Icewind Dale

Hilariously Stupid Musical Ad

2007-02-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

Remember the AIRTEL theme AR Rehman made, and how it was widely popular. Feels like its a cool strategy for companies to advertise their product through a musical, right ?

... WRONG !!! ...

And providing proof for absolutely pathetic musical ad's ... the 'Wow is Now' musical from microsoft. Amazingly you can even get it on your mobile .. HA ..

Read "The Register" (similar) comments on the same here

White Water Rafting

2006-04-22T22:54:00.000-04:00

After a long break from reckless / adventerous activities, we ( JJ, Niranjan, David, Sly, Timir, Kastubh, Abhishek and myself ) finally set off to the French Broad River. The overtly enthusiastic Niranjan had contacted Nantahala Outdoor Center to arrange this exhilarating ride. He got group discounts for 35$ a person. (Hmm .. I still got to pay him ). The location is a 3 Hour drive from Greensboro.

At the French Broad River Outpost - In our Dry Suits

The French Broad River

Getting Drenched !!

Boat 1 Going over ...

Boat 2 Going over ...

Everyone Survived

The NOC guides mentioned that they offers special discounts for volunteers helping maintain the cleanliness of the river ( We did see some trash .. car tyres, plastic wraps and the like on the river banks ).

Do The JJ

2006-04-22T22:34:00.000-04:00

Do The JJ (d th JJ)
V
1. Ignoring a person while nodding your head.

[Do; Middle English don, from Old English dn. See dh- in Indo-European Roots.]
[The; Middle English, from Old English the, alteration of se; see so- in Indo-European Roots. ]
[JJ; English (US), from Jayanth Jayanth Indian (Karnataka) Roots]

Usage Note ( 'Do the JJ' situations):
-------------------------------------
Sly: Dude ... I wo'nt be at home for few days. Can you feed my fish ?
JJ : ( Nod ... Nod ... Nod )
Sly: Do you have the slightest idea what I just said ?
JJ : Say what now ?

Rang De Basanti

2006-01-29T16:48:00.000-05:00

Khoon Jala, the blood boils - You would have heard A R Rehman sing. However, have'nt you heard it before, yourself, musing, in the police station, bribing to have a theft reported ? Have'nt you heard it, your heart straining to shout out loud, at any 'pulic service' office, and everytime you bribe the traffic constable ?

Our jobs (and ourselves) are our top priority, so in such situations, we ADJUST, supress our frothing anger, and get on with our lives. Me, I accept it (part of the 'bloody system'), don't vote (inhibiting me from criticising the govt, and the country), tell myself 'Get out of this dump', find a job in the US, and cowardly, flee. Yet, when I saw the movie ... Khoon Jala.

Have we become comfortably numb ? Why do willingly submit to corruption till it kills us. Yes, it does kill us, and then its too late. How secure are you, on a train, for example. Does'nt corruption kill more innocents than terrorists do ? Yet, we fear terrorism and ADJUST to corruption. How illogical and irrational can we be.

Is it hard to note the person whom you are forced to bribe ? Is it so difficuilt, to get your friends and collegues, and their friends and collegues together, and picket peacefully, his house or office ? Is it so unfruitful to have your voice heard ? Are your work/priorities so demanding ?

As a working class, we are restricted (but not completely, the half hour we spend griping on the 'current situation' over lunch is good enough). The youth students have more freedom. Sooner or later, there will be a revolution against corruption.

I would urge you not to be a critic unless you have voted for any election atleast once. Anyone can be a critic, but it is his voice that instills patriotism, who has strived for a better India.

Complete Calvin And Hobbes

2005-12-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

Currently reading the Bible of all Comic Strips. The 'Complete Calvin And Hobbes' is slightly expensive but well worth it. Will be giving the book to my parents, for two reasons:

An appreciation for enduring my childhood
I dread any child in my vicinity armed with information from the book.

Go here for official comic strips.

