A Billionth Voice

Ticket Please!

2011-12-01T02:27:00.001+05:30

Ticket please!

I was running to catch the morning 7:45am Churchgate local from Dadar. My life had enough problems in addition to having an expired train pass. So I said to myself, "Chal beta ticket nikal.".
As destiny would have it, the line was huge.

"Saala, jab naseeb hi #$% to kya karega pandu!"

People still in the queue were getting restless as the guy issuing tickets was taking "strategic timeouts" so long that entire T20 match would be finished by the time he returned from one.

I had managed to take a ticket and was in time to catch the train even though I had to cross the foot over bridge.
Pleased with myself that I was on time at the station, I was walking towards platform number 2.

Dadar station foot over bridge was crowded as usual. From students rushing to college, working people desperate to get to office, hawkers ready to take their space on the bridge, every movement on the bridge had a purpose. Even I was going to be a part of something special that day, and I didn't know it till that point of time!

"Sir, please believe me I had a ticket to Churchgate", a college girl pleaded to a ticket examiner.

"I had it in my hand just sometime back before entering the bridge".
"Then show me the ticket", was the ticket checkers' brief and equally gruff reply.
"I can't find it now sir, I may have dropped it somewhere".
"Is that my mistake?".
"No sir, but I request you to leave me, I am getting late for my exam".
"Come over to the station masters' office, pay the fine and then I shall leave you".
"Please understand sir, all my year long effort depends on todays exam."
"I can't change the rules for you, sorry".

The examiner seemed unmoved.

"Here's the ticket you were searching", I said handing it to the examiner.
"The lady had dropped it from her hand unknowingly and I thought of returning it.".

The examiners' expression changed from serious to perplexed and finally settling at an expression best described as dejected. After verifying the ticket he let the girl go. I watched the girl leave in a hurry.. or was it?

At the climax of of those nervous seconds, she had given me a smile of gratitude so innocent and touching that I stood gazing at her as she drowned in the crowd.

Coming out of his momentary stupor the ticket examiner turned his attention to me. With a still dejected look he asked for my ticket.

"You have already checked it, sir".
"What! but it was the .... wait .. you mean to say you gave your ticket saying it was hers'?".
"Yes sir, I didn't want her to miss her exam just because she had lost a train ticket".

Now the examiner found it too difficult to contain his bewilderment.

"I have caught many ticketless people; but its the first time I have caught someone ticketless like you, shabaash beta. Chalo station master ke office me jaake aaram se fine bharna aur apni bewakoofi pe bhi roona".
"bewakoofi?", I asked.
"You have been good to the girl, but why would she remember you? Wo to chali bhi gayi.. even without knowing that its your ticket you had given.".
"Sir, she would know its not her ticket.".
"Kaise? Tera photo hai kya ticket pe".

"Aap ne ticket theek se dekha nahi shayad. On the other side it says..."
"ALL THE BEST - 9833550975".

english romance continues...

2010-11-27T00:43:00.000+05:30

I am back to my first love.. english. Pls leave a comment if you like it.

The words unsaid
-----------------------
The words are funny,
I do feel so.
Cos' most of the times,
you just don't know.

think you understand them,
and are pretty close.
but its the unsaid words, my friend,
that are louder than those.

words are a science,
words are a boring art.
thats why they probably,
don't talk to the heart.

heart understands feelings,
the only thing it will.
just make someone happy,
and with happiness it fills.

its time we stopped talking,
and we do speak a lot.
better we do something good,
before late we are not.

help a complete stranger,
do what a human would.
they say after all,
good reaps only good.

a good deed done,
don't expect a thanks.
for the good deeds never,
are fighting for a rank.

the gleam in their eyes,
is all that matter.
because its yours heart
warming another..

ayushyavar bolu kahi?

2010-10-16T13:58:00.001+05:30

जगणे म्हणजे काय मित्रहो?
विचार केला आहे कधी?
उत्तर माला सांगू नका,
कारण जगणे समजा आधी.

जगणे म्हणजे मोर पिसारा,
उभ्या गगनात न मावनारा.
जगणे म्हणजे सुसाट वारा,
स्वचंदपने घोंगावनारा.

जगणे म्हणजे आयुष्य नव्हे,
तर तो एक क्षण आहे.
या क्षणांच्या घरट्या मधे,
आयुष्याचे एक पिल्लू आहे.

जगणे म्हणजे चालत राहने,
पुढे पुढे आणी निरंतर.
या वाटचाली मधे आपण,
शोधतो जगण्याचे खरे उत्तर.

उत्तर ज्याचे त्याचे असते,
काही लहान कही मोठे असते.
शाळेत ल्या पेपरा सारखे,
यात चूक बरोबर मात्र कधी नसते.

उत्तर शोधने सोपे नसले तरी,
उत्तर शोधायची जिद्द हवी.
आयुष्य म्हणजे असंख्य प्रश्न,
पण त्या प्रश्नांशी मैत्री हवी.

कही प्रश्न अवघड असतात,
कही केल्या उलगडत नाहीत.
कही सोपे प्रश्न मात्र,
सुटून सुधा सुटत नाहीत.

सुटता सुटता कही प्रश्न,
प्रश्नांचा पाऊस पाडतात.
त्या प्रश्नांच्या सरी आपल्याला,
नकळत अंतर्मुख करून जातात.

प्रश्नांशी हितगुज करता करता,
आयुष्य असेच निघून जाते.
आयुष्याच्या संध्याकाळी,
या प्रश्नान्चिच साथ मिळते.

ती संध्याकाळ गुलाबी हवी,
असे तुम्हाला हवे असेल.
आरशा मधे स्वतःला पहा,
आयुष्य तुम्हाला साद देत असेल...

Translation below...

what is living friends?
have you ever thought?
dont tell me the answer,
first understand what it means.

living is a peacock tail-fan,
which fills the entire sky.
Its like an unrelenting gale,
unstoppable in its path.

living is not the entire life,
its just a moment.
its in the nest of these moments,
that life actually is growing up.

living is like a walk,
constant and always forward,
its in this journey that,
we try to find life's true purpose.

anwsers are your own,
some subjective some objective.
but unlike in school papers,
theres no right or wrong with them.

though finding answers is not easy,
its the passion to find that matters.
although there are too many questions,
you have to be friends with them.

some questions are tough,
almost seem un-resolvable.
some simple questions, somehow,
complicate even simple answers.

some questions unravel and,
themselves start another shower of questions.
those drops of questions,
make our wet soul introspect.

contemplating with these questions,
life completes a cycle,
in the evening of life itself,
its these questions that give us solace.

if evening to be happy,
is your true wish,
get out of your bed, stand in front of the mirror,
life would be beaconing ...

photo

2010-09-12T23:41:00.002+05:30

One of my attempts at marathi poetry.
Translation for my non marathi friends, alongside :)

photographycha mala chaanda aahe, / I like photography,
tumhala sudha asel, bahutek. / you might also like it.
asla tar chaanach / if indeed then great,
pan nasla tari vait kay? / if not, you'r not missing a lot.

Nako ti photography anee / no need for photography,
nako te photo. / and forget those photos.
photo kadhun far tar, / clicking will only give you
aathvanincha chaukon hoto. /afterall square memories. (alluding to the square photo we save)

Tya chaukonat astat kahi kshan, / that square accommodates few moments,
kahi mavtat, kahi sandtat. / some fit into it, while some simply spill over
pan gammat mhanje, te mavlele / but the the irony is, those that fit in that square
kshan tya sandlelya kshnanmule astat. / are because of those moments which spilled over.

Kagdavar asto to fakta ek photo, /on paper we see just a photo
nistabdha, avichal. /silent, static.
pan baghnaryala anubhavta yeto, /but one can experience,
to sampoorna abhaas, sandlelya kshnansahit. / that entire emotional spectra, of course with the spilled moments.

Tya kshnana bhavana astat, /those moments have feelings,
kahi anandane utsfurta tar kahi vyakul. /some of spontaneous joy, some of sorrowful loneliness
pan tyana gyatantar naste, karan /but they have no choice, because
tyanchi vel nighun geleli aste. /they have been pushed into the past already

Ase hazaro khshan, /I have thousands of such moments,
me sathavle aahet, /which I have diligently saved.
pratyek divsaganik matra, / but as days pass,
tyanche vay vadhat aahe. / they are getting older and older.

Vay vadtha vadhta, / as they get older,
kahi kshan thaklele aahet. / some moments have become vague.
Aathvaninchya bojakhali tey / in the flood of memories,
chirdun gele aahet. / they are disappearing in absolution.

Kadhi vatte he kshan, / Sometimes, i feel these moments,
kuthe tari lapvoon thevoo. / for ever, should be saved by me .
pan Aatvanhicha ha samudra, / makes me wonder, how to take the sea
eka onjli madhe kasa gheoo. / and accommodate on my palm for eternity.

Bangalore to Munnar : Night out on the road

2010-03-21T19:17:00.000+05:30

All of us (Nitin, Koel, Ranja, Gauri and myself) were in high spirits now that we were finally on our way to Munnar. That december night was unusually quite but not too cold. The tavera, we had booked, was zooming through the empty roads like the 'Santa Maria' would have sailed the open seas with Columbus on board. Only difference being there were 4 columbuses on board this one, in search of the new world called Munnar.

In no time the city lights were a silent speck behind us as if left behind in a race. The road in front of us was illuminated by the headlights of the car which had overpowered the starry sky and the only sign of habitation was a solitary petrol pump or a dhaba. But these were just distractions till we reached our destination and it seemed there was nothing to stop us.

The excitement was to be experienced than to be told as the cool winter air hit us in the face.(Interesting factoid: Gauri was not amused by this phenomenon so she made air tight arrangements for her hair by wearing a monkey cap and rolling up the windows). The tavera reached mysore in a few hours and continued on without stopping to see the Mysore palace illuminated in a million light bulbs. We were at our chatty best notwithstanding that fact that it was almost 2am in the morning. Mysore became a has been in some time and we made our way further south. Sometime around 4am we reached bandipur National Park. The road leading us there was not as smooth or wide as the one we had come from but the fact was it was nowhere as bad a road we normally see in the city sometimes. Since there was no divider, occasionally a vehicle would blind my eyes coming straight towards us in the opposite direction. Credit goes to Mr. driver who was always alert and an awesome person (more on that later).

It seemed that it would be a boring trip rest of the way. No sooner than I thought the car stopped dead in its tracks. Awaken from the 10-second-away slumber, I became wide awake and peered ahead through the windshield. Something was definitely wrong because there were vehicles parked one behind the other. None of the vehicles was moving or for that matter even trying to move. It seemed as if they had resigned to the fact that its gonna take a while before i get to move.
All vehicles had turned off their headlights and I could see just torches ahead in people's hands in the inky darkness of the forest. When I say darkness it was actually dark! If you are a city slicker don't try to imagine it just read on. For those who know what it means you are with me. In that darkness, theres no moonlight even as its blocked by the forest trees. The eerie silence of the surroundings adds to the freakiness. I couldn't imagine stepping out in that dark considering we were surrounded by tiger habitat.

