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.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

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

- – - – - – - – -

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

 

What Blogging Has Taught Me

Reblogged from Outside Air:

I was kind of cynical about starting a blog back in the day but I'm glad I did---here's why:

• Blogging makes me see my life differently: Ever since I started blogging, I've seen my life as a story I'm telling other people. Because I want to tell a good story I'm always on the lookout for the funny, the silly, the beautiful, the meaningful---the moments that help me connect with others and share my story in a way that interest them.

Read more… 557 more words

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 ), 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

 

 

make it routine

time table

I have been browsing online articles, book stores etc for about a year now. I tried to get views of others people too. Only intention was to learn more and more about setting and achieving goals. Some of the best things I’ve learned are from others views. I have heard plethora of things about time management, motivation, determination and success. I feel some of these words are overused. Overused to the extent where it loses the wonderful meaning it conveys. I tried explaining these words to others. They found it hard to understand and implement. So I worked a little and came up with a wonderful idea that is easy to understand and follow. Here are a few examples.

Uma is a friend of mine. She is a software engineer. She is too much concerned about her typing speed (you read it right. Of all the problems, she is concerned about her typing speed). She tells me “I am software engineer yet I type like a 3rd grader, my typing speed is as low as 10 words per minute”. At first I thought, is she serious? Then I tried to tell her to set high goals. Nothing worked, she was too much worried about the typing thing. So instead of giving her advice on setting high goals I advised her to achieve the typing goal, through sheer determination. She said “Kaushal I know you write blogs on motivation and stuff, I’ve read some of your posts, I am really sorry to say but none of it makes sense to me“. It is kinda insulting, I decided to listen her anyway. She continued “If anyone can achieve any goal through determination and self-motivation then why are there so many losers in world, didn’t they try determination and stuff“. Now I could have given her a full day lecture on that but thought she might not be willing to attend it. All the traditional strategies that usually induces motivation on others, didn’t work. I tried a new thing and it worked. I said “Anyway, so you want to improve your typing speed“. “that’s obvious” she replied. “then MAKE IT ROUTINE” I suggested. “what does that mean?” she asked. I said “Instead of diving deep into motivation and determination, try to include typing practice exercise in your daily routine. Practice half an hour a day, everyday till you are satisfied”. It worked. She is doing better now. Not just in typing but everything else too. I don’t really think it is a huge achievement, neither does she. But now instead of wasting time worrying about her typing, she now focuses on more important things.

Out of the 7 techniques I developed instantly to make her understand the “essence of time” and “setting a goal and working for it”, only “make it routine” seemed to work as expected. In fact the only reason I am publishing this post after such a long time is because I was not following the “make it routine” technique. Because I am following it now I feel I am eligible to write about it. Sometimes I am out of time in a day to follow my routine but that doesn’t stop me from following it the next day. And I love it. If you feel it’s hard to get motivation and determination, try make-it-routine technique.

I worked on one of Microsoft technologies for about a year. I still want to see a “Microsoft Certified” logo in my resume. Last week I asked myself, am I really working to achieve that goal. “NO” came the reply. I have decided to learn for certification everyday. It is definitely better than just setting goal and doing nothing. Vision without execution is delusion.~ Thomas A. Edison

Two of my friends want to play guitar. But they are not trying for it. They joined guitar classes but they keep procrastinating. Now they’ve stopped going to classes. It is possible that they have more important things in their to-do list. But if they ask my advise on “how to learn guitar”, I would suggest them to make it routine and learn, even a little, everyday.

It’s not just guitar, Microsoft certification and typing, you want to achieve anything make it a habit to get one step closer to that goal. Everyday.

Another important thing I want to mention (might not be relevant to the topic) is time. Value your time. Time is one of the priceless gifts we got. Value it.

I was in 12th standard when my principal came and gave a lecture on time management (not exactly lecture, she was scolding us for not studying for exams). Back-benchers were laughing at the “weird” remarks she used. She taught me many things, most of which I don’t remember, but one thing in particular, made its way, all the way to the permanent storage area of my head. Here is what she said “This is your time you can spend it the way you want to, but remember, this day, December-3, 2004, is never coming back. Once gone it will be gone forever. Use it wisely.”

Think about it. She was right. Life is too short. Live life in a way that when you look back at it, you feel alive, not regret (you can even make it routine to constantly remove the regret part). after all time never comes back. Don’t waste your time, invest it (rest assured, you will get guaranteed returns).

Try to keep your mind busy. Set your routine such that your mind is always busy, if needed change the routine from time to time. But under no circumstances let your mind go astray.

A man who dares to waste one hour of time, has not discovered the value of life. ~ Charles Darwin

Kaushal Dhruw

-heavenly.devil09@gmail.com