Atlanta

2005-12-27T12:39:00.000-05:00

We ( Ramya, Anu, Ankit and Myself) went on a trip to Atlanta, to drop off Ankit and also to tour downtown atlanta. Met with Sid, his bro, and his bro's friends at GA Tech.

The day was spent visiting CNN center, Coke Museum and Georgia Aquarium. We also met up with Ramya's friends before driving back to Greensboro in the night. It was 3:00AM when we reached back.

Framed !!

Christmas @ CNN

Ramya and Bush

A Looong Way Up

Awaiting Chinese Food !!

At the Coke Museum

Touching the Ray fins.

Chicago

2005-12-27T12:22:00.000-05:00

Getto at Chicago @ Jobi Babu's House. Rahulan and Santho were there too. So was Appukuttan, Aama and others from their (babu's) batch.

Day 1 was spent sightseeing and hiking. Yup .. Hiking ... from Navy Peer to Sears Towers. Apparrently, we thought the tower was close by, as we could see it from the navy peer.

Day 2 was spent being sober from the evening at Joby's. It was also Tinu's ( Joby's wife) birthday.

Rahulan

View from Sears Tower

Santho family Photo

Joby Babu family Photo

In front of Joby's House

Blue Ridge Parkway

2005-12-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

Went on a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway ( JJ, Ramya and myself), enjoying the fall colours. We had a slight hiccup with our plans for lunch, as the blue ridge was intented to be a recluse from society and people and restaurants.

We started on the southern end of the parkway and drove on the parkway till Linville, where we visited Linville Falls and Linville Caverns. Exited parkway on Route 421, to come back to Greensboro.

On the Blue ridge Parkway

B'witched

Enjoying the scenery

Inside Linville Caverns

Stalactite

Near The Linville Falls

Austin

2005-12-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

With Thee Thee @ Austin
--------------------------

Was with Thee Thee the weekend before he left for India. Visited the coolest theme park in Texas, schliterbahn. They have a water ride that goes up !! Though we had to wait for hours, the ride was worth it !!!

CID's from Bangalore !!

Hanging Rock State park

2005-12-27T03:14:00.000-05:00

Jayesh drove over to Greensboro one weekend. He reached here by 4:00 AM, so we abandoned plans to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Was googling for possible alternatives when I stumbled onto the 'Hanging Rock State Park'. Since we didnt have anything else to do, we left for the park.

At Hanging Rock State Park

Posing near the Lake

The Summit

New York

2005-12-27T03:05:00.000-05:00

Went for Thanksgiving trip to New York with Jayesh. He came down to DC, and we started off to NY. Met Zacchu on the way, and stayed at his house for the night.

Next morn, we toured Statue of liberty, Ground Zero, and Empire State Building. We also toured a couple of NY metro's as a part of our getting lost in NY act. We finally made it to Ju's by evening.

Spent the next day at an Indian localoty near NY. Feasted on yummy Dahi Chat, fried Fish etc. We went back to NY downtown on the corner of empire state building, where we met Ajay. Then it was off to Scranton (Jayesh's place).

Spent the next day travelling ( Scranton to DC to Greensboro ). Thats a whole lot of travel !!!

Lady Liberty

Jayesh in 'Kal Ho Na Ho' Style

With JU

Grandfather Mountain

2005-12-27T02:57:00.000-05:00

Visited Grandfather Mountain with JJ, Ankit and Ramya. Trekked a little, enjoyed a lot, even spent some time at a local vineyard too, sampling their stuff. Something on the lines of Sideways.

At the Grandfather Mtn

The Summit !!

Vineyards

At the vineyard bar !!

Salt Lake city

2005-12-27T02:23:00.000-05:00

Went to meet Rahulan, Appukuttan and Nishant @ Salt Lake City. Appukuttan had come up from LA.

Day 1 was spent visiting the Great Salt Lake to watch the sunset. Met Zen Abraham, my friend from school. We had a wonderful time in the evening at rahulan's place.

