Adventure trip to Dandeli

Just like a hit movie very soon re-hits with a sequel, our rottikallu plan success compeled our director Suhas to organize a quick sequel to a place which is a treasure of adventures and fun.

                “Dandeli” trip as planned( this time with no postponing at all) for 2^nd weekend of 2k11 started from majestic by 8:45PM on Friday. Reaching Rani Chennamma circle , Dandeli by 7:15 AM we located Sandeep, local guide and did payments for our first activity “Fresh Water Rafting”. Suhas tripped around the city with Sandeep to finally locate a home stay Ramya to fresh up. And by 10’ o clock the group of 14 was ready speeding towards the Rafting spot.

Activity 1 – “Rafting”

Tophaan unloaded all of us on the bank of river Kali where there were many other groups like ours. Naushad, rafting guide gave a briefing on his team and the activity. The crowd rushed to pick up life jackets, helmets and paddles of their size and choose on colors as well.  Crowd were asked to make small grps  with one guide for each n we soon started off with the actual fun.  Our guide Naushad explained few the moments of paddles required. To practice the art getting onto the raft in case u fall off, I got into the water to realize that I am damn scared of water and inspite of having on a life jacket I was freaked to the core and without anybody’s notice I tightly clunged to the raft till Radhika pulled me back. We went through 8 rapids with each one weirdly named (I remember very few “Snikket”, “Leopard hole”  hee Radhika experienced this….. ;) ) n each one having its own kinda fun n thrill to relish. Amidst this high energy n equally risky ride the group never forgot to pose to the photographer who waited for us near the first rapid. We screemed on top of voice to express the merriment we were going thru and in no time finished the 9km ride. Of course the other grp had fun rafting several rounds against the course of water and took their sweet time to complete the joy ride.

                With a lil change in the plan we cancelled out Closed jeep Safari (coz it was “closed” jeep) and decide to reach Kulgi nature camp and relax for the day. We reached by evening and freshed up and loafed around the jungle and strolled to reach the Valley View point a kilometer away from camp. The view was amazing with Sun setting towards ur right throwing lovely shades on the trees and mountains around. We walked few meters into the forest and to my realization its so damn easy to get lost in a jungle like this inspite of keeping ourselves so close to the road.       Back in camp, the group played few games n then started its fav game ‘UNO’ followed by a yummy dinner and  again few controlled their fagging body to play yet another round of UNO. 

                Next day morning 5am I heard a voice outside my tent calling for director Suhas, it was manoj trying to look for Suhas’s room to inform that there was no water back in any of the tents. Hence instead of 5:30 the venture to Cawla caves got delayed by an hour. Two open jeeps drove into the forest leaving behind clouds of dust. Animals were no-where to be seen except for a deer and few birds. We started trekking towards the cave, along the path made in the forest, few steps to get down and you reach the cave with lot of history n mesmerizing creations n forms of rocks. Scrolling in the dark path you are invited by bats and other nocturnal creatures. Very humid, quiet, calm, ecstasic is the atmosphere there. This was my personal fav.

                Back in the camp, loaded our hungry stomach with puri-bhajji-chuttney. Round of fresh up and geared up for next activities.

Activity 2 – “Rappeling”

                We followed our next venture to climb up a manganese mine. The mud left dark prints on our hands which trying to reach the place from where we actually did the rope walk. They asked its 90feet which could be finished in a single or two jumps easily. I came down walking thinking of spending more time with the rope but was later told the jumping was more fun!! Few of us carried back small scratches and marks. Over all a OK activity.

Activity 3 – “Kayaking”

                I was back near water with an idea to do something which can get the fear of water out of me. Well Kayaking is a lazy man’s cup of coffee unless you forcefully throw yourself in to water n try getting back onto your kayak. Still we had lil fun splashing water at each other with our paddles and tried different postures in which you can row the kayak. @ EOD is still carried the fear of water, which I badly wanna get rid off L Coz it’s a big dream of mine to scuba dive/snorkel and the very water scares me.

