photo

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.