The next day, we went hiking near Timpanogos Cave. Unfortunately, we couldnt get into the cave as the tickets got sold out. However, the hike made up for the excitement.

SALT LAKE
-------------

CID's from Chennai !!

The Salt Lake

At the salt lake

Sunset At Salt Lake

Near Timpanogos Cave
------------------------

Lake on top of the mountains.

We hiked on these !!

Its been awhile

2005-12-27T00:06:00.000-05:00

And Its been a while,
Since I read some blog
And Its been a while,
Since I had time to myself
And Its been a while,
since I gone and posted something up on this blog ...

Inspired from 'Stained' ...

A Memorable Disaster

2005-06-08T07:58:00.000-04:00

Images from 4th June 2005 keep haunting me, each time I open the dashboard of my car and gaze at the amount printed on the service bill. I did salvage most of the depression on the 5th June though. However, the scar still remains.

Rajesh (Pandi), Rajesh (Bull), Gopi and Myself had gone on a trip to Ooty that weekend. We planned to leave for Mysore by 4:00PM on Friday and camp at mysore for the night. Our first setback. Pandi had a meeting which extended well over 6:00PM. It was around 8 when we started off from Bangalore.

Construction was in progress on the road to mysore, to widen it to a four-lane highway. Traveling on such a road (when its in construction) is a nightmare. They had built speed-breakers for fun. You would come across a solitary one, sometimes a pair ( the construction Corp considered romantic aspects perhaps ? ), and sometimes in groups of five or more !! I spent more time on verbal slander than on driving, till I reached mysore.

Next morning (Ie, doomsday morning), we left for ooty at 7:15AM. We had planned to reach ooty by around 11:00, so that we could enjoy the beauty of the place before getting down to some serious boozing !!

Story as told by Hercules XXX Rum (pint bottle):
---------------------------------------------------------------
They bought me on Wednesday, at an exorbitant price of 160Rs (as it was past 11 PM) and took me home. For some reason, they didn't drink that day. On Friday evening, pandi casually dropped me in the car. They were planning to drink once they reached ooty.

On Saturday morning ( around 9:30 AM Approx), a policeman at the karnataka-Tamilnadu border picked me up gruffly and took me to the station. Pandi had to bail me out @ 500Rs. The border police then asked us to go back to Karnataka, drink, and then enter Tamilnadu. I think everyone's interest in me had waned by then, as I was poured out on the roadside by krishnan.

Story as told by My Hundai Accent
---------------------------------------------
The drive to Mysore was peaceful, albeit the interminable speed-breakers and curses from krishnan. Next day, we drove past the KA-TN border, circled around the area again, and left for Ooty. There are two routes to ooty, and we picked the shortest (30Km less, but with 36 hairpin bends instead of 6). All was peaceful till we started the climb. Very soon, I was over-heating and my engines fuming, and I finally faltered and conked out at the 18th turn.

After I had cooled down a bit, krishnan opened up my coolant tank and concluded that we had been loosing a lot of coolant, as there was none in the tank. Pandi and gopi volunteered to go to Ooty and come back with mechanics from the Hundai service center. They came back at 2:00PM in a Jeep (which cost them an exorbitant 450Rs).

We drove back ( some in the Jeep, Gopi and a mechanic with me) to Ooty, where they re-fitted me with a new coolant tank, ( as the current one had ruptured) and filled me with coolant. I am a pretty expensive guy to have around, It cost them around 2700Rs.

Story as told by the Auto-Rickshaw @ Ooty
--------------------------------------------------------
They hailed me in front of the Hundai Service center at around 4:00 PM. They hadn't booked any accommodation at ooty, but gopi knew of this place called 'Hotel Lakeview'. The lodge is on the suburbs of town. However, all rooms were already let out. Our next stop was 'Hotel Queens', where the event repeated. We went around town to a few other lodges too. Finally, they asked me to go back to the service center.

Ill-fate seems to be following them everywhere, as I got punctured around a Kilometer from the showroom. They decided to walk back.

