Fog was everywhere at that time. As you have read which river is responsible for the falls in the first two para, I won’t make it boring by acting encyclopedia. I am no shorthand or writer, but even if I were I would have taken me at least 3000 words to explain this impeccable beauty. After 6-8 hours of traveling we are here. The thought itself gave me chills. Water escaping from invisible pores of the rocks, making the amount of froth that can put even the best detergent company to shame, forming a way through the rocky mountains. If you have read my previous posts you probably know how much I admire nature. No matter how many times I say it or see it, it never ceases to astound me.The bottom of the falls were brownish. I wanted to bathe in that water but it was forbidden, confirmed one of the guards stationed at the falls. There was no way of doing it without breaking the law and obviously we intended not to. We are going to Gokarna. I and Balboa took a lot of pictures and then we saw the rest of the group at one of the viewing points showing mastery with the camera.

Balboa posing for the camera

Jason posing for the camera

Snow (with injured right hand), His holiness (starring at an unidentified object), Rust (starring at the same ) and Jason (Posing for the shot)

Snow (don’t miss the gym mishap), Jason, Me/sir, his holiness (Left to right)

After sufficient pics we realized there is another problem. Its almost 8 AM and we haven’t brushed our teeth and performed the daily toilet ceremony yet. There was a pay and use restroom close by we hopped there to find a long queue. The collector assured us of the hygiene. I don’t wanna say what happened next. Just that desperate time calls for desperate measures.

We left by 9:30 AM. I could hear my stomach growling. 20 minutes later we stopped for breakfast. I and Snow tasted everything the shop had to offer. Breakfast of champions. Balboa looked at my tummy and said yeah you are a champion. I don’t know if Rust heard, but he was giggling.

Then again we hit the road with the traveler, headed for our original destination Gokarna. The zigzags were not yet over. The so called roller coaster ride made Snow throw up his breakfast. After the zigzags we crossed a city and headed directly to Gokarna. There were some really narrow roads and thanks to Hanumanth we drove across all that and saw Gokarna beach. I know I have said it several times, but the beach was cool. There were kids jumping in the beach, parents keeping a keen watch, couples holding hands. We took off our foot wears and got a little closer to the beach. 

The first impression of the majority was, this beach is dirty. We were just discussing something and we saw Jason undressed and jumped on the beach. I saw him jumping and splashing, he scared the crap out of a few kids. I liked the beach, endless water, beautiful horizon, good company, what else do you need? It was past 1:00 PM and we left for lunch. We didn’t find any decent restaurant and instead we took the route for OM beach. I heard from my colleagues that this beach is awesome. But an empty stomach makes everything look dull. We roamed around the beach looking for a place to stay but all the lodges and resorts were already full. The receptionist of the Namaste beach Guest house, laughed at me when I said if there is any room available. We moved a new area called Kudle beach. There are many beaches in Gokarna.

Hanumanth parked the traveler somewhere in the jungle, there were some bikes and other traveler looking vehicles parked nearby. On the back side there were a few rocky mountains, some small greenery on the ground and lots of trees. The way to Kudle beach was befuddling. There was small crack in the jungle that went downwards, we saw a few people going in there. We went there. It was thoroughly covered with trees. We went at least 300 meters in that narrow road to find the beach. I looked back in upward direction towards that small crack we came from and thought “how the hell am I gonna go back up to the traveler ?”. This beach was totally creepy, still there were some people, they wanted a little privacy I guess (Kudle beach should be renamed to cuddle beach). There was some sort of black dirt that the tides brought. The black dirt covered a considerable part of the beach making a layer on top of sands. There was a very unpleasant smell from that blackish dirt. I was so hungry that I hardly noted the smell. We entered a very ugly looking shack cum restaurant by the beach. He made us wait another hour to prepare what we ordered. Meanwhile Jason and his highness went to the nearby shacks to look for a place to stay. Snow, Balboa, Rust, his holiness and I stayed back at the shack. That shack was full by the way and too creepy to stay. We had to eat there because it was 3:00 by then, desperate times indeed. The dining area was approximately 20 feet above beach and the sea looked beautiful from up there. We could figure out the clouds moving from the horizon. The food was extremely costly. Although there were no other customers he took more than an hour. The food was the worst. Suits the ambiance I thought. Disappointing food for a disappointing day. Jason and his highness returned with bad news. No free rooms.

Kudle Beach from the restaurant shack

After lunch a guy who worked at the shack did a great favor. He made a phone call, pointed at a nearby shack and said “there are two rooms available there and he has agreed to accommodate all of you”. He said otherwise when his highness and Jason inquired earlier. There was some difference in opinion there. But what the hell, without any difference in opinion we might as well be terminators, sent from the future, to kill John and Sarah Connar. We all agreed to stay at the beach shack nevertheless. The fare was cheap and rooms were good and more importantly next to a beach. I know beach was ugly, but it’s a beach and as far as our information all the beach resorts and shacks were full. We lodged into the shack and got on the beach and did what we do best. Got hammered and enjoyed like a pig in the poop. I remember his holiness and Rust following a gang of girls. We played a game we used to play as kids called pitto. you arrange a few flat rocks atop each other, one team tries to break it with a ball, other tries to stop them. Except this time we used beer cans instead of flat rocks. We were 7, we included Hanumanth and divided ourselves in two teams.I and Rust were the star players. :). I think all of us got injured, sweet wound of victory.

kudle beach

The beach in between two mountains

his highness’s guitar and the beach

everybody except Jason (we enjoyed in the dirty beach anyway)

Later that night, moon looked pretty cool. With our feet in the water the ambiance was second to none. I, Snow and Jason were there. His highness joined in later with his guitar. He played guitar like an expert, although I have no idea what he played. To be on a beach covered by two mountains in the moonlight when the tides are the highest and his highness himself playing background music is just out of the world.

