eNidhi India

Pataleshwar cave temple, Jangli Maharaj Road, Pune

2012-01-28T18:29:00.001+05:30

Pataleshwar temple is one of the popular places of worship in Pune, located in JM Road (Junglee Maharaj Road). I was there during April 2010.

Pataleshwara temple is a small campus, located slightly below the ground level (Not really a cave like Borra Caves or any other cave temples you might have seen). It houses couple of idols of Rama, Laxman and Sita and other gods, besides the main god, Lord Siva.

Pataleshwar temple is reportedly carved from single rock and dates back to 700-800 AD. Interiors are rather dark. Worth a brief visit if you have half an hour to spare

Nearby: Jangli Maharaj temple.

Also read: Aga khan palace Pune * Shanivar Wada * Wooden sugarcane juice machine *

Gandhi Bazaar Basavanagudi: Then and Now

2012-01-26T17:28:00.001+05:30

Gandhi Bazaar is a popular landmark in Basavanagudi, South Bangalore. I frequent here during most of my visits. Gandhi bazaar main road is a busy street housing several popular establishments in the region (Vidhyarthi Bhavan, Roti Ghar etc). Ever since I remember, Gandhi Bazaar is also known for its road side market, selling flowers, vegetables and other stuff. Reportedly these shops have been operational since over 40 years. While hundreds of vendors earned their daily bread by selling their stuff here, these shops would occupy almost half of the road, leaving very little for other vehicles. Couple of underpass constructions nearby (near Basavanagudi police station) has increased load on Gandhi Bazaar main road.

Below are couple of photos I had taken about an year ago in Gandhi Bazaar.

Why am I writing all these? 2 days ago everything changed. Overnight BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or Greater Bangalore Municipality Corporation) decided to evacuate these shops and clean up the roads. Their overnight swift action made headlines next day. The pictures and news came as a shocker to many, including myself.

Below are some photos of current state of the road, sourced mainly from ThatsKannada.

There're views both supporting and opposing demolition. Some feel these shops were integral part of local community, while others feel it was right move which was long overdue. Some say BBMP action has hurt the livelihood of many vendors, while others ask why not do the same for other markets. Few prominent personalities, including Editor/Writer Ravi Belagare have reportedly decided to fight for the rights of these vendors.

Above image from RB's fan page

Some insist BBMP should have given notice to the vendors and time to vacate, while others say giving notice would only create more trouble as vendors will get stay order or sit infront of the shops preventing authorities from evicting them. Many politicians have talked about relocating these shops but nothing has materialized.

Read more about this topic on ThatsKannada * Surprisingly Churumuri didn't carry any story on this.

Another touching write up (Kannada) can be read here (extract below)

ಹೂವು, ಹಣ್ಣು, ತರಕಾರಿ, ಪಂಚೆಯುಟ್ಟ ಹಿರಿಯರು, ತಣ್ಣನೆಯ ಮುಂಜಾನೆ, ಲವಲವಿಕೆಯ ಮುಸ್ಸಂಜೆ, ಮಸಾಲೆದೋಸೆ, ಸುಬ್ಬಮ್ಮನ ಅಂಗಡಿಯ ಚಟ್ನಿಪುಡಿ, ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಕಡ್ಲೆಬೀಜ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಮತ್ತು ಬಿಸಿಬಿಸಿ ಕಾಫಿ!
ಇಷ್ಟನ್ನೂ ಒಟ್ಟಾಗಿ ಕರೆದರೆ ಅದು ಗಾಂಧೀಬಜಾರು. ಒಳಗೆ ಕಾಲಿಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ನಿಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸುವುದು ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆ, ಸೇವಂತಿಗೆ, ಸುಗಂಧರಾಜದ ಪರಿಮಳ. ಜರಿಲಂಗ, ತುಂಬುತೋಳಿನ ರವಕೆ ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡು ವ್ಯಾಪಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಕುಳಿತ ಹೊಳಪುಗಣ್ಣಿನ ಬಾಲಿಕೆಯರು. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಲ್ಲಿ ಋತುಮಾನದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುವುದೇ ಗಾಂಧೀಬಜಾರಿನಲ್ಲಿ. ಕಾಲಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾವಿನ ಮಿಡಿ, ಅಮಟೇಕಾಯಿ, ಅವರೇಕಾಯಿ, ಕಡ್ಲೇಕಾಯಿ, ಬಗೆಬಗೆಯ ಹೂವು, ವಿಧವಿಧದ ಹಣ್ಣು ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಗೊಳಿಸಿದರೇನೇ ಅದು ಗಾಂಧಿಬಜಾರು. ಹಬ್ಬಗಳ ಸಡಗರ ಶುರುವಾಗುವುದೂ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ. ತುಳಸೀಗಿಡ, ನೆಲ್ಲಿಕಾಯಿ ಗಿಡ, ಬಾಳೆಕಂಬ, ಮಾವಿನ ಎಲೆ, ಗರಿಕೆಗೆ ಬೇಕು ಗಾಂಧೀಬಜಾರು. ಮನೆಗೆ ಪಂಚೆಯುಟ್ಟ ನೆಂಟರು ಬಂದರೆ ಸ್ಕೂಟರು ಹತ್ತಿ ಗಾಂಧೀಬಜಾರಿಗೆ ಜಾರಿದರೆ ಹಸಿರು ಬಾಳೆಎಲೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲೂ ಲಭ್ಯ. ಗಾಂಧೀಬಜಾರು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಸರ್ವಋತು ಬಂದರು.

What is your take on the incident?

Even in Chennai authorities have seized several shops in T Nagar last year due to violation of building norms (Supreme court granted 6 weeks relief for Pongal on this)

Book review: "The songbird on my shoulder" by Saaz Aggarwal

2012-01-26T16:13:00.000+05:30

The songbird on my shoulder- confessions of an unrepentant Madam is a book by Saaz Aggarwal, featuring several individual incidents and narrations. “The Songbird on my shoulder” is not a fiction, it is more like a published version of a diary or recompilation of individual articles published in various media. (Refer credits section)

Book features several incidents, observations, experiences narrated by the author, dating between 1993 and 2011 (In one of the chapters it even mentions Indira Gandhi in her post emergency days). Incidents take place in and around Mumbai and Pune mainly (where the author is based) and several other countries and cities where author travelled to.

Lot of poems are also included, along with few articles published in newspapers. I have not reviewed any book of this kind earlier, so not sure how to go about this review. I'll focus on what I liked.

If you’re looking for action/thrill/romance this book is not for you. But it is a great read to know the experiences of a lady, who has lot of things to tell- from her travel around the world, from her experiences during various stages of life and so on, it is excellent read to know life from a different perspective.

I liked following chapters in particular the most:

Two Amits, a bat, and some sandwiches (about MBA vs Non-MBA)
Mother Courage (being step mother)
Dave Barry says size matters (this chapter says there’s an institute called KISS in Mangalore-Kasargod Institute of Social Sciences, and other aspects of being fat. I tried to figure out if this institute really exists in Mangalore- doesn't look like it exists. I mean, its not found on google at least)
Perils in the press

Each chapter is small enough to few pages and makes a point quickly. There's a fair amount of humor hidden between the lines- you'll appreciate them as you read it. Most of the chapters appear to have been published in various media earlier.

"The Songbird on my shoulder" is priced at INR 300 and published by black-and-white foundation.

Other book reviews: Fate, Fraud and Friday Wedding * Topgear magazine * Comical Saga * Fate, Fraud and Friday Wedding * Other Reviews: I am Number 4 *

Chile Random photos

2012-01-22T21:13:00.000+05:30

Some more photos from Chile...

Found these cars hung like these by the roadside. Not sure what are they upto- are they drying them in sun or are they just show pieces or something else...

Keyboard in Chile. Spot some differences in the keys compared to ours. Took some time to get used to the misplaced special characters

Road repair. Clean, efficient, hygienic

Road side art work for sale...

Power sockets. Need to carry an adapter next time. Hotel staff are helpful in lending one

read more here www.enidhi.net/2011/06/chile-blog-posts-digest.html

Sodexo meal coupons: Good bad and Ugly

2012-01-21T14:53:00.001+05:30

Lot of photo sharing in past few posts, time for some serious text. This post shares some thoughts on Sodexo meals coupon, which many retailers have stopped accepting

Why Sodexo?

Because of govt policy which allows tax exemption on money spent on food during working hours (Upto Rs 50 per meal), concept of meals coupons came into being. (Employee takes these coupons instead of cash, amount spent on these coupons, subject to max 3000 per month, is exempted from income tax. Depending on which tax bracket you fall, you may save upto 10-20 or 30% of this amount per month. Most of the IT companies give coupons worth Rs 2200 per month (assuming 22 working days and 2 meals per day), which effectively save about Rs 660 in tax, assuming employee is in 30% bracket.

The Sodexo network and coupon lifecycle:

Instead of giving cash to employees, company pays the amount to Sodexho (Say Rs 2200 per employee). Sodexo prints coupons for this amount and gives to employees. Employee takes these coupons to stores/restaurants which accept them, uses these as currency instead of cash. If he was to get cash he would have got only Rs 1600, now he can buy upto Rs 2200. Shopkeepers later redeem these coupons from Sodexo for cash.

Above lifecycle seems simple and straight forward, but below are some tricky catches in the mechanism:

Free Money for Sodexo: From the day Sodexo gets cash from companies and till the date they reimburse the amount to shopkeepers, Sodexo will have this entire amount, without paying any interest. This duration can be as long as 12 months at times. The amount of cash Sodexo gets at its disposal because of this scheme, from lakhs of employees from thousands of companies runs to billions of dollars and thus Sodexo will be one biggest beneficiary in this whole mechanism, as against employees, which was the original intention

Unclaimed and Expired/Damaged coupons: All coupons come with an expiry date. If not used by then or if lost or damaged, employee effectively looses on that amount. The cumbersome mechanism to get a new coupon issued for this amount is best left untouched and in all these cases, Sodexo gets to keep the entire money. (Clever right). I am sure at least 5-10% of the coupons issues will expire/get lost/get damaged.

Are you really saving by using Sodexo? Prima facie answer might be yes, but consider these:

· Because you want to use Sodexo you drive to a far away supermarket instead of next street kirana store- you’re spending more time and fuel driving there

· You spend lot of time in the queue at supermarket, because everyone wants to pay by Sodexo and it takes time counting these coupons

· You buy stuff you don’t really need, just because you can use Sodexo OR because coupons are expiring and you need to use them somehow.