(Back to my story)
At Ooty, We finally found a lodge next to the Hundai service center at around 5:00PM. It was a small dingy room, with an extra cot on the floor. The roof started leaking as soon as it began to rain. However, we were getting pretty used to our destiny to notice.

The receptionist mentioned a decent bar named ' Court' and Bull remembered seeing a signboard 'Rose Garden' near a hotel. We hailed a Rickshaw to take us to 'Rose Garden'. He promptly took us to the botanical garden ( We learned later, the signboard 'Rose Garden' bull saw, also mentioned that the place was 1Km further, and in the botanical garden. Lucky he didnt seen the signboard 'bangalore' anywhere) !! We then asked the Rick to take us to 'Court'. He questioned 'Selvans Court' ? and we nodded our assent.

We reached 'Sullivans Court', a posh 3 Star hotel after a few minutes. We paid a lumpsum to the auto driver ( getting quite used to paying money for nothing now, bull had sardonically joked we could just go to the street and give money to every person we meet ... It would be cheaper that way ). We got into another auto, and told the guy to take us to a nearby Bar.

It was at the Bar that our train of ill-luck was laid to rest, as we subdued our desperation with opious amounts of alcohol.

The next day was calm and peaceful. We had a wonderful time at ooty, and left for mysore by the long way.

Stranded!!

2005-03-26T02:19:00.000-05:00

Finally found time to blog this, as the event was so memorable. It is only rarely that incidents like Getting Drunk, Mobile conking out being out of range, awake at 1:00 AM midnight, miles away from any abode, dogs barking at you etc ... happen together as it did this time !!!

It all started with my thirst for adventure (quenched visibly since then ) appealing to me at 11:00 PM in the night ( practical absurdities seem trite after you have quaffed opious amounts of alcohol ). We ( Nambiar and myself ) decided to go on a drive way beyond sarjapur.

Beyond sarjapur is a total wasteland, converted intermittantly into farmlands, which were growing something like cabbages then. Not a soul around for miles, till at around 1:00 PM, when some poor farmer decided to check out a car and two people squatting at the end of his field. After his interruption, we decided that it was time to back home and sleep.

We turned back, only to realize that the car tyre was punctured. Nambiar visibly remembered ( intoxicated though he was ) removing the tool kit from the car a few day prior.

Incidents like these tend to clear your mind in a flash, as we began to realize the situation we were in. Its in times like that you wish you were too drunk to comprehend the gravty of these situations. Unfortunately ....

I believe I failed to mention seeing no vehicle passing by where we sat, and our location was a few miles away from the nearest road. We spent our first hour trekking along the countryside, awakening the dogs in the neighbourhood, until we finally found a location where our mobiles indicated a barely available network. We spent the next hour by the side of the main road awaiting our friends and pondering on the impending slandour.

Our friends finally came at 4:00 in the morning, and all ended well as we were saved the verbal assault since our friends were too sleepy !!!

Home Alone

2005-02-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

For the first time in four years, I am home alone this weekend.

I share my humble abode with five others ( Actually, around 4 years ago, there ware about 14 of us living together. However, the major resource, the restroom, proved to be a huge bottleneck ).

However, this weekend my friends have business elsewhere:
Hari - Gone to Goa
punnadi ( A.k.a Gopi ) - Gone home
Bull ( A.k.a Rajesh) - Gone Home
Thee thee (A.k.a Vikas ) - Gone to the US
Rahulan - Gone to the US

I am trying to acclimatize to this environment. Its better to be prepared for some off chance situation of being alone !! Atleast 'It will build character (Calvins dad in Calvin & Hobbes)' .

Incidentally, I have just spent my first hours of being 'alone' blogging on my PC and visiting orkut communities !! More of these experiences, and I will be one serious blogger !!!

My world of streamed audio

2005-01-31T09:01:00.000-05:00

Finally got my piece of streaming audio action today. I had access to streaming audio earlier too, but today was the first time I found the audio mesmerising and exhilirating during my working hours at office.