After all the changing n packing, we hurried towards Dharwad to catch our bus to Blore. I had all reasons not to sleep the whole night in the bus L BED BUGS!!! Reached office late, hoping for a relaxed day but contrastingly had a hectic schedule which delayed my lunch as well…

                To Summarise, a great trip by director Suhas and the whole casting group inclding Manoj, Sulakshana, Radhika, ShivaPrasad, Pavan, Pranava, Sanjay, Adarsh, Supriya, Rohit, Jyothi n myself. Great pics, pat ur shoulder for activities well done and cherish the sweet memories.

Currently the director & the cast is busy thinking about the next Sequel.

Recap of 2010

          Its time to close this year's account. A quick glance of my life in 2010 shows two major loss and very few small gain here and there. The year brought the toughest days to even survive far is withstanding. Mean while I have learnt the toughest lessons. Definitely to face rest of years with more strength n life!!!

          To follow the Good-Bad-Good(GBG) Rule, the nice part was to go back to student life making yet again lots of new frens and having loads of fun with 'em hanging out, travelling and sometimes studying. Back were those nice days where I slept in class during lectures, copying in tests, bunking college, late hour studies, hostel food, birthday celebs, projects....list is never ending :) And pop from no where, I am stuck with the toughest situation of my life, even before I could realise the seriousness of the situation I had lost the biggest asset of my life. Thanks to all those frens who gave me strength to move on.

         When in those tough times I was facing, there was this small support or a small light even in those darkest clouds peeking at me which made me feel that I have a reason to live. This care, support which I assumed to be real, awfully proved to be the second game played on me by god. Even before I could recover the first loss I had another in my lap.

         The Master above you knows when to feed you with what. The medicine to recover from all the pain n grief, my master had nice plans rather thrilling plans. He gave the best team to work where I have lots to learn everyday n keep me occupied. And I was back on track travelling during weekends like ever before.

        Thanks again to frens who are still bearing and supporting me. If I am smiling today its because of your support and love. Thanks to all of you who gave me your time, love, support, n strength. I can't forget to thank those who gave me tears n hatred as well. No hard feelings. I respect and truly value your decision.

       To start my 2011 on a positive note, lemme dust all the mud n pull up my socks to another exciting year. With a promise to self to be a better human being, with more love n care for all loved ones, to be better student of life, to travel more, read more, work smarter, to give more than ever and to HAPPY!!!!

      In the path of improving ourselves, lets make small efforts to improve this world as well by performing small act of kindness. Be it as small a help as to SMILE at others, a small PRAYER for others good, sincere ADVICE to your frens, spending QUALITY TIME with loved ones, HELP some one at work, express LOVE to your dear one, DISTRIBUTE CLOTHES to poor and needy or even to start streamlining your time n energy to start an NGO and work for a good cause.

      Let's make a DIFFERENCE
             Let's make few more SMILE  :)

Wishing you n your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR,
Sana

     

Uthara Kannada

We planned a 3-day plan to the above place from 30^th Oct to 1^st Nov 2010. Friday evening 29^th was the VRL sleeper bus from Jayanagar 4^th Block, Bangalore at 8:15 PM. Five of us, Myself, sis Shilpa, bro Sumanth, friends Suma and Sulakshana started off. The journey to murudeshwara was tiring as we had got the last few seats inspite of being Upper, it threw us up helter n skelter hundred times not allowing us to catch sleep. Overnight journey ended up next day morning at 8:30 in front of Murudeshwar gate. Shetty uncle waited for our arrival, we freshened in his residence and left to temple a small distance from his place. Infact the tall shiva s staute is visible from his house right there without any diificulty.

Shiva s statue is the biggest attraction of this temple. Even more is the beautiful beach right behind him. We followed a very small queue to get the darshan and climbed the lift to reach on top of the gopura which reaches the 18^th floor. We get the best view from the tiny windows in all four directions. One side is the temple entrance, right next is the Netrani Island view, behind is the view of shiva statue and the last view is the beach where you find people enjoying a motor ride and sports of other sorts. From there we headed close to the statue and entered a cave right under the huge statue, the cave depicts a story of raven. We enjoyed clicking few pics in the postures very similar to story happening behind us in the cave. We were informed that there is prasaada distributed from12:30 so we collected the coupon and had to spend close to 2hrs for the lunch (We had missed breakfasr so naturally very hungry). We strolled in the beach and took plenty of pics in crazy postures. Pretty early to lunch time  we were outside the dinning hall waiting for the bell hee hee.