· Shops don’t return change when you pay by higher denomination coupon. Thus you lose couple of rupees here and there

· Some shops charge extra to accept Sodexo- 2-5%. You still don’t mind because you think your tax saving is higher than that.

· Some coupons might get lost/damaged and you don’t want to go through the process of getting new ones

· You may not always be in 30% tax bracket. If you’re in 10-20% bracket, all above factors make it much more sensible to pay by cash

Why Sodexo coupons are not digitized?

Given the technological advances, it would make much more sense for everyone involved (except may be for Sodexo) to issue a debit card like card which can be swiped to use Sodexo. I believe Sodexo corporation doesn’t favor this initiative because of following:

· With Electronic cards, processing becomes faster. Which means Sodexo will have to reimburse money to shopkeepers much faster (no excuse of time required for collecting and processing these coupons manually)

· With electronic cards, employees will have more control on their Sodexo currency. Chances of loss/expiry will be less

· With electronic cards, Sodexo loses its status as alternate currency. At present, an employee can sell the coupon to others OR use it at local shop and local shopkeeper uses it at supermarket or a shopkeeper gives back a lower denomination Sodexo meal pass as change. All these will stop once coupons get digital

· Electronic form allows employees to pay exact amount, without having forgo change.

Why shopkeepers are complaining?

Sodexo takes a cut from the coupons and pays a reduced amount to shopkeepers. If shopkeepers submit coupon for Rs 100, they get Rs 97 from Sodexo, after about 20-25 days of submitting the coupons. It is same with credit and debit cards, where banks take a small cut from the amount before paying merchants. (But the difference is, for credit and debit cards, most of the transaction is electronic, except for submitting charge slips). For shops like large restaurants having 20-30% margin, this 2-3% transaction charge doesn’t matter. But for other shops working on wafer thin margin, this cut and reimbursement time makes it an unprofitable mode of payment. Further, the news is that Sodexo is trying to increase the charge from 3% to 7% and increase processing time. The only reason shops accepted Sodexo was because their competitors was doing so and not accepting meant losing customers. When Sodexo strong arm tactics was unbearable, supermarkets teamed up and decided to stop accepting, so as to force Sodexo to revert to earlier norms.

Time it takes to count the coupons, possibility of fake/damaged coupons and administrative headache associated with it are other reasons why shops hesitate to accept Sodexo. Migrating to a smart card based system is the best solution to all stakeholders, except for Sodexo

Can we do without Sodexo?

Meals vouchers were supposed to be used inside the company campus, but they’re being used everywhere, for food and non food items, defying the original intent. Any tax paying individual is guaranteed to spend Rs 2200+ per month on meals and food items, so it will be good to all parties if Governments realize this and simply increase standard deduction by corresponding amount, saving all the headache for employees, companies, shops. Only company suffering from such a decision will be Sodexo, so it is very likely to exercise its influence to resist any efforts of eliminating Sodexo as a middle man. Even if Sodexo is to exist, employees should consider the actual savings after factoring in the points mentioned earlier. Since most companies have cafeteria, it should be easy for companies to issue coupons which are valid only at company cafeteria, thereby serving the true intent of the scheme.

Also read: iMint Cards (now Payback)* An Analysis of MLM * SpeakAsia *

Colombo National Museum, Srilanka

2012-01-21T07:12:00.001+05:30

Last year, this time, I was planning my first trip outside India, to Srilanka, triggered by an ultra cheap spicejet fare of Rs 4008 for the return trip.(Sadly spicejet has discontinued that low fare and convenient timing, else I had plans of one more visit) While many of the Srilankan trip photos and text have already been shared [read them here], few have missed out. No travel for me in Jan 2012, so recollecting old trips and publishing few pending topics.

In this post, sharing pictures clicked at Srilankan National Museum in Colombo.

National Museum Colombo is the largest in the country and is maintained by the government. National Museum is located in a nice white building complex in the heart of city. Only a part of it housed artifacts and was open to tourists.

After watching foreign tourists paying an exorbitant amount at tourist destinations in India (At Tajmahal foreign nationals pay about 700 Rs while Indians pay Rs 60), it was our turn to pay the higher amount. Being foreign nationals in SL, we paid 500 Srilankan Rupees each ( about INR 200), several times what localities had to pay

The Museum was built in 1877. Besides the regular items you would find in any museum (historical stones, swords, weapons, dress materials, photos etc) a huge whale skeleton was added attraction

Interiors of the building

There were no hotels around, thankfully museum had a canteen which served decent food. By the time we went most of it was over though.

Also see: Colombo beach area pics * Colombo Port area pics *

Antaragange Kolar cave exploration

2012-01-17T22:04:00.002+05:30

This was sometime in 2008. We had gone to Anataragange in Kolar on a day long cave exploration trip. Never managaed to write about it, so here're the pics.

Below: Jaw of some animal, found in caves...

Couple of team members after negotiating a climb

Group photo

We negotiated this section with our back pressed to one rock and moving sidewords. Looking down was scary as it was very deep.

Lending a helping hand

Pranesh from Mars Advetures

Another steep climb

A board giving tourist information

A small statue in the garden- presumably to scare animals

Steps

Pranesh briefing the team before start

View of Kolar town

Below: A boy secretly drinking alcohol

Hygiene issues at Marina beach

2012-01-15T12:19:00.001+05:30

Marina beach is said to be longest beach in Asia and is most visited by Chennai residents and tourists. If you're visiting this place and more importantly buy juices here, this post is a warning.

Ice distribution at Marina:
All over India, manufacturing ICE and distributing it is one big unhygienic affair. Ice cubes are covered in gunny bags and distributed. Local retailers break big cube into smaller ones and distribute to small merchants. They are stored and transported without any additional cover/packaging and are exposed to weather all the time.

In Marina it goes one step ahead. Beside gunny bags, ice cubes will be sand treated. Bigger blocks of ice are broken into smaller ones and distributed among traders, who carry it to their shops on their cycles or other vehicles. It will be the same ice that will be added to your juices, so beware.

Vendors do not have any regret in this action. While I was clicking the pics, I got some remarks like "Take take... take pictures and put it in TV... tambi, pose for the photograph..."

Sugarcanes is another story. You can find lots of sugarcanes left unattended on the sand behind these stalls. All through the day and night, these are exposed to sun, rain, dog's urination, salty sea breeze and everything else nature throws on them.

Ragpicker selecting useful items from a sugarcane stack

Though most of the machines are covered during night, some are left unattended.

Not that scene is different elsewhere. So beware. Also read more about this unique sugarcane machine, spotted in Pune..

Server Sundaram Restaurant, OMR

2012-01-14T10:48:00.001+05:30

Server Sundaram is a budget restaurant in OMR, Chennai, near Cognizant Campus in Thoraipakkam. What was interesting there was the art on the walls. Sharing them with you.

Artist's name was not to be seen in the art. I wish him good luck.

There's an App to check your order status!

Give a caption to this:

How much this lady is eating? 9 plates already and counting.. Poor husband!

Did you read the newspapers?

Morning walkers having breakfast...

Mom, hotel food is too spicy!

Where are the Wadas that were supposed to be here?

Damn!, he just left 5 bucks as tip...

Give a caption to this:

Today's Menu

Also see: A painter and his dream * Rice plate project, Malaysia * Graffiti in Valparaiso streets *

KLIA LCCT KL Sentral latenight bus train timing

2012-01-14T08:11:00.001+05:30

This post is useful if you're flying to Kuala Lumpur in night hours. Else ignore and read my December 2011 archive.

If you're landing or departing from Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur commuting between airport and hotel can be expensive, unless you're aware of cheaper alternatives. Kuala Lumpur international airport (KLIA) and Low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) are well connected to Kuala Lumpur city (KL Sentral) by bus and train. Though the buses operate upto midnight and start operating from 2.45 AM local time, your hotel staff and and others are likely to advice taking a taxi to airport, instead of guiding you on the bus. A taxi ride to Airport can cost as much as 100-150 RM, plus 50% nighttime extra, while a bus ride would cost under RM10 per person and takes almost same time.

It helps to know correct timings of bus service and train service available between KLIA/LCCT and KL Central. This post shares couple of flyers picked up during our visit, which gives details of the timing.

Most of these info is already available on net, but many of them state that first bus from KL Sentral at 3.15AM, but we found that they start from 2.45AM- enough for catching 4.30AM flights

We spotted that SkyBus and AeroBus are the two most popular operators. Skybus charges RM9 while AeroBus charges RM8. My observation was that Aerobus fills up faster and plies at higher frequency than Skybus. I could be wrong as this is one time observation. Air Asia has a tie up with Skybus and prompts you to buy a skybus ticket when book flight ticket. I feel it is better buying bus ticket separately.

KL Central to airport train timings are as below. Till midnight, KL Monorail and Kommuter trains connects to KL Sentral

Read other Malaysian posts here

Broken Bridge-Adyar, Chennai

2012-01-08T11:59:00.000+05:30

Broken bridge is a place in Chennai, near Adyar, off Besant Nagar beach.

The location is scenic because adyar river connects to Indian ocean here and a bridge broken in the middle makes it different from other bridges.

The bridge was built reportedly to facilitate movement of fishermen across the river, but it broke down due to weather and monsoon over time and was never fixed. Right now people flock here with touristic interests

There's no proper road to reach broken bridge. An existing road is narrow and passes through fishing hamlet and has occasional bad sections, which may be difficult for regular cars negotiate. Veteran drivers and off road enthusiasts do reach broken bridge with their vehicles. The location is also considered unsafe and police have put up a signage with warnings.

Local folks are often found fishing around this area

The theosophical society is located on the other side. Its campus has few exits like the one shown below. If anyone wishes to make serials like Prison Break, this can be ideal location

A freshly caught fish.. still alive

Besent Nagar beach

Another view of broken bridge

Tata Venture photos-set 2

2012-01-08T11:06:00.000+05:30

Another set of photos with Tata Venture... [View set 1 here]

Venture Speedo console

Tata Venture in front of Kapaleeshwar Temple, Mylapore

When parked near Marina back, a gentleman came close and explored the vehicle.. later he brought his family member to show her the vehicle...