128 KBPS - Kinda mp3 quality, which, is kinda CD quality. So this is kinda kinda CD.
No congestion - I assume my collegues were too engrossed in their work to download anything.
Real Audio 10 on Solaris ( DO refer to my blog on installing software on solaris)
Radio Paradise Yeah ... It Rocks ( and Pops, Reggae's )

Need I say more ??

Search and thou shall find

2005-01-29T05:46:00.000-05:00

The internet - The all encompassing colossal warehouse of information ( and mp3's, and exe's ). Then, why is it that finding 'stuff' ( as in mp3's ) on the internet always seems interminable and the files elusive ?

My mooooost prrrrrefered seeeearch ennnngine ( U guessed right .. gooooogle) usually disappoints me when I want to search and download some 'stuff' on the internet. It feeds me news reviews, concert timings and almost all information on the topic but the files themselves. It is frustrating to know that there is a file out there just outside your reach.

Finally, I seem to have figured it out. The problem is not in the search engine ( obviously not !! ) . The solution is in properly guiding google to find your file. The files are out there, hidden in some server, waiting to be accessed by someone.

There are two ways to get to the file. One, by clicking on links and closing annoying/lascivious popups for what seems like eternity to get to the above said server, or two, by searching within the servers directly (through google). I will now divulge my ken on the second method.

For example, if you want to find your favorite mp3:
Google search for:
"index of" "parent directory" your favourite mp3 ".mp3"

You know you have hit the jackpot if you find a result matching:
Index of /some server/[~] some name/
One glimpse at the site contents and you will understand why I used the above search terms.

exe:
"index of" "parent directory" your favourite exe ".exe"

pdf:
"index of" "parent directory" your favourite pdf ".pdf"

Now .... It all seems soo easy ... Doesn't it.
I guess its time for you to upgrade to a faster internet connection !!!

Swades ?? Not exactly like in the movies

2004-12-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

Took time off from work and had a good time watching the movie.

The Movie is about the NRI ( Non-Returning Indian? ) who is so involved in his work @ NASA that he has no social life in the USA, and longs for his native land and its caring and loving citizens. Highly touching, and extremely patriotic. Add a dash of Bollywood flavour ( romance, religion, poverty, and lots of Glycerine) , and Viola, the typical Bollywood Blockbuster !!

The story ends with the hero back in India in the loving arms of his 'village girl'. However, for most of the NRI's, this would be 'Just the Beginning'.

However, In real life, (especially in the IT sector) we have reasons to be jealous of our US counterparts. They come to office at 8:00AM and leave at 5:00PM. After 5, one has enough options to entertain himself, be it the local pub, shopping mall or the multiplex.

As for us, we work from 9:00AM till 9:00PM, go back home and drop off to sleep. I dont understand how we can fit a social life in when we get only 24 hours a day ( including work and sleep). On those rare days when I reach home early, I find myself 'Home Alone'. My friends havent reached home yet !!!

Swades is not exacly like in the movies !!!

Its 12:00AM as I write this blog. Merry Christmas.
Like I said, Last week, I took time off from work and had a good time watching the movie. The late-night show starts at 10:00PM.

Am I famous or What !!

2004-12-10T00:05:00.000-05:00

I knew I had a small fan club following... But this !!!

Wanna be famous ?? Check out this cool site which gets you what you want !!

Edit this link as required:
http://www.lintukoto.net/viihde/mielenosoitus/kuva.php?teksti=Your Text Here

Example:
Krishnan Is The Greatest

I like Installing Open Source programs

2004-11-28T03:06:00.000-05:00

The reason - I have never got past the installation stage to actually using the stuff.

So sweet of my company to present me with my very own Sun Solaris machine, that too a server so that I can NEVER login as the superuser!!! And ... I am really thankful to the corporate for installing softwares at obscure locations.

Gnu/FSF/Sun provies installables ( 'binaries' for geeks, 'excecutable' for Windows Buffs, and 'Programs' for those who knew how to get this far on the comp. For the rest ... "Me No Know TROLL Language") only for standardized locations.