We hired a Omni to visit our next places on the way to kumta. We first visited Edugunji temple of Ganapthi, close to 15mins drive from murudeshwar. Odd time we went to learn that we had to wait for another hour  for darshan. We continued for 20mins more to reach Apsara Konda falls(acc to sumanth its ambu theertha heeee). A very small approx 10mt falls with a temple and garden, beach view on top of it. Worth walking a while to reach this garden which welcomes you with a beautiful top view of the beach and adjacent paddy fields. Shilpa, Sumanth and Sulakshana conducted several rounds whistling from this place and finally got satisfied that their art was appreciated by nature by sending back echoes. We geared up to dhareshwar around 30mins drive. A temple with a pond and a school of welcoming fishes in it. Dhareshwar beach was a nice to throw yourself and enjoy. We did the same till the sun said bye for the day. We changed in a near by fishermen house and reached our IB near Gibs high school in kumta after having dinner in panduranga hotel.

Our day 2 plan was to Yana. My long time desire at last came true this day. We started at 9 from our room. Had breakfast in panduranga and packed few idlis for lunch assuming that there is no lunch available in yana. Took an hour to reach this place. The vehicle climbs almost to the top leaving a distance of just 2kms for you to trek. Initially small rocks welcomes you to its world. The moment you face the huge two rocks of mohini shikara and narashima shikara, u are spell bound. The bigger one being the Bhairaveshwara shikara has a calm temple and this rock takes you into itself to show you its beauty. All you hear is the creaching bats through the walls of the rock. And burst of light gushes inside the caves at several places leaving you in great difficulty to take pics inside the cave. Mohini Shikara is not allowed kinds with very less allowance to enter for about 50mts and you are out. Not to forget the drink we had atop offered by a petty shopkeeper. Also sold his patented recipe for Rs80 half a litre. It’s a local drink made of seed called punarpulli with few spices, salt to make it a great appetizer.

We were back near the vehicle by 12:30. Ample time so planned on spot to go to Unchalli Falls. A 35km ride from yana towards sirsi. It’s a WOW!!! Experience. Its beautiful sight to watch this falls. A walk for about half a km to reach a view point and few steps more to take a closer look of the falls. The falls seems unexplored for its still so neat and in full glory. The water gushes with so much force that the fog wraps the falls in its mist for few seconds leaving us in surprise as to where the falls gone.  

We quickly rode back to kumta and reached Baada Beach, another beach which was so clean. It rained lightly and by the time we reached the kanika parameeshwari temple it rained rats n cats for few mins. We had dinner in Varad international and catched bed in the same IB.

Last day was a pure Gokarna trip but got extended till Karwar. Our return journey was booked from gokarna and so we planned to first finish karwar and then come back to gokarna. From kumta left around 9am to Mirjan fort 7kms from kumta towards gokarna. A lovely fort with llots of beautiful places to shot. The driver gave me tough time by driving really really slow in those broad highway NH-17 huh. Reached karwar by 11 around. Climbed on top or Shadshivgad Fort to take the view of karwar and its numerous tiny islands. DevBhag beach is close to the highway and the very karwar closes soon after crossing kali bridge.  We left to gokrana after having lunch and reached the gokarna temple by 3pm. The temple was as expected closed so loofed around for an hour to realize that the beach adjacent to this temple is actually not OM beach. Rather this was a very dirty beach to even imagin with close to 30% foreign crowd. We quickly reached OM beach which is 9kms from here and its like awesome… The most beautiful place in these 3 daysss. A 30mins ride by speed boat takes you to paradise beach and on the way you get to watch dolphins acrobats around incase you lucky. Since we fell short of time unlike other days we said no to this ride. Also coz we wr told by the boatsmen that in the evening the dolphins trips towards ankola and hence the chances to catch sight of them is thin. We again drove back to gokarna temple for darshan at around 5:15pm. The darshan timings being 5 to 8:30pm in the evening.

Our return bus Shreekumar was taking a bath when we reached a hotel for dinner. Had light dinner and jumped to our seats and slept tight till next day morning around 7 in blore. Reached majestic at 8. And to office by 10:30 to find my manager back from Endhoven with  chocolates :D

Rottikallu

Date  : Nov 13 - 14th
Place : RottiKallu
Members : Bhavana, Devdas, Harsha, Jyothi, Manoj, Pavan, Radhika, Sahana, Sneha, Suhas, Sulakshana, Suma

experience : Out Of The World !!!