Also see: * Venture vs Eeco and Omni * Venture test drive and review * tata Aria photos *

Tour of Nilgiris-Inside story

2012-01-06T21:54:00.001+05:30

This post is a bit overdue. Didn’t have the time to compile it earlier. Sorry if the title is misleading. Nothing confidential about this article though.

Having an opportunity to be part of events, such as Nano superdrive and Tour of Nilgiris, on the organizers side, helped me understand the complexities involved in event management better. When you organize an event on your own, you’ll know the pains of it. If I was part of these events in the role of a customer or sponsor, I might not have learnt the inside lessons. In this post, sharing some inside details on the event management related to Tour of Nilgiris.

A bunch of guys cycling few hundred kms over 8 days- this may look like a simple activity. And since it is cycle, there shouldn’t be much expense right? I too was thinking so earlier and wondered why organizers of TFN charge close to 25k to cyclists and seeks lakhs of rupees from sponsors. 2 days with the team, I have different perspective now.

The Recci

Though the event “Tour of Nilgiris” runs for about 8 days, the preparations start about an year in advance. TFN team goes on multiple trial rounds (known as Recci in event management parlance). During Recci the team studies the route- how good it is, what is the difficulty level (is it upward slope, downward slope, road conditions, towns on the way, time it may take to cover the distance for a normal rider etc), best possible accommodation on the way, where can be the support points on the way for refreshment and many other aspects. Recci happens about 4 times at different time intervals- 9 months before, 6 months before, 3 months before, one week before etc, to update and validate the already gathered information.

The support staff and vehicles

For about 70 riders, Tour of Nilgiris this year had a support staff of about 30. Support staff perform various roles- one team leaves very early in the day, ensures that the road cyclists will be taking that day, has no surprises. This team also marks the road with directions, wherever there’s possibility of confusion due to bifurcating roads, non availability of signage and so on

Above: I like the modification done to Tata Sierra.

There’ll be another team which mans support stations on the way. Support stations provide refreshments, basic repair etc to the riders on the way. 3 support stations will positioned at various distances on each day. Support teams also take a count of all riders who cross the support station. This way, it is possible to track if any rider is left out.

Medical team: A team consisting of an ambulance, physiotherapist and doctor on standby, which travels with the riders for any medical assistance that may be needed by the riders during the ride.

Photography team: A team of professional photographers and videographers accompanying the riders to capture precious moments. A blogger also accompanies the team to publish textual details at periodic intervals.

Bike Escort: A team of bike riders patrolling along the route for any support/assistance riders may need. Bikers are connected by GPS, their positions monitored by call centre and for any emergency, nearest bikers will be notified, who can respond immediately.

The sweep team: All riders are expected to complete designated kms within designated time. If someone is left behind or takes too much time to reach the day’s destination, Sweep team would pick them up. If the best cyclist completes day’s ride by 2PM, the last rider is expected to complete it, by say about 5-6PM. If I rider prefers to cycle slowly and reach by 9PM, not permitted. This is because support teams need to wind up for the day, gear up for next day. Those riders who are either left behind or chose not to cycle any more for the day, will be picked up by sweep truck tailing the convoy.

Above: Support staff sharing a lighter moment

Public Relations: A PR team was hired to ensure adequate publicity for the ride. At each city this team would organize a press meet with local media, get them interact with the riders and ensure cycling event gets some visibility next day.

Below: Day 1 press meet at Mysore

Call Centre: A call centre based in Bangalore would keep track of the happenings- receive any distress call, direct nearest help possible, give out information and so on

Vehicles used: TFN 2011 used a Tata Sierra for photography team, an Ambulance, a Tata Winger to carry food and people, couple of Tata 407s carrying baggage, support materials and cycles, a Scorpio doing early morning route check and marking, a Tempo Travelers carrying support staff and a set of bikers escorting the riders.

What it costs to organize an event?

If you thought organizing the cycle ride is easy and inexpensive, you’re mistaken. Day 1 hotel expense was more than 1lakh rupees (about 1k per person). This expense could be greater in some resorts where the teams stayed during subsequent days.

All the vehicles used above come with a cost- fuel, rent, driver expenses and on top of that, the interstate permit fees. Since tour of nilgiris covers Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, commercial vehicles need to pay huge permit fee at state borders. This amount alone comes close to one lakh. (During Tata Nano superdrive, a minibus used by events team which covered about 6 states had to cough up close to 1.6 lakhs in toll and permit fees alone)

Food, beverages and refreshments do add up to substantial amount.

Each rider is given a jersey, a well written handbook and other support materials. Everyday their bags are loaded on to a truck and taken to next city, which allows cyclists to ride without heavy load on their back. The handbook is well thought out- details each day’s route, profile, support station locations, contact details of the organizers, hotel at the destination and so on.

Material, PR and other costs: Public relations cost money, materials used for stage backdrop and other supporting activities cost money. There’re many other activities involved which I may not be aware of. pre-event preparation costs, travel costs of organizers etc.

While each rider paid about 25k to participate in the TFN2011. Riders can’t join just by paying the money- they applied online with their profile de That’s about 3k per day. Sponsors like BSA and Himalayas pitched in with funds and few other organizations offered certain services for as partners.

The selection process: Joining TFN is not easy. Money doesn’t get you a place. Each aspirant filed his interest by submitting details (past cycling experience, pace and several other details) and are hand-picked by TFN team.

War room meetings: After reach day, Organizers and support staff meet to discuss the day’s happenings, take stock of the inventory (of food and other materials) and plan for next day. I had an opportunity to witness this meeting wherein organizers sorted out the differences, gave solutions to problems. I missed the pre-event briefings on Dec 15th, which could have given me more insights.

Event management is a stressful job wherein one has to please the sponsors, participants, volunteers, media, vendors and so on. Each of these stake holders will have different priorities-

Sponsors want maximum publicity for their brand anywhere and everywhere- they might insist on activities purely for the sake of publicity, though not required for the event,
Participants want to recover value of every penny they paid, many will not stick with the instructions given- timings, do’s and don’ts and so on
Volunteers and organizing staff are often caught between high expectations and inadequate time/resources/funds. They are often deprived of rest and sleep during the event. Despite best possible preparations there’ll be unplanned/unauthorized/unexpected requests/demands/situations and it may frustrate multiple stakeholders unless organizers are capable of dealing with them smoothly.
Media people usually take it for granted that organizer will take care of their travel, food and stay expenses. Media wants best story and photographs- never mind if it is mocked up a little or participants have to take extra difficulty (to pose for photos in the way they want).
Vendors want their payment and need to wind up fast and leave, so that they can serve another customer.

As we read this, the TFN team might have started ground work for 2012 edition of the cycling event. Wishing 2012 TFN a great success...

TFN 2011 Launch event pics * Innovative Helmet * A highway accident we witnessed * TFN 2011's youngest rider *

Tata Venture vs Maruti Eeco vs Maruti Omni

2012-01-05T19:52:00.000+05:30

Tata Venture is one class above the entry level people mover- Tata Magic, Mahidra Maximo and other share auto like vehicles.

Tata Venture vs Maruti Omni

When compared to Maruti Omni, Venture wins hands down. Omni has been around for decades now and looks outdated, despite few facelifts it has got. Venture's seats, engine, space and looks- all are far more superior to Maruti Omni. Omni carries an 800 cc BS3 engine (same one which powers Maruti 800)

Omni's strength could be its price- about half of Venture GX. Omni has two doors in the middle row while venture has only one. Omni is not available in diesel like Venture, but Omni is available in LPG, CNG fuel options, besides Cargo and Ambulance variants. Venture on the other hand far more stylish, has a diesel engine and wins over Omni in most of the departments.

Tata Venture vs Maruti Eeco

Tata Venture is larger than Eeco in dimension by a few mm. Eeco is powered by 1.2l petrol engine and is a stripped down Versa. Eeco is more powerful and spacious than Omni and is better equipped to challenge Venture.

I have not driven an Eeco, hence unable to compare the driving experience of the two. Eeco is cheaper to buy but Venture will be cheaper to run because of diesel. Eeco has an extra door, but sans most of the features you'd get in Venture. If you're impressed by "You don't need a diesel if you don't travel 50kms a day" theory, then Eeco might be good for you, else Venture can be a better pick.

Having a low cost variant with petrol engine could have helped Venture to compete with Eeco in right price bracket

Below: An Omni owner checks out Venture

Tata Venture vs others

Parked it next to a share auto...Share autos are unbranded and are built over rickshaw chassis. Not really a comparison for Venture though

A driver of a Mahindra Maxximo asked me about the details on venture. We was interested only in cost and mileage...

Maruti is all set to launch a new MPV Ertiga and Nissan is launching Evalia. These are expected to be a class or two above Venture though.

Read more: Venture photoshoot: set 2 * Venture test drive and review *

Got a mention in The Hindu NXG

2012-01-05T19:41:00.000+05:30

My first media mention in 2012.

Today's The Hindu NXG has a mention of me and my blog. Read the same at http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/nxg/article2774174.ece

It is an article by Tanya Thomas about blogging. It features opinions from several bloggers, including Amit of digital inspiration and Patrik of Desipundit and several other veteran bloggers of Chennai.

NICE road Blr-will it remain nice?

2012-01-03T10:18:00.000+05:30

Never mind the heavy toll, many Bangaloreans prefer nice road, because it is pot hole free, facilitates quick transit and saves on time.

Over a period of time will toll roads retain their advantages? During Tour of Nilgiris I had another ride on nice road. Unlike previous rides I wasn't driving, so had the opportunity of taking some pics. Cyclists are not allowed on NICE road, but TFN organizers received special permission to allow cyclists to use NICE Road.

Couple of observations...

There're couple of water bodies around NICE road as of now. Will they remain so in future or will they be leveled and removed from map altogether?

Stone mining is happening near NICE road in a rapid pace. Expect these rocks to vanish in few years and high rises come up in their place

Apartment complexes coming up near NICE road. Expect more traffic.

Some people having good time on top of an overbridge

Aria on Nice Road

NICE road-looks nice when empty..

But is not always empty. Traffic does pile up near toll gate. All time saved by cruising is spent waiting here at toll gate

Nice road king Ashok Kheni's posters and cut out can be seen all around.

Kannada movie puttakkana highway is an excellent watch to understand how highways change life for local people. Below is a still from Puttakkana Highway movie, which seem to represent NICE road in more ways than one.

