A New Star Debuts

Long time no post..........somehow i dont think i could become a regular blogger :) ....... tough job for me...............u see what a lazy guy i am ...........now prash has asked me to put up a new post...that means, i have to write something now :)

Lstening "Na tum jano na Hum".....the best way to spend time in office: listen online FM channel.......u can check it out here : Desi Radio : just go to "listen to Radio" section...and select ur player and speed......its the best radio station online and with some lovely songs playing throughout the day.....if u love hindi music, then thats the place to be on internet......also u can request for a song........

Coming on Hindi music, its tough to follow the upcoming songs here in Chennai. All FM channels here play tam music only(even Radio Mirchi). So the only way to check them out is Promos on tv or internet. One of the latest album to hit the market is Rahul Vaidya's Tera Intezar. The first two songs are very good, u like them, the moment u hear it. A touch of Sonu Nigam's voice but now its much more diff from his Indian Idol's days. The other songs in album are also good. I think this is the best album among all the three Indian Idol album released till now. Also i feel, this guy will have a better future than other two even after coming 3 in the show. Check it out....

I am really looking forward to my trip to Delhi (well for that matter, i always look forward to my trip to Delhi). It wud be Diwali and Delhi is just the city to be in at the time of Diwali. I still remember the last time, when i was coming to Delhi on Diwali......Bombay in nite was nothing in front of Delhi at that time from the sky. Bombay is ofcourse the best city, if u look from flight in nite.....but Del arnd diwali beats it easily. Another city which looks really well lit is Hyderabad with hussain sagar lake in the centre of city. Also some of the cloud formation in the sky, when u look from flight are breathtaking. I am also looking forward to Orkut Delhi meet. To meet some old friends out there, as well new people. Hope to be there soon.

The last weekend was very different one for me this time. For once, i didnt see a single movie this weekend in theatre. Saturday was spent in reading "5$ smile" by Shashi Tharoor and later watching "Indiana Jones and the last crusade". I can stil watch the whole series again and again. Then ofcourse Manchester United match on telly. The best part was debut of Giuseppe Rossi. He is the latest from United's famous academy to make mark in premiership. Though it was his first game, the confidence he displayed while taking his goal was similar to a player playing his 100th match. He is 18 yr old Italian American and Under 20 Italy Captain. I have been following his progress for last one yr in Reserves and Under 20 cup and he has weaved his magic match after match. Seems like Man Utd has another star in making. I am sure, if he continues playing like this, he will beat Beckham by miles. He is very good in his craft and gals just love his looks. U can read more abt him here:-

• Man Utd Site
• Wiki

Watch out for him. People have already starting to say that "I was there when he scored his first premiership goal". I am really excited with the fact that We (Man Utd) now have some of the best youngsters in football. With names like Rooney, Ronaldo, Rossi, Pique its not far that the current team will win lots of silverware in coming seasons.

More to follow on the saree shopping experience in Chennai in next entry.....

Something about me !!!

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Trip to Munnar - Aug 2005

So my Southern sojourn continues........

After a quick one day trip to Mahabalipuram, I was kind of hooked to visit more places in South India. There are lot of places around Chennai, where you can plan out for 2-3 day trip. But, I love more of adventure trip to mountains rather than towns full of temple and beaches out here. Somehow hilly region have their own charm that can’t be matched by others. The view of sky, valley, rivers and forests implants a sense of calmness around you. Looking at the various options near Chennai, the first place everyone suggests is Ooty or Kodaikanal. Both are quite scenic and beautiful hill stations but they are too much commercialized. I would surely visit them sometime (I love hill train journeys-Shimla and Darjeeling done, Ooty left among the top 3) but I was more hooked on to the idea of a trip to Munnar. After being chosen by TIME magazine as the top destination in India and among top 10 paradises around world by National Geographic, it makes sense to visit this place.

Now it does make sense to write a little about how this trip happened. Though thoroughly dissappointed two week back for not able to a make a trip to Kodai (Munnar was left out cuz of rains then) this time me and my roomie thought of booking bus tickets as soon as possible for Munnar. Later that week on a birthday treat of my 3rd roomie, we met a guy named Bobby (working in CTS like Anubhav) and we started talking on coming 3 day weekend. We told him that we are planning to go to Munnar and then he told us that he along with his project team is also going there and they have some places in the group to fill because of last minute cancellations. He invited us along with his team for the trip and we gladly accepted that. Though I don’t prefer a big group like this, while traveling but this was a good opportunity to just hop on and get out of Chennai without worrying too much about various nitty-gritty’s of travel.

We started last Thursday (Aug 25-2005) from Chennai. We all were supposed to meet at 6 at Egmore Railway Station and catch Pearl City Express (it goes to Tuticorin) I reached home around 5 in evening from office due to rains (ominous sign) and then rushed to station after packing my bag, camera and tripod. We reached station around 6:15 pm and train was supposed to leave at 6:30. But the problem was the guy having ticket was still not there. he was caught up in traffic due to rains. Well, he made it at sharp 6:30 and finally we were on the way to Kodai Road (our station). The lights of Chennai started fading gradually as the train moved at its full pace toward South East direction. We were 16 people in the group with 14 guys and 2 gals. Everyone except me was from Cognizant, So me the only outsider out there :). Soon Trichy was gone among the various talks we were having. After we had our dinner (staple Chicken Biryani) we started playing Antakshri, now you have to appreciate the fact that the songs were coming out in all direction in various lang. like Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telgu cuz it was group having people from Kerala, TN, Andhra, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, UP and Delhi. Though, majority of people were from TN and Kerala only. Soon all the songs were finished and we were still waiting for our Station. We shifted to Dumbshell Art and again we were totally bored with it within few hrs. Kodai Road is the nearest station to Kodaikanal. The train was supposed to reach there at 2 but it was late by around 30 mins. We finally reached there around 2:30 am and from there we took our Chartered Mini Bus for the whole trip. It was still raining and that was not promising in any way. Got up few times in between, had tea at one stop but fell asleep again. Finally got up around 8 and saw our bus going through the tea gardens in a serpent way.

Road to Munnar

In between passed through some lovely scenic sites, It was like u have suddenly landed out there in Scottish meadows with blue lake, Blue sky and clouds. A sight that I can never forget, unfortunately, I was not able to catch that on camera cuz of the moving bus. The next few kilometers saw us hurtling through the rugged terrain of overhanging cliffs. Then slowly we had a glimpse of the quaint little town of Munnar amidst billiard tabletop smooth tea plantations from afar. At first sight Munnar strikes as a huge neatly decorated garden of green velvet with no hustle bustle, no cacophony and no horns - a perfect choice for those who preferred solitude and peace.

We reached Munnar around 10 in morning. Munnar is a the quaint little town exuding its old world charm, while nearby rich tropical forests, abounding in exotic flora and fauna, are ready to be explored by cycle or on foot. At 5500ft, Munnar is the only hill station in South Kerala that lay snuggled in the high ranges of Western Ghats at the confluence of three mountain streams - Mudrapuzha, Nallathani and Kundala. The spectacular vista of cloud kissed rolling hills carpeted with tea plantations, rivulets dancing through green meadows and the colonial British settlements of the town make this place an ideal getaway from the rigorous strain of daily life. Munnar owes its existence to the numerous British planters, who cleared large stretches of forests from these hills to cultivate tea on the manicured slopes. Tea still reigns supreme here and Munnar holds the honour of growing tea at the highest elevated land, over 7,200 ft. above sea level. Nearly eighty percent of these estates are owned by Tata Tea Ltd and its holdings. According to the book, Facets of a Hundred Years of Planting (published by Tata Finley Ltd.) the estates initially belonged to Scotsman James Finley some hundred years back. The Tatas purchased them in the 1960s and named it Tata Finley Ltd and finally Tata Tea Ltd.

Tea Gardens

The Deshadhan resorts where we were for one day is the highest Resort in Kerala. Our short 1 day stay there was a pleasure itself. Munnar town is just 4 Km away, but the rustic ambience, virgin greenery and misty surrounding make the rest of the world seem far away. Being Kerala's highest Resort, it is banked by miles and miles of tea Plantations to one side and a huge mountain face standing sentry on the other side. The well-appointed cottages overlook picture postcard sceneries. While luxurious amenities pamper you inside the resort, virgin landscape behold your eyes outside. Inside or outside the cottage, there is an incredible variety of activities you can indulge in. After getting ready and having breakfast we went to Ernakulam National Park in Rajamalai. It’s around 15 kms from Munnar. It is the home of the Nilgiri Tahr. This endangered species of mountain goat is nearing extinction and the present population is about 2000 only, majority of which are found only here. The park covers an area of 97 sq.km. and is divided into 3 zones - core, buffer and Rajamalai. Cars can reach up to the Rajamalai region beyond which one can only trek through the forested grassland. Visitors are not allowed in the core area. As our old jeep began laboring up the hill, the green fertile tea gardens made way for the rocky terrain. Streams gurgled down the smooth slopes to hit the ground below with vibrant force. Anaimudi (meaning elephant head), the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats at 2,695 m. could be seen at a distance. Permission for entry is obtained from the wildlife Warden of the forest department's office at Rajamalai. The moment we got down from the Jeep, it started drizzling, so we had to take umbrellas on rent (seems like it rains a lot). We strolled along for sometime and reached a vantage point, People say the view of valley from here is totally enthralling but as our luck would have it, it was totally covered with mist and clouds. Due to rains, we were not able to notice any wild animals out there but the view of the mountain was breathtaking. The famous Nilgiri Tahr also favored us with a visit but at the top of mountain. I had to use the 12x zoom feature of my camera to get more close to this endangered species. We waited some more time and in between clicked some snaps but seems like lady luck was not going to smile on us. The weather was unrelenting, so we decided to go back to Munnar and have lunch out there before moving back to resort.

Rajmalai National Park

One of the biggest problem of being in a big group is you can not look out for restaurants of your tastes. I really wanted to get into some good local restaurant and sample some of the dishes out there. Anyways, we landed up in some mediocre restaurant. The food was ok but for someone like me who relishes good food, it was lacking something. While going back, me and Anubhav got down at the dam and decided to walk the next 4 kms to resort. The weather was good and there is nothing better than exploring a hill station through walking. The main aim was though to capture few good pictures along the way. We shot lot of the pics before realising that it’s getting too dark for the lonely road to the top of the hill. The last 1.5 kms was a steep climb and we were totally exhausted even though the road was in a good shape. Rest of the day was spent in watching TV and having some good discussion on various topics.

View From Resort

The next day, I got up around 6 and went straight to balcony, No mist, no clouds at all, just breathtaking view of the valley. The next one hour was the scenic delight. Suddenly after 15 mins, clouds started coming over the valley and within a moment, it felt like we are sitting on the top of clouds. The sky at the horizon was changing hues continuously. Later the mist took over the whole valley. After packing our stuff and breakfast of steaming idlis, we bid adieu to this excellent resort and moved towards the dam. Mattupetty Dam, our next destination, was nestled amidst luxuriant tea gardens boasting splendid views.

Lake at Matteputty Dam

The district promotion council of Idukki organizes boating (both paddle and speed) in the mirror-still waters of the lake. There is Swiss Indo project on livestocks and highly specialized dairy technique is going on in a nearby area. Though others preferred to hang around the dam for some more time, we few guys started to walk around and explore the nearby area till the boating point. The entire stretch offered a fantastic panorama of gentle slopes full of tea plantations on one side and a calm and serene lake on the other. We took a big boat and cruised around in the lake for some time before moving ahead to Echo Point. The rains started again on the way. The beauty of the echo point can’t be described in words. It was just splendid example of hills, lake, forest, dark sky and rains and of course the usual echoing sound that was piercing through the valley.

Echo Pt.

Next destination: Base point for the trek
We reached the base camp around 3:30. It took some time for our mini bus to reach there through small roads of village and the slope was not helping at all in the cause. A trek after a long time, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to manage it in right shape till the end. We started from the village and moved toward the mountains through the small stretch of rocks in between the lush tea plantations. Soon we were on the brink of forest and the steep climb toward the hill. It has rained a lot and the whole path was muddy.....making it a proper breeding ground for leeches to strike us and within 15 mins of trek, we all were busy with leeches all across our legs, shoes, jeans etc. The next few steps resulted in more muddier path and more leeches, someone got a bite also and blood started trickling out. The climb started to become more steeper and the path was getting worse minute by minute. It was turning out to be one of the toughest treks, I have taken till then. The worst part was almost everyone of us were not exactly in proper physical condition to do that trek. Though the walk of 4 kms that we did yesterday was proving to be good in hindsight but still it was turning out to be one heck of trek due to leeches and regular stoppages of group. It was more aggravated by the fact that most of guys and two gals were not at all prepared for it. They were wearing wrong shoes, wrong choice of clothes and it was delaying us in moving fast, resulting in more leeches sticking to our body.

Trek Way Up

Finally somehow we reached the hill top and took few minutes to rest. All my thoughts of instant gratification of the trek were gone cuz of thick mist blocking the view of valley. Suddenly the sun came out from nowhere and resulted in a mesmerizing view of the sky for a few seconds. The funniest part here was everyone was cursing themselves for coming out here for trek. The problem with adventure sports and holidays are always same, when u do them u curse yourself, but later on you fondly remember each and everything. Moreover, you need to appreciate the nature's beauty on these kinds of trips. Anyway after that we had to come down a little to Cliff hut, which was made on the border of TN and Kerala. The view of the valley was amazing and I captured some of my best pics out there in morning as well as evening. The whole Tamil Nadu was down there in the virgin valley full of forest and plains at the end.

View from Cliff Hut

The night beckoned in sometime. By that time we were fresh again and the soon the dancing and singing began around the camp fire. It was one of the best experiences of the life. Sitting out there in the wild around the camp fire, at one side is the deep valley and at another the ferocious jungle (it has panthers and all) with the sky full of stars and mist in the air. In Dinner we had Chapatis, Aloo sabzi, rice and Sambhar and we were asleep within few mins after that in our sleeping bags. 5:30 in morning; No mist, no clouds just clear sky with diff hues and a breathtaking view of the valley. After having an early breakfast (which I skipped) we trekked back to the base camp through a different route. This route, though shorter in distance but more muddier and steeper to go down. We were trying not to slip all along the way, The clear cut rule was try to hold your toes in some rock or put them in grass instead of muddy path. We were back to base camp within 1 hr (as compared to 3 hrs of climbing yesterday). From there, we moved back to Munnar and got fresh at a hotel before having lunch. We started towards Madurai by 2 pm and there were plans to take a stop of 10 mins each at Devikulum falls and a very beautiful spot near a tea factory. We missed the first cuz people were more interested in watching a stupid movie in the bus and second one cuz of the rains. This is why I don’t like such a big group. Imagine you come to place to visit it and enjoy its beauty and you settle down to watch a movie that u have already seen. God help these kinds of people. Soon we entered in Tamil Nadu and started to move down the hills. The road was in a bad shape because of landslides and repair work was going on. At the certain portions there was no road, it was dirt path full of hair pin bends. The entire one hr of going down was giving me goose bumps cuz of the road condition. It was too slippery to drive out there; Result was; I concentrated on watching the movie "7G Rainbow Colony". Movie was crap, some outdated story of Hindi movies of 80's and early 90's but the songs were good. It was one of the last yr biggest hits. Anyway, back to plains and within few hrs we were in Madurai. No time to visit the famous Meenakshi Temple :(, we had our dinner and took the train back to Chennai.

A good break from the heat of Chennai. Though we missed few sights, there is always next time to check them out. Yeah, I will surely come back to Munnar soon. I have fallen in love with this sleepy little town, which is full of natural beauty and still so virgin.

The total cost of the trip was Rs. 3050; cost was little on the higher side cuz of Resort. Otherwise, I am sure; it would come down to 2000-2500 depending on your preferences.

The best time to go Munnar is Oct - March. Go in August, only if you enjoy rains. You might not be able to visit all sights but rains weave their own magic in God's own Country's most famous hill station. Carry Woolens in Winter Season, Temp drop to 5'C at that time in nights.

The best way to reach Munnar is to fly or take a train to Cochin (except Chennai and Bang). From Cochin its 130 kms far and you get taxis and buses. If you are coming from Chennai, take NH47 Ext. from Madurai, It goes to Munnar. From Bangalore, you can take a route via Kodai or Coimbatore to reach Munnar.

Must Do's
Visit Rajamalai, Devikulum, Echo Point, Mattupetty Dam and Top Station
If possible go to Chinnar wild life century.
If possible plan your stay at Deshadhan Resort.
Carry Spare batteries and storage cards/ films. you might now realise, how many pics u have taken.
Do boating at Lake near Mattupetty dam
Do purchase fresh tea, Spices.
Go for Trek, adventure sports etc (contact Kestrel Adventures 9447613908, kestreladventures@mail.com)
Do inquire about the condition of the roads you are going to take.

Avoid
Don’t purchase anything made of sandalwood. Most probably, you wont get genuine stuff or it would be too costly.
Avoid going in rainy season.
Avoid local food, if you don’t like your dishes spicy, otherwise they are too good to resist :)

ClIcK HeRe To ViEw PiCs oF ThE tRiP (for bigger pics and greater clarity @ Webshots)
One more link for pics (small size pics @ Yahoo Photos)

Have fun in God's Own Country. Do visit Munnar once guys, I am sure you all are going to love this place.

Trip to Mahabalipuram ! ! !

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey." — Pat Conroy

I am a firm believer of what "Pat Conroy" says in the above mentioned quote. There are so many anecdotes, small conversations, mouth watering dishes, expressions on locals face etc.....which keep on playing in your mind, even after long time. We fondly remember those moments as they happened yesterday. I have traveled a lot across India, from Himalayas to Ganges Planes, from Deccan plateau to Western Ghats, from Desert in west to Hills in east. The one region that is still left unexplored is Southern region. Before I came down to Chennai, I had just visited Goa: if you can call that south. And here I am, living in Chennai for past one year and haven’t traveled anywhere outside the city.

Its not like that there was any lethargy on my part. First yr of job didn’t leave us with any holidays to spare and I didn’t have my camera to move around and capture my travel moments. Anyway now armed with a prosumer digicam, I tried to fix a trip for 3 day weekend of 15th August. As it has to happened, the biggest problem, that I have faced after coming to Chennai for any travel related plan is the lack of active participation from my colleagues and friends. A 3 day weekend means, everyone going to Bangalore again and again for meeting friends, guys give it a break !!! There are so many places, when we can go. In past one year, i have planned two trips and cancelled them cuz of just 1 or 2 members. The same thing happened again this time, Kept on waiting for people to take decision and in the end me and my roomie were left on our own to go to Kodaikanal. Of course going by Qualis (as we had planned) was out of question. I prefer it that way cuz u can stop anywhere, take some great shots, rest a little and you don’t have to depend on others for break or what to and what not to see. Anyway, the next best option was to look out for train or Bus Tickets. But, all tickets were already booked, nothing there saar;sir (as mentioned by travel agent) Don’t know, but it seems like people don’t like traveling out here in Chennai, just 3 semi luxury buses to Kodai, same no. to Ooty, 1 to Munnar....hardly any option. Traveling by state buses is back breaking job cuz of 12-14 hrs ride to these hill stations from here.

Well, not to disappoint myself any more, we thought of going to Mahabalipuram for one day trip. Its quite near to Chennai (60 kms) and road is quite scenic (not like Bombay-pune highway of course) but still beautiful in its own way. So after spending the Saturday at home and watching EPL matches (Thanks god, season has started again and we had a winning start this time-My team as always Manchester Utd.) and watching quite hyped up "Mangal Pandey" for night show from first row, we were ready for our trip on Sunday morning.

10 AM: Bus Stop - Chennai
Armed with our digicams, me and my Roomie (Anubhav) left home around 10 and went to Bus Stop. So many buses but all of them were so crowded that there was no place to even stand out there. Finally found a little less crowded bus and was able to find little space to stand in corner. Though I missed most of the scenic way along the sea on the route cuz nothing was visible from the bus. But, parts of the road are quite beautiful, with a lovely view of the sea lined with coconut trees, casuarinas trees, fishermen’s villages, catamarans neatly arranged along, or just plain beach sand……and nothing else.

Chennai-Mahabalipuram Bus

12 PM: Finally in Mahabalipuram :)
But we were hungry like anything, made me remember Vyom for a while and the way he says "Mom tummy main mouse jumping" (My nephew, might turn into another ABCD). We took an Auto and asked him to drop us to a good restaurant. He took us to a sea side restaurant but somehow it was not that appealing. So, we came walking back to a place called Moonraker's on Otha Vadai Street. The name itself (Bond Movie & British History-Pirates) was quite mystic to attract us out there and from outside it looked quite different. Once you step in, u cant stop yourself from comparing it with Goa, The whole seating arrangement, crowd (mostly foreigners)and setting were so much like Goan restaurants. The only thing different were the walls, which were covered with painted rock figures of popular deities.

Moonraker''s Wall

The Menu was totally continental, which was quite evident from No. of foreigners sitting out there. We ordered for two plate of toasts with honey and butter, One Cheese Onion Omelet, One Mexican Omelet, Two ginger-lemon honey tea. The food was too good and tea was heavenly, totally charged us up for the whole day. All this for 140 bucks (quite cheap). Stepped out in the street and walked up to Main Road. Now this whole street is one big amalgamation of different cultures. You can see a German pastry Shop, Continental Restaurants, Kashmir handicraft shops, Jalebis and Samosas, Book Vendors displaying Books from various languages, a Hidesign Outlet (at top end).

1 PM: Shore Temple
We then walked to Shore Temple on the beach. After taking entry tickets, we entered the complex which marked by wire mesh from everyside. Shore Temples were built on the orders of the Pallava King, Mahendra Verma Pallava. The monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic, and constitute the early stages of Dravidian architecture wherein Buddhist elements of design are prominently visible. They are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples. The pillars are of the Dravidian order. The sculptures are excellent examples of Pallava art. They are given the listing in World Heritage list.

Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram

Every rock out there seems to tell a story, of either an unfinished ratha in the making, or a rock getting split up indicating quarrying of granite in these areas. The rocks speak of the methods used in the ancient times to carve chariots or architectural forms out of them. Deep grooves are made into the rock surface and then the rock is split up. Either the rock is taken else where to build a structural temple or a sculpture or just left aside incase it’s an extra.

2 PM: Arjuna Penance, Rathas, Krishna Mandapam & Lighthouse
After shooting lots of pics, we had Slice and then moved toward other major attraction, which is Arjuna Penance. : It is the world's largest bas relief measuring 27m X 9m.

Arjuna Penance

Arjuna's Penance is the mythical story of the river Ganges, issuing from its source high in the Himalayas. It also shows deities and other semi-divine creatures and fables from the Panchtantra.

After that we saw the caves, Rathas and Krishna Mandapam and the Light house. Though there is proper paved way to all the places, we tried some adventurous route on our way through the rocks and the view from such height was majestic. The weather was turning out to be quite plesant with lots of clouds in sky, with no sun in sky and cool breeze in air, it was the perfect day to roam around on rocks. We also met a monkey family on our way but they were quite scared to come near us and totally avoided us. It was only the second time i was wathcing a light house (first one in Orissa) and how much i wished of climbing on the top of it, but it was locked.

Lighthouse

Cloud Formation

3 PM: Back to Moonraker's
We sat on the top most point for some time and then moved back to the main road for lunch. We went to two-three restaurants but no one was able to appeal so much to spend sometime out there. Hence, we decided to go back to Moonraker's. Being lunch time, it was too much crowded, but we were able to find a table on first floor. Though, i am not a big fan of sea food ( Moonraker' is famous for its sea food) But, still we opted for Prawns in Ginger-Garlic Tomato Sauce with Steamed Rice and two Beers.

Moonraker's

There we came to know more about the restaurant. Its run by three Indian brothers and known for Western blues music apart from sea food. A tip to everyone, Once u enter it, do not get deceived by the humble exteriors, the smell of the food is out here is intoxicating. Prawns were delicious and hot, very well cooked. We rounded up the lunch with Pancake with filling of Hazelnut Sauce and Chocolate, topped with Vanilla Ice-cream. That was the perfect end. A must for everyone. All this for 340 bucks, totally worth its money.

5 PM: Bus Stand
Came down to Bus stand and started looking for a bus. With no mood to stand and no Empty buses in sight after 30 mins we decided to take an Auto to Kovalam (fisherman's Village). Took an Auto for 150 bucks and came down to Kovalam and from there we took Chennai City MTC bus to our place. Landed up home around 7:30 pm. Had a tiring day but in all totally satisfied with my trip. It was great to go out after a long time.

Total cost of the trip (2 Person in INR):
Bus - Chennai-Mahabalipuram : 32
Breakfast : 140
Shore Temple entry : 20
Mineral Water + Two Slice : 36
Lunch : 370 (including tip)
Auto to Kovalam : 150
Bus - Kovalam - Chennai : 26
Total Cost : Rs 874

Fun, excitement, experience : priceless (i know sounds clichéd)

Must do:
Carry Water
Visit all the places mentioned in tourist book
Visit Moonrakers’s
Wear sports shoes which has good grip

To Avoid
Beach – its dirty
City Buses- if you cant stand for 1-1.5 hrs
Touts and guides

ClIcK HeRe To ViEw PiCs oF ThE tRiP (for bigger pics and greater clarity @ Webshots)

One more link for pics (small size pics @ Yahoo Photos)

Till then, have fun guys.......
Sayonara!!!!

Orkut Delhi Meet II - Collage

Orkut Delhi Meet, originally uploaded by deeps79.

You can use Picassa Collage tool to generate it.

Orkut Delhi Meet - II

How can you like talking and meeting strangers all the time?

One of my friends always put this question in front of me, whenever we talk about networking sites like Ryze and Orkut. My reply is always same; there are so many interesting people in world and this is just one of medium to know them. What’s wrong in knowing more people and really making some good friends in process. Though I agree that these sites have become more or less a friendship site where guys and gals are looking for bf and gf . But still if you want, they can let you find some really interesting people with same hobbies, passion and work area like yours. I am saying this cuz maybe I have been quite lucky and found some really great people on both the sites. With them, I can discuss a lot on photography, stocks, books, music and even the current fav. past time Sudoku.

Two weeks back, I was in Delhi after 6 months. How much I long for being there, only god knows…..anyways one of the high points of this trip was meeting some really good people in “Orkut Delhi Meet II’. Though we have been talking on orkut for a long time, this was the first time; I was meeting them in person. Already one meet has taken place, so few people knew each other. I was excited but not apprehensive about it as most of the people are. I was looking forward to it. In fact, I only initiated the second meet around one month back (Now you can see, why I was so excited about it). Though a lot of people said that they will join in, I was expecting around 10. After lot of deliberation on the meeting place, we decided for CCD (Café Coffee Day) at CP. CP being a central area was easily accessible to everyone and now with Metro reaching it, it was easy for people coming from North and North-West Delhi.

So armed with camera (Can’t go without it, everyone would have killed me) I started from home and went to South Ext first. Checked out Adidas Sale for Shoes but I didn’t liked the one I tried cuz of too much of Red in sole. That made me late for the meet at 4pm. So I had to rush to CP and finally reached CCD at 4:20 pm. Guys park your car at Palika Parking at CP, Its much more safe and organized than on road parking sites there. Being Saturday, CCD was full and with an inquisitive look I was inside the café, looking for some familiar faces (I have seen just face pics of people) For first few seconds, nothing registered me and then I identified Aseem. He was sitting on a sofa at ground floor along with two guys. At the same time, they also identified me (maybe cuz of my big camera bag :) )

So here are

Aseem: Working at a KPO in Gurgaon and staying near CP

Bhaskar: A student of Final year Engg. at NSIT and staying in Rohini.

Akshay: Chennai Dude (temporary) Studying in IIT-Madras and staying at Rohini.

So, just 4 of us and after a initial round of introduction, Aseem gave us a update on Prashant and Nisha. Nisha unfortunately wasn't able to join us cuz of some function at her home. I was looking forward to meet her, specially from whatever I have heard from ODM1 and also cuz she likes Bombay more than Delhi (you wont find many Delhites, who like Bombay, I am one of them) After 10 mins, Prashant joined us, he got late while fixing something in his Car (Radha-Red Palio Sports) at Lajpat Nagar.

We pooled in our money to avoid any confusion and as Prashant says, they made me the munshiji to handle finances for the whole day. I had taken my lunch (my fav. Gobhi Paranthas) so just had my usual Tropical Iceberg. Aseem told us about his experiences with Coffee Bars and I chipped in with my experience of doing a marketing project on Barista at the time of MBA. Soon afterwards Bharti and her friend Rahul Joined her.

So here is the rest of the group

Prashant: Working with IBM (Bharti Project) and staying in Noida

Bharti: Just passed out from SPA and planning to give GRE

Rahul: An MBA and planning to join Indian Army

It was a small group and it was perfect cuz we all could share and talk on various topics without dividing into smaller groups. I took out my digicam and that was what everyone was waiting for (Can u imagine, 7 people- 2 Digicam, 1 SLR and 1 Camera Phone) so, it was obvious that most of the conversation was about cameras and photography. For a long time, everyone was waiting to get a look at my digicam and that’s what happened. Everyone trying their hands on my Panasonic FZ20 and its amazing zoom capabilities and it resulted into more of a photography session. Few experiments and lots of Photographs later talks shifted to some other topics. We discussed on GRE, various fields in Architecture and career in it etc. After a second round of drinks, We thought of moving to a more quiet place and went to Pragati Maidan by Prashant's Radha (Palio). Bharti and Rahul had to go somewhere, so only 5 of us were left. Its been a long time, since I have been to Pragati Maidan, so that was a great idea from Prashant and after parking the car, we sat there and looked at Prashant’s latest Trekking pics. The pics were amazing, and how much I wished that I can come back to delhi and trek in Himalayas regularly. A show by “Euphoria” was going to take place at Pragati Maidan but we decided to come back to CP and have something, so went to Café 100 had some cocktails and mocktails. In between, we had a good discussion on condition of Bangalore, Chennai as IT hubs, Delhi being touted as the rape city and Salman Khan’s case. After spending a good one hour out there over drinks and snacks we decided to move back to our home.

So that was all about the meet. It was a great experience, just in one meet , you meet lots of intresting people. My take on these meetings is to just go out, meet people and enjoy. I am sure more people will join us next time at the time of Diwali.

Here are the pics of the meet

It was fun to meet to meet everyone and these are my feelings after the meet.

Bhaskar & Akshay : Interacted with them for first time here and it was pleasure knowing them. All the best for their placements and guys you both gonna treat me, when you will be placed.

Rahul: One quiet guy, maybe cuz he didn’t knew anyone well. But I really admire him for choosing Army even after doing MBA. You don’t see people joining army after completing MBA.

Aseem : One hell of intresting guy, I believe he is the most frequented guy among various comunity meetings, very jovial and has a good knack of telling stories and experiences, exactly like his pic on orkut.

Bharti: She is talented and knows her area (Architechture) very well, Always smiling and chirpy kind of gal and she is not as mature as she looks from her pic on orkut. I believe I deserve a treat now Ms. :)

Prashant: We share few of the hobbies like photography, traveling, trekking and driving. Infact we both are passionate about all these, so it was great meeting him after exchanging lots of scraps on orkut. Just waiting for the time, when we can go on some trip together. I envy u yar….for all the trip u can make out there :)

Hope to see each of them at the time of Orkut Delhi Meet 3 ..........
Cheers !!!

Back to Blogging........

Long time since I wrote anything on my blog. The primary reason for this is of course loads of work at office but I also accept that I have been little lazy to write anything on my page. Though I have a comp at home and if I wanted I could have written from there but somehow I think the best time to write blog is from office. You see, utilizing your time fully ………

A lot happened in between, went to home (Delhi) for about 10 days in mid July, got a salary hike, made some good friends and met few old and few new in Delhi and I am still looking for a good job outside Chennai. Somehow or the other, all the offers I have been getting till now are from Chennai, Bang and Pune. But, I am looking for Delhi or Bombay only……lets see when the fate decides in my favor. I have no reasons to give………maybe just cuz I am big city man J Delhi is of course home and most of my friend circle is there and Bombay is one city I really like a lot. Though both the cities have their own demons to fight with, in past few days.

What happened on 26/7 was terrible. It proved the fact that how much we progress, we need the blessings of someone above us to survive in this world. Never in my dreams, I thought of Bombay facing floods. The gravity of problem was not so visible initially to us people in other cities but gradually the images being shown on TV portrayed the true situation. The irony was that the whole India knew what’s happening in Bombay but the people of Bombay had no idea about what’s happening in other parts. Everyone was just going on in hope that next area would have been in better shape. My Uncle started from IOC office at 4 on 26th and reached Powai – Hiranandani next day at 11. With no way to contact the family and friends out there, people outside Bombay were as helpless as they can be. A lot has been written on what all happened that day but I wish that the people like us should take equal responsibility along with Civic administration for devastation caused by rains in Bombay. If only we treat our colonies and roads as our home by not polluting and fight for our rights with BMC and other administration agencies, the problem wouldn’t have been so severe. We need to forget the “chalta hai” attitude and made our polticians and govt realize the basic infrastructure needs for the society.

Coming back to NCR (Delhi), Gurgaon was in news for all wrong reasons. Though what happened at Honda factory was atrocious but why are we blaming the Police for that? For more on the story do read blog of a friend at

http://nikhilgurjar.blogspot.com/2005/07/uncomfortable-questions-ii-gurgaon.html

My thoughts are exactly same and don’t have much to add on to it.

Even after this, I still consider both the cities to be the best in India to live. Bombay has a spirit which no other city can match and Delhi has the best infrastructure and city planning in country.

Cheers to both Delhi and Bombay……..

Chennai - Turning into another Bangalore

Last night I was reading an article in Hindu about "Chennai is a good city for anyone to settle in" and it gave many reasons for the same. There were few comments from different people too about how good this city is. Another point which is being highly highlighted these days is the number of IT companies, which are moving to Chennai to open up the operations. There is Infy, Wipro, TCS, Patni, Xansa, CTS, HCL and soon the likes of Accenture would be opening up centre out here. In fact after Bangalore, Infy has the biggest centre in Chennai and Accenture would be opening its biggest centre out here. As for other companies they are too having quite a huge numbers of employees here at Chennai Development centre. So if you are in IT, the place to be is Chennai right now.

Ok, enough of that, lets face some truth out here. I have been staying in Chennai for 1 year now. So, how has been my stay like? Well, work kept me busy. Maybe that’s why the year went like a whirlwind. But apart from that, I won’t say it was ok kind of yr....in fact to put it in simple way, it was one bad year. I know people who like Chennai or anyone who has been born and brought up here would hate me after reading next few lines. Let’s start with:

Things I like about Chennai:-
Beach and Sea
Good restaurants
Culturally very strong……….
Good retail chain of shops like foodworld, Subhiksha….etc.
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Yeah nothing more to write about. I have tried a lot to love something out here but somehow or the other my experiences here never let me do it. This city can really test your patience. I have been to many places all across India but haven’t seen such a water problem anywhere. For drinking you have to use bottled water only and it’s a big business out here...totally in hands of politicians, maybe that’s why this problem is continuing for ages. It’s a big cash cow for the politicians out here and instead of doing something; they are always having arguments within themselves over it. The water from which you take bath is hard and salty resulting into loss of hair and taking all the softness out of it. In a recent report in The Hindu last month, it was reported that Sea water has entered and mixed with the ground water, making it more hard and salty. Talking about weather, better not to say anything. There are three kinds of climate here “Hot-Hotter- Hottest”. There is hardly any entertainment options, just one multiplex ( for Hindi and English) which is poor cousin of Adlabs or PVRs....no places to shop unless you fancy Pallika bazar type Spencer Plaza or 5 story high saree shops of T. Nagar.

I wont be including Food and Language into it because every city and state has its own identity and these two (food and lang.) are integral part of it. Of course for someone who is coming from North India, it’s a big problem but that’s not what I am discussing out here. Though it’s tough, I agree.

But what irritates me most is the unprofessional nature of the city. Few instances of that:

It takes around 7 days and 5 people to put up an internet cable connection at your home which is 2 hour job anywhere.

Cable people don’t work after 6, so if everyone at your home is working and your cable stops working on Monday, then better wait till next weekend to get it alright.

These are small things but with instances like these, who would like to settle down here. Traveling in local buses is nightmare and watching movie is one hell of job out here and roads are so small that 70% of roads and flyovers here are one lane only.

So, why companies are shifting here?

1) The decision makers: People are from Tamilnadu, atleast Infy, Wipro are like that.

2) Man power: lots of engineers, there is Engg. College in every nook and corner for city. In fact its tough to get admission in normal grad courses rather than Engg. Quality of manpower : average kind but what works out here is that people don’t leave job easily. So, low attrition rate, that’s the key factor. They are happy with anything. I see people working 15 hours without complaining out here and they just want to code, nothing else. Imagine the quality of work force by this only that one of the PM asking my friend, did u take admission in IIM after passing 12th.

3) Proximity to Bangalore.

What ever companies say that better infrastructure, cheap land and so many work forces is all hogwash. If u will open up your office 20-30 kms out of city, u will surely get land cheap.

Anyway I just want to say that if the infrastructure problems are not taken care of then it will turn into another Bangalore. Already there is so much dense traffic, Chennai is not built up for that. It is almost a unplanned city totally. There is a need to move out from the city and develop something on the lines of Navi Mumbai, Noida and Gurgaon. But the eternal problem is water scarcity…….. What will happen to that ?????

PS: This is blog entry is about Chennai as a city and nothing else. So please dont read in between the lines from it.

Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi

There goes another weekend in Chennai. Lots of sleep, lots to eat and 2 movies in between. If last weekend was a perfect one with visits to a Continental and a Lucknowi (yeah Chennai has few) restaurant, this was just spent in catching up all the sleep of last week and 2 wonderful movies and how can i forget - the weekend spl. Rajma Chawal.

As most of u must have noticed from the topic of this post that one of the movies was Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi. I heard about this movie around 1.5 yrs back and read its review on Indiafm.com. So after hearing a lot for past 1.5yrs, i was finally able to see it on Saturday. Thank god Sathyam people were showing it for atleast one show here in Chennai. Otherwise movies like these rarely get a place in Multiplex ( its not popular cinema and dont forget its Chennai ) The movie title makes u remember the poetic Mirza Ghalib Ghazal by Jagjit Singh and which also forms the starting of the movie by Shubha Mudgal.

"At the stroke of midnight, when the whole world has slept, we wake up into prosperity and freedom. Nehru has made a mistake in his sentence, because at midnight in India, people in New York are wide awake. "

Sounds ironical, but thats how the movie starts. It portrays the lives of 3 individuals at the time of political unrest, student movement, naxalite movement from late 60's to the end of emergency in mid 70's. A interwoven tale of three lives takes you to the time when the whole India was going through turbulent times in terms of social injustice and young people were trying to change India to a better place than it was. A gripping screenplay, excellent performances, vivid Cinematography and captivating dialogues makes it a intresting watch. In term of performances Shiny Ahuja as Power broker takes the cake. Kay Kay is good and Chitragandha Singh is brilliant, she is already being compared to Smita Patil. A must watch for everyone.

The second one was " Robots". I will be frank here, i love animation movies. Robots is a story of young inventor, who goes to the big city to make his dream come true. Nothing great in terms of plot but very well made and it keeps u engaged all the time. Few good Dialogues, few laughs and usual drama which results as a good time pass. Technically movie is brilliant. Again, something not to miss.

Oh yeah, yesterday it was turn of Mother's Day. One of the so many days that we have borrowed from West. Nothing against that but i wonder sometimes, Do we really need a day to celebrate that spcelliay, when everyone trying to come out with "how great their mothers are". Every mother is great, just cuz of the fact that God has only given them the right to bring someone in this world.
Amen !!!

The Beginning

Here I am with my first post. My first entry in world of blogging. Tried lots of time to create a page of mine on any blog site but somehow or other , always stopped myself from doing that. Anyway better late than never.

So what is the hot topic out here ?
Anything and everything but more or less i know, I will be talking about my favourite topics and they are People, Relationships, Behaviour and my life ( dont expect too much on that though). Apart from that expect a lot on career and society with a dose of politics. I hope, people landing up on my page would have good time.

Have Fun
Deeps