Finally the rottikallu plan was executed after postponing the dates three times starting from Aug 15 to Oct 2 to Oct 30 and finally to nov 13th. So definitely the most awaited day...

       

        The Day started off at 1:30am on Nov 13th. To my surprise the whole team of 12 agreed to kick off at that mid-night. We had five pick up points which collected all of us from different points and by 3:30 all 12 in the bus few dozing off and few introducing to each other and others started off with mumbai memories. None among us knew all the rest in the group so initially(while planning) I was lil concerned about the team building efforts that V thought v needed to put in... But the scene changed completely as soon as the team started playing UNO and Rammi in the bus.

        We planned to visit Manjrabad fort before checking into resort hence started off early and as planned we were in the fort by 10:45am. Around 200-250 steps as informed by the driver to reach the top and you are greeted with the best view of sakleshpur town. Sorrounded by hills and the sight of cattle grazing on the far off hills was a delight to watch... This fort brought the memories of Murud fort which we visited on jan15th in mumbai. By this time the team was in full swing to gear up with the activities that awaited us in rottikallu.

With lil difficulty in locating the resort we finally made it to the resort by 1pm with rats running in our stomach. We were escorted to our rooms. A big cottage for girls and a small one for boys. The rooms are very clean of course we made our best effort to make it dirty by the end of our stay. The lunch was ready and we had the best malnad cuisine with few non-vegetarians among us had a yummy fish fry.

We wasted no time and threw ourselves into the hard core fun starting with simple rope walk, swing, tarzan jump, lazy pool with snake around to thrill us. Few got scared of them and few others freaked 'em back. According to su and manoj this was their best experience in the whole trip. We enjoyed several rounds of throwing ourselves into water n making others fall too... The videos taken here are plenty displaying various reactions and wierd sounds being made trying to beat tarzan ....

"Kesaru gadde Volleyball" was my personal favorite. Few showed their real strength in serving the ball far off the fields and manoj made all efforts to fall into the kesaru and reminded/realised himself that it is really a kesaru gadde. Harsha too made an effort to carry this memory by hurting himself. We took break for tea and coffee. We played throwball on demand, as there were few throwball champions among us. We had to make many strategies to win/loose the game. We all appreciated each others competitive spirit and congratulated on winning n losing each point. Me, su, deva and manoj also enjoyed running a race in adjacent kesaru gadde...Few of us went back to fall into the stream to wash ourselves and had small fun there too.

Close to dusk all of us took a hot water bath. Last ones in the queue had to manage with warm and cold water. The water is extremely sweet and girls expressed their happiness for having a soft n shining hair after the bath. With the minimum light we managed to play shuttle/badminton for a short while and quickly parked ourselves around a small camp fire.

For a small time we sang songs while we waited for the snacks to arrive at our tables. By the time snacks were on tables we were terribly hungry and waited for dinner. Naturally the snacks on the tables vanished in no time and many tried their first wine n vodka shots. Dinner was wholesome and few still had the energy to ponder on the puzzles given by Mr Vijay, the founder of Rottikallu. We discussed about the day 2 plans and decided to get ready for a short trek at 7am. I Catched sleep immediately but was made to get up again to dance around the lantern in our rooms!! I thought the girls have gone crazy and wen back to sleep.

A tight sleep with a lil excercise the last evening had removed all the pain in my legs. All of us were fit n fine pulled our socks, had sip of tea and started the first trek by 7:30 to a close hill right behind our cottage. Lead by Vijay and blacky, we reached the top in a hurry to get better signals and made calls to our "Loooved ones!!!".... Way back Vijay gave me lot of inputs about himalayan trek which he had been in the past. The trek was easy n small during which suhas gave lessons about Macro mode on our digital camera which made people like su to take pics of almost everything whihc came in her way... But I a must say that few of the shoots are brilliant...  