We had dinner at a grand hotel next to our shack (It was not visible from that lunch shack). Luckily this food was cheaper, a lot better and hygienic. Next day we took breakfast at the very same hotel checked out from our shack and left for OM beach. This is where we got all the nick names I have been using. We went to this area called Namaste cafe, it is popular and good. Only problem is the rush there. We ordered something there and waited. we could see the sea from the cafe. We discussed something and someone brought the topic of picking a nickname. His highness has some royal blood running in his veins so he was named his highness right away. He bid me knighthood making me sir kk, Jason picked the name from the Bourne Trilogy, Balboa‘s favorite movie is Rocky Balboa hence the name. His holiness on the other hand, showed no holiness whatsoever, hence the sarcastic name. Rust was actually Rustam first, I renamed for the blog. Snow picked the name from a character in the series called Game of thrones, haven’t watched it, Snow loves the series. His highness took his name a little more seriously and tried mixing cold coffee (that Rust ordered) with beer. When we stopped he replied “Silence, highness has got it under control”.

The OM beach actually resembles OM from the top the front part is like the number 3. The previous day I didn’t like the beach a bit, but it looked better that day. This beach is much more crowded and cleaner than Kudle beach. We played pitto again for a while. Jason said “I wish it’d rain”. I cut him off saying it’s not gonna rain. His highness and Rust were off to follow some girls in beach clothing. Within 15-20 minutes they were no where to be found. His highness got his guitar in the water. I tried to stop he said “you dare oppose the empire sir kk?”. I was speechless. After the guitar was properly inside the case it started raining and Jason‘s face lit like a candle. I saw people running back into the cafe, it was the only refuge around. If they didn’t wanna get wet why come to the beach. We stayed there, so did other normal people. Clean beach and rain is a treat.

his highness with his guitar

Rust’s art. I helped a bit

Balboa called up a few of his friends and found out there is another beach in the vicinity called the half moon beach. And he said it is worth visiting. So after a while I, Balboa, Snow, Jason and his highness left for the half moon beach, his holiness and Rust were still continuing their pursuit  We breached into private property to climb a mountain. We were told the half moon beach was on the other side of the giant mountain. His highness still carrying his guitar. The way was very confusing and later we found we took the wrong way. Anyway we continued on the path and found sea water flowing through a few cracks. Very adventurous and dangerous as later Balboa discovered a jungle python hiding behind a rock. Thank god he saw it. We moved back a little thinking if we should continue or not. It was almost dark and even if we make it to the beach there was no way we could come back safe given the presence of the python. We decided not to.

the wrong way to the half moon beach

his highness with his guitar on the way to half moon beach (the wrong way)

Balboa, me/sir, Jason and his highness right after we came back from the wrong way of the half moon beach

I got a wound from a rusted barbed wire on that way. Got a tetanus injection as soon as I came back. But that was good tracking. We came back and enjoyed the dusk on the OM beach. His holiness and Rust ordered some food in the café and we had the best dinner there. Snow thew up there as well, there was no roller coaster ride this time, just excess drinking, Jason helped him. Jason and Snow made some foreign friends. Overall just ye-old awesomeness. On the way back we were sleeping like babies on the traveler. His holiness, Rust and Jason continued the pursuit of women, I heard them talking to Hanumanth about following a certain vehicle. Snow’s condition was bad, his injured right hand fingers were soaked in Sea water and needed to dressed by a physician, I needed a tetanus soon. By 8-9 AM we were on the familiar highways of Bangalore. To be honest I didn’t wanna go back. I just wanted to extend the vacation and be on that OM beach. I also wanted to track on the real way of the half moon beach. But too bad We didn’t plan our time properly. In the end you forget everything except moments of joy, fun and I believe disgust.

We were back to Bangalore safe and sound with an unforgettable memory. There’s an old saying

He who has traveled knows where the holes are the deepest. I think I know now.   

I think we should travel to such places at least once every 2-3 months. Recharge yourself and increase productivity.

There’s another long weekend coming in about 3 days, we are planning Kerala. Let’s see if I can re-recharge me in a span of merely 3-4 days.

Live long and prosper. Signing off.

– Kaushal Dhruw

heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

 

The momo theory

Momos (from: commons.wikimedia.org)

You know momo, as in the steaming hot dish called momo. It is a type of dumpling, native to Nepal, Tibet, the bordering regions of Bhutan and the Himalayan states of India. It is similar to the Japanese Gyoza, the Mongolian buuz or Chinese jiaoji and baoji.

Yes that momo. Surprisingly I made a theory out of momos. This is not about baking awesome momos, or serving it, this theory is something about living a pragmatic and motivated life (totally my view you, reject it if you don’t find it worthy. Jump to para 4 that’s where it actually starts); And since it came from momos, I prefer to call it the momo theory.

I was wandering around on a saturday evening on the streets of Bangalore and I saw this street side shop. They had a pressure cooker sort of apparatus. I went closer and there the banner said steaming momos just for 40 bucks. I ordered a plate. The taste was excellent. I could feel the steam inside my mouth, the chutney improved the overall taste 10 folds. Next day I went to another momo shop and taste was better than the previous one.  Next shop offered a different taste, unique in a way. Over the next week I found the taste to vary between the three I mentioned.