As it turned out the forest had closed thoroughfare for the night and would be opening in the wee hours of the morning. With the suspense suddenly gone, the 10-second-away slumber returned and those few minutes of sleep are my most cherished as I hadn't slept even a second that day. Early morning was not without its drama. I woke up to the incessant chirping of the bandipur forest. We were surrounded by some serious wildlife. The first light of the morning sun took away my breath I suddenly found us surrounded by the tallest eucalyptus (nilgiri) trees i have seen in my life. The smell of the morning jungle made my lungs fill with life giving fresh air. The road was narrow and winding but it didn't matter much as each incline and every turn was unraveling the beauty that a forest is. Having watched a forest only on discovery or Nat geo, and read amusedly in the books by Jim Corbett, until then, it dawned upon me how beautiful a forest actually is. The never ending green is seldom monotonous and the sights and sounds keep you interested for whatever time you spend.

Most of the traveler's excitement dried once mr. driver confessed he wasn't sure of the route. Thus began a series of are-we-lost and how do we reach munnar kind of questions. Ultimately the known route was agreed to be Bandipur-Ooty-Coimbatore-Pollachi-Munnar. Glad that we knew where we were going the spirits returned to where they were earlier. The next hour was full of light hearted banter and clicks as everyone wanted a piece of the beautiful surroundings captured as a "Kodak" moment!

Thats it for this post. If the night was exciting the day was adventurous. I hope to post it sooner than later.

bangalore to munnar - trip that almost didnt happen

2010-01-24T12:45:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: This series of posts is not on an informed study on how to reach munnar. You would be better off going somewhere else if you just want to reach munnar. For the intrepid traveler who doesn't mind veering off the beaten track, this is how you 'travel' to munnar.

So the story begins on 24th Dec 09. I call Nitin in the afternoon around 4pm to check whether we are all set for the trip. He sounds a bit tensed and promises to call me back. Now, even I get anxious about what exactly is transpiring of the trip. Around 7pm Koel calls. The conversation happens something like this.
"Hi pradeep, Koel here."
"Hi, koel. Any tensions? Nitin seemed troubled on the phone".
"Ya, theres been a slight problem".
"Why? what happened?".
"Arre, the cab guy is suddenly acting up. He says the cab wont be available now and is giving some flimsy reasons for it. Nitin and me are checking out other cabs, meawhile you can also search for cabs."
"Oh! this is not good. Ya, i shall ask the office transport contractor if he knows of someone."
"
call ends.
..
..
tring.. tring..

"Hi, koel".
"Hi, pradeep. Any luck?".
"Not encouraging. One guy is prepared to come but is available only for 3 days."
"Doesn't work out. We have to have a cab for 4 days. Anyways, keep trying in the meantime we are also closing in on a cab.".
"Ok. I shall call as soon as i get something then".
"Sure".
..
..
After 10 mins, Nitin calls.

"Pradeep, by what time can you reach our house?"
"I can try to reach by 10, 10:30".
"Good, try to reach as fast as possible. We have got a cab and hes coming down to our place. So jaldi aa phir, hum log wait kar rahe hain.".
"thats gr8!...yes.. abhi room pe jaake packing bhi karna padega. So i guess 10:30 tak pahuch jaoonga".

From what appeared to be a disaster waiting to happen, Nitin and Koel somehow pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat at the last time. So we were finally ready, bags packed and all. Having a quick dinner at Koel's, we set out on the trip not knowing what was in store for the next few days.

Since the story has two new characters now, its a good time to introduce everyone.
(In order of appearance.)
Me: Whom you might already know.
Nitin: school buddy and childhood friend.
Koel: Nitin's girl friend.
Two extremely likeable characters come next, Gauri and Ranja. Both are koel's childhood friends.
As it turned out, Ranja is a flower-lover and treated us with some amazing photos that she clicked throughout the trip.
On the other hand, Gauri is at her acting best, throwing one liners and having us in splits. Extremely sporting, both these girls and not to forget Koel.

With these three friends getting together it was a laughter explosion of hiroshima(ic) proportions for the rest of the trip. Read on for more .

Watch avatar movie.

2009-12-20T16:40:00.000+05:30

was waiting for this move since months and finally watched it today morning first show at REX on brigade road.
Written a review about it here Avatar movie review too.

Its a must watch nothing else will do. The cinematic spectacle is a must experience for anyone who knows what movies are. Its a great movie to be seen in a theatre.

School chale hum.

2009-12-13T14:17:00.000+05:30

Remember this absolutely wonderful song? It was a regular feature on TV and radio few years back. It was about the fun of going to school and studying there. It featured schoolkids going to school along with their chums and having a blast. Running through open fields, rowing through the backwaters in kerala, braving the mountainous terrain in ladakh or just splashing their in a river, the sheer energy of the cinematography takes you to your childhood.

Anyways, the point of the blog is about teaching kids. When was the last time you taught kids? In a classroom? If you have then you might share my views on this. I got an opportunity to teach 7th standard students at a Govt. middle school in bangalore and it was a very encouraging experience.

The school in question is a middle school with classes till 7th standard only. Not to mention its a vernacular medium school. Actually, when i got an offer initially i didnt think twice before saying a 'yes'. It was later that it dawned upon me that language could be an issue since i didnt even know the most basic of Kannada, with due respect to the language of course. So the only option was to communicate in English that the kids understood. "What a solution!" you would laugh but i had no option. My enthusiasm was peaking and there was no way i was backing out of this.

I was supposed to teach few computer basics to the kids, the software part of it to be precise while venkatesh would start of with the hardware. Now learning computers hands on is the best approach; but what would you do if none of the computers in the computer lab WORK!! So venkatesh decided that we should teach theory.

Teaching theory, in theory (pun intended) sounds easy. But with the constraints enumerated earlier it was far from easy. Computers as a subject in itself has a multitude of phrases, jargon, abbreviations, concepts which need explanation as we dive into any basics. Analogies are the best way to go about teaching these thing; but then explaining the analogies itself is a cul-de-sac for a guy with limited language skills.

Anyways, the language barrier not withstanding I reached the school a bit late. The reason being I had to take a few printouts of the info we were going to hopefully teach that day. Its would be an interesting post by itself, but later. The school was an 'L' shaped 2 storey structure huddling alongside a few residential buildings and houses. Nothing extravagant at all and rightly so as it did the job perfectly fine as was evident. The far side of the L faced the entrance and had the name painted in dark blue. There was the familiar drawing of a boy and a girl sitting on a huge pencil with books in hand. Its the symbol of 'Sarva shiksha abhiyaan' the movement to educate all kids .

Any school has this feel of enthusiasm to it. I see it in every school i see. Maybe its got to do with the kids. The insatiable eagerness, carefree attitude and the drive to constantly be upto something really make me respect children. We adults quickly forget that we as children might have been something like that in our childhood too. What makes children the way they are and us the way we are? That may constitute another post altogether so let me not digress.

I was not sure whether i had reached the correct place. So i called up venkatesh. He said he was on the 1st floor and would come out on the balcony. I looked around and instantly recognised the tall frame smiling down upon me from the 1st floor balcony.

I was introduced to other two people one being ritesh, another guy interested in teaching, and Venugopal sir who brought the entire thing together. The computer lab was the place where we were supposed to take a class. I entered the lab and found around seven computers placed along the walls of that room. One of the walls was taken by the blackboard and a cabinet containing books. The rest of them were taken by drawings who jostled with switchboards for space amid crusty paint. This was manageable if not decent enough. The tough part was going to be managing the kids..

mumbai bangalore volvo: travel bus timings, bus operators, bus service review

2009-11-01T02:17:00.001+05:30

i was traveling again from bangalore to mumbai. This time though it was monsoon and by now i was quite experienced enough to book tickets and know which volvo bus operators to avoid. But my experiences were limited to ksrtc, vrl, sharma transports, neeta travels only. Then i decided to go with amchi marathi sounding travels called 'Konduskar Travels'. Earlier i used to think its must be a really good service. Did i think the same way later? read on...

The price for konduskar was marginally lower than vrl travels but higher than ksrtc as is the case most of the times. The pickup point was kalasipalyam in the heart of bangalore. The bus was due at 7pm. I had lots of luggage with me hence going back and forth through the lanes of kalasipalyam wasnt a very easy effort. In a non-descript little room near the entrance of kalasipalyam bus stand the signboard read as the one i was looking for. Heaving a sigh of relief, i seated myself in the chair.

The bus arrived, surprisingly, on time. After the sharma experience i was pleasantly surprised. Well, at least the beginning was on a good note. I entered the bus and took my window seat. The bus started in a few minutes. It was empty, most of it. But it was good to see that the seats looked decent enough to be called clean by other volvo standards. The aisle was also clean. In no time the bus was making a getaway out of bangalore via KR circle, then rajaji nagar and later yeshwantpur station.

The bus looked in good condition. You could feel the power of the B7R engine putting that awesome torque on the wheels. The sudden thrust backwards on the application of slight acceleration felt good. But then i forgot we still were in bangalore and bangalore's traffic doesn't care who is going where; it just manifests itself in almost every traffic corner or signal. Finally after getting a moveon the bus went into cruise mode. It was movie time and guess what, it was a lucky day. Not for me, but for the actors, directors and producers of the film 'jashn'. To fully comprehend why i am saying this just go and read any review. Mind you i am not asking you to watch the film cos you would sue me for the mental agony caused.

I referred to the luck part because here we were, all the passengers i mean, traveling in a bus and helpless enough to watch any movie that would be shown. And among all the movies this is the movies that is selected. Ok..it may not be the worst film ever made but you know a bad movie when you see it.

So after the movie it was dreaming time. Since the seat beside me was empty i was more than happy to sleep occupying both the seats. The ocassional bump reminded me we were still in karnataka. Nothing against the karnataka government but the guys haven't developed the northern part of karnataka as good if not better than south karnataka. The bus, or any other vehicle for that matter, comes to a grinding halt every hundred metres as the condition of the road is so bad. There are frequent detours that cause delays. hats off to the travels guys who take it in their stride.

Morning came early as we touched kolhapur at around 5:30 am itself. It was just a filling station somewhere outside of kolhapur. Elated i stepped down from the bus and took the chilly air in and felt the somewhat familiar scent of the black soil i had played in my village. Hearing the familiar village dialect instantly made me feel i am home. Even at that odd hour and half awake i thought of how language has a binding effect.

Since this was a konduskar bus it detoured and entered the city of kolhapur. It was the first time i saw, even though from the confines and comfort of the bus, the historical city of shahu maharaj. The all to familiar sight of farmers dressed in the traditional 'bandi', 'dhotar', 'pheta' leading their cattle to graze instantly made me feel warm at heart. This is what makes India what it is. Away from the blinking screens of computers in AC offices and MNC office culture was this India. The only thing that matters to this india is the rain if i can take a few liberties. Barring the government decision on the prices of foodgrains nothing interests this india more. Although i may have generalised to the point of criminal ignorance; but the fact remains it another India in contrast to the popular perception of people outside india and for some in India too.