That leaves me trying to get stuff running the hard way.Ie, Compile the source.

Its interesting that the moment I start doing this stuff, the machine starts off:

Me: Computer, compile this C program for me please.
Computer: Okay ... According to your login, you are Krishnan.
Computer: According to the machine hardware, this is a Solaris
Computer: WOW!! you have 'a list of programs', which are absolutely of no use to me.
Computer: ...
Computer: ...
Computer: ...
Computer: DUH
Computer: C?
--- Take some time off to abuse the computer
--- Some more time to find the libraries
Me: there you are. Now would you please..
Computer: Okay ... According to your login you are ......
--- Fuming
Computer: ...
Computer: ...
Computer: I need Coffee, a burger, some biscuits and the GTK libraries.
Me: What ?
Computer: Maybe not the biscuits ...
--- Grrrrr
Computer: Look ... Do you want me to do this or not ?
--- Resignation
Me: Here are your $%^#%^ libraries
Computer: Where ?
Me: Right under your nose !!
Me: Do you want me to shove it down your a**
Computer: Aaah ... these ... Do you call this a burger ? Looks like a bun, split in two, and stuffed with meat, vegetables, ketchup and mayonase to me !!
--- Contemplate murder
Me: (Sarcasm) Do you want me to stand on one leg too ?
Computer: Okay ... According to your login you are ......
--- Fuming
Computer: ...
Computer: ...
Computer: Umm ...
Computer: Well ... did you know.. Its been five years since I have been installed ?
Me: And your point is ...
Computer: We need a better OS.. there are these 'patches' ... we would need to install them ...
Computer: ID numbers 25JKH52, B5KHG2, 5O85B21, 2SJKH52, BSKHG2, 5O5B21, JK2H54, 224MK, 00H23HDS to name a few ..
Me: Install the $%^* patches you ##$^&
Computer: For that, I need permission from the supervisor.
--- Kill... Kill ... Control+C.. rm -rf * .. Die .. Die

All's fair in Love, war and blogging competitions

2004-11-21T22:53:00.000-05:00

THE NAME IS KAMATH .... VIKRAM KAMATH !!! and this is his mail ...

Hi guys,

I need some urgent help….i hope u know some bloggers out there….i did not know such a species existed before I came to ISB…..anyway we are having our B school festival www.isb-poseidon.com and as part of it we are having a googling competition called Searchlight http://isb.edu/poseidon/searchlight.html check it out….anyway it was our way of setting up a competition which we could easily win and we thought the proceeds would go to Chai/Beer money…..turns out people are going wild and it is turning out to be the Indian version of “Nigritude Ultramarine”…..and our local hero is left far behind.. …..his blog is
http://sumitdhar.blogspot.com/2004/11/best-indian-business-school-blog.html

anyway to cut a long story short please fwd this link to as many bloggers as u know with a humble appeal to post it on their blogs…..last date for checking google ratings is Nov 25th so hurry……..a lot of Chai is at stake

The Best Indian Business School Blog

thanks baayz…

The Best Indian Business School Blog

Ok vikram .... Done !!!

I dont think I can be of much use here, considering the hit-rate I get on my site (Either that, or none of the visitors think it worthwile to POST COMMENTS). Of course, the site is at the top on google if I use keywords "Icewind Dale" and "Krishnan" :-) .. and the only person I know who might do that would be ... umm .. Me !!

Well vikram ... I tried. BTB, does google lower the rating of a site just because some obscure blogger (like yours truly) has a link to the site on his blog ? :-))

The blogger might be rare, but we do exist !!!
Homosapeans were rare too, at the time when our ancestors were swinging from trees.

Helpdesk @ Hyderabad

2004-11-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

A video on call centers @ hyderabad. Its a 13Mb .wmv file. Get it here

This video does give an insight on the current trend of call centres ( being moved to india. I.e, Bangaloreed !!), and also on pranks played by the call center employees on unsuspecting suckers aksing for help !!