Now, just think about a young man trying to open a momo shop. If there are many established shops in the vicinity, would he be able to compete with those? Assume that he invented an idea of…. say fried cardamom momos (or low calorie chocolate momos). Assume that his idea has the potential to not only beat the competition but also become an internationally acclaimed dish (and might be featured in master chef Australia). He did his research and came up with this unique idea for momos. Let us say his customers are mesmerized by the mouth watering looks and taste. The question is… Is that enough? Is it enough to have just a few happy customers? Would that suffice for the unique idea he came up with? Is he doing justice to his world class idea / invention? I think NO. That is not enough. Just making the best momo and thinking they will come to you is nonsense. Just inventing something is never enough, we have gotta make others realize the potential and eventually make them accept it.

Now enough about momos. Let’s just discuss about an idea. You have an idea, an idea that is noble and patent-able. You can start a new business with that idea (say a cross device Chess app, that supports offline multi-player mode (there are ways to do it), your organisation is The Next Best pvt. ltd.). You would need Engineers to help you out with initial prototype on different platforms (Android, iOS, Black Berry, Windows Phone etc because it is cross device). You would need financial people to help you out with finances, you would need people to tackle the legal proceedings, you would need team leads, project / product managers etc, and above all you will need investors (considering you don’t have enough capital to start business on your own). Why would anyone want to invest in your idea? Aren’t you just another wannabe? You need to convince your investors that this idea has potential (no matter how skeptical or dumb they are), that this is unlike any other multi-player game available out there (or things like that), that you will not disappoint your stakeholders.

Innovation / invention has a price and if you believe in yourself you must be willing to pay it, without paying that price you will be just “some-crazy-guy/girl-who-came-up-with-some-shitty-idea“. Just an “also ran”. There are people with revolutionary ideas but unwillingness to push it to the next level. Isn’t that equivalent to not innovating / inventing at all.

To summarize, here goes the momo theory:

“The chances of your idea being accepted by mass (Im) is inversely proportional to the amount of free time (Tf) one has and directly proportional to the persistence (p) and creativity in projection of the idea (Cp), provided the influence of outside distractions and stupidity (Ods) remains constant or null“. Noticed the aliases did you? I will come back to it in a while.

Now if one has idea that does not include masses (like improving your memory power or getting to bed early or something), then this theory is not helpful. This is helpful for the other category of idea.

Just a little math. Please don’t panic this is supposed to teach something. So according to the theory (aliases as defined in the statement above):

Im ( is directly proportional to)    (p * Cp) / (Tf) given that Ods remains constant.

Therefore, Im = Lk * ( p * Cp / Tf)

Where, Lk is the proportionality constant, that I prefer to call luck. A very small percentage of Lk is dependent on unknown factors and majority on enjoying the complete process. The inverse proportionality with Tf is because if you have free time then you are probably not up for your idea.

Okay now you must be feeling what the heck, the title and content do not match. In my defense I was high when i came up with it and now I kinda like the name.

I have a few ideas and I am gonna put this theory in use for those. The validity of this theory is of course questionable and yet to be proven but so are like a gazillion of our beliefs. Feel free to prove me wrong (although I hope otherwise) but at least get an idea and work on it.

-Kaushal Dhruw

heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

Nandi Hills – The hills of gods

Sunrise @nandi hills

As a tradition, I am gonna include a little history first. I will try to keep it short, so I promise it won’t be long and boring. Skip to the next para if you like. (Thank you Wikipedia)

Nandi Hills or Nandidurg or Nandydroog is an ancient hill fortress in the southern India in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state, India. It is approximately 60 km from Bangalore. This hills are nestled between the neighboring towns of Nandi, Muddenahalli and Kanivenarayanapura. During the Chola period (11th century) it was called Ananda giri meaning the hill of happiness (Ananda-Happiness, giri – mountain, hill etc.) It is also commonly called Nandidurga (durg – fort). This for was built by Tipu Sultan. One of my favorite reasons about why this hill is known as Nandi hills is; the hills resemble a sleeping bull (Nandi). There is a Shiva-Parvati temple and a Darvidian style Nandi temple. It is believed that the Nandi temple in Nandi village dates back to 9 th century. It is 1479 meters above Mean Sea Level. Some more fun facts: The Nandi fort (Nandidurga) was traditionally held impregnable  This is in London Encyclopedia “Nandydurga is built on a summit of rock nearly 1700 ft high, 3/4th of its circumference being inaccessible”. And that’s it.

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It was Friday evening and as usual we planned a late night party. My roommates Verma and Choudhury were fast asleep by 11:00 PM (they don’t like to party, can you believe it ?). Later that night after the party, I and two of my friends Rahul and Deepak started discussing something about Indian music, then politics, then period movies, then singers… god knows what we were discussing. This idea popped up in Deepak’s head “Let’s head to Nandi hills” he said. I was in the restroom but I heard him loud and clear. I made up my mind in the restroom. We tried to persuade the sleeping ones too, but no luck. Rahul called one of our friends Piyush @ 3:00 AM. Surprisingly he picked and agreed to accompany us. Now we had 2 bikes and 4 guys. Deepak and Piyush were no newbies to the hills, so we followed their instructions and left by 4:00 AM. We were supposed to leave by 3:30 AM but the cops caught us in front of Piyush’s house, thinking of us as goons. They left us after thorough investigation, 20 minutes gone. “Bad Omen” I said, and then I giggled and asked myself “Am I logical computer programmer or what ?”