I got time to think all this since the bus reached kolhapur bus stand at 7:00 am it didnt move till 7:45 am. No reasons given whatsoever. So the journey continued towards next destinations on the way karad and subsequently satara. They were left behind in a few hours and pune beaconed at 170 odd kms. We did reach pune at 10:30 am.
Till now everything was going to plan. I was already looking ahead at making it for lunch to mumbai when a few surprises were made known to us. The bus was not going to go all the way to mumbai. There was a change of bus in Pune and the actual bus was expected at 11am in pune. Pune at that time was in full grip of swine flu and you could see people wearing masks. I braced myself, and hoping everything would be fine sat at the bus operators office waiting for the bus.
The bus arranged was a Neeta Volvo and by the looks of it, had taken part in the vietnam war. The front mirrors were broken, the color had worn off, the window sealings were hanging about. On entering it was a similar sight too. torn seat covers, broken seat arm rests, filthy seats and cracked windows. Me along with three others from the earlier bus cursed our luck and hoped this piece of junk makes it to mumbai.

Although the bus was almost full, the bus operators are dedicated to making use of the last available inch in the bus and to do it they have a simple formula. just wait for the customer till he arrives. Meandering through the streets of Pune was all the bus did for the next hour and a half. Finally i saw a semblance of NH4 and heaved a sigh of relief. We were back on track finally!

The journey here onwards was made somewhat bearable by the scenic locations that whizzed past. Monsoon is a great time to see get some nice pics. Especially in the ghats. I have tried taking a few here, hope you like them.

The picture on the left is the place near kolhapur where we stopped for breakfast. It was here that i had 'pohe'.

One of the better shots i took on my mobile camera on NH4. I agree a better camera is needed to do justice to the shot.

The green scenes are only during monsoons. Its a torrid sun the rest of the time.

The mud splattered on the window of the volvo.

The express way : lonavala

This bill board shouldnt have been there.

Great valley view.

really nice pic. Small tea stall right on the edge of the cliff.

few people enjoying the view or cuppa tea?

The winding way up the ghat.

The bus reached panvel at around 1:30 pm and vashi at sometime later.

volvo online tickets booking bangalore mumbai travel ksrtc private travels

2009-10-28T23:52:00.000+05:30

There are many options to buy tickets cheaply. If you are the kind who saves every penny then nothing like some research on the internet. Here are a few helpful sites to buy tickets.

Ksrtc.in

: The official site of the karnataka state transport corporation. The ksrtc bus tickets can be bought from the majestic (kempegowda bus stand) bus stand itself. But with online ticket booking being so convenient the ksrtc has provided facility to book ksrtc bus tickets online. I primarily use this site to book the ksrtc volvo bus tickets from bangalore to mumbai.
Cheap tickets / Discounts: Ksrtc easily beats other travels in the ticket pricing. Considering the condition of the buses, the punctuality, the staff, the cleanliness the ticket price is really a bargain. ksrtc offers a 10% discount if you book two way journey ticket at the same time. Here is the ticket price breakup for one way.
Basic Fare : Rs. 1060.00
Insurance Fee : Rs. 3.00
Infrastructure Fee : Rs. 10.00
Reservation Fee : Rs. 10.00
User Fee : Rs. 17.00
Service Fee : Rs. 28.00
--------------------------------
Total Fare : Rs. 1128
Booking through Phone facility : Not available.
Homedelivery of tickets in Bangalore : Not available.
Other Benefits : You can travel in the city (bmtc) buses to the place of the bus boarding point from 2 hours before the departure of the bus.

Redbus.in

:
Redbus.in is another decent site to book tickets online. One of the most comprehensive travel operator listings available (around 500). 5000+ route bookings possible. multi mode of ticket booking available.

You can book tickets using the online ticket reservation system itself or,
use phone to book the tickets and pay on delivery. Works out really well. I have used their services on a couple of occasion and haven't been disappointed.
Cheap Tickets / Discounts redbus.in : the ticket prices are including the commission that redbus might be charging the tour operators for listing their services or vice versa. but the price seems very reasonable.
Booking through phone facility : One of the best facilities to book through the phone. You just tell your destination and type of bus you are looking for and you are done. The booking officer gives you the options and seats available and you can choose as per your wish. the ticket amount is paid on delivery of the tickets only. So no hassles like double transactions faced here plus you get a confirmed ticket. I have seen cases where ksrtc has overbooked their bangalore mumbai volvo with people in pune getting affected cos their seat was again booked in mumbai.

Home delivery of tickets in bangalore : redbus.in provides home delivery facility for tickets booked. There is marginal amount charged for the delivery but its justified for the convenience.
Other benefits : You get to read user reviews for the bus that you want to book the ticket for. This really helps you to make in informed decision before you spend your money. I have seen negative feedback been published as well so there is scope for user feedback being genuine.

yatra.com

another huge travel site. it offers some decent offers for traveling via air etc. the main benefits are availability of a large number of options for traveling between any two cities. Air, rail, road etc. you can earn yatra miles for being a regular traveler just like the air miles you earn for traveling by an airline.

makemytrip.com

More coming soon.

cleartrip.com

More coming soon.

volvo travel experience mumbai to bangalore:sharma transports

2009-09-20T20:08:00.000+05:30

it was april and i was desperately looking to go back to mumbai for a well deserved break. Finally i got what i was looking for, a leave for around 8 days with 3 days working from home. hmm..3 days shouldn't be big deal. now for the difficult part of actually booking a ticket. I opened the ksrtc site no seats available in the evening on that day. So tried redbus.in.

Redbus.in is a pretty decent site with decent quality. I have used them on two different occasions and haven't been disappointed. Anyways, back to the topic. All the usual transports were there VRL, Sharma, National, Konduskar etc. I zeroed in on Sharma as i had tried KSRTC and VRL and liked them both. I wanted to try a different travel just to know the difference. Now, sharma operates Volvos and Multi-axls mercedes buses to mumbai. This time though i became a bit too adventerous and booked a non-AC semi sleeper bus to mumbai. I assumed it would be a stripped down version of the volvo. to know the rest read on and be enlightened.

The bus was supposed to leave at 8pm from the sharma transports office in kalasipalyam. I reached there pretty much in time. My first impression was this should be a well planned transport as the office looked much better off than the rest of the travels' offices. there were a number of rows of seats for waiting passengers. I was pleasantly surprised.

The bus arrived almost on time. The usually scurrying happened to enter the bus. The bus looked promising on the outside. Inspired somewhat by the volvo though. but, who cares. The make of the particular model read 'Sutlej 8000'. Whatever the 8000 meant i hoped it flew as good as the volvo if not better. My assumption was the less money meant that just the AC was absent with everything else being the same(As you would know later , dont assume too many things).

It started sometime later but was of no use as the entire kalasipalyam road was in a mess of traffic. It took some time to get out of there to land up in traffic somewhere else. Things had got off to a bad start. The optimist in me quipped, with the law of averages the rest of the journey should be smooth.

It took 10:30 pm to reach around Yeshwantpur station. My stomach was giving me a unger alert. It wondered where dinner might be cos normally its well outside the city that the buses stop at roadside dhabas. I consoled my pensive stomach to hold for few more minutes reminding it of the sumptous meal at the next tarry point.

soon it was 11pm and most of the people were looking at their watches with questioning glances. The driver wasnt oblivious to this fact either but his standard response was the stopover isn't far. Finally, we reached the dhaba at around 12:30. Unbelievable i thought. The part of my brain which deals with bad decisions was trying to convince me saying its a one off situation. In any case, whether i had taken some other bus i would still have been here. Didn't work at all.

Hunger pangs had completely taken over me. I took some meal and settled down again expecting atleast two things. one, early deliverance and two, satisfactory sleep. It helped that the seats were wider than those in the volvo. Plus, the seating arrangement was 2+1 which actally allowed one to fold the feet 'indian style' and sit.

One thing bugged me right from the time the bus hit the free road. Somehow, it didn't have the same bite as the volvo. A bit too much to expect i thought but then the realization hit me about the total journey time. it would now take much longer compared to the volvo. An unsettling feeling to say the least.

to add to that unsettling feeling was the kind of movies that were being played. Emraan hashmi is certainly not my cuppa tea. And getting to watch 3 emraan movies back to back is something of an achievement. In any other setting i could have walked out of the situation unable to bear the drama(torture was my first option), but i was traveling here so that option was unavailable.

At around 8 we reached kolhapur. Whew! finally in marathi land. But the journey was taking 'Homeric' proportions. I bet 'jason' (ref. Greek mythology Jason and the Golden Fleece) would have abandoned his quest if he was traveling with me. The bus was unable to cruise at all. The accelerator seemed to be touching the bottom and still the grunting of the engine was the only thing that increased. No cruising speed at all.

My dunce feeling was at an all time high. With no respite from the emraan mania i thought of ignoring it completely and enjoying the countryside. Believe me, April is not the month you would want to enjoy the countryside. Especially maharashtra. Its summer time and you would be greeted with a torrid sun greeting you the whole day.

After a quick lunch and couple of hours later it was still Pune. The watch said 3pm and i was doing my math of what time to tell i would be reaching home. After the last days and nights experience i thought 7 should be a conservative estimate.

I called up my folks and told them i would be in time for some pre-dinner snacks. I had already got a dressing down in the morning when i told i hadn't taken a volvo so this time there wasnt much they could add to the abuse.

My restlessness continued till we reached lonavala and the moment i saw the expressway i told myself, this gonna get over soon. I profusely thanked the government which built the expressway and settled down thinking of the next few days along with 'aai', 'papa' and not to forget 'bob' (not my dog).

It probably was one of the better moments of my life when i actually liked leaving something behind. It was the bus this time. It read 6:30pm in my watch and i didnt even want to see where it went after vashi. I headed towards the bus terminal at a speed which seemed much faster than the bus i had left behind...

Disclaimer:
(This is my personal experience with the mentioned travel). Opinions might differ from person to person.

War at paintball arena in bangalore!

2009-06-07T18:59:00.000+05:30

This is again an anachronistic post. I dont remember for sure the date on which we went paintballing. It could have been sometime around December, but it sure was fun. For me at least. I had taken part in a paintball competition about a year back in 2007 Dec in the club cabana near hebbal, on the outskirts of bangalore. With that experience in hand i thought it shall be fun to walk in the paintball arena once again with my colleagues and managers (how many of us would want to miss out on a chance to have a go at them :)).
The paintball arena was on banergetta road 7 kms ahead of IIM Bangalore. We were 15 of us. so the teams were divided in to 2 with 7 and 8 members respectively. I found myself in the numerically weaker team. But there was enough enthusiasm among us to convince that numbers dont matter once inside the arena. Tough talk that. I guess the excitement that we were holding guns with paint balls inside them didnt excite as much as the feeling of power that we can cause pain to someone with those paintballs. I had seen paint balls fly at some speed and hit with some sting. In the worst case it would cause a black spot the next day. Not a good idea if you are not wearing the correct safety equipment.