Lil was the hunger, so was a small breakfast to give enough energy to trek a 8-10km long trek to Hallu Kola(if I not wrong). This time lead by Ravi alias Ravanna. This was THE TREK!!! And it was the first time I ever saw a leech. At the end the count of 15 leeches on my shoe all caught my sight and never let them suck my blood. Jo, Suma, Bhavana, Radhika had not one but many bites from those tiny creatures. Initially people danced when leeches crawled on their legs, very soon it became a casual task to remove n throw 'em away. We choose a longer route in order to trek amidst the thick forest and enjoyed it the most. Top view a awesome sight and many of us laid down under the open sky for a while to watch no buildings or poles around but only the endless sky... Of course the photo shoots never stopped but improved with time and places. Enroute we visited a small water fall which was a perfect body massage. Manoj all excited washed himself n his HTC in this falls. Suhas had a long n loud laugh when he held his body under the falls. Deva, Jo, Bhavana n lastly sneha enjoyed their turns to get massaged...

We reached the base camp by 1pm very hungry but the food was not ordered. Hence we decided to carry on hungrily till sakleshpur n find a hotel. Clock ticked 2pm when all were ready to move and by then we were told that a simple lunch was arranged for us in rottikallu itself for free of cost. Without second thought we pulled chairs around the dinning table.

Did our final settlement of money and we said ta ta to RottiKallu. The fun was'nt over yet. Our DJ Pavan had best collections which kept us occupied n it was UNO again. I could understand thy had the best timepass playing UNO and enjoyed it so much. Manoj was in a hurry to have Coffee and we stopped couple of times. ha ha ... :D We later stopped for actual coffee and Masal puri. UNO was on, even when having chats... Mean while Our Tom & Jerry were there to entertain everybody around. Tom being Pavan n Jerry is our Jo, only difference here being Jerry chasing Tom unlike in normal cases.

Back on wheels, we danced for few beats and then settled in our seats to hear about each ones best experience in the trip, we all gifted each one with a caption which is listed at the end and also we shared our first impressions and also our feelings about each one of us. This made us come closer and every comments and compliments were taken sportively by all. Suhas did get his share of credits which came along with the bumps, for organising this w'ful trip. As we approached blore we made all the money transfers...  

As everthing has to end. We thanked all for participating and hoped to meet soon in our next venture. I reached my place at 10:30 and the rest you know it all...

Our famous Captions :

Bhavana - Bottoms up!! (for the wine shot)

Devdas - I likes it!! (He repeated this plenty of times)

Harsha - Metric harsha (for describing his wound inch long and two inch wide)

Jyothi  - Jerry

Manoj - Kesaru Gadde Erehula, Mental Manja, android Manoj

Pavan - DJ

Radhika - Rose Ragini(Rose for celebrating childrens day and suhas liked her name as Ragini)

Sahana - Chatter box, No pause only play, RJ (needs no explanantion)

Sneha - UNO girl (She can step out of bus without her cell but not UNO cards)

Suhas - Anything for girls (needs no explanantion)

Sulakshana - Call me Su, not again (means no su su)

Suma - 420 (thx to my efforts) , malli

Waiting for all the pics. And looking forward for the next weekend!!! :)

Tomboshima

Itz time to write about my beshhht fren. Tommy, one of the most beautiful creations of god sent straight away to be my closest buddy!!!

She happened to come to our house when she already a year old. Initially she was hesitant to get along with us but in no time she was an important member of our family. It might sound weird if I say she was very matured, poised and intelligent of any animals I had seen before, but she actually was... So intelligent that she read our moods by looking at us and accordingly behaved. She was pampered to the max by me and dad. And mum used to be the real boss for whom she was very scared of.

Few more years we had Babloo. Another small puppy from jamkandi. The most weak, stupid but a very innocent pet. And hence my mum's fav. Tommy and babloo quickly got along playing pranks on each other. It was the best paatime for me to watch them playing pranks and I too sometimes joined 'em ;) They rarely fought, when thy did all we did was to close our ears and stand mute till they stopped.
Tommy was everybody's fav as she took no time to befriend anybody, so all those who came home used to pamper her. My cousins's enjoyed sleeping on her tummy. Dogs usually do not like kids playing pranks with 'em but my tombo was an exception. Tombo, Tomboimashu, Tommanna, Kanda, mottu, dumpa were few of the names I gave her. Dumpa used to be common name to both her n my mum... Both used to respond to it ;)  I have this habit of calling the person I love with variey of names. So she won max number of pet names...