It was supposed to be a 60 km drive with some busy highways in between, so 90 minutes was the expected travel time. We made our way from Marathalli, to Yelhanka, to the national highway. I could feel the chill inside my head. My furry overcoat failed to abate the cold. I saw like 50 motorcycles on the way, judging by their expression and enthusiasm they were going the same way. After all how many of us drive in the cold streets at 4:30 AM. There was no sign of exhaustion in any of the faces. We didn’t plan, we didn’t rest, we didn’t prepare, we just left with this heavenly place in mind. One of the signboards said “Nandi hills 15 Km”. 🙂

Let me say one thing before I say anything else; If you wanna enjoy nandi hills be there by 5:30, or else you will not find nandi hills worthy of your time. This is where the actual journey began. The roads were so misty that our visible range was only about 2 mts. No sign boards were visible, no more motorcycles, we couldn’t even find Rahul and Piyush, they were with us 10 minutes back, no sign of any life form, no sign of the cops, nothing, just vast emptiness, water droplets and mild vehicle sounds. My face and coat both became as wet as a fish. Deepak was driving at 15 Km/h, any faster would have been suicide. We were following the dim tail light of a car. After like 1 km the mist disappeared, and returned after another 1 km. Strange, isn’t it? The ride was both misty and mysterious.

We rendezvoused at the base of the hills, as discussed on phone. Now all that was left was to go up, the way up is about 5 km. Elevation was scary. There was a police barricade near the base of the hill, they noted the vehicle number and allowed us after checking license. We parked the bikes and ran towards the entry. A midget security guard opened the gates it was about 5:45 AM. We were literally the first four guys to enter that day. Right at the entrance there is a lodge called “Tipu Sultan Lodge”. The magic began when darkness started to disappear slowly. I saw a lot of eucalyptus trees. We quickly climbed to the top of the hills. There was no more mist. The feeling of morning breeze at the top of the hills on our still wet hair cannot be explained in words. Here are some pics:

Piyush, Deepak and me (L to R)

Piyush, Deepak and Rahul (L to R)

That is not the sun, just sunlight. Don’t miss the half mist half no-mist place at the bottom of hills

Unfortunately digital cameras can’t catch the breeze and my serene thoughts

Soon after that people started pouring in like rats. I saw people moving towards viewing area. There they are:

the “view sunrise” area

We reached the area without any further delay. The scenery was outstanding, irrespective of where you stand. The snow-white mist was still prominent and the breeze consistent. There were a lot of disturbing chants nearby. I wonder how can people talk about stupid stuff when they are at such an awesome place. The intensity of ambient light started increasing, and the chants started to fade. I concluded that the mathematical relation between Intensity of ambient light and useless chants is inversely proportional.

Everyone was staring at the source of ambient light. We were too. That was when we saw one of the most beautiful views of nature. The sun started to peek from below the snow-white misty blanket. I heard no more chirruping, I only heard camera clicks. We took out our cameras and tablet to catch this amazing view. It was looking more beautiful than my computer’s wallpaper. If this complete thing is assumed a software program with GOD as its software developer, then GOD has definitely done the best coding possible with exceptional error handling, I couldn’t find a bug (Sorry!!! I can’t help it. I am a software developer).

peek from mist part 1

peek from mist part 2

peek from mist part 3

After about 10 minutes we started exploring the place. We moved from the viewing area to an open space with no boundaries. If you plan on exploring entire hills be ready to walk 5-8 km or get your car and reduce it to 2-3 km.

can’t assign a title can I… 🙂

\ / peace

Come… let us go the other way

We found the actual bull temple of the hills (The Nandi temple of Nandi hills). We found many awesome spots (pics below). The suicide point, the canon hole, the hill summit, the garden, the secret tunnel, the man made reservoir that probably dates back to 10th century.

We picked our bikes around 8:30 AM and left. We reached Bangalore by 11:00 AM, because one of the bikes broke down. But we reached safe and sound, with 234 pics and an unforgettable experience.

Next stop Ooty or Goa.

Some more pics:

another secret tunnel

nandi temple of nandi hills

secret room

secret tunnel

suicide point probably

spear heading the mist

on the brink

man made reservoir…. It ain’t no swimming pool

natural reservoir

chillin

-Kaushal Dhruw

heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 8 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

Kanyakumari – Journey to the end of the country

Sunrise @ Kanyakumari (All Rights Reserved)

A brief history and description about this wonderful place (straight from wikipedia):

Kanyakumari (a.k.a Kanniyakumari or Kanniakumari) is a town in the state of Tamilnadu in India. It was also referred to as Cape Comorin earlier. Located at the southernmost tip of India, it is the geographical end of mainland. This a popular tourist place in India. Kanyakumari takes its name from the Hindu Goddess Kanyakumari (also called Kumari amman) (roughly translates to The Virgin Goddess).The Kanniyakumari amman temple is situated in the town of its, on the sea-shore, the very confluence of the three water-bodies – the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

According to Hindu legend, Kanya Devi, an Avatar of Parvati, was to marry Shiva, but he failed to show up on his wedding day. Kanya Devi is now considered a virgin goddess who blesses pilgrims and tourists who flock the town. According to another Hindu legend, Lord Hanuman dropped a piece of earth as he was carrying a mountain with his life-saving herb, Mrita Sanjivani, from the Himalayas to Lanka (Sri Lanka) during the Rama-Ravana war. This chunk of earth is called Marunthuvazh Malai, which is literally translated to “hills where medicine lives”.This is said to be the reason for the abundance of unique native medicinal plants in the area

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I believe that’s enough history and description.

