WOW...who would have thought it would happen so soon. It is hard to believe that she is old enough to be getting married... My sister got married yesterday. But I think that I can safely say that it was a great time to reunite with my family, and watch our lovely bride step into married life. It was a beautiful day for Chaya and Ramu and all those who came to help celebrate their marriage together.
Got myself a original Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. A very costly key chain to sport, but worth every penny. I particularly liked the matt outer finish, feels so good to handle. The brand "Swiss Army" has arguably achieved near iconic status and is said by some to connote the best versatility, dependability, and quality. Thou a basic model, a very handy tool to hang around with. Also thought of buying an imitation at national market, but donno how good they are.
Wolverine aka James Logan Howlett. Now you know what to present me on my next birthday. Would love to have a life size poster of him. Was reading an old superman comic and came across an ad that said "Super Heros never smoke ". I turned the page to find a center spread of Wolverine holding a cigar. Nevertheless he is my favorite and the best among the lot out there. While you are at it don't miss the comic edition where he meets spider man. And did you know, Wolverine's mutant abilities are at their peak without the adamantium in his bones. Although without the rare metal, Wolverine devolves into a wild animal devoid of human intelligence.
Was just thinking about it, Blogger's enthusiasm is fueled by expected comments. In the long run, however, the small fan following wouldn't stick with the same personal blogs. Earlier when I started my blog, the amount of comments pouring in was high and I used to blog frequently. Well now I update only the information which I feel I may require later, mostly travelogues which I'm sure will be fun to read, mabbee after 30 years from now on. What will survive are the blogs that add value to the reader. A blog that gives information about new things that are unavailable elsewhere. Just imagine an author of a blog receiving hundreds of comments to receive none all of a sudden. Will he have the same enthusiasm to continue writing as before.
Also imagine another scenario. You have a blog buddy whose blog you frequent often. During the course of time you had a online-buddy to whom you used to call and relate things and share information that you thought were very personal. Lets imagine that there was a strong healthy bonding between you two whom you never knew personally. Suddenly he stops blogging and it is normal to feel the sense of loss. You call him to hear some one else voice informing you that he is dead. HOW would you feel to see his blog once active now idle with just the memories left behind. HOW would you like to see your comment box empty with no comments from your buddy who used to comment every articles you published. NOW MY QUESTION IS " WILL YOU HAVE THE SAME ENTHU TO BLOG AS YOU WERE DOING BEFORE ?"
"A person's a person no matter how small", Well what more can I say. I watched Horton hears a who day before yesterday and must say, An amazing piece of work. For the records, this was my first animation movie that I remember watching in a theater. Jim Carrey plays Horton, No one can fit into the role of Horton other than Jim Carrey. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Horton crosses the bridge, I wish theaters had a rewind button.
Also watched an Italian movie Malena. Simply superb. But anyways, you sure can watch the movie for Monica Bellucci. She is completely, absolutely, fully, drop-deadedly WHOA! One of the most gorgeous screen babes I have seen. I bet you would never see a beautiful woman the same way and believe me when I say this, Its a sin to be good looking. A very touching movie.
I have been out of blog-action for a month now. The reasons are very existential sort actually: My body decided to crash, And then it was usual "Eat-Take Medicine-Puke-->Try to sleep-->crash again-->repeat" cycle which took fair amount of my time.
Now, coming back to the previous post's discussion, what really caused my vehicle to skid. As assumed it was not the sand that really caused the thing. Upon closer analysis it was the road markings that triggered the unexpected fall. Have you ever tried to ride over the markings with a two wheeler, then you must have noticed a substantial drop in the road grip and upon braking the vehicle would not stop immediately. Phew! I wonder what is the type of paint that is being used to mark roads.