However, i still resent their exaggerated visualization of india as 'still in the iron-age' look (with bullock carts and all). Come on ... India is much more developed !!

Of course, the bit on indian auto drivers are sooo true ... they never look at the road while driving !!

Orkut blocked

2004-09-27T07:40:00.000-04:00

Aaaaagh :-(

My company blocked my access to Orkut (www.orkut.com). I am a very active member of this group too ... Must have made at least 5 posts till date !! ;-)

I need to come up with a reasonable 'business reason' to get the site unblocked. Maybe I should start a community like 'VLSI design engineers working on top-secret stuff', get some suckers to join the group, and tell my boss that I am able to leak out a lot of valuable information about the competitors.

Hmmm ... I might be desperate to try it too ...

Anybody reading this, do suggest an intelligent 'business reason' like the one I have in mind !!

Original Images in Flickr

2004-08-31T01:04:00.000-04:00

I hope bloggers who have pictures on flickr (www.flickr.com) find this 'Interesting'.
------

Flickr by default reduces the sizes of images to standard sizes (small, medium ). The images with the medium size are the ones that get linked to your blogs.

However, the site does keep the original copy of the image in its database. This blog details a way (a soon to be obsolete one, if someone at flickr reads this ) to access the original image.

For example, my picture on flickr is:
photo Id no - 236393

Original image: - www.flickr.com/photos/236393_o.jpg
//--
Original Log changed here ... see end of this log for more details !!
//--

Medium image - www.flickr.com/photos/236393_m.jpg

Small image - www.flickr.com/photos/236393_s.jpg

The site is still beta, and i do expect the guys @ flickr to fix this (Ie, make only the medium image accessible online). Maybe i am supposed to tell them about this, but i think its better if they read my blog and make it popular :-)

---------------------------------

Note added on 10th December 2004

The guys @ Flickr seems to have found out about the original images. Now, they append a randomly generated number to the filename. They do this to all the files (original, medium and small ) but i assume that, for the medium and small figures, they link the existing path to the new ones to provide 'backward compatibility'.

Catch is, they use the same random number for all the three figures !!

So, I do the following:

Go to www.flickr.com/photos/236393_m.jpg
The site gets linked to http://photos1.flickr.com/236393_1fb3a622c4_m.jpg
The original filename is http://photos1.flickr.com/236393_1fb3a622c4_o.jpg

Ta daa !!!

Cabin berth

2004-08-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

Excerpt from an incident which took place last weekend, when i had gone to my hometown with a friend, to attend a common friend's wedding !!!

----
"What the &*@# !!", i almost blurted out, when they said that i had NOT booked any tickets on their bus. I had booked the tickets weeks in advance, and they had called me yesterday to confirm my tickets.

I took out my mobile and showed the evidence in the received call list. The guy just smiled sheepishly and said "SORRY".

This word ought to be banned from the english literature !!! at least you won't have people saying "Oh !! I am reeally sorry that i pissed you off .. you see, my friend needed these tickets badly"

Desperate times call for desperate measures !!! I would go in the Cabin.
-----

The structure of the buses which take me to my hometown are quite simple. There is the all-famous cabin, no bigger than a study table, where one driver sits, the other driver sleeps (they work in shifts) , a third guy keeps the driver company, and where guys like me sit/stretch/sleep.
Behind the cabin, the passengers sit on the many rows of chairs, which can be pushed back for a comfortable sleeping posture. There would also be a movie playing, that one can watch before going to sleep.

There were four of us in the cabin, besides the three drivers.

Having said that (and having sat in the Cabin for lousy 8 hours), let me tell you about the unique 'features' of the cabin:

A very good view : Of the road/buses/lorrys in front of you. Enjoy a STIMULATING time while your driver plays carmageddon.
Air conditioned : For heating, move your body forward so that you are sitting over the engine. For cooling, move backward to enjoy the chill air from the windows.
Cushioned seats : You will never feel anything ( Numb )

You feel so refreshed the next day that you drop right to sleep !!!