– – – – – – – – –

PAST:

I was a little busy that day. I was working on something really interesting. unknowingly I avoided all the distractions. I was too busy, to be distracted. My cellphone started to ring. I saw it, it said “Dad calling”. I picked the call, still thinking about work. “Hey beta (son)! how are you?” he asked. “I am good dad, how are you?” I queried without bothering about the reply, I remember he said something. He guessed I wasn’t listening, he said a bit louder “you were planing to come home right?”. I looked away from my computer screen “yeah”. “Don’t come beta, we are coming there”. Now that was something I really wanted since I moved to Bangalore, I always wanted to show them where I live, where I work etc. “really? when? what time? train or flight?” I asked in an extremely excited state. He replied “I will tell you the details later and please calm down. I know you want us to come there since, I don’t know, July 2010. I couldn’t because your brothers were busy with college and I with my work. But next month their vacations are falling on the same week, so I thought this’d be the best time”. “Thanks dad, I have been planning this for sometime, we’ll roam around Bangalore, places like Ooty, Coorg, Coonoor, Mysore, Goa, Mangalore, Tirupathi, Kuta wherever you want” I was literally shivering with excitement. I could sense he was happy, “Oh you planned already that’s great, but actually I discussed with your mother and brothers and finalized Kanyakumari”. We had a little father-son talk and hung up. I looked at my computer screen, things were a little different now. I was excited and angry at the same time. Excited for obvious reasons and angry because I have been planning something for so long and now I hear I don’t get to plan.

My head was filled with contradicting thoughts that day “Why Kanyakumari? Why ? Why? Why? What is this? the 80’s? I always thought Kanyakumari was an excellent tourist spot in the 80’s or 90’s or something. Why now ? At least my whole family is coming. It doesn’t really matter where we go. Oh wait. It does. Why Kanyakumari? Why am I not the part of vacation planning comity ?”. I booked the tickets. I had to.

PRESENT:

I receive my family at the airport. It’s July 22, 2012. Mom and dad are the same but my younger brothers are growing like bamboo trees. They are almost about my height now. I fought and won against both of ’em so many times (well they were kids then, and I used to be naughty), now it looks difficult against either one of them. 17-18 is a very crucial age for a boy. Been there done that. They are Praveen and Chandrakant, mom calls them pinku and chintu, Me, I have my own nick names for them, paks and chaks.

In next 26 hours we visit Tirupathi. Tirupathi is one of the most famous and crowded temples in Asia. I read somewhere that number of visitors per day exceeds 50k mark. Yes it is that huge. At least one of the places that I originally planned is in the real plan. We reach home (my rental home at Bangalore) by 7:00 PM. Dead tired. we eat one of the most delicious meals on the planet. I didn’t know my cook had this much talent. This is probably because of the pink slip warning I gave him the previous day. I lay on my bed wondering about the next day. Tomorrow we are supposed to board the bus for Kanyakumari, tickets and everything is ready, but I think I am not. Why dad chose Kanyakumari?. What if that place is not good? I see paks and chaks sleeping like the kid they used to be, only taller. It’s been like a year since i saw them like this. Peaceful. What if they hate me for taking them to Kanyakumari ? I see the time it is 2:00 AM. I close my eyes hoping all my thoughts would disappear the next day.

We board the bus the next day. It is a 15 hour journey from Bangalore and bus is already 2 hour late. I had a bad feeling about this and now this delay. The comfortable sleeper seats in the bus are the only thing apart from my family’s presence stopping me from bursting into flames. The tiny amount sleep from the previous day is beginning to take over my thoughts.

I open my eyes, everyone’s still asleep. Darkness is disappearing. The disappearing moon looks beautiful. The orange-colored sky draws my attention. It is one of the most beautiful part of nature. I hope the beauty in nature continues throughout the trip. 2-3 hours after we crossed Madurai, I saw a lot of windmills. It’s like a scene from a Bollywood movie. Endless fields, full of windmills, vegetation. Nature.

South Indian Windmills

The cold morning breeze did nothing but calm me. Before I know it I see a marketplace. Lots of shops. Address on one of the shops says …Kanyakumari. We reached and 15 hours seemed like nothing. I booked a hotel called Sangam (it means some sort or union). People are very friendly. They guide us to Hotel Sangam. Paks, Chaks, Mom and Dad are planning on taking a shower. I say ” I’ll be back in 30 minutes” and leave the hotel. After walking for like 50 meters from the hotel, I see the most exquisite scene. I realize that I am in south-most part of mainland India. I can see ocean in left, right and front. All my worries gone in that instant. People selling tea and sea shells and photos cover the beach area. Foreigners enjoying the view with Indian tea, Indians from different states, native kids running all over the place, this is better than my imaginary “dream vacation with family” place. Let me explain it in other words. For girls: It was a dish with “pure beauty” sprinkled with “dewdrops” as the main course, “bliss” as the side dish, “divine scenery” for drinks and “awesome places” for dessert. For guys: If all the tourist places are drinks, then Kanyakumari is “Johnny Walker Black Label (on the rocks)“. No exaggeration. Just truth.

Kanyakumari Beach

That was just out of the world. I rush back to the hotel after taking a few pics. I look around and find everyone’s ready. I bath in 4 minutes. I say “You have gotta see this paks, chaks, dad, mom. This is like the most wonderful place ever and ..”. “I know” paks jumped in “dress up fast and we’ll move”. “Yeah of course paks” I say. We move in next 30 seconds. I can see happy gestures of all my family members. Trust me there is no feeling like that in the world.