I have another highway story unfolding at my native place. More about it later

Tata Venture GX-test drive and review

2012-01-01T10:00:00.001+05:30

Tata Venture is a diesel powered minivan good enough to carry 8 people comfortably inside city. Venture is far more comfortable, drivable and stylish compared to its rival Maruti’s Omni and Eeco. I got it for review from Tata Motors and got to drive it around for couple of days in Chennai city. It came with a temporary registration and I was told not to go outside 70km radius of Chennai city, hence had to confine my drive to city limits.

Tata Motors has positioned Venture as a commercial vehicle, a class above the immensely popular Tata Magic and below the Winger. Venture is priced half way between Magic and Winger and its features and performance is at the same ratio.

On paper, the 1.4litre, 71PS engine looks at par with everyday cars (Ford Figo TDCi has 1.4 litre 69PS engine) but while reviewing Tata Venture, need to keep sedan and hatchback experience aside. Venture is not built for a drag race with everyday cars. You need lot of straight road to reach the designated top speed (125kmph when loaded, 135kmph if empty). Because the venture GX I got was very new and hadn’t completed its 1000kms running-in period, I had to act gentle on it, without pushing it to its limits. In Tata Venture 90-100kmph is easily doable and is fairly adequate for normal city driving conditions.

Venture tries to compete with Maruti Omni and Maruti Eeco. It wins hands down in terms of style, features, performance. Venture is available in diesel while Omni and Eeco are not. (Omni is available in LPG and CNG, Eeco is available in CNG, but CNG vehicles can be used in only few select cities). While diesel is its plus point, the same is also a drawback. Buyers of family minivans, who are influenced by the statement “You Don’t need a diesel if you don’t travel more than 50kms a day” might get put off by a slightly higher price tag of Diesel powered Venture. Venture has no petrol variant and is a lakh or two expensive than Eeco and Omni. Having a petrol vehicle might have helped Tata beat Maruti in its own game. But positioned in Commercial vehicles category, venture team probably didn’t think of petrol engine since commercial operators would never wish to buy a petrol taxi.

Tata Venture GX’s key features (most of these are not available in Eeco and Omni)

Collapsible steering (in case of collision, steering rod disconnects at 3 points, thereby impact of collision isn’t transferred to the driver)
Child lock. Prevent kids from accidentally opening the door. Makes Venture an ideal choice for school minivan
Power steering-Easier maneuver
Rear Parking sensor- Ultrasonic sensor has its limitations, but still it makes life easier for the driver
Rear AC vents
Power windows for front 2 seats
Driver information system- shows more digital info than its peers
Rear seats have head rest.
Diesel: Venture is available in diesel and its rivals don’t
Venture appears more stylish than its rivals (style is subjective, also because venture is new it gets good eyeballs)
Body coloured mirrors that are internally adjustable
Engine immobilizer- beeps if you lock without closing the doors properly, beeps if anyone attempts to break in. Engine won’t start unless you’ve the digital lock with you.
2 glove boxes (a bit small though) for front passenger and vanity mirror in sun visor.
Ground clearance looks too good from side, but effective ground clearance is about 160mm

What Venture doesn’t have:

Venture has only 4 doors-For the middle row, no right side entry/exit as in Omni or Eeco. Having one door less is manageable, but some may find it inconvenient.
While Eeco’s Engine is housed in front portion of the vehicle, Venture’s engine is located right under the driver’s seat. Given that it is a diesel, expect a bit more noise than a normal car
Venture is hard to find in a normal Tata Showroom which sells passenger cars. You need to visit showrooms that sell commercial vehicles. Because of this, a passenger car buyer is unlikely to get to see Venture and think of an upgrade. In case of Maruti, one who came to buy an alto might just decide to go for an Eeco, considering the larger space and seating capacity and minimal price difference.
Venture GX’s price tag comes close to Bolero DI BS2 and Sumo Gold BS3. Emission norms apart, Rural buyers might be tempted towards more rugged jeep than a minivan.

Venture could have impressed City taxi operators who run Omni LPG. But I guess taxi operators are either comfortable with tried and tested Indica or are going for Sumo.

When I was driving the venture around, many people showed interest in the vehicle. Few checked it out inside and outside, asked about its price.

How does Venture feel to drive?
I have not driven an Eeco, but have driven Omni couple of times. Venture feels much better to drive than an Omni. Can’t compare venture with other city cars though. As I said before, venture is not meant for drag race.

Variants: Available in 3 variants. Cheapest one- CX has a lesser powerful engine and sans many of the features listed above. EX is an intermediate version with many more features and GX is the top variant

Cost: Venture’s price ranges from 4.5 lakhs to 5.5 lakhs, ex showroom. Add another 10-12% approx to get on road price. Because of diesel and has many more features, it is priced a lakh or two above Eeco.

Tata Venture Chennai onroad price: EX 4+1: Ex showroom: 490254, On road: 5,70,343
Venture GX: 7+1: Ex showroom: 541141, On road: 6,28,061 (Sumo Victa CX costs about 6.6 lakhs on road)

Some photos were clicked by Vinay. Standby for a comparison with Maruti Omni and Eeco

View more photos here

Best posts of 2011

2011-12-31T21:42:00.000+05:30

A total of 179 posts were published in 2011, averaging 15 per month, highest during 6 years of this blog

This post lists best blog posts from this blog, published during 2011.

Most Commented

Dancing peacock, Karanji Kere, Mysore (23 comments)
Travelogues, Moderated by Govt (23 comments)
Buying vs Renting a car (20 comments)
Srilankan trip FAQs (20 comments)
Tata Grande meet in Chennai (20 comments)
Bengaluru Photowalk pics (18 comments)

Most Viewed
AMET Cruise package-Kochi (5040 views)
Customer feedback- Aircel postpaid, Chennai (1620 views)
Commuting to work by Cycle-Pros and cons (1501+ views)
Valparaiso City views (1360 views)
Royal Enfield Bullet- Factory visit (1335 visits)

Dancing peacock, Karanji Kere, Mysore (1230 views)
Puri Jagannath Temple replica, ECR (1270 views)
Srilankan trip FAQs (1150 views)
Tajmahal Replica in Chennai (1070 views)
New Tata Aria test drive review (1050 views)

Author’s favorites
Apart from those listed above, below are few of my personal picks from the posts published in 2011
Promoting Electric vehicles-what needs to be done
Self Organized vs package tours
Lessons from Prison break serial
Murudeshwara-Lord Shiva temple
Paid Blogging and tweeting- a thought
My highschool projects

Social Media experts- to hire or not to hire
Sigandur Ferry ride
Be kind to bus drivers

Key Product Reviews:
Panasonic Lumix FT3 digicam * Panasonic Toughbook * Bajaj Discover 110* Blackberry Curve 8520

Key Service Reviews:
Hoysala Village Resort, Hasana * Aircel postpaid, Chennai * Ramboda Falls Hotel, SL * SpeakAsia MLM * Air Asia Malaysia * ICICI Bank * Touristic-Santiago * Woodbriar Monica bungalow, Valparai * Hotel Grand seasons, KL * DirtMania QuadBike * JLR River Tern, Badra Dam *

Book Review: Topgear magazine * Comical Saga * Fate, Fraud and Friday Wedding *
Other Reviews: I am Number 4 *

Refer to 2011 Round up for travelogues

Also read: Best of 2010 * Best of Jan-April 2011 *

Bangalore classic scooters' club meet

2011-12-31T13:08:00.002+05:30

2 weeks ago went to Kabban (Cubbon?) park in Bengaluru area where a meet up of classic scooters was organized. Owners who owned vintage and no so obsolete Bajaj scooters brought their scooters neatly parked outside the central library.

Managed to take some pics of the same.

Couple of birds flying off the red building in the background would have been nice, but sadly the birds didn't cooperate.

A helmet was centre of attraction. Looked exactly like those seen in german war movies

Shutterbugs gathered in good numbers and clicked photos of the classic scooters, in various angles and positions and perspectives.

More scooters came in as we prepared to leave. Bangalore Classic Scooters Club is active on facebook and keeps organizing such meets. Do join next time if it interests you.

You may wish to buy a 2012 calendar being made available by Bangalore Photowalk club, available for Rs 200 http://bangalore.photowalk.in/calendar-2012/ View their sample pic below

It was the same place where I had talked to TV9 during Tata Nano Superdrive in 2010. Photo by Prashant, More details here

View some more vintage bike pics in this post

Why I didn’t take up blogging full time?

2011-12-29T21:33:00.000+05:30

Entrepreneurship, running a startup or freelancing are the new in-thing and several youngsters are taking this path, ditching otherwise sought after corporate careers. Many of them are lured by the huge potential of being independent and the opportunity to follow one’s passion.

In the space of blogging, many bloggers have said good bye to their salaried jobs and have taken blogging full time. They review products/services, attend events, undertake paid blogging, earn from advertising and are able to happily make a living off blogging.

Many people asked me why I am not taking up blogging full time. I had that thought couple of times, but the downside of it forced me against it. Here’re some reason why I didn’t consider taking up blogging full time.

· Blogging has its value as long as it is treated at par with journalism. When companies invite journalists for an event, journalists are not paid to cover the event. (Company may take care of Journalist’s travel & stay expenses, may give some gifts etc, but no hard cash is given). This way journalist and his/editor will have the liberty to write a fair story. When cash is paid, there’ll be an expectation for an all positive and overhyped publicity, which will not be in the interest of readers. Similarly when a blogger is free to write as per his/her thoughts, readers will appreciate it. When it becomes paid, content will be highly favorable to the sponsor, hence readers’ interest will be compromised. Unlike journalists who work for a magazine/media house and get paid by their employer and not those who invite them for events, full time bloggers may need some money to cover their expenses and time. But after paying money will the sponsoring company let the blogger write freely? In most of the cases expectation will be very high and blog post will sound like an advertisement.

· When one blogs for money, lot of obligations come with it. When I attend an event or review a product without financial angle to it, I will be free to write about my experience. When money come in to play, organizers will be demanding a lot. Writing all positive note just to please the sponsor spoils the fun of blogging and readers will soon lose interest in the blog. Companies do not like to see even a single negative comment, they may not like you writing about competition, be available at their beck and call.. All these are not in right spirit of blogging.