The safety equipment looked stuff more out of star wars. There was a darth vader type face mask to avoid injury to the eyes, a vest to protect the back and upper half of the body with a pouch for the paintballs. looked really cool and once we wore it no one could stop posing for the digi cams. The interesting thing was we couldnt recognize anyone with all that gear. We realized we had distinct color vests that showed our allegiance with a particular team. I was with the green team while the opposition team was red. With the final instructions about the gun operations given it was time for WAR.

The Death match

The first game was decided to be the death match. This format was the simplest therefore chosen as the best option for the beginners. It involved shooting at sight anyone from the opposing team, which meant more target practice and no strategy crap!!

The arena was a huge rectangular one with bunkers of varying size being placed in random order over the map. This was a huge difference from the normal arenas i saw in films and had played earlier. There was plenty of scope for moving around bunkers and no one had to jostle to find a bunker for himself. This was also a concern as the enemy could attack from anywhere as there was ample cover for him. Also, since this was a death match we werent sure whether we should attack completely by moving towards the enemy or stay back and consolidate our positions while waiting for the suckers.

The strategy we adopted meant that two people would be attackers on each flank, i.e left and right. that left three people to guard the main bunker in our territory. It looked quite a good strategy in theory. unfortunately it remained exactly that. Either we were too complacent or the opposing dudes were too good. I was one of the defenders and in no time i found the enemy at us from the left flank. I wondered what happened to our guys on the left. Suddenly there were two guys shooting at me. I tried to escape the volley of paintballs but one paintball got me on the hand. I was out! I couldnt believe that i was the first one out. and the game had just started. what a shame. all the things i had thought of doing melted away. I was standing alone outside watching the other guys having a go at each other. I was cursing myself for getting out in such a way. I was determined not go down without a fight if there was a second game.

It later turned out it was my manager who had knocked my out of the game. I liked the guy to be honest but the time for niceties had passed. I hoped i got another chance to atleast not have a forgettable outing. I was fortunate that day it seems for there was going to be another game. I saw my team getting beaten like retards did. I really wanted to score some points for my team. and so began the unforgettable half of the evening, the capture the flag part.
catch the next part in the next post here.

mumbai to bangalore travel in a volvo.

2009-06-01T02:25:00.000+05:30

I cant believe its more than 6 months that i updated my blog. Billionth voice that is. Lots of things have happened in the sabbatical. Not all great or worth mentioning.

So where was i during the year end?
Well i was back in aachi mumbai enjoying with namma parents. Its always a special feeling to be somewhere you feel like you are the king.
It was the first time i was traveling from bangalore to mumbai in a volvo. No more sponsored flights for me. (All good things come to an end. so they say.)
I had booked VRL volvo around 8pm. I tried to book a thursday evening bus but there was no availability. Finally i got a vrl booking for friday evening. I reached kalasipalya after a taking a bus from tippasandra to corporation and from thereon by an auto.

The autowalla was at his arrogant best. He didnt start the meter when i got in and when i insisted he asked for 10 rs more. I immediately asked him to stop and got out of the auto. Then i had to listen to a flurry of excuses on how its very reasonable. When i had nothing of it and started to leave he held my hand and told me to get back in the auto agreeing to go by the meter.
I got back since i didnt know the way and could have needed directions from him later. As it turned out i later paid him 10 extra as i again was too lazy to haggle and more anxious to reach on time.

I reached the VRL office on time. The bus came almost on time too. (Till now i have travelled by VRL,sharma,KSRTC and found that VRL,KSRTC are on par and quite decent.)
The bus started and in no time we were stuck in the famous bengaluru traffic.
It took 10:30pm to really get a move on. Akshay's "singh is king" was blaring away on the tv which i tried to avoid.

It felt great watching the lights zoom by sitting by the window seat on the last seat. Last row is never a nice place to sit especially on a long journey, but it didnt bother me much as i was going to mumbai. I was already thinking abt when i would reach and what i would be doing. the comfort of traveling in a volvo is unparalleled on road. Not only it glides on the road, you dont feel the travel fatigue like in the other modes of transport.

One thing i noticed was the roads in karnataka were pretty much under construction. many times the bus had to use a diversion which caused a lot of time wastage especially because the volvo normally travels at around 120 kmph on the highways. So we reached the border at around 6 am and then it was a smooth sailing through maharashtra. the roads looked impeccably maintained. the administration or msrdc deserves a mention in this regard.

Then it was kolhapur, karad, satara behind us in no time and pune was beaconing with time to go for 10 am. Pune was kind of a maze since the bus kept going round and round and we became more anxious as to when we were finally going to hit the well known Mumbai-Pune expressway. At long last we saw the last of Pune and the express way greeted us with the multilane roads and zooming cars.

One thing i have to agree that the expressway has made travel a lot more safer. I still remember as a kid how terrified i was to see the depths of the khandala, lonavala ghats. I used to hope i can get to the other side. But what it also has done is that you miss the scenery you get to see otherwise, going thru the dense forest of lonavala. Pleasant, serene sights beacon you onwards along the treacherous and twisting roads. A solitary drivers moment of serenity i should say. Especially in the monsoon, its a total joy traveling by the old road. you can see people who have stopped by the wayside to enjoy the bountiful nature sipping away at a super hot cup of tea while its raining like it can only in the western ghats.

the bus sped on the express way like in a race, easily overtaking other vehicles. felt kinda nice. In no time were we on the outskirts of a well populated suburb of Navi Mumbai known as panvel. the density of population was just a reminder that i was entering a city. Even here the highrises easily outnumbered the apartments i see in bangalore.

It was around 1 pm and the bus entered the main town of vashi and it was supposed to be my alighting point. I managed to get down from the bus, still trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of momentum while in the bus.
I trudged along the dusty main road and reached till the imposing structure that the Vashi station was. It also happens to be the bus stand for traveling to the yonder suburbs of navi mumbai. I reached home by 2:30 where mom had expected me to arrive by plane the same morning! (I attributed my travel in a bus to recession :P)

Though i have traveled by plane almost 15-16 times, the novelty factor remains. Not to mention the time saved is truly invaluable. add to that the comfortable journey.
Still volvo experience comes close to it if not same. If only volvos could fly! :)

Day at Chinnaswamy Stadium bangalore - Australia vs India- Part 3

2008-11-22T13:27:00.000+05:30

All these drills were supervised by the physio, bowling coach venky and the fielding coach robin singh. Around 8:30 am gautam gambhir strolled towards our stand and placed his gear next to the practise wicket just in front of our stand and joined the others in their game. After few minutes i couldnt believe what i was wirnessing.

The fab four were walking directly towards the practise wickets for a "hit-in". I was going to see all of them from a distance of 10 meters. I wasnt the only one who realised this. The half filled stand rose and went towards the enclosure that seperated the field from the stand and started shooting the players as they took guard and played a few strokes. First it was gautam gambhir and sehwag as they were supposed to open the batting. they had successfully played through the last evenings play and were set to consolidate the innings.

For the first time i felt let down by my trusted mobile. It was a 1.3 Mp camera that it had .. not worthwhile in clicking pictures if you have some distance in between you and the subject. There he was. Saching practising in front of me and i couldnt get a decent shot due to my stupid camera. With the insanely small amount of memory it had, i had to delete stuff even before i could click a picture!
Though i did manage to capture some videos of the master, they was grainy at best.

I saw them all bat. Dravid, Lakshman, Ganguly Dhoni et al. saw zaheer, ishant, amit mishra and kumble bowl. I was so thrilled that the ticket cost was recovered in the first hour itself before even a ball was bowled. Fully satisfied.

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Day at Chinnaswamy Stadium bangalore - Australia vs India- Part 2

2008-11-22T11:24:00.000+05:30

Armed with the ticket for the 3rd Day of 1st Test match between India and Australia, I felt like i had wot the golden ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate factory. The day happened to be a saturday which meant i could freak out all i wanted as the next day was going to be a sunday.

Going to the stadium wasnt easy for me to say the least. I had been to the area around the Stadium a few times. But this time i had to be there early morning and that too using some mode of transport as it was pretty far away. My options were limited considering that i didnt have my own vehicle for transportation. That meant i either use an auto or a BMTC bus. Autos may be a convenient options elsewhere, but in bangalore you better be a millionaire to even consider traveling by it. Cos even if you are not, the autowallas assume you are some blue blooded fool ready to part with his money. The rates they quote shall either make your wallet lighter or force you to take the eco-friendly public transport. Hail the autowalla who cares for the environment!

So BMTC was the option for me. My source of truth was http://maps.google.com and http://bmtcinfo.com/ and http://btis.in/bus.htm . Excellent sites if you really want to go around in bangalore. route 138 it was for me then. I left at 7:30 am in the morning hoping to beat the rush. Luckily i got a bus as soon as i arrived at the bus stop and before i knew i had landed near the Chinnaswamy stadium.

The usually deserted road was transformed into a colourful melee of people, policemen, hawkers and blackmarketeers. With the match scheduled to start at 9:30 am, already i could see i was not the early bird at 7:45. large number of people were standing quietly in line waiting for the gates to open. I had got the tickets for the stand B (not to mention the cheapest ones). I had checked out the ground map earlier and had arrived at the conclusion that this was a good bet. and as i found out later, i wasnt wrong!

On figuring out that it was gate no 12 for me, i went upto the gate and started looking where the line ended. Strangely, there was no line at the gate! I wondered whether this really was the correct gate as the adjacent gate had a 100 meter queue already. My doubts were quelled when the guy at the ticket window confirmed that this indeed was the entrace to the stand A. I couldnt believe it. I was the first person to turn up in that particular stand. Not surprisingly though. I had arrived at the ground a 1:45 mins early.

As i stood there patiently thinking about how lucky i was to be the first one to enter the stand, i saw police men frisking away people anxious to get a ticket. The ticket window clearly displayed signes reading tickets were sold out. What an opporutnity for the black marketeers, i thought. I had experienced it myself the previous year during the last day of the test match between India and Pakistan. tickets were being sold at obnoxious prices a few meters away while the ticket windows shamelessly/helplessly/ignorantly displayed "sold out". What a shame. Paying a bribe to watch a sport thats considered a religion by us. In other words some black marketeer decides whether you can follow your religion or not. Utterly blasphemous.

Finally the gates opened and i was let in. There was thorough frisking of me,my bag and the result of which i had to do away with my water bottle. Another way to extort money under the guise of security. But all these thoughts suddenly gave way to great anxiousness instead. I was going to enter a cricket stadium for the first time in my life. What a feeling it was! I literally ran through the maze of high walls and entered the lobby which led to the stand. It was like a hall with a huge entrance at the other. It was here that the refreshmets were served during the breaks.