Chaks in red Paks in black

Paks and me

Chaks and me

After spending 42 minutes at the last point of India, we move to the ferry area. The ferry costs less than a normal ice-cream and takes you to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and immortal poet Thiruvalluvar’s statue. Here are some of the pics:

Clockwise from top left (Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Thiruvalluvar’s statue and of course me). we went there in a ferry.

Mom, Dad and the ferry

My family and the Rock memorial

At the bottom of the huge statue

Random pic

That was one heck of ferry ride. (back to the present). We talk about the splendid scenery. The height of the statue, the meditation center inside rock memorial. We roam around and see the museum, M. K. Gandhi memorial, We move back to the hotel.

Words from the father of nation

I actually believe the sight is unequaled int the world. I come back to the ocean. I sit there. Doing nothing but admiring this unequaled scene. I see some new species of crabs and fishes. I can’t wait to see the sunrise here. I have read and heard so much about it. This is where people forget about their differences and enjoy what I can only describe as beautiful nature. I see a foreigner woman and her daughter (most probably French) sitting at the top of a boundary. They were trying to chat with a native lady selling flowers. I see them wearing flowers on the back of their heads, much like the natives. I am close enough to hear their conversation, not that I am eavesdropping, just a coincidence. The flower lady is talking in Hindi and French women in broken English. They are pointing towards the ocean and asking some curious questions. I don’t understand how they are communicating ? French woman asks in broken English “This ocean three is right?”. She is probably asking is this union of 3 oceans ? The flower lady replies in Hindi “Yes this is big ocean lots of fishes and good sunrise. You want to buy more flowers?” They seem to enjoy each others company.

I go to bed. I can’t sleep. But I have to, I have to get up early tomorrow. I can’t miss the sunrise.

We move early in the morning. It’s still dark but the crowd on the street is huge. No one wants to miss the magical sunrise I guess. The shops are open by 5:00 AM. This is the golden time for tea sellers and photographers (one 6 x 8 inch pic costs 40 bucks). We wait for the sun to rise with tea. Paks said he’d some as soon as he can, he has an upset stomach. Chaks says “Come on bhaiya (elder brother) take some pics, it looks so nice”. Here are the pics pre-sunrise.

This is just 0.1 % of the public. Others are enjoying tea in the back

The sunrise is really magical. Okay, If Kanyakumari is Johnny Walker Black Label on the rocks, then This sunrise is the soothing music in the background (which basically completes the scene). I see transformation of the sky from black to orange to sunny. I hear like a million and a half camera clicks in the vicinity. Have a look:

The magical sunrise part 1

The magical sunrise part 2

The magical sunrise part 3

pre-sunrise side 1 (there are 3 sides remember)

during-sunrise side 1

The ambiance is spellbinding. All eyes except a few focused on the rising sun. We stay there till 8:00 AM. I didn’t want to leave but we have to prepare for the return journey. Mom and paks left. I and Chaks hire one of the photographers. He takes a few snaps and tells us to collect from a close by studio. Later we realize he messed up 40% of the pics, worst use of Photoshop (a software for editing pics). So please be careful if you are planning to hire one of the sea-shore-sunrise photographers. I can’t post those here. He gave us a hard copy. Chaks goes back to the hotel. I, being the most irresponsible one in the family, stay there to live nature. On my way back to the hotel a key-ring seller caught me, he shows me some samples (and believe me when I say this) those are superb. These are original sea shells with anything you want engraved in it (or that’s what the key-seller said).

These sea shells are original according to this talented artist (although the leopard coloring is not)

I order 14 key-rings. 5 for me and my roommates, 4 for paks, chaks, mum and dad, 5 for my team at workplace (of course customized with everyone’s name).

LATER:

The way back wasn’t tiring at all. We saw the familiar windmills and vegetation. The hard copy of the pics in which Chaks and I posed, and the key-rings weren’t the only souvenir we brought back. The tiredness eluded everyone’s face, if it didn’t then it surely hid under the big grins. I didn’t get anything for Chaks and paks on their b’day so I bought a Nike college bag for Chaks and Puma shoes for Paks (They chose it). They seemed pretty happy so were mom and dad. “Mom” I say “was the trip good?”. She smiled and said “Yes. It was, I am just happy that everyone’s here. Most importantly I am happy to see you after such a long time”. I think everyone’s mom is like that. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family. I turned to paks and chaks “How was the trip guys?”. “Awesome” they replied in unison.

A LITTLE FATHER-SON TALK:

I was on my way to drop my family back to the airport. Paks was wearing his new shoes and Chaks transferred his stuff into the new bag. Mom restricted me from buying anything for her and dad. We were waiting at the airport. I looked at my father and said “Dad. I have a confession to make”. “I am listening” he replied. “I got mad at you, for not including me in the planning. But I am not anymore, I loved the place”. “Hmm…” he said “That I knew already”. “You knew” I asked shocked, I am sure I didn’t let my feelings surface since my family’s arrival. “Of course I did. I am dad. I also know a few things that you probably wouldn’t want me to know”. Too much shocking information “l..li..lik..lik…like what?” I asked, poker faced. “May in the next trip son. Take care, I think the flight is here”

LESSON:

There is nothing wrong with trying something new. Exploring the unexplored is human nature. Try it, you may find answers to some curious questions about life. Living in a box is not living. I am not telling you to think out of the box (well but you should), I am telling you to live off the box. Explore. Invent. Travel. Believe. LIVE.

Kaushal Dhruw

-heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

I am sure this is true for every blogger.