· Art of Negotiating: There’s no fixed financial terms in Social Media. It all depends on your bargaining power and value of your work as perceived by those who are willing to pay. Effort spent in negotiating, invoicing and dealing with such after effects may not be worth it

· Can you do it for free: Bloggers get lot of invites to attend events. If I say “you need to cover my travel and stay expenses”, some of them back out, while others try to convey “Allowing you to attend this event for free is the opportunity you’re getting, so don’t ask for more”. If additional payments are to be sought on top of travel and stay expenses, the number would come further. To make a living out of it would mean one has to sell himself to organizers, follow up on payments, meet their expectations and so on. All these will dilute the primary focus- the blog

· No blog reader likes to be flooded with marketing materials.

· When you rely on your blog for a living, there’ll be constant pressure to increase reader base, page views, links, comments and so on. My belief is that a blogger should focus on quality content and rest would follow suit. But not all will have the patience to grow their blog organically over a period of time. Then there are uncertainty- will blogging survive for another 3-4 years? What if blogging dies a death like Orkut? What are the backup plans? Call yourself as a social media expert and offer consultancy on increasing fans on facebook pages? Go back to corporate life?

As of now I am happy to continue with my full time job and pursue blogging as a hobby in the free time. I might miss some opportunities because of this, but it is fine.

Year 2011 posts- Roundup

2011-12-26T13:51:00.000+05:30

2011 is nearing an end. A quick recap of the year that is about to end.

Travel:
2011 was the first year when I traveled outside India. Luckily ended up with 3 international trips- a 2 day Srilanka trip with a total expense of under 10k per person, a 1 week work related trip to Chile and another 2 day budget trip to Malaysia.

Read all Srilankan Posts, Chile posts and Malaysian posts

Unlike 2010, this year I took only 1 domestic flight- to Mumbai to attend Panasonic Bloggers meet. Hardly any domestic travel.

Longest trip of the year was the Tata Aria drive. Had planned a week long trip during Deepavali and the Tatas gave me an Aria for the same date. Drove it for about 10 days, covering Chennai, Bengaluru, Hasan (Shettihalli Church), Halebeedu, Chikmangaloor (Mullayyana Giri), Shimoga, Kalhatti Falls, Kemmannu Gundi, Jog Falls, Keladi, Ikkeri, Sigandur, Agumbe, Kundadri, Maravanthe, Ottinene, Murudeshwara, Nagara Fort and so on.

Couple of short trips included one to Valparai (TN), one to Hasan (Hoysala Village Resort), Mysore.

Events attended:
Indiblogger tata Grande meet * Panasonic Bloggers Meet * Hoysala village resort Bloggers Trip * Yourstory.in Techsparks * CII event on entrepreneurship * Tour of Nilgiris 2011 *

Did miss couple of opportunities to join few events as blogger. These events were few weeks to a month long in duration and getting so much leave was not a viable option. Buying DSLR didn't happen in 2011... Will make it happen next year.

Blog stats and updates
Enidhi.net's Google page rank came down to 3 from 4. I guess there're so many new websites and my relative rank has gone down. Indiblogger Rank remains at 87, traffic stable at around 700+ visitors a day and 45000 pageviews a month. Total post count has crossed 750. Numbers apart, good to see the concept of blogs survive despite the onslaught of facebook and twitter.

Few email subscribers have unsubscribed- I believe the the concept of RSS feed and subscribing to feed is getting redundant as everyone prefers it on facebook. Hardly any media presence this year, except for a tweet published in the Indian Express and an international magazine publishing my Nano Superdrive pics. Should write more articles for mainstream media next year.

Life is fine at work and home. As a policy I don't write much about professional personal life in my blog. Few mistakes, lots of learning and indulging this year. More should be lined up next year. Let us see.

Vehicles driven in 2011:

Tata Aria, 10 days, 2888 kms

Tata Venture, 2 days, about 150 kms

Mahindra Scorpio Vls- 1 day, some 300kms

Maruti Swift Dzire VDi- 2 days, 400kms

Tata Grande- 1 hour, 20 kms

Maruti WagonR- about 100+kms

New year wishes to all my readers.

If you have been following my blog in 2011, what is the best and worst post this year according to you?

Read best of 2011 posts here

Tata Venture GX photoshoot

2011-12-25T15:22:00.001+05:30

Post No. 750 on this blog...

Similar to Aria, got the recently introduced Venture GX mini van from Tata Motors. Venture is an 8 seater mini van (5 seater config also available) with a fairly adequate diesel engine and stylish looks. Venture is more powerful and stylish than the Magic and aims to win over the customers of Omni and Eeco. More about the comparison later.

Sharing some photos of the vehicle here. It had a temporary registration and came with a condition that I shouldn't take it outside 70km radius from city. So had to confine my drive and photoshoot to few scenic and vehicle friendly places inside Chennai city.

Venture under nice yellow flowers.. somewhere off ECR

Venture with hi-jack bus. Hijack bus lets you go for a joy ride for about 600-800 Rs (veg and non veg) for a short drive on ECR with dinner

How Venture looks when parked next to a Volvo Multi axle?

Under light house

Under Indian Flag

Sunrise time

Under a lamp-post

Tata Venture GX ready to take on the light house, face to face... Appears as tall as light house and ready for a fight..

Venture photoshoot: set 2 * Venture vs Eeco and Omni * Venture test drive and review *

Tour of Nilgiris 2011 launch event

2011-12-21T22:20:00.002+05:30

With the invitation from organizers, I got an opportunity to join BSA Tour of Nilgiris on its first two days.

Last friday morning went to Bengaluru, to join the team. Manekshaw Parade group was the launch site for the event and when I went there before dawn, preparations had just begun. I went for a walk around Chinnaswamy stadium and Shivaji nagar area and came back with couple of kannada newspapers. Vijaya Karnataka had a detailed story on Ride a cycle foundation which has organized Tour of Nilgiris event.

Ride a Cycle Foundation (RAC-F) has been conducting this event for the 4th year now and first 3 editions were great success. Tour of Nilgiries is an 8 day cycling event, but RAC-F folks work all through the year to make it a success. RAC-F is undertaking other initiatives like separate parking lot for cycles, cycle rentals, eco awareness and more. More about the TFN 2011 backend work in a separate post.

Riders were pouring in with their cycles, each costing anywhere between 15k to few lakhs. Many were racing cycles with razor thin tyres, made as light weight as possible.

Above: Energetic riders all set for the event.

I happened to meet Anita Bora at the event. (She was part of Club mahindra bloggers trip in 2008 and had come to see a friend off). Interacted with few other riders-few were participating in TFN for the first time, others were part of it last year. I had missed the briefing session on the previous day.

Below: Sridar P of Ride A Cycle Foundation talking to media

Invited guests for the launch included Minister Suresh Kumar, Dr H Sudarshan, few senior Army officials and RAC-F founding members and not to forget the sponsoring company-BSA's officials.

Minister Suresh Kumar spoke about an incident how he traveled 600 kms in 4 days all the way to Kanyakumari without all these sponsors, without all these launch events, without any high end cycles...

Dr H Sudharshan spoke next. While advising a safe ride to participants, he urged the minister to plan for cycle lane in Bengaluru city.

Above: MG Road metro station
Below: Sunrise with Utility Building in background

Post event, the minister explored Montra cycles on display, lifted one to find out how light it is. How much does it cost? He asked. Montra ranges from Rs 20000 to Rs 80000- replied BSA officials

Lot of Army personnel attend the event. Army jeeps escorted the riders till end of city limits.

Read more: TFN2011's youngest rider * Innovative Helmet * TFN 2010 *

Innovative helmet with rear view mirror

2011-12-21T21:45:00.001+05:30

During Tour of Nilgiris 201,one of the riders had an interesting helmet. It had a rear view camera mounted on it. Apparently it is more convenient and effective than a handle mounted rear view mirror.

Other innovations: Upadhya's innovative tender coconut opener * Innovative fix for punctured tyre* 10 innovations on my wishlist *

Highway Accident-Witness Account

2011-12-19T20:45:00.001+05:30

Fortunately I haven’t witnessed many accidents in life. Recently got to witness the aftermath of one and here’s a brief account of the same.

Prologue

On Day 2 of Tour of Nilgiris, we were at a support station near Hole Narasi Pura (A support station is where riders can relax, refresh and take basic medical/mechanical help before they proceed). Most of the riders had crossed the support station support staff were in relaxed mood and we were waiting for the rest. A lady was performing winnowing (technique of separating food grain and its leaves/enclosure, using the power of wind) on the highway and vehicles were zipping around on the state highway. We tested the BSA Montra, took some group pics and were preparing for packup (of refreshment materials)

The Accident

Suddenly something happened and we looked at the direction from where the sound came from. A group had formed on the road and apparently there has been an accident. A speeding biker had collided with a cow that was crossing the road and was lying on the road trying to recover. TFN support team had first aid kit and we rushed to his rescue. His arm was bleeding and bent, leg had minor injuries.

I consciously didn’t click the image of his injured hand and clicked only after the hand was covered in bandage. He was wearing a helmet, which saved his head from any possible injuries. A call was made to 108 ambulance. The rider was able to recover from his shock and utter a few words. He was from a nearby village. Someone took his mobile and called his friends. Few others took responsibility of ensuring smooth vehicle movement and also ask people to go back so that victim can get fresh air.

He was slowly taken to the road side and was given Tropicana guava juice. Someone who were passing by in a car offered to take him to hospital, as Ambulance hasn’t arrived yet. But others recommended waiting for ambulance as improper posture can damage the bones further. Stretcher is the best option. Surprisingly the 108 ambulance arrived within next few minutes. The rider and his friend were made to sit in the ambulance and dispatched to nearby hospital.

His bike with its mangled front end was moved to the roadside. Most of the headlight, speedo console and front facia is gone. Despite having best of the safety feature such as disc brakes, the rider couldn’t stop it in time to avert a collision.

Once the rider is sent away in the ambulance, everyone’s attention turned towards the cow, which had decided to cross the road and came in the way of speeding biker. It stood there frightened, watching all the drama unfolding on the road. The cow had its share of injuries-minor drops of blood oozing from its legs, couple of bruises on the body. Nothing critical. Someone told that cow had rolled twice on the road after the impact. It stood there with fear. It didn’t retaliate or run away when we went near, but we were afraid to go too close. Someone sprayed a bit of painkiller on the wound, while others suggested it is a bad idea as painkiller had alcohonic elements and the wound is minimal and will heal naturally in few days. Cow’s owner came and walked it away slowly. I patted it a bit.