I didnt even bother to look around. My target was the entrance to the stand. I slowed down enough to allow the security to check my ticket again. Finally i entered the stadium. What a view it was! Lush outfield with a huge expanse. The circular canopy of the stadium supported by great arches looked beautiful. And the four light towers stood stoically as though they had been there since eternity. The thing that struck me instead was the size of the stadium. On tv it looked much bigger. I was awestruck for the initial 10 minutes. then as the feeling sunk in, I thought of calling my brother. As it turned out, that sloth was still in bed maybe dreaming of driving an F1 car alogside Michel Schumacher!

The weather of bangalore as always was perfect. the sun was out but perhaps it was unusually cool. The far side of the stadium was still under the morning shadows. I was still trying to find out the place to sit so that i could get to see the game perfectly. The stand itself was pretty snugly placed. It was directly opposite the players pavilion on the far side. So it meant you couldnt see who was coming in to bat next. But you shouldnt expect all this luxury in the cheapest seat in the house. It wasnt all that bad too. Besides being very close to the playing field, it also was a nice place to watch straight drives from.

Slowly, but surely the crowd was building up. And along with it was the noise. Soon a giant tricolor was unfurled in the stand above me. The horns suddenly stopped for a brief moment, the cheering went quiet and as everyone waited to see what happened, the two teams came out onto the field although in shorts and sweats. It was the morning practise before the match started. But that was enough for the people to start cheering wildly.

As the players went about their drills, people cheered for the player they recognised sometimes successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully. There were shouts of "Saaachinnnnn... Saaaachinnnn", which has become an anthem of sorts in the last decade. And interspersed were shouts and cheers for Sourav "Dada" Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni, Ishat, Zaheer and of course Kumble. The Australians were playing a game of football whereas the Indians kept themselves busy with a game of rugby. So whenever the ball went close to any of the stands the people cheered wildly forgetting that the game hadnt even started!

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Day at Chinnaswamy Stadium bangalore - Australia vs India

2008-11-21T22:24:00.000+05:30

How do you describe the first time you went and watched a match in a stadium? Unforgettable. Right? Its a childhood memory that any kid savors his entire life. Watching ones sporting heroes in flesh and blood compares to nothing else on this planet. Well i recently had the same experience. not as a kid, though. It happened to be almost 16 years after i fell in love with the game we call Cricket.

It wasn't that i never was interested in watching a live match. To be frank, i lived in the center of Mumbai; which in itself was reason good enough to watch atleast one match in the 16 years that I lived in Mumbai. But then somehow I never really came to watch a match in a stadium.Like a pilgrimage every pious Muslim takes to Mecca, it dawned upon me to do something similar.

The earliest instance i remember watching a cricket match on TV is the '91 Hero Cup. It was here that i saw the geniuses of Sachin Tendulkar & Anil Kumble at work. Frankly speaking, a 9 year old doesnt know a genius when he sees one. But After seeing all that these two have done for India over the last decade and a half, I was befitting to see these two characters of cricket in action with my very own eyes before they bid adieu to the 22 yards.

Its wasnt all about Sachin and Kumble, there was the ever hard-working father of Indian cricket Rahul Dravid. The "God of off-side", Sourav Ganguly and last but not the least, the silken willow of Vangipurappuvenkatasai Lakshman. The "Fab-Five" as these accomplished exponents of the game are known.

The opportunity chose me instead of the other way round. and nothing better i would say. After all, what better than a fitting challenge in the form of the Australians, the side to beat in cricketing circles. One last challenge. one last chance to leave an impression. One last chance to preserve a moment in history.

Having suffered enough at the hands of my procrastination, I set out to book my ticket before i let go of this chance. More in the next post...

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Bus Routes in Bangalore and travelling from Bangalore International Airport

2008-11-16T22:51:00.000+05:30

If you are traveling in bangalore and dont know which bus routes go where in bangalore? There are various buses available from BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation).
History of BMTC
BMTC was originally a company called Bangalore Transport Company (BTC) Limited founded in 1940 catering to the entire city with a fleet of 98 buses. The Government of Mysore took over the city transport from the private company in 1956 and called it Bangalore Transport Service [BTS]. On August 15, 1997 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) was incorporated.

The following pages give detailed Bus routes from BMTC.
BMTC English site: This site i sthe older version of the BMTC site which provides bus route maps

BTIS site- bus route maps : The new site with good information about commuting from the new Bangalore International Airport

BIAS-1

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO HEBBALA

Hebbala Ring Road

DEPARTURE FROM :BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
0650 0715 0740 0805 0830 0920 0945 1030
1055 1120 1125 1210 1235 1300 1325 1350
1415 1440 1505 1550 1615 1640 1705 1730
1755 1820 1845 1910 1935 2000 2025 2110
2135 2200 2225 2250 2315 2340 0005 0210
0235 0300 0350 0415 0440

DEPARTURE FROM :HEBBALA
0600 0625 0650 0715 0740 0805 0830 0855
0920 1010 1035 1120 1145 1210 1235 1300
1325 1350 1415 1440 1505 1530 1555 1640
1705 1730 1755 1820 1845 1910 1935 2000
2025 2050 2135 2200 2225 2250 2315 0120
0145 0210 0300 0325 0350

ALL ARE VOLVO

BIAS-2

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO MCTC BUS STAND

Vijayanagara, Basaveshwara nagar 8th Main, Navarang, Malleshwaram Bus Station, Sadashivanagara Bash yam Circle, Mekhri Circle , Hebbal, Jn.of Kogilu cross.(Only Non AC Suvarna Services)
DEPARTURE FROM :BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200 1300
1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100
2200 2300 2400 0100 0200 0300 0400

DEPARTURE FROM :MCTC BUS STAND
0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200 1300
1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100
2200 2300 2400 0100 0400 0500

ALL ARE SUVARNA SERVICE

BIAS-3

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO JEEVANBHIMANAGARA

DEPARTURE FROM :BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
0600 0615 0630 0645 0650 0715 0735 0755
0810 0825 0840 0910 0925 0940 1010 1025
1035 1105 1120 1135 1220 1235 1245 1320
1335 1335 1420 1435 1445 1515 1530 1545
1615 1630 1645 1700 1745 1800 1825 1845
1855 1925 1940 1950 2020 2035 2050 2120
2135 2145 2300 2335 2350 2400 0045 0130
0230 0300 0410 0440 0510 0525 0545

DEPARTURE FROM :JEEVANBHIMA NAGARA
0615 0630 0645 0715 0730 0745 0830 0845
0900 0910 0925 0940 1025 1040 1055 1125
1140 1155 1205 1225 1240 1250 1320 1335
1345 1435 1450 1500 1535 1550 1605 1635
1650 1700 1730 1745 1755 1825 1840 1855
1925 1940 1950 2020 2050 2120 2135 2150
2230 2330 0045 0100 0145 0225 0255 0325
0340 0355 0410 0425 0440 0455 0510 0525
0550

BIAS-4

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO HAL

ROUTE NO.BIAS-4 BIAL TO HAL OLD AIRPORT
DEPARTURE FROM BIAL
0500 0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200
1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
2100 2200 2300 2400 0100 0200 0300

DEPARTURE FROM HAL
0500 0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200
1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
2100 2200 2300 2400 0100 0300 0400

BIAS-5

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT To J.P. NAGAR 6TH PHASE

DEPARTURE FROM BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT
0610 0625 0640(V) 0655 0710 0725 0740V 0820(V)
0835 0850 0905 0920(V) 0935 0950 1005 1020(V)
1035 1050 1105 1120(V) 1135 1150 1205 1220(V)
1235 1320(V) 1350 1405 1420(V) 1435 1450 1505
1520(V) 1535 1550 1605 1620(V) 1635 1650 1705
1720(V) 1815 1830 1845 1915 1930 1945 2015
2045 2115 2145 2215 2300(V) 2315 2400(V) 0015
0045 0100(V) 0015 0130 0200(V) 0230 0300(V) 0340
0410 0440(V) 0510 0540(V)

* BOLD INDICATES VOLVO

DEPARTURE FROM J.P. NAGAR 6TH PHASE
0600(V) 0615 0630 0645 0700(V) 0715 0730 0745
0800(V) 0815 0830 0845 0900(V) 0915 0930 0945
1000(V) 1100(V) 1115 1130 1145 1200(V) 1215 1230
1245 1300(V) 1315 1330 1345 1400(V) 1415 1430
1445 1500V 1515 1610 1625 1655 1710 1725
1755 1825 1855 1925 2040(V) 2055 2125 2140(V)
2155 2225 2240(V) 2255 2310 2340(V) 0005 0040(V)
0120(V) 0150 0220(V) 0250 0320(V) 0350 0405 0420(V)
0435 0450 0505 0520(V)

* BOLD INDICATES VOLVO

BIAS-6

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT To KADUGODI BUS STATION

DEPARTURE FROM BIAL
0440 0540 0640 0740 0830 0930 1030 1130
1230 1430 1530 1630 1730 1830 1930 2030
2130 2230 2330 0045

DEPARTURE FROM KADUGODI
0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200 1300
1400 1500 1655 1745 1855 2000 2055 2145
2245 2400 0100

BIAS-7

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT To KORAMANGALA

DEPARTURE FROM BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT
0600 0630 0700 0730 0800 0830 0900 0930
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1020 1050 1120 1150 1220 1250 1320 1350
2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1420 1450 1520 1550 1620 1650 1720 1750
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1820 1850 1920 1950 2020 2110 2120 2150
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2240 2310 2400 0040 0130 0220 0345 0430
1 2 4 6 7 8 3 5

DEPARTURE FROM KORAMANGALA
0610 0640 0700 0735 0820 0850 0920 0950
5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
1020 1050 1120 1150 1220 1250 1320 1350
5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
1420 1450 1520 1550 1620 1650 B 1750
5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
1820 1910 1920 1950 2040 2110 2140 2210
5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
2230 2300 2330 2400 0420 0450 0525 0540
5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4

BIAS-8

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO ELECTRONIC CITY

DEPARTURE FROM :BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
0310 0500 0625 0715 0800 0840 0925 1010
1055 1135 1240 1355 1445 1535 1620 1705
1745 1825 1935 2015 2100 2145 2230 2315
2355 0040

DEPARTURE FROM :ELECTRONIC CITY
0110 0200 0300 0505 0550 0630 0730 0815
0855 1010 1105 1220 1305 1350 1430 1530
1630 1745 1830 1915 2015 2115 2230 2330
0040

BIAS-9

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT To KEMPEGOWDA BUS STATION

DEPARTURE FROM BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT
0615 0725 0755 0825 0925 0855 0925 0945
1015 1045 1115 1145 1215 1245 1325 1355
1425 1455 1525 1550 1615 1645 1715 1745
1815 1905 1935 2005 2035 2105 2155 2225
2255 2320 2325 2355 0020 0105 0120 0135
0205 0220 0235 0305 0330 0335 0405 0430
0435 0505 0535