The Kudremukh Experience

2004-07-28T05:41:00.000-04:00

I went on this trip a week before I joined the blogger community, but it was so memorable that I felt the need to mention this somewhere. Besides, I can always refer to the post in case i forgot the route map to kudremukh.

There were 5 of us, Ajay, Anant and myself from my office (ADI), Srik (Srikant from Intel), Sarf ( Sarfarash - Anant's friend ), Manoj (Ajay's friend).

We had BIG plans for kudremukh, which, if had succeeded would have had us 'resting in peace'.

Trekking to kudremukh in the rain - Like in a suicide mission.
Camping at the top of the mountain - Where the chances of lightning striking you would be a little high (only around 100 %).

Fortunately, the weather cleared on that day, and the forest officials caught us trekking towards the peak in the evening and asked us to go back.

The Trip map - bangalore to Kudremukh and back:

Bangalore to Kalsa -> Government Bus
Kalsa to Samsa -> Private bus
Samsa to Somawathy Falls -> Trek 5Km
Somawathy Falls to Lobos House -> Trek 8Km
Lobos House to Kudremukh Peak -> Trek 8Km
Kudremukh Peak to Lobos House -> Trek 8Km
Lobos House to Somawathy Falls -> Trek 8Km
Somawathy Falls to Samsa -> Trek 5Km
Samsa to Kudremukh Town -> Private bus
Kudremukh Town to Bangalore -> Government Bus

That's 42Km of trek, if you dont get lost. Fortunately we didnt ....

We didnt see many animals around, just us, two deers, a chameleon and a lot of leeches. But we have heard of others having seen bisons at the peak.

Kudremukh is mostly grasslands, with a little bit of forest. This is what you do:
Step 1) You trek through the grasslands
Step 2) Gather your breath at the beginning of the forest
Step 3) RUN as fast as you can
Step 4) Stop at the end of the forest
Step 5) Scrape off the leeches from your legs/shoes
Step 6) Goto Step 1

At lobos house, you can lead a nomadic life if you like mangos, gauva, jackfriut and oranges. We had also brought rotis, pickles, bread, jam , and noodles ( we got a kettle from the guy who takes care of Lobos house, and made our noodles in it).

Water was never a problem. We had taken empty water bottles from bangalore, which we filled from the many streams that we passd by on our way to the peak.

Some pics from my trip:

Lobos House : Not much of a house though. We had brought sleeping bags along with us anyways.

We had to cross 3 to 4 of these bridges, inspired from AXN 'Fear Factor'

This hill was the hardest part, and the trek path had been made by water flowing downhill the day before.

Everyone was too tired after climbing the hill. There was still a lot more to go.

This might pass off as a panoramic view of kudremukh. Shot halfway to the top.

At this point, all we could see around were clouds.

As we were nearing the summit, we looked back and saw this !!!

A scary place to rest.

The summit - No Bison's grazing though !!!

All you need to get to kudremukh town (at the base of the peak) is to walk a few feet forward.

This one is right opposite to kudremukh

Samsa is out there ... probably the white spec.

Deadly Dance floor bacteria

2004-07-12T04:25:00.000-04:00

Saturday 10th July 2004:
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Enjoyed an explosive night @ Zero G. We ( my 3 friends and myself) were quite surprised when they let us into the place ( Stag entries on a Saturday night are usually NOT welcome at one of the most happening places in town !! ), but not quite so surprised when they threw us out of the dance floor ( Couples only, they said ). We had already had our share of dance and excitement by then. After 5 hours, we were just too tired to dance.

To top it all, one of us suggested we WALK BACK HOME !!!

Monday 12th july 2004:
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I know I have been infected by the Deadly Dance-floor bacteria.
Symptoms :
- Laryngitis
- Pain in the neck & arse - literally !!!
- Swelling of feet ( Though I feel one also gets this problem after walking for
10 kilometers)