Epilogue

So whose fault was it? The bikers? For speeding? If he is expected to crawl at 40kmph then what is the point of having highway? His bike had good brakes but he couldn’t stop in time. May be the cow moved too quickly or the rider had his focus diluted because of his earphone- was he speaking to someone or listening to music? I don’t know. I guess not being able to predict the unpredictable was an error, but there’s only so much one can predict and be prepared for.

Is it cow’s fault? Before the road was built it used to move around freely. Now that a highway is passing through its village, it is expected to risk its life while crossing the road. Is it fair?

What is the solution? Raise barricade all along the highway? Then villagers will have to walk several miles just to cross the road- they’d prefer jumping over the barricade instead.

Build lot of speedbreakers and ask drivers to go dead slow? They why build highway and collect toll?

I think sensible driving is the best solution. Good drivers just drive. What are your thoughts?

Similar: KSRTC bus accident * Predict trajectory *

Fish cross breeding as a hobby

2011-12-19T20:44:00.001+05:30

Rishi Goyal is just 14 years old, but is no ordinary kid. He is the youngest rider in the ongoing Tour of Nilgiris (TFN2011). He hails from Ahmedabad, where he studies in Class 9. He has several achievements to his credit such as climbing Mount Abu,

When I struck a quick conversation with him, I casually asked what are his hobbies. I was expecting answers like Cricket, but what he said surprised me. He said he cross breeds fishes. When he breeds two fishes of different colours, child fishes will be of a new colour combination. Having an aquarium at home is one thing, learning more about fishes and cross-breeding them is another. Here’s wishing all the success for Rishi Goyal.

Some more details about this little champ is covered by TFN official blogger, Prashanth

Tractor tyre puncture- Instant fix technology

2011-12-19T06:47:00.001+05:30

On day 1 of Tour Of Nilgiris, we were waiting at a Support station on the way to Mysore. The place was called Nidagatta. (A support station is where riders can have some refreshments, take rest, repair their cycles if required and then proceed)

We heard a big sound. A tractor's front left tyre had burst. The driver brought the tractor to a halt. On the road itself. We were expecting him to pullover and call for help, but he had other plans.

A closer look at the tyre revealed its pathetic state and it bursting was very natural.

The driver and his assistant took out some wooden planks, placed it tactically around the axle that connects the front two wheels and before we realize, they were on the move.

They continued their journey on 3 (+2) wheels with the punctured wheel lifted up in air. All these happened within minutes.

Creative minds and local innovation

You may also wish to see:
How to tell if a tractor wheel is punctured * Me driving a tractor *

My Highschool Projects-Internet

2011-12-15T12:42:00.000+05:30

During my school days I had created a free webpage called shrinidhi.20m.com. Had uploaded some old time pics there which are nice to view time and again to recollect old days.

Sharing some pics related to highschool projects- Originals of these photos are lost somewhere, but scanned and uploaded version remains.

Physics Project & Exhibition- Internet.
The year 2000-unable to recall the month- Guess I was in class 11 or 12th. Computers were rare things around. Internet was almost unheard of in rural community. 20GB hard disc space is believed to be a great configuration. We made this project on internet and took it to inter-school exhibition. It only had two thermocol boxes representing monitor, CPU, keyboard and even mouse, and a thermocol satellite that would hang on top. CPUs had an electric bulb inside it. When the demo started, a light will blink in first monitor, another light will blink in the satellite and then finally 3rd light will blink in the other monitor. With this, people were to understand that these two computers talk to each other using internet, thanks to overhead satellite.

In the pic above: me in the centre with our lab attendant (extreme left), Chemistry sir, Physics sir, Biology Sir and my partner in the project-Bala (extreme right).

Because not many people knew about the internet and its potential, we could pull off a decent show explaining the concept-thanks to the blinking lights. Today all these may look like stupidity. Even small kids have experienced ipad, 3G, laptops and what not. Internet has outgrown the imagination.

Have photos of few other projects- The biology one below- unable to recall what exactly we were trying to prove. It was about the impact of particular colour on certain readings pertaining to plants. For the same plant, red and blue coloured light gave different readings

Physics project: Unable to recall what we were trying to prove...

Those were the days...

Bukit Nanas Forest, KL Tower, Malaysia

2011-12-11T19:54:00.001+05:30

Near KL Tower is a nice green park with gigantic trees. We decided to explore it a bit. It is called Bukit Nanas Forest. We took the walk way, walked for few kms and it seemed never ending. There were no one else around. Internet literature said we can expect lot of birds and animals, but we didn't spot any. May be because we didn't have the time and patience to wait.

Somewhere inside was an open gym, which sort of appeared abandoned. Signage indicated various exercises to be performed

A ropeway connects KL Tower to the park. It passes through tall and age old trees and is a nice experience.

KL tower looks majestic from the park.

Bukit Nanas forest appeared to be fairly large and we explored only a small bit of it.

Also read: Birds near KL tower * Menara Kuala Lumpur * Malaysian Trip Digest * Petronas Twin towers *

Make custom calendar wallpapers using Photoshop

2011-12-11T17:21:00.001+05:30

Arun Bhat and Prashanth used to regularly publish some of their photos with calendars superimposed. I hardly edit my photos and never bothered about creating a calendar.

Recently I got the urge to make calendars out of my pics- this way users will have more reasons to use them. I was searching for a free online tool which could help me create calendar. The search went in vein. Most of the sites I found were mainly for desktop calendars- i.e. half page for photo, half page for calendar table. What I wanted was to superimpose calendar table on top of an image. There were no good sites to do this.

Eventually few, including Harsha Koda, suggested photoshop. I hardly had any exposure to it and was always keeping it as last option. I had thought it is too tough to learn it. Eventually I decided to try. Some online tutorials and lots of experiments later, I was successful.

In this post sharing the steps to follow to create a custom calendar in Photoshop. If you're photoshop expert, feel free to skip this. Else you might wish to know how to make calendars out of your pics, read further.

Step One- prepare the calendar part. Visualize how your calendar should look like, arrange the dates in preferred order (A 7 by 5 table? or 31 * 1 horizontal table? or 14* 3 horizontal or vertical table etc, as you wish. It helps to keep the photo in mind, while preparing the table, so that you can use contrasting colour combination and position the calendar section in a place where it does't cover the main object of the photo. You can make this in a MS word or Powerpoint easily. Add any other text you may wish to have

Step Two: Save this calendar format as a PDF.

Step 3: Go to Photoshop, File-New. Fill up the details as below. (Chose the right pixel/inch values you may wish to have. If in doubt, use the dimensions of the photograph which you're planning to convert into calendar.)

Step 4: Go to File-Place, select the photo which you wish to convert to calendar. Resize if required, else hit Enter (or click on Commit Transform)

Step 5: Repeat the process to select the pdf which contains calendar template. This gets superimposed on the previously selected image. If the visibility is compromised due to wrong colour combination or bad positioning, edit your template to select right colour and position, save it again as PDF and repeat this process. Commit the transform once satisfied

Your calendar is now ready. Do save as and then you know what to do.

In case you're interested, 2012 calendars featuring Aria pics can be seen here. You can also download high res pictures.

Travelogues, moderated by Govt of India

2011-12-10T08:50:00.001+05:30

What would happen if Govt starts monitoring and sensoring the content on the web? Below is a visualization.

Origin Content Submitted for approval:

"Me and my friends went on a trip to Munar from Chennai last weekend. The trip was fun, though some sections of the roads were very bad. We left on Friday night in a diesel SUV, used a part of Golden Quadrilateral, paying heavy toll and reached Coimbatore by Saturday morning. We had refreshment there and headed towards Munar. On the way we spotted green fields and lot of people we working in the fields. We stopped for a while and took some photos. Seeing our camera some kids and people came close and wanted us to show the pictures taken.

Munar was a nice place, though greenery was little less this time compared to our previous visit. We had an expense of about INR 2000 per person and it was a memorable trip..."

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After submitting blog post in hard copy, getting NOC from 25 odd govt agencies and avoiding all agents who promised quicker approvals for the blog post if only I paid them a small amount, 9 months of waiting, I post was still waiting for Govt approval. 25 trips to Municipality office and requests and reminders to get my post approved, I always had to return empty handed because the Babus there were always busy monitoring comments on Anna Hazare’s fan page and didn’t have time for petty bloggers like me. My refusal to pay bribe made it even tougher. Finally with some luck my post was approved, but was duly modified as below…

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Revised Content as approved by Govt of India

Me and my friends, 20% of them were STs, 10% SCs (Note-1) went on a trip to ~~Munar~~ Ooty (Note-2) from Chennai last weekend. The trip was fun, though some sections of the roads that were built by opposition party when in power (Note-3) were very bad. We left on Friday night in a diesel SUV (Note-4), used a part of ~~Golden Quadrilateral~~ NH46 (Note-5), paying ~~heavy~~ small toll and feeling great contributing to Nation’s prosperity (inserted) and reached Coimbatore by Saturday morning. We had refreshment in a hotel there and headed towards ~~Munar~~ Ooty. On the way we spotted green fields and lot of people we working in the fields, who were being paid under Rajiv Gandhi Rural Employment Scheme. (inserted) We stopped for a while and took some photos. Seeing our camera some kids and people came close and wanted us to show the pictures taken. They also told how great the govt is and the facilities provided for them by the government under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul. (inserted)

~~Munar~~ Ooty was a nice place, ~~though greenery was little less this time compared to our previous visit.~~ (Note: Jairam Maresh has objections to this sentence) We had an expense of about ~~INR 2000~~ Rs 32 (Note-6) only per person per day and it was a memorable trip, thanks to central government’s key initiatives towards tourism and environment protection.(inserted)

Notes:

1: Social justice should be maintained while writing about travelogues

2: Munar is in Kerala and this post may spark communal violence due to ongoing Mullaperiyar dam issue. Hence say you went to Ooty, which is inside TN)

3: Hides factual information, hence corrected

4: Change this to CNG SUV or Pay 20000 Rs as environment tax for writing about diesel vehicles

5: Don't mention previous govt schemes
6: Are you not aware planning commission has decided that one doesn't need more than Rs 32 per day?