DEPARTURE FROM KEMPEGOWDA BUS STATION
0600 0630 0635 0700 0730 0735 0800 0820
0825 0850 0920 925 0950 1020 1050 1115
1200 1230 1300 1330 1400 1425 1450 1520
1550 1620 1650 1740 1810 1840 1910 1940
2030 2100 2130 2200 2230 2340 1210 1240
0110 0140 0230 0300 0330 0400 0430 0440
0500 0540

BIAS-11

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT TOCHIKKALASANDRA BUS STAND

DEPARTURE FROM BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT
0520 0635 0750 0830 0935 1030 1125 1220
1300 1425 1520 1620 1720 1830 1930 2030
2130 2210 2330 0045

DEPARTURE FROM CHIKKALASADRA BUS STAND
0430 0520 0600 0705 0800 0900 1000 1050
1155 1300 1400 1500 1620 1655 1750 1850
2000 2120 2240 0330

BIAS-12

BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT TOKUVEMPU NAGARA (BTM LAYOUT)

DEPARTURE FROM BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIR PORT
0415 0520 0620 0720 0820 0920 1040 1240
1340 1440 1620 1720 1820 1920 2020 2140
0045 0230

DEPARTURE FROM KUVEMPU NAGARA (BTM LAYOUT)
0415 0520 0610 0720 0830 0940 1030 1140
1240 1450 1610 1710 1820 1930 2025 2130
2245 2400

The Harbinger (Flash Fiction)

2008-09-15T00:02:00.000+05:30

"Wish you a happy journey", read the road sign. Illiteracy didnt stop Namdeo wondering at the irony. The government had not missed putting signboards but had forgotten that people lived in this remote part of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
As he trudged, the dried grass on either side of the road gave no evidence that it was the rainy season. The earth was as scorched as any summer day. No rain since the onset of monsoon was the partner in crime along with the blistering sun. Namdeo cut an unusual and solitary figure on the empty road. Along with his bicycle, hidden somewhere between all those cans and pots clinging on to some part of the bicycle, he moved along the dusty road. His only protection from the hell above being another set of pots tied at the end of a rod rising from the handle of the bicycle and spread like an umbrella above him.
It was hours since he had left his village but he didnt stop once lest me missed the water tanker visiting the neighboring village. The folks there would surely allow him some water. Failure was not an option for him since it meant days without water for his tribal settlement.
As he came down along the dusty hill road and reached the outskirts of the village he realised he had reached in time. He could see the clamor for water from some distance. He reached the tanker and saw the endless line of utensils stretching out before him waiting to be filled. He noticed anxious stares from the people of the village. He went up to some who looked as the sarpanch and other village leaders and asked them for help.

"I am from the ramoshi wadi sir. Could you give me some water?"
Immediately, Namdeo sensed the uneasiness among the villagers. Someone quipped behind the sarpanch, "Why should we give these low castes our water." That gave rise to a supporting murmur.
The sarpanch asked namdeo to unload his pots while he talked with the villagers. As he went towards his bicycle he heard murmurs turning to heated arguments with the sarpanch at the center of it all. With the last of the pots unloaded he sensed the sarpanch walking upto him.
With eager eyes and folded hands he stood waiting for a providence; which never came. The sarpanch asked him to leave and come again two days later when the next tanker came. His only explanation was that there was not enough water to spare. With moist eyes he started loading his bicycle again. He was thankful to God as he could shed tears atleast notwithstanding his caste!
His journey home seemed to last an eternity and so did the tears on his cheeks. Expectant looks from people turned to disappointment. Shattered, he burst out crying; but no one saw those tears. For they were washed away by the water from the heavens as it had started raining.

Mumbai local trains : Life inside a Mumbai suburban local train

2008-08-23T11:44:00.000+05:30

The words "adjustment" and "struggle" draw inspiration from the morning travails in a local train in mumbai.

800 people crammed into every corner of a single coach built for 200 people is actually a tribute to the build quality of the indian railways. Its not as crowded though when the local train begins its journey. As time and stations pass the coach gets filled surprisingly fast. A completely filled coach appears as a maze of hands clinging on to the railings above as the Mumbai local train itself moves towards its destination completely oblivious to the ghettos its harboring. Inside, its a sea of humanity brimming from the open doors of the Mumbai Suburban local trains. To be honest the only space for people to stand is on the outside (you need to see for yourself what the "outside" means) and people have actually mastered that art.

There are people everywhere you look, people standing between the seats, along the passage, along the sides of the entrance, people at the entrance waiting to get down and of course the people standing outside! Among this melee of hands, legs and baggage the original inhabitants, the people who have the privilege to sit on the benches are an overwhelming minority. They enjoy their own freedom from the surrounding struggle by indulging into some reading - mostly catching up on the newspaper headlines, or listening to music on the latest necessity of the middle class - the mobile phone, or for those in the company of friends or colleagues nothing like talking about things from politics at work to family problems with hundreds of people privy to the conversation at all times! Talk about indians being secretive about private lives!

Among all these people the real achievers are those who have captured the window seat in the local train. Its a seat that even a politician would envy. Capturing a window seat requires all the skills required to win a gold at olympics in any contact sport. It requires speed, quick reflexes, power, strategy and a dash of luck.

Standing people naturally envy the ones sitting by the window and are always on the look out for an opportunity to plant themselves by the window the moment they get a hint of movement from the guy sitting. Even though this may mean the person getting up faces unnecessary hardship its a necessary evil to avoid the person next to the window person from stealthily sliding towards the window.

Normally its an unwritten rule that the person shouldnt slide to the window seat and maintain his position but there are exceptions. And when there is such conflict of interests and both parties are equally game for a scuffle , all hell breaks looks.

Who wins the seat is ultimately decided by not the "dog in the fight but the fight in the dog" (no pun intended). And they happily sit next to each other for the rest of the journey as if nothing happened. All this while the standing people chuckle away at the momentary deviation from normalcy and hope it continues till their station arrives. No one wants to miss out on a good fight you see!

Not everyone is affected by this din though. There are people who attain "Nirvana" as soon as they enter the compartment of the train and what ever happens till the train reaches its destination doesnt affect these guys. They are one with their inner self. The ways to attain this is different though. Some resort to the open mouth sleeping technique. this convinces the people around that he badly needs some sleep and people being sympathetic offer all cooperation so as not to break his slumber. At such times you can even rest your head on the shoulder of the person next to.

Some resort to reading newspapers since the only time to read is available in the train. Some plug in to their ipods/mobiles/mp3 players and listen away. Some who dont have headphones instead of doing the selfish act of buying those, blare the song at full volume so as others can appreciate the choice of music.

All this while the people standing outside take the sights,sounds and smells along the journey. Yoy better be a toughie to the core to handle the stuff mumbai dishes all along the track.
So long till the next post.

Mumbai Local Train :Part 1

2008-08-23T00:47:00.000+05:30

You wont know how you get attached to things and they become a part of your life unknowingly. They become so much a part of your like that you forget that such a relationship even exists. Its when you are separated that you feel the emptiness that faces you. Something similar is faced by people living in Mumbai when they move out of the city for an extended period of time.

Local trains are like a synonym for Mumbai itself.

Local trains are so intrinsically cast in the fabric of mumbai that its impossible to distinguish between the two. It wont be untrue to say that mumbai is a local train and a local train is mumbai. Perhaps its the spirit of mumbai that is embodied in the local train that endears the mumbai local to the people of mumbai.

Those 9-12 coaches of red and yellow are incessant between the terminal stations of CST - Churchgate and the far flung suburbs. Bringing millions of people into the city day in and day out for most of the 24 hours of the day is no mean feat at all.
No matter what the locals never stop. No doubt the "Mumbai never stops" attitude is more to do with the local trains and the people who drive it.

Each day people wake up with the conviction to catch the first local train in the morning. The reason being it takes an eternity to reach their office in the city from their home in the suburb or neighboring districts. Only the first local reaches them to office on time. The journey continues in the next post.

Experimenting with google search result rankings : the hard way!

2008-08-22T23:09:00.000+05:30

Few weeks ago i wanted to be adventurous with my blog post. I wanted to check how back links affect the ranking of my post. the post in question is related to bangalore autowallas. nothing special of the subject though. the good thing being the sample size for the search is a few hundred results. I wanted to increase the ranking of my page in the google search results.
When i published my post it got indexed in an hour in google and was ranked #5 in the search results for the term "bangaore autowallas". not bad huh? but i thought some more traffic to the post would help me earn better rank and in addition some backlinks from the better ranked sites would help.
So i started posting the link to my post over random sites hoping to generate traffic and some reputation. the rank stayed stable for few days which made me more than happy. but all of a sudden i try searching for the term and my post is nowhere to be seen. strange art thou ways Google! Instead i saw the sites where i had posted the link to my post getting indexed. add to that when i made a specific search for my post on google i end up at some random site where i had posted the link.

what a bozo had i been!!!

Usain Bolt : Beijing Olympics 2008 100 meters Gold and World record

2008-08-16T20:16:00.000+05:30

Usain bolt has become the fastest man on this planet. And fastest by some margin.
He took a meager 9.62s to cover the 100meter stretch. The previous fastest was asafa powells 9.72s. considering the mammoth difference between usains and asafas timing can give you an idea what an amazing athlete usain is.

As i watched with anticipation the semfinals of the mens 100 meters at the Beijing olympics i couldnt forget the lineage of former sprinters right from carl lewis, ben johnson, maurice green, tyson gay, justin gatlin, asafa powell and others who have at different times in history held the coveted title of "Fastest man on the planet".
Though the semi finals turned out to be a cake walk for usain, for tyson gay it turned out to be a shocker since he couldnt even qualify for the finals. But the ease with which usain completed the semifinals gave a glimpse of how the finals were going to be. he literally jogged home after the first 70 meters. Considering he is mainly a 200 meters sprinter this is amazing. even after being slow off the blocks the acceleration with which he draws ahead of the field shows the unbelievable condition he is in.

The finals was no different, after being slow off the blocks he showed remarkable stamina and speed to clear himself of the others and put unassailable distance between him and the others. half way throuh the sprint he knew he had won the race and the celebrations started for him then and there itself. Usain won the gold is nothing compared to the way in which he won it. his demeanor was nothing more than pure grace. never did power overwhelm his sprint over the 100 meters. it was more like a gazelle sprinting in the savannas of africa. It was more of an honor than pleasure to watch the performance. its not everyday that you get to see a man shattering the 100 meter speed barrier in sub 9.70 seconds. and going by the daylight between the latest recored i wont be surprised if he himself betters in some day in the near future. His peers may agree with me on this as he certainly is the best of the best of the best. GO GO usain ....

Autowallas in Bangalore

2008-08-15T22:02:00.000+05:30

If you have been living in bangalore even for a few days, you probably know why i have dedicated an entire post to the autowallas in bangalore. Traveling in an auto is an experience in itself, especially in bangalore. And given the traffic in bangalore the experience becomes unforgettable. But dont take it for granted that this experience is yours for the taking. remember i said something about an unforgettable experience?