She was with us for more than 11 yrs and has left behind plenty of sweet memories which we all cherish even today... Few of 'em I'd love to dot down

This used to her best part of her routine - going for a long walk, not a single day she missed to wake my dad in the morning and to knock the door exactly at 6 in the evening.
Bread used to be her fav eatable. The moment the cover made sound or the fridge door opened tommy would be present with her eyes wide open.
Her eyes were the most beautiful... well it reminds me of a strange fact about me that I fall of beautiful eyes ;) They catch my attention immediately.

This proves her brains - During winter, without our notice she used to climb sofa and sleep the whole night but made sure she switches to her assigned place by the time any of us wakes up in the morning. Smart!! but my mum wd catch her by seeing her fur stuck to the sofa bed ... ha ha paapa
I should not miss this scene which I created when I was class 10th. Some afternoon, all of a sudden I woke up from my nap and started weeping so badly that both my mum n sis got scared and started worrying as to why I was crying so badly, I cd not stop my tears and after 15 mins or so I opened my mouth and said that Tommy had died in ma dream.... Huh mum ran and brought tommy to my bed and consoled me.
That nightmare finally happened in real on Oct 2nd, 2008, after a long 4 days of suffering. It was just few days before I was to leave to Mumbai to join SISL. I can't forget those last couple of mins she spent on my lap.

I miss her so much even today :(

Life in Philips ... So far

Hey,

I m blogging after long, it clearing shows I took this long to settle down in blore. My new desitination. Nywys its time to write about my work. As a part of my MTech programme, I choose to work as intern in Philips Innovation Campus, Nagavara, Bangalore. A beautiful office but less beautiful people. Coz they hardly smile and people who are never smiling acc to me have a manufacturing defect. ;)

I m into Test automation team with none of my frens in the same floor. I know nobody here so aloofed. Not many days just 11 months more ;) work is great so far with C# coding. I have a team member from Robert Bosch here on a deputation for 6months who is right now saving me from many odds. Because I ve lots n lots to learn when it comes to coding/corporate n things. He is sweet n I can say he is bearing me nicely so far. He literally laughs at my code ;) Of course it deoes'nt deserve any thing better...

Philips has many things better than siemens(I still compare every office with this). One is package, definitely a fat pocket. Good working environment. When i say environment I mean timings are flexible, gmail-gtalk etc allowed, holidays to enjoy, managers are cool(atleast mine n ma frens) , frequent Tech-Talks happening(interesting), TeamOuting(to which interns are not invited, huh), Team-Lunch (I wen even without an invitati on, huh saana), TMDs(teams which work for something other than wat u normaly do) and many more things like this.

In future I may write more about people in philips if I find anybody worth it(If I find anybody ssmiling at me). ;)

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Not more than a day in mumbai and I had already fallen in love with this place. Its a treat to stay in bombay. I'm sure no one will reject this statment. There are lots of interest'n things about this commercial capital. Its people, roads, food, temples, mosques, discos, malls, local trains, cars, bollywood, business everything is so magical. The night mesmerises.

Its usually said about bombay that a person who can survive here, can survive anywhere under the sun. I agree completely and the biggest reason for me to say this is LOCAL TRAINS. People are pushed in and out of the train without he own effort. You can best experience this in Dadar station. I too am blessed with 2 such experience in a general compartment.

Within no time, I had explored quite a few places in and around mumbai. We were put up in Kharghar, New Mumbai or Navi Mumbai. Kharghar is not very developed as compared to other parts of mumbai, it has very few places to hang out like Little World, Mc D, Sai Pooja, Ambika Resturant, Utsav Chowk, Three Star etc. The apartment Yugandhara n Vasundara (which made lot of news for not being painted) was our second home as we spent most of the time in office. The View from my room facing the blore-pune highway from 16th floor of yugandhara was like WOW!!! esp the sunset and night traffic. I still remember me n ramya alwys spent time watching the traffic or counting the number of flights that were passing.

I alwys made sure that I never waste my weekends. So my very first holiday was in Elephanta Caves, Gateway(obvious, as its from where we start) and my fav "Nariman Point". Caves is about an hour of boat ride from Gateway of India. Its a vast land with close to 8 similar caves. Itz a nice place but lil tiring. A heart numbing experience in Nariman point sitting on the path facing the sea. Its is like Out of the World!!!!