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Disclaimer: Imaginary content only, not intended to hurt/offend any individual or entity or Govt. Any resemblance to people/entity living or dead is purely coincidence

Also read: Commonwealth Games- A spoof *

Book Review: Bhavna Rai's Fate, Fraud & A Friday Wedding

2011-12-08T21:47:00.001+05:30

Bhavna Rai’s Fate, Fraud & A Friday Wedding

I got this book on Saturday from the flipkart guy, who had some confusion with the delivery-the parcel had two telephone numbers and the first number he called went to Punjab and our flipkart delivery guy couldn’t make a sense out of the conversation. He then called me, as my number was the second telephone number written in the consignment. Once I came out, he called his boss to report: “There were two numbers, I called the first number, it went to Panjab, then I called the second number, which belongs to the recipient whose name is there on the parcel”. His boss asked if the consignment is prepaid or cash on delivery. After getting his boss’s permission the flipkart guy handed it over to me. “If you’re coming on Saturday, please call and come. You’re lucky I am in office today”- I told him

That night I read first 50 pages of "Fate, Fraud & A Friday Wedding". It looked little lengthier than the other book I had read recently (The Comical Saga), so I thought this may take more time. Had a quick communication with the author that I'm likely to finish reading it in next few weekends.

I was wrong. I ended up spending my Sunday evening, Sunday night and Monday night with this book and relaxed only after finishing it. This should give a feedback/verdict on the book. Rest of the post is a review of the book.

Summary: "Fate, Fraud & A Friday Wedding" runs in several parallel tracks, which seem to be independent but are cleverly interwoven.

On one track there’s Anand, founder & CTO of a security solutions company, who is not getting support from other partners for the investments he wishes to make. He has made it big but has bigger and hidden plans which we reveal only in the end.

On another track there’s a young executive, Neel, who found his love in Boston and relocates with her to India, only to ask her to stay alone and away in a separate house, as he fears his parents. Will they unit in the end or not is something I shouldn’t review in the review. Also this person has lot of career ambitions and dreams to make it big in an IT company.

Next track will be of a lady, Tara, who has not been able to identify Mr. Right yet.

The plot is well laid and interwoven. An IT company based in Noida is desperate to get an outsourcing contract (worth at about US$ 80 mil) from a US security solutions company, which has Indian founders. The security solutions company has its own problems such as security breaches of its solutions, falling stock prices and difference of opinion among founding partners. There’re some love stories and break up stories among the characters involved. Cultural shock suffered by the Boston lady as she relocates to India in an attempt to save her job and her love is well narrated. Author’s real life industry experience has aided in storytelling. The Business scenarios are very life like and helps understand how business leaders think.

Couple of takeaways for me:

Anand thinking “They may be top 2 IT companies in India, but are we an important enough customers for them? They’ve not customized the presentations even a bit for us. A smaller company might give us more dedication and better access”
Srinivasan thinking: “The revenue sharing model suggested by my subordinate is great, but it will take 2 years to materialize. Will I be around that time? Why should I approve a plan for which only my successor will be able to take credit of, however good it could be”
Anand’s stand of refusing to check-in unknown people’s luggage as his own
Anand’s way of manipulating…. Err, let me not reveal the plot. Read the book.

The pages related to wedding, wedding related talks and womenfolk’s approach towards selecting right groom for their girls was little boring for me due to repetitive nature of such stuffs in other novels. (Read something similar in 2 states by Chetan Bhagat). But this aspect might click with female audience of the book, just the way male audience might like the corporate angle. I shouldn't be complaining then.

I learnt this is Bhavna Rai’s first book. Good job done and best wishes for the future books.

If you’d forgotten the first paragraph by now, Book is available on flipkart and other sites. Priced at Rs 150, published by Cedar books. Image sourced from pustakmahal.com

More:
Topgear magazine * Comical Saga * Fate, Fraud and Friday Wedding * Other Reviews: I am Number 4 *

How to deal with job interview delays

2011-12-06T23:45:00.001+05:30

After all that photo exhibition you had been put through, time for some serious topic. In this post I am sharing my thoughts in job interview failures.

Most of us would have gone through job interviews at various stages in life and as we know not all interviews will result in positive response as we expect it to be. Sometimes the response takes so long and frustration levels can be difficult to control. In this post let us discuss why interview response can get delayed.

You’ve attended an interview and have come home with a promise “We’ll revert to you soon” from the company that interviewed you. One week, 2 weeks, a month and still there’s no response. Does it mean you’re rejected? Should you repeatedly follow up? Why companies take so much time?

A selection process in an IT company can take anywhere between few weeks to few months, depending on level, urgency and other aspects. Possible reasons for delay are as below:

1. Company might be doing a background check on you- often outsourced to an external agency and takes 2-3 weeks – Companies do this at various stages depending on their policy- some do it before issuing offer letter, others do it inbetween offer letter and joining date and others do it after joining. People who are interacting with you (for selection process) won’t be authorized to tell you that your background check is in progress, so expect some other reasons from them

2. Decision makers are not free- Middle management might have done the final shortlist, but final decision might be taken from a higher authority who might be travelling/not free to look into the shortlisted candidates and select one.

3. Requirements change-If assume you were being evaluated for a specific project and before you’re hired something changes in the project (making your selection unnecessary), then companies may chose to wait and watch for other appropriate opportunity where you could be put in.

4. There could be flags on your resume- Let us say six months ago you applied in the same company, different department for a specific post and you were rejected. Currently you are being considered for a different role in different department of the same company, for which you’re more qualified. Even though you’re eligible to get selected, any negative remark/flag set on your resume during your earlier interview can make selection process complex

5. There could be other departments considering your resume- Even if you didn’t make it for the post you applied, those who interviewed you might have found you more suitable for a different team/project within the company and might have referred you there

What NOT to do when you’re waiting for the job interview results:

1. Do NOT DO EXCESSIVE FOLLOW UP: repeated follow ups irritate people, when there’s nothing much they can do. Calling a manager in the middle of his meeting to ask when you can expect your offer will only irritate him further. Be assured that once selected, appropriate teams will do the needful to inform you and take you onboard. Please be patient and wait (or find other opportunities if the wait is unbearable), instead of calling people who can’t help much.

2. Don’t assume you’re rejected: Delay doesn’t always mean rejection, as there can be genuine reasons for delay. If the wait is getting unbearable, do search for other options, but don’t assume anything yet. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

3. Do not bad mouth the company or vent your frustrations online-it won’t help at all and can reflect badly on you.

4. Do not compare yourself with other candidates who attended the interview with you. (Example: Mr X received a call for HR Round, but I didn’t get any so far) Selection process is supposed to be discrete and keep it that way, till the results/outcome can be officially made public. if you suspect you've been missed out on some key communication, check politely or indirectly.

You might also wish to read my article on rejection handling, which is consistently at No.1 position in google search result for the keyword “Rejection Handling”

Tata Aria Photos-Final Set

2011-12-04T19:38:00.001+05:30

You've seen the set 1 and set 2 of Tata Aria Photoshoot earlier. Have few more good pictures to share, so one more similar post. If you suffer from Aria overdose, please check my 2010 archive.

Below: Aria near a ship building facility...

Below: Another photo in a nearby location, where a boat (with on road capabilities) had ventured into main land to give company to Aria

Below Photo is clicked by Raviraj.. Under a tree on the way to Hasan

A bridge on the way to Jog Falls...

Below: My final Photo of Tata Aria, after I returned it to Concorde motors in Bangalore. Aria sits with its 10 times cheaper sibling, the Nano CX...

Also I started learning ABCD of Photoshop and learnt how to make calendar wallpapers.. A sample is below, will post more later. Do give your feedbacks

Banna Banna lyrics- Bandhana

2011-12-01T21:45:00.000+05:30

Here's the lyrics of a popular Kannada movie song, Banna, Banna. It talks about colours. I was searching for its lyrics but didn't find. Hence got hold of the song and types the lyrics myself. An english translation is available for the benefit of non kannada readers.

If this doesn't interest you, pls check November archive

Orignal video from the movie is not available.. Below is a substitute

ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಬಣ್ಣ ನನ್ನ ಒಲವಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ, //colour, colour, my lovely colour

ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ, ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //my life's colour

ನೀ ನಕ್ಕರೆ ಹಸಿರು ಉಲ್ಲಾಸದ ಉಸಿರು //if you smile, it is like refreshing breath

ನೂರಾಸೆಯ ಚಿಲುಮೆಯ ಬಣ್ಣ //100 wishes blossom in colour

ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಬಣ್ಣ ನನ್ನ ಒಲವಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ,

ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ, ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ

ನೀ ನಕ್ಕರೆ ಹಸಿರು ಉಲ್ಲಾಸದ ಉಸಿರು

ನೂರಾಸೆಯ ಚಿಲುಮೆಯ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಈ ನೀಲಿ ಮೋಹಕ ಕಣ್ಣ , ಚೆಲುವಲ್ಲಿ ಬಾನಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ // your nice blue eyes reflect light of the sky

ರಂಗಾದ ಕೆನ್ನೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಆ ಸಂಜೆ ಓಕುಳಿ ಬಣ್ಣ //when your cheeks are red, it is like evening sky

ನೀ ತಂದೆ ಬಾಳಲಿ ಇಂದು //you brought in my life

೧೦೧ ಕನಸಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //101 dreams in colour

ಮನಸೆಂಬ ತೋಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೊಸಪ್ರೇಮ ಹೂವಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //in the garden of mind, new love has blossomed like colourful flower

ಬಾನಿನಿಂದ ಜಾರಿ ಬಂದ ಕಾಮನ ಬಿಲ್ಲು //rainbow has slipped from sky

ಒಲವೆಂಬ ರಂಗವಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಕಿದೆ ಇಲ್ಲೂ //lovely rangoli has been laid

ನಿನ್ನ ತುಂಟ ನೋಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಿಂಚಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //your naughty look as lightning colour

ಏನು ಮೋಡಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಇಂದು ಕಾಡಿದೆ ನನ್ನ //did something and teased me

ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಬಣ್ಣ ನನ್ನ ಒಲವಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ,

ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ, ನನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ

ಕರಿ ಮೊಡಕಿಂತ ಸೊಗಸು //darker than the dark clouds

ಮುಂಗುರುಳು ಮೋಹಕ ಬಣ್ಣ //your hair is colourful

ಬಿಳಿದಂತ ಗಿಂತ ಚೆಲುವು //whiter than white tusk

ನಿನ್ನೊಡಲ ಕಾಂತಿಯ ಬಣ್ಣ // is your brightness

ನೊರೆ ಹಾಲಿಗಿಂತ ಬಿಳುಪು //whiter than milk

ಈ ನಿನ್ನ ಮನಸಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //is the colour of your mind