Chances are you are new to the place and dont know how to travel in the city transport buses. so your natural recourse is to look for an auto. So you stand beside the road hoping to spot an empty auto coming our way. Spotting an empty auto doesnt tilt the odds in your favor either. what matters is whether the auto slows down taking cognizance of your existence and eventually stops. Lets go through the available scenarios logically. When you see an empty auto, as a wannabe passenger your natural reaction is to flag it down. nows the time for chaos theory to kick in. the following events could happen with equal probability.

The autowalla couldnt care less to have a passenger at that moment so shoots past you making you think it wouldnt have mattered even if you were standing right in front of his auto. Since this is the 'n'th auto zooming past you wonder whether auto wallas are so fed up of stopping every few hundred feet for a junction or a signal that they dont bother stopping anywhere in between!!!(Since this is none of your concern you get back to the game of spot the empty auto)
You find another auto with noone in the passenger seat coming from a distance. You suddenly feel its your lucky day. To top it all even the autowalla seems interested in you. Thanking lady luck you ready yourself to end the ordeal. the auto comes and the autowalla has the expressionless question written over his face. Hes just slowing down though, depending on the place he wants to go rather than you want to take him decides whether he stops his tuc-tuc. The next word that you speak is going to be the most important word you would have spoken and would be speaking in the entire day. You sheepishly tell him where you want to go. As you hope atleast this one says "Yes, I do", he does the unthinkable; just drives on without stopping at all or even giving you a glance.The autowallas certainly believe in actions speaking louder than words. For no sooner your cursed destination babbles out of your mouth that guys just plants his foot on the accelerator - maybe ruing the fact that he lost precious seconds slowing down.
by now you know that yoga was invented to tackle autowallas - since nothing tests the limits of your patience as much. You feel small and helpless as you return to your pass-time of the morning. Suddenly out of nowhere an auto comes and screeches to a halt in front of you. You pinch yourself and just to be sure check whether the autowalla has stopped to talk on his mobile. you find that untrue and backing your luck as well as the new found patience you ask him as politely as your Indian politeness allows. A few excruciatingly long seconds later the answer comes in the form of a longint (long int is a datatype in programming languages used to store variables of big integer values). For the uninitiated, the answer is simply a number that the autowalla shall charge you for the journey. The amount he quotes makes you honestly wish autowallas should also start accepting credit card payments - since no one carries around that much loose cash. And dont you even think that the amount quotes has anything with the distance to be traveled. It becomes a function of unknown variables.( Dont even try to think what the number would be in case you are traveling in the evening - the rates become 1.5 times normal. so better be your lucky day) When you try to protest by some bargaining you also get a free geography lesson on the bangalore traffic problem first hand. "one way street hona bhaiya. aage 3 km jaana padta .. gaadi khali hota utna tak."."traffic hota sir . adha ghanta traffice me waiting hoga ". When you ask for a lesser fare these guys actually remind you of your salary and give a free advice saying " 5 rs me kya hai sir ". And dont even think that these guys are not up to date. The first question i was asked when i was traveling to my office on the first day itself was " Kitna package hai?". Talk about keeping up with times.
So with the geography lesson out of the way the autowalla gives you a beaming smile with accompanied satisfaction of having educated a moron and takes off.
the final possibility occurs when all others have actually happened. You ask the guy and he agrees with / without bargaining. And you are more relieved than happy to end the experience.

All said and done, this is just a small piece of the cake we get to eat everyday. I mean wouldnt it be boring to always get the first auto you stop. Knowledge doesnt always help! its the way we get to meet so many auto wallas who themselves are working, have a famly to feed, are rushing around to get long distance passengers. Since any profession has all kinds of people it would be wrong to stereotype a particular character to one profession. I have had many good experiences with the auto wallas in bangalore and i believe that they are as fallible as we or for that matter all humans are. more about auto wallas in later postings ...:)

Movie Review - The Mummy :tomb of the Dragon emperor

2008-08-06T23:42:00.000+05:30

The Mummy tomb of the Dragon emperor

The Mummy tomb of the Dragon emperor is the third movie in the Mummy series. After the success of the earlier movies "the Mummy" and the sequel the "The Mummy returns". The third movie in the installment stars Brenden Fraser as Rick O'Connell the adventurous explorer who along with his wife Evelyn(played by Maria Bello ), his brother-in-law jonathan (played by John Hannah) and his son who has grown up to fall in trouble, Alex (played by Luke Ford). His adversary this time is the Emperor Han played by Jet li.

The movie opens on a brisk note with the story of the Dragon King in China done away with in 15 minutes. The Dragon king is a ruthless emperor with an ambition to rule the world. He has control over the five elements but wants to conquer death. He finds out about a witch who knows the secret to conquer death. Immediately, he sends his trusted general Ming to fetch the witch. Upon arriving the Emperor falls for the witch and commands all that no one is to touch her and that the witch was his. But the General and the witch fall in love while searching for the spell of immortality. when they return the witch casts the spell on the Emperor. But soon after the emperor kills the General as he comes to know the affair between the witch and him. Things turn wrong for him when he finds out the witch has cast a wrong spell on him and he is trapped by the spell along with his army until someone resurrects him from his entrapment.

Circa now, excavators lead by O'connels son Alex find the very tomb of the Emperor. Not without its share of traps and attacks from an unknown ninja (Turns out to be the witches daughter protecting the tomb - couldnt control keeping the secret :P). Turns out alex is in china with his uncle jonathan - who doesnt need anyone to scare him off.

Alex' parents are happily enjoying their retirement from all the Mummy stuff (Just to mention they do an awful job of acting to show that that they dont like the retirement - it seems they are tired of acting int the movie :)) ). Anyways, call it a coincidence that they get an offer to take the "Eye of Shangrila" to a museum in China. (The reason for this benovelence is apparently a newly found sense of respect towards the chinese people who deserve the "Eye of Shangrila". GO Figure out ). So they graciously accept the all expenses paid trip. They land up in China and visit the Museum and hand over the "Eye of Shangrila" to the curator. But since its too simple a job considering they have traveled around the world for it; a gang of military dudes land up with a scar-face chick in tow. These retards aim to revive the cursed Dragon Emperor (Jet li) so that he restores the lost glory of China.

After a brief standoff the o'Connells are forced to open "The Eye of the shangrila" and the Emperor is revived. Theres a catch though . his curse is still is very much in place. To become immortal he must find the Shangrila itself so that the fountain of immortality shall repeal his curse. In doing so he can then revive his entire army too. The army shall help him in carrying out his ambition to conquer the world (No, he doesnt know theres competition for the post from a certain Mr George Bush ). The only thing between him and immortality is the O'Connell family along with the witches daughter Lin.

The revived emperor heads to the Himalayas to find the gateway to shangrila. The o'Connells guided by Lin reach the temple which is the beacon to Shangrila. Meanwhile, the emperor also reaches the place with his minions. Theres some more boom boom with a dash of father son camaraderie. The O'Connels almost pull off the impossible feat of defeating the Emperor Just after the intermission but the script has its way and the emperor succeeds in finding the way to sangrila. not to mention , in spite of few friendly neighbourhood Yetis who irritate more than they help.

At the cave of shangrila the o'Connels meet the witch, who in turn is more than happy to meet her daughter. With the family reunion in progress the Emperor shows up and messes up their party. he becomes immortal* (conditions apply). He becomes a three headed (hmmmm .. as if he had a choice) dragon and heads towards his tomb in china to lead his army beyond the "Wall of china" which shall make them invincible. The O'Connels and Lin also reach China before the emperor.. er ..Dragon .. Jet Li .. u got the idea right?

While the emperor is busy reviving his army, the O'Connels are busy collecting guns to fight the guy who controls the five elements. (Aha! a class case of fools rushing in Dr. Watson. I kept wondering why did the Emperor keep these retards alive so long; or were they too pathetic to even take notice ). By now, the emperor has revived his entire army and giving them a propaganda speech straight out of WW II. But they have other problems too.The O'Connells only chance to kill the emperor to drive an enchanted knife through the emperors heart. They are tremendously short of manpower facing the revived army of the emperor. SO the witch pitches in and revives all the people that have been killed and buried in the Wall of China. Now after an almost tiringly comic showdown (believe me it could easily grab an academy award for best comic performance or better comic direction. Imagine thousands of terra cota mummies fighting the skeletons and in between them a bunch of chinese army lunatics ) the emperor is killed and the OConnels win.

Now with the story out of the way with my feelings for the movie.
If u really are a Mummy franchise fan then u may give this movie a go. With no real story to boot it up the movie relies entirely on the bang bang and special effects. With the script just making excuses for loading the gun people hoping for a semblance of a story would be snoring soon. Unlike the earlier two movies the movie happens to be a melee of action sequences at exotic locations with average special effects compared to the earlier movies. Brendan Fraser looks his part in the movie. Hes probably used to slaying mummies by now. His better half doesnt match the earlier girls though. Alex looks good as the young OConnell. Lin also plays the witches' daughters' part impressively. Jet Li is grossly wasted since hes mostly an angry terra kota man. the opening few minutes move at a fast pace though which deal with the rise and cruelty of the Dragon King.

All in all an action movie with action and nothing else.

Hope you found the review worthwile. Watch the trailer of the movie here.

Movie review - The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - the trip begins

2008-08-02T22:47:00.000+05:30

i was lying in my room playing NFS hot pursuit when suddenly i got a call from siddhe (siddhesh happens to be a very good friend from college). to be precise, he had tried to call me the day before but me being me, could attend to his call since i was busy in a conference with some US guys. though i promised to call him later couldnt do so since the call got stretched to bit too long and passed beyond the hours of calling a friend however you close might be. the next day did bring its surprises though.

Afternoon was its boring self. (how am i supposed to know where did morning go; i was half dead in my bed :P ). so continuing the story, i got a call. so in the next few minutes i actually managed to finish my game and some R&D and set off towards my target for the day "Sigma Mall". Sigma mall is a big mall situated on cunningham road .The plan for the evening was to watch the movie "The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor".

In all of my jaunts to "Nimma Bengaluru" i had never been to a multiplex to watch a movie so literally jumped at the idea. My first and most difficult task was to first have an idea where the mall was. though i have been in bangalore for the most part of last year i haven't really been about the city barring the confines of my office and place of stay. So i donned the hat of the intrepid tourist and set out.

I reached CMH road which happens to be an arterial road connecting indiranagar to halasuru. the scene at the bus-stop was the same that anyone can see in any city for that matter. people waiting; waiting alone, waiting for someone, waiting with someone and craning their necks to the object of their desire; the BMTC bus. Its a trance like state that people enter into a bus-stop and they generally dont want anyone to disturb them. I managed to catch one guy about to go into the lost state and asked him how was i supposed to reach the place. Thankfully he directed me to the correct bus.

As the bus rambled towards the bus stop, i noticed it resembled more with the state transport buses that play near my village in Maharashtra rather than a city bus. the chassis was very old with paint almost chaffed off and embellished by dents and corrosion. Though i wasnt much concerned by how the bus looked on the outside i braced myself for a few surprises in store once i entered; and i wasnt disappointed.