 

I love my life

I Love my LIFE

My flatmate asked a simple question one day “Tell me kk, do you love your life??“. I’ve no idea where the hell did that come from. Nevertheless, the question was solid. It took me forever to answer it. There are so many factors that affects the answer. I was pondering on those factors. In the meantime he finished 360 ml of rum and passed out. I was still struggling to come up with an answer. I couldn’t. Do I love my life? If yes, how come? If no, why not? What’s stopping me from loving my life. One simple stupid question started a chain reaction in my mind. I was up almost all night and that bastard was sleeping like a horse.

The answer was simple. If I can’t answer it even after so much time, I don’t.

So it turns out I don’t love my life. Now that was strange. I asked myself “why not?”. I am working at a big MNC, I earn a buck-load of money (in comparison to what I was earning exactly 12 months back), my family loves me, my flatmates are wonderful friends (although some are weirder than the weirdest weirdo alive on the planet), I own a Samsung Galaxy S-II GT-I9100 (yes that’s right :D), I work in research and development (it’s a big deal for me), I live in the 2nd best city in the country, I’ve got all the freedom I want. Then why the hell I don’t love my life? I have no reason not to love my life whatsoever.

I pondered on all the things mentioned in the previous para and guess what? I do love my life. Next day I told my flatmate “Yes I do“. Can you guess what that weirdo said ? He gave me a highly suspicious look and said “That’s interesting, but… I don’t remember proposing you“. That piece of crap forgot about his question the other night. That must be 360 ml rum after two 650 ml strong beer talking. I wanted to ask him the same question but he was too busy laughing his arse off. When I finally asked him his question he kept on thinking till mid night. I was glad I returned the favor.

Now, here I stay with 6 guys, all from different parts of the country. People say, how can 7 guys stay in one flat? Aren’t there any issues like you wanna watch Sherlock Holmes and someone else is waiting for Matrix-3 OR you want noodles and your roommate wants fried rice ? There could be a thousand reasons to fight. I have been living here for almost 2 years now, I don’t remember any big fights or whatever. We all are from different parts of the country so obviously we are different but one common thing in all my flatmates is, no one wants to fight over noodles or matrix (unlike the people who say so). As I said they all are wonderful friends.

My life till today has been a wonderful journey. I love my life. Loving your life does not need perfect roommates or buck load of money or a fancy car. It requires stepping over the petty things to look at the big picture. Life is too short to spend fighting over noodles (or things like that, you get the gist right?). Indian mythology says “a soul gets a human body after 840,000 births”. Now you decide if you wanna spend it fighting over noodles or living every moment.

Right after I convinced myself that I love my life, everyday has been better than the previous day. I get a feeling that this is perfect, It can’t get any better but I prove myself wrong by making my life better and better everyday.

That guy in red magician like dress is me with all my friends @Srikant's wedding. I danced like hell that day.

Every “home” work is divided. My job in my flat is to do the dishes every weekend and when the maid doesn’t come. Others handle groceries, cooking when the cook is not around, cleaning, filling drinking water etc. Can you believe, that I love doing the dishes too ? Just recently I spent 3 hours cooking for 11 guys (7+ guys were guests) when my cook took a day off. It was amazing. I only know making tea and boiling eggs, but that day I made 118 Pooris with external help of course. That was cool too.

Professionally I am working in the team that makes almost everyone jealous. I think my manager is one of the coolest managers ever, and my team is superb blend of technical knowledge and fun. What more should I ask for ? yes there are some things I long for, I am sure I will get to that soon enough. But for now I don’t see anything that should or could or would wanna make me hate myself or my life. I LOVE MY LIFE INDEED.

I hated going places. But I love it now. New place, new culture, nature etc are the new turn on s for me now. I have been to many places recently and planning to go to this awesome place called Coorg coming weekend. Seriously I don’t know what else can I wish for. Here are some clicks:

Shivasamudram (broke the ice)

Pondicherry saga

Buried at Pondicherry (Rest In Peace)

Exploring Humpi

I so love my life. It can’t get any better (oops I did it again).

There might be a few things in my head that bothers me occasionally, but there are things that are 100 times more in measure that gives me pleasure of being alive and are responsible for me loving my life.

You might doubt that everything can’t be as good as I’ve explained, but trust me it is. At least from my point of view. Everybody has imperfections in them and in their life, but I chose to improve those with time. So can you. If I can do it, you can do it. I don’t blabber about those, I try to improve. Believe me it’s NOT as tough as you think.

Now I was not born this way, I never would have thought about it if my flatmate hadn’t asked me that question. I used to curse my life for not being able to get to top at school (I was at number 2), not being able to make it to IIT, not being able to earn more money than others. Look at this kid now. I am living my dream, I am creating my life, and I am so so so LOVING it.

I’ve GOT A QUESTION FOR YA.

Do you love your life? Do you have the guts to love you life? Do you have the power to change your thoughts and life in such a way that, if 2 years from now, when you tell your story to someone, you confidently say “I LOVE MY LIFE” ? (I guess that’s more than 1 questions, anyway, answer these and think about that 840,000 lives thingy I mentioned earlier.)

Do you….????

Kaushal Dhruw

-heavenly.devil09@gmail.com

 

Planning the unplanned outing to Humpi

Recently I visited one of my best friends wedding. It was awesome, undoubtedly a dream wedding. I will write more about it after my married friend allows me to do so. It’s about his wedding after all. Anyway here is what I and my friends planned:

Planned Day 1: Monday, Feb-13, 2012: Meet with 3 other friends, get an awesome wedding present, catch up over dinner at a 3 star restaurant, get on the train and leave for the wedding (journey time 22 hours approx.)

What actually happened: Antim met with an accident, I had to cancel his ticked. Rahul said he’ll come at the railway station directly. I and Ranjeet went to see our damaged friend. We bought a gift. We were way behind schedule. I, Ranjeet and Rahul had dinner at the cheapest hotel near the railway station in 17 minutes (don’t know why but that felt good), we packed up and left (train was ready to leave the platform by then).

Planned Day 2: Monday, Feb-14, 2012 (Valentine’s day): Reach Bhopal by 8:00 PM, meet and catch up with Sandeep, our college friend, at the place groom arranged for us over low soda, high water drinks. Sleep like a horse and attend the wedding ceremony the next day.

What actually happened: We reached Bhopal by 11:53 PM, Sandeep was asleep in his room by then. We were too tired to discuss anything (yet we did till 2:30 AM). We went in, Sandeep was half asleep when he opened. he brought the drink which was responsible for my first official puking in front of 13 guys. And no soda, just a soft drink. (Anyway these are the things I noticed the next day, old friends meeting after two years calls for an overnight party, isn’t it?). That day I felt more alive than ever.

Planned Day 3: Monday, Feb-15, 2012: As mentioned earlier I will write about it after the “married friend” allows me. (Although I have yet to ask him)

Planned Day 4: Monday, Feb-16, 2012: Get up early. Watch a 9:00 AM show Hollywood movie. Go to the famous Lake View (from where you can view the lake of course) of Bhopal and the famous coffee shop close to it. More of the low soda, high water stuff. Go to bed early. Catch the train next day (that was scheduled to depart at 7:00 AM)

What actually happened: We woke up at 11:00 AM, as we came late from the wedding and were exhausted due to excessive dancing and uncomfortable fancy clothing. We missed 9:00 AM show, 10:00 AM show and 11:00 AM show, we rushed for the 12:30 PM show. Just got in time and guess what that was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Of course we couldn’t go to lake view and the famous coffee shop (considering my luck that was pretty obvious).

Although everything was not as I planned but everything turned out to be just perfect. I witnessed my friend getting married, I met my old friends after a long time, made new friends, danced like never before and dressed like a magician. That was superb. There are many thing I wanna write but I guess I gotta stick to what is called brevity in blogs.

ANYWAY this post is about what happened after that. I hopped on to my train from Bhopal to Bangalore on 17th feb (which was 2 hours 45 minutes late). I was supposed to reach Bangalore by 2:00 PM on 18th feb, I got down at Guntakal with Ranjeet. It was saturday and I had nothing except a violin class on sunday. So I thought why not see Bellary, it’s not everyday that I get a chance to visit Bellary and Humpi.

So I cancelled my own plans, gave my seat to a beautiful girl (with whom I could have traveled for the next 6 hours, damn) and got down at an unknown railway junction with Ranjeet (that was new for him too). So I had around 36 hours to roam around Bellary and visit Humpi, the capital city of the magnificent Vijayanagar empire back in 1336. We reached bellary by noon. We were tired but we left for Humpi on the same day. Humpi is around 20 km from Bellary in  the direction of Hospet. I had heard about the awesomeness of Humpi, so obviously my excitement took over my tiredness. Here Take a look:

hampi-virupaksha-temple (taken from karnatakatourism.com)

This is just one temple, the scenery there is just out of the world. The ruins of the capital of Vijayanagar from 14th century is more tempting than that beautiful girl on my train to Bangalore. The very instant I got a vague distant view of the ruin, I knew my decision wasn’t wrong. My Ticket from Bhopal to Bangalore costs 500 bucks I gave up 79 bucks by getting down in the middle, but that gave me 2000% return (plus I made a gorgeous girl happy for 6 hours, not that it counts).

Anyway just looking into something that is 6 centuries old can’t be explained in words. Humpi has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. It became axiomatic I gazed at that indescribable scenery.

That fat guy in Levi's tee is me @Humpi

It’s not just the ruins, this magnificent historical city is in northern Karnataka is full of nature. Monkeys and undiscovered vegetation are very often.

it's not pre-historic but it counts...right?

That's Ranjeet. It took him 150 seconds to get on that boulder.

Alright this is nursery area... but lots of plants in the vicinity too. (well those are unknown to me)

Humpi attracts thousands of tourists every year from around the world. The beautiful temples, ancient market streets, royal pavilion, remains of old structures, monuments etc. etc. makes humpi a unique place. Foreign tourists all around, monkeys (i mean real monkeys) doing weird stuff in front of camera. Here:

I couldn't capture the "weird stuff" but here it is...

ancient figures were engraved throughout the place. It was like I traveled back to 14th century and seeing it. In one word amazing. Here:

some ancient sculpture @Humpi

On the way back we stopped at a Dhaba (motels the Indian way). enjoyed the desi food and went back.

That was one heck of an unplanned trip. I plan so many things (and work on only a few, I am working on it), that I never dreamed an unplanned trip can be this exciting. I learned something interesting “Make plans but always keep room for improvement”. (I know there’s always some room but keep some yourself)

After I came back to Bangalore, my photographer friend told me that Humpi is a paradise for photography. I can’t defy his statement, it’s totally valid. (Although I am bad at dealing with camera, hence the pics)

I end this post with the same wonderful quote by Miriam Beard : “Travel is more than the seeing of sites; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living“.

Kaushal Dhruw

-heavenly.devil09@gmail.com