ಮುಂಜಾನೆ ಮಂಜಿನ ಹಾಗೆ ತಂಪಾದ ಮಾತಿನ ಬಣ್ಣ //your words are like morning dew

ನೀಲಿ ಕಡಲಿನಂತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಆಳವು //your love is as deep as blue ocean

ಮುತ್ತು ರತ್ನ ಪಚ್ಚೆಯನ್ದ್ತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಸ್ನೇಹವು //your friendship is like pearls and precious stones

ಚೈತ್ರ ತಂದ ಚಿಗುರಿನಂತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಪ್ರೇಮವು //your love is like spring season

ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಸದಂತ ಗಟ್ಟಿ ಬಣ್ಣವು //wont fade with time

ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣ

-----------------English text-----------------------------------------

banna nanna olavina banna,
nanna badukina banna
nanna badukina banna

nee nakkare hasiru ullasada usiru
nooraseya chilumeya banna
banna banna banna banna

banna nanna olavina banna, //male
nanna badukina banna
nanna badukina banna

nee nakkare hasiru ullasada usiru
nooraseya chilumeya banna
banna banna banna banna

ee neeli mohaka kanna, cheluvalli banina banna
rangada kenne tumba aa sanje okuli banna

nee tanda baalali indu
101 kanasina banna
mansemba tootadalli hosaprema hoovina banna

banininda jari banda kamana billu
olavemba rangavalli hakide illu

ninna tunta notadalli minchina banna
enu modi maadi indu kaadide enna

kari modakinta sogasu
mungurulu mohaka banna
bilidanta kinta cheluvu
ninnodala kantiya banna

naduhaaliginita bilupu
ee ninna manasina banna
munjane manjina haage tampada maatina banna

neeli kadalinante ninna preeti aalavu
muttu ratna pachcheyandte ninna snehavu

Chaitra tanda chigurinante ninna premavu
kaladalli masadanta gatti bannavu

banna banna

banna nanna olavina banna,
nanna badukina banna
nanna badukina banna

Other lyrics: Bagyada balegara * Banigondu Elle ellide *

Book Review: The Comical saga by Mayuresh Pokharankar

2011-11-30T21:38:00.001+05:30

The comical saga makes one interesting read. It revolves around a story consisting of couple of school boys who deviate from studies and indulge in various adventures (smoking, drinking, proposing to girl and so on). The first half of the book sort of portrays negative side or how the kids neglect studies and do stuff they’re not supposed to do. The second half revolves around the girl they’re trying to impress and couple of good deeds they do. The end involves some melodrama and tragedy, which is best read on the book.

There’s nothing extra ordinary or sci-fi about the book. But it’s simple narration is bound to interest you, more so if you can position yourself in the shoes of narrator. Unlike typical love stories this book doesn’t start with college hero and heroine and ending with marriage. It starts with school boys and ends with them being school boys. Lot of humor, creative writing has ensured that simple incidents are made easier and interesting to read.

I learnt from the backpage that the author Mayuresh Pokharankar wrote this book as he was recovering from a road accident. I assume he has recovered well by now. I wish him all the best for future books and his career.

The comical saga is priced at INR 150 on Frog Books (US$ 12 outside India) (frogbooks.net). Would have been nice if publishers could adopt Rupa's strategy and price it at INR 99. But I guess that could be difficult if publishers are not confident of volume sale.

I finished reading this book in 2 sittings over 2 days. Made nice read. Give it a try if possible.

Other book reviews: It happened in India * Raga Chintamani * 2 States by Chetan Bhagat* Not a penny more, not a penny less * Zero percentile -Neeraj Chibba* Colours of life by Ravi Sidula * The 3 mistakes of my life by CB * Bala Takes the Plunge-Melvin Durai

Chakra River Dam on the way to Sagara

2011-11-27T10:22:00.001+05:30

We happened to explore Chakra dam accidentally. While driving towards Sagar we pulled over for a riverside photoshoot. Couple of localites struck a conversation as to what we are doing with a MH registered car. When asked "where this road leads to?" they replied that it leads to a dam. They said it is about 3 kms, so we decided to explore. As we reached there, it was worth the effort as the place was very scenic.

The dam is too small and simple to be of any significance. I read later that this is used only to feed water into Linganamakki reservoir. The dam is managed by KPTCL but was totally unmanned and no personnel were present anywhere around.

Internet literature says Chakra river originates in Sahyadri and eventually merges into Arabian see. Chakra dam made a nice detour in an otherwise monotonous drive. Nearby places are Sagara- Ikkeri, Keladi, Nagara Fort.* Aria Photoshoot set 2 *

Markoanahalli dam reservoir photos

2011-11-25T19:52:00.001+05:30

While we were heading towards Hasana from Bengaluru, Ravi suddenly remembered that there’s a dam some 6kms off the highway and we decided to check it out.

The place is called “Marconahalli” and has a small dam. Located in Kunigal taluk of Tumkur district and is built against Shimsa river. The dam curator (or care taker) told us “This was built by Sir M Vishveshwarayya in the 1930s”.

The dam is relatively small in size and caters to irrigational purposes. The caretaker Charged Rs 10 person to show us the “water self releasing mechanism” (may be we can call it auto-siphoning mechanism) which was first in Asia, conceptualized by Dr Sir M Vishveshwaraya.

From what I understood of his explanation:

The dam has several wells, built with spiral walls. When water level reaches critical height (90 feet), water enters these wells and get released to the downstream area without affecting dam’s structural design. There is no need to open the crust gates every time or for any person to be manually present to release excess water. The reason for including this mechanism is to prevent a neighboring temple from submerging.

The caretaker said the spiral walls were built with jiggery and honey for better strength.

We keep this opening closed with mud (jedi mannu)... he said

Some more pics

Below: Aria under a big banyan tree routes

While returning we also stopped at an abandoned building. A local elderly man asked us for lift and we took him onboard. He said he had thought we had come to buy land. He talked about his kids- how everyone are moving to city, how his son in laws are useless fellows, who even after providing with finance for business or helping them with jobs are unable to settle in life and are roaming around doing mundane things. He said life is very difficult in villages due to labor problems and agricultural investments never result in positive return. There wasn’t much we could do with him except sympathize for his situation and drop him off at the main road.

If you’re having a boring highway drive between Hasan and Bangalore, you can consider taking a detour to check out this place. There're few other picnic spots around, including Kunigal lake (have you heard the song Moodal Kunigal Kere...)

Some photos were clicked by Raviraj

Also see: Shetti halli

Parque Metropolitano, Santiago (Metropolitan Park)

2011-11-22T20:26:00.000+05:30

When I was driving Tata Aria in Chile… just kidding- I wasn’t driving anything there, but some Chile related stories are still untold. [Read other Chile related posts here]

Metropolitan Park or Parque Metropolitano was the first place I explored getting off Turistik Hop On Hop Off service in Santiago Chile. The park is fairly large and can take couple of hours to explore in detail. Due to shortage of time, I explored it only in part.

Once I got in, I had to pay 18 pesos (Approx INR 180) to take the trolley (also known as funicular or rail tram)to top and back. While going up, trolley stopped half way and some people got off. I didn’t know at that time that by getting down here one can go to zoo. We were not allowed to get off while returning.

It was a chilly Sunday morning and as the trolley went up, visibility was fairly low due to thick fog. We got off the trolley to explore the place. One can walk/cycle or drive up till this point. Close to a shop I saw the chilian dogs for the first time. They were furry and appeared healthy. I was tempted to pet them but held myself back as it was an unknown country.

As the name suggests Parque Metropolitano has a park, few shops and a small church like building at the top. It had a statue on top of it, which I learnt later to be of Virgin Mary and is about 100 feet in height. Total height of the hill around which the park is located, is called Cerro San Cristobal (St Christopher's Hill) is believed to be 869 meters from mean sea level. The hilltop would have offered great view of Santiago down, but for the fog that day. Wide range of flowers and plants could be noticed all around.

Bought couple of postcards and a T shirt in a shop. My first shopping in Chile.

As I prepared to leave (i.e. wait for next Turistik hop on hop off bus), more and more tourists started arriving. A map of the park posted near the entrance hinted me that I have explored only a small section of what the park had on offer. Hope there’s a next time.

Read other Chile posts - Mercado Central, Santiago, Chile * Andes Mountains * Santiago street pictures * Celebrations near Plaza de constitution

Casablanca Valley- Santiago to Valparaiso

2011-11-21T21:48:00.001+05:30

Casablanca Valley (locally known as Ruta del Vino de Casablanca) is Chile’s popular wine processing centre, located between the Capital Santiago and coastal town of Valparaiso. I didn't have a chance to stopover here, but as I was returning from Valparaiso to Santiago, I had the chance to take some pictures from the car.

The climate is also a factor. The max I ever experienced in my lifetime was 22 degree centigrade- my cab driver told me.

It was very scenic drive. The Hollywood style signage are hard to miss. Don’t have much text to write, just sharing few pics. I’m told it is possible to visit these wineries and taste them/learn more about wine making process. (Similar to Tea Factory visits in Ooty/Srilanka) But this was not on my agenda.

Vina Indomita that you see in pics above is believed to be Casablanca's most conspicuous winery, owning about 600 hectares + . Vina Indomita also has a nice valley view restaurant, if you're interested. Details here

Vijay Mallya: Are you reading?

A plane had crash landed near Valparaiso hill and it was the talk of the town. I got to spot it the next day, though not a clear view

Malgudi days house Agumbe- a visit

2011-11-21T07:16:00.000+05:30

Have you either read the book Malgudi days written by RK Narayan? or seen it as a serial? The serial was picturized under the direction of late Shankar Nag and was shot around the town of Agumbe, near Udupi, Karnataka.

Several popular Kannada actors of yester years played a role in Malgudi days serial. A house showcased in this serial is situated on the main roads of Agumbe and toursists who have the knowledge of this make it a point to visit this house without fail when they pass through Agumbe.

During our trip to Agumbe we did visit the Malgudi days house. It is inhibited but the hosts are more than willing to allow tourists inside. They also run a homestay.

House has stood the test of time and is going strong, but yes, over the time it has begun to deteriorate. The house is known as Dodda mane (Big house