As i climed the couple of steps into the bus, i immediately felt at home
for i was watching familiar scenes. Not that i had expected a driver less bus; but it was surprisingly similar to a city bs in "Mumbai". two rows of seats which could seat two normal sized individuals with space between the two for those who didnt have an empty seat and have to stand. things appeared pretty much in order without any inconveniences. Even though there were no seats unoccupied the bus was more or less empty. i found a comfortable corner and stood watching the proceedings. People sat in their seats patiently, the lucky ones being those sitting next to windows.

As any good passenger my first reaction after finding a place to stand/sit was look out for a person called the "Conductor". I didnt have to look far. he was right there beside me standing with is customary leather bag slung over his shoulder with change and the paper tickets; and not to mention the same expressionless features on his face as all other conductors i have seen. but this wasnt the interesting part.

what happens when you want to handle cash/coins, ticket and punch tickets before handing it over to a passenger? well if you are successful, chances are your DNA resembles an octopus's than a humans'. theres no way a person can do all that all through the day and repeat it day in and day out. but did i say conductors are normal people? its impossible for us lesser mortals not bus conductors. The guy i was watching was doing a good job vending tickets and a better job of entertaining people. well at least i was entertained. he had the coins saddled in the bag; nothing unusual about that. but between each of his fingers on the left hand were different denomination notes neatly folded, so that he didnt have to fetch it from his bag. Ingenious!!! but what was more than ingenious was the way he punched the tickets.

with the notes snugly fit into his left hand he held the ticket box in the palm of his left. so whenever he had to pick a ticket he reached with his right hand, pulled out some ticket and handed out the passenger. Now the magic happened just before handing over the ticket to the passenger. tucked into his right palm almost unseen to the naive eye was the ticket puncher; a small stapler like device used to punch holes in to the tickets. as soon as the ticket was pulled out, with a flick of the thumb and other fingers the ticket would be punched without anyone even noticing!!! The action amazed me so much that it immediately reminded me of an illustrious colleague of my conductor friend.

that colleague was his senior by quite a few years and million dollars atleast. "Rajanikant" the superstar of the Tamil film industry was a bus conductor himself before getting a break in movies. He used to work for BMTC itself. Anecdotes about his those days as a conductor are as famous as him. His unique style of giving tickets, and doing tasks like wearing sunglasses used to amaze people so much that they used to wait for his bus just to watch him go about his job doing all that. the result was that his bus always used to be full!! dig that.

So this guy went about as coolly about his job as if nothing special and maybe the others agreed too as no one took interest. Eventually i got a seat to sit and my mind was diverted from watching the conductor to watching the scenes go by the window.I managed to get down at some stop eventually and so ended my trip thru the BMTC bus.

The Dark Knight - Return of Batman

2008-07-29T01:13:00.000+05:30

He's back!! I am not talking about arnie but the Protector of Gotham. the aficionados of the superhero need no introduction to "Batman".
Batman has endeared himself to a whole generation of people and more. who doesnt like a millionare good looking guy by day and the caped saviour by night, the suit making him all the more intriguing. The single distinct quality that differentiates him from the other superheroes he being human. the others are true superheroes literally. born with superpowers they can fly through air, some are the strongest men in the universe like he-man, some are aliens and others some are creepy crawlers like spiderman; but our human superhero is as human as a human can be. he has all the shortcomings of being human and still manages to accomplish the impossible. Well this time, he has even managed to beat the other superheroes at the box office!!! That is tangible success in todays times.

Anyone who knows the tragedy that befells young bruce immediately empathises with him. seeing his parents getting killed scars his young mind. The trauma inflicted on him as a teenager surfaces as the mysterious side of his personality away from the glitz and glamour of his famous life. he decides to dedicate his life for the protection of the truth and fight against anything evil.

his fight is not biased in his favor though. even with his "utility-belt" that coughs up anything and everything, and his trusted steed ; his bat-mobile he is evenly matched by equally cold blooded criminals. Just think of frigid, scarecrow, penguin and above all "the Joker". all of them capable of going one up on the Bat. but our hero saves the day for Gotham everytime.
Watch the trailer of the latest Batman movie here. released in 2008. its been highly anticipated since the release of "Batman Begins"

Bibliophile - Read these books before you die

2008-06-03T00:21:00.000+05:30

We all are indebted to our parents all our life. the reasons people may give is a different topic all together. I am particularly indebted to my father for passing the passion for books. not any books though. books that offer u an insight, that change your perspectives towards life, provide knowledge and most of all make u a better human being. Its a huge statement that i am making u may think. but for him, i wouldnt have been the person i am today. I still remember him narrating me and my brother classics from both marathi literature and english literature. Maybe it was that initiation into languages that fueled my interest into reading and i am grateful for that.
there was one particular book that he used to read when i was in 3-4 th standard and he used to tell us the what he had read in the night in bed. it was by no means a novel for kids (read Harry potter types) as it was an emotional story of an african teenage tribal who is kidnapped and sold as a slave in america. the story touched me so much even after so many years in school, college and a job i still remembered some parts of the story.
so last year as i thought of reading some book to revive my old passion, my father reminded me of that particular story. Suddenly, i became interested in reading the book myself. i began searching for time when i could read the book and to my dismay found out theres time if you wish to find it out of the most tight schedule. The next few days i got involved in the distractions of a job and eventually forgot about it altogether. That is when my dad showed me the book that i wanted to read from my childhood. i always was curious who was the slave boy? how was he kidnapped? what happened to him? did he return to his family. all these questions were right in front of me. it was just a matter of when i wanted to seek rather than hope to know the answers from someone else. I eyed the book which was comparable to some harry potter series with more than 700 pages to it. but the size of books fired me more to read them rather than be intimidated. Finally, my eyes rested on the title of the book. it read "The Roots" authored by "Alex Haley".

The fact that i finished reading the book in the next few days doesnt speak anything of the emotional journey i was taken through while reading it. Very few books i have read have given me a more fulfilling experience. The journey of a man in search of his roots - thats the only description i can think of this book. But at the end of it, its you who begin on a quest unknowingly to search for your own. Hence i believe the title is very apt mentioning just "the Roots" without being explicit about it.

The canvas of the book includes the tribal landscape of south africa; the culture, the customs, the people. in contrast the america during the age of slavery. the savagery of humans against humans. their disdain for people with a different colored skin. the helplessness of grief and the guts of an iron will that remained unconquered. Even though at the end you may think its part fiction nothing makes you believe that there couldn't have been a "Kunte Kinta" from the region of "Kambe Bolongo" whose fight for being a free human failed just because he had a fallible quality of being a mortal.....

The Mysore trip - prelude

2008-05-27T23:45:00.000+05:30

I am one of those techies who genuinely believe that we are not born just to do coding 24x7. So i support all those sites which help the poor souls by providing (un)tested code. Another thing i believe in is we are not supposed to hack out lines of code day in and day out. A weekend break is just what is needed to get the groove back after a week of missed deadlines, (quality? ;) ) coding, good for nothing colleagues (who dont leave a single girl for u to hit on) and bosses who think they have a moral obligation to make you yearn for the system clock to show its finally friday evening. I love my job :).

Well, with the plesantries out of the way lets come back to the topic. After one such eventful week at work i made my way out of my cubicle thinking what was i doing wrong in life. I went to the lobby and stood in line with similar souls waiting for the lift to take us DOWN. So there we were , perfectly normal people, staring at a led display as if hypnotized. The lift eventually obliged and everyone entered the square box. The curious thing about being in a lift is the effort people make to avoid any eye contact. After a few self conscious moments the girls can breathe easy and the guys can stick out their tummies. I made my way to the cab that drops us at specific places. One by one the cab was filled by individuals too preoccupied by thoughts of code performance, walkthroughs, foosball tips and the cafeteria food. Well, if this is doesn't seem right do a reality check. how much do we bother to think about where our lives are headed? Our immediate target is doing well enough to not be kicked out and bad enough to be called a coder( I call myself precisely that).

So, like any other vehicle in nimma bengaluru our cab too helped in the social networking phenomena on the road called traffic jams. As i sat contemplating what to do with the two days of the week that i own, a condescended to think of becoming more adventurous. i said why not. a trip through the beautiful south india would be just what was required. A first hand glimpse of the culture would go a long way in successfully stereotyping any person south of the vindhyas as a "maadaraasi" authoritatively(kindly use the words naively, insensitively, bluntly, chauvinistically interchangeably). So, i decided then and there to make a jaunt through the parts of karnataka and make some use of the time rather that watching the ceiling fan rotate the whole day. There ended my journey of my thoughts as i made my way out of the cab since my destination had arrived.....

A promise broken

2008-05-24T19:11:00.000+05:30

If any soul has been watching the television anytime through last week he might know what i am alluding to. What should i call the crime committed? Its was a crime in cold blood, a crime against a human, against a child but all said and done the most ghastly aspect of this crime was the person who did it. A fathers face, who apparently has killed his only daughter, was constantly being flashed on almost all news channels....
The first reaction was of disbelief. How could a man commit murder, that of his own daughter? We have heard of ghastly acts before but what makes one shudder is at it happened in the supposedly safe confine of a home of a "white collar" fraternity. Dr. ramesh talwar has become a household name in just a few days. the channels have done in days what marketing companies do in months.

The unfortunate soul, dr. talwars 14 year old daughter, Arushi was just about to turn 15 when fate caught up. Until now her father has been arrested and remanded to police custody but her mother has still stood by her husband. Whether he shall be implicated or will the case meander on as thousands of other similar cases is not the point. The implicit foundation of any relation is a promise. As long as the promise is kept the relation holds. Mr talwar should know better being a doctor himself. therefore not only his crime more heinous but also an eye opener for all of us.

A respected doctor, how many patients he may have treated? All of them had trust in him was why they had come to be treated by him. Its this trust that was followed in the patient-doctor relationship. but when it came to the personal front he showed how a human could fail. When people go to a doctor they look to him as a savior, a life saver. After the events of last week ppl would definitely see doctors as humans. As fallible as them if not more....

Why?

2008-05-24T11:47:00.000+05:30

Theres always a first time, right? Well, this is it for me then. After a lot of procrastinating, if u call a time span of 2 years that, finally i have settled to write a blog. Just yesterday i was mulling what my first blog should be called? Suddenly, my mind went blank of ideas.

Its the first time that such a thing has happened. All through these years i have loved to write. But into college, graduation and later a job suddenly writing was a thing of the past. Yes, i did write occasionally but was a one off thing and though it excited me it never stuck on. Blame it on my eternal laziness (have put off working on it for now). Maybe the routine of a job which makes u think analytically in one dimension makes a hell of a job in training ur mind to think that way when not required. Well, thats a different topic to take care in a blog of its own.

I wanted the blog title to be unique ( it doesn't allow to register otherwise :P). Something that epitomizes what the blog is going to be. Then it struck .. why not christen the blog with something that conveys this blog as one persons thoughts who is just another indian among the billion strong nation. "The billionth voice".Hence the name.