The weather was just superb. I always enjoy bright sunny weather just after it has rained and was on my way to office. It was just about fine, but the sand was just about dry sufficient to make the turning slippery. I rammed my brakes a bit too fast and found myself kissing the road in a matter of nanoseconds. But I showed some amazing skills in getting up back to make sure that no one had noticed. This was number _ _ _ (counting) in the series of minor accidents that I have had in last few decades (road accidents, that is. My personal life itself is an accident, otherwise). Last accident I remember was at Kanakapura main road where I had found myself lying on the road, looking into eyes of the dog which had just hit Amogh’s bike (Well that was Amogh’s mistake). Apart from honing my driving skills, these accidents have also lent support to my arguments of why I should not have a girlfriend. My flashy new bike sustained a few scratches.
There was certain something missing from past two years as I was unable to make some time off to go out on a long trek. Occasionally I would visit few hills nearby but that never had the zing that Western Ghats used to offer. Last weekend I had been to a place popularly known as Kumara Parvatha. I usually talk about how intense I find Bangalore and how everything in Bangalore is noisy and fast-paced and high-energy, and when I come back home at the end of the day, I feel drained. And it's nice to escape to the relative calm of trekking for a while.
We begin to notice the first time we step into the bus that it was a bad idea to plan a trek in short notice as we ended up with seats at the rear end of the bus. I don't know about other places but this journey was a rollercoaster ride and in all probability we were suspended in mid air most of the time which officially classifies our group to people who trekked Kumara Parvatha right from Bangalore. I was impressed by the casual adroitness with which our courageous bus driver would navigate the maddening maze of pot holes and non existent roads.
Kukke is an extraordinary place in terms of Geographic location, Right from a temple located in the foothills of Kumaraparvatha to the very beautiful river Kumaradhara flowing through the city. It also acts as a base camp for many trek routes to Bisle Ghat, Yedukumeri and KP. I couldn't help but marvel at the mist covered place as soon as I got down from the bus.
There is an unwritten rule for trekkers, if you do not bathe once in three days you are foolish. If you feel like taking bathe every day, you are crazy. I'm not sure if it's worse to be foolish or crazy, but I guess I fall into the first category. We couldn't help but to understand the usefulness of Deodorant as we did not bathe for 48 Hrs. I often found myself complaining about the amount of trash found on the trek path. I wish people to be more educated towards waste disposal. The good thing was, higher we climbed lesser were the waste.
No matter which trek route you select, there is always a nice surprise round the corner. In our case we had never anticipated the vastness of the mountain so were we lacking in preparation which took its toll and forced us to take rest every few minutes. I was rather amused at the speed at which our Glucose powder was depleting. We were relived when we reached Bhatara Maane which is an isolated house on the way to KP which serves as a pit stop to have lunch.
Water streams are rare especially during winter and summer, and where they do exist we need to fill our water bottles. We came across them near two places one near a ruined dolmen (Mantapa) and the second almost near the peak. So I suppose, I could not stop washing my face in the ice cold water in the scorching heat that constantly pushed my sweat buds to perform at its fullest. But there's something about distance and height of KP (2nd tallest mountain in south India) that can wear you out. In fact 2 people from our group were so tired that they ended up losing their way and had to spend the night inside a forest, creepy isn't it. But I was amazed at the speed at which localities used to climb without any difficulty.
So yeah, finally we were almost near the peak and we got to see the most breath taking sunset in all its glory. One moment you would see the bluish sky and suddenly you would be surprised to see your friends faces turning orange and then red. We then started embarking on what is sure to be a risky trek as it was turning darker. So was the trek rather gloomy at the end as we had left behind two of our friends whom we thought were slowly trekking towards the peak.
You say hi to a random trekker and he graciously introduces himself. It's easy to make friends on a trek especially when you are enquiring about your missing mates; they were sympathetic and very helpful. I find it compelling, most of them are from many different walks of life, and are interacting as if they knew us from the day we were born. It was dark and we stopped to cook dinner near a stream. From a distance you could see light from fire spread across the stream and occasional laughter that would shatter the silence of forest. Finally after a small ascend we reached the peak. Pitching the tent itself was a Herculean task. On a peak like Kumara Parvatha it require a bit of courage to sleep as I constantly kept wondering when our tents would fly away. After sunrise we finally managed to reunite with the lost friends and headed back. Taken together you would feel like doing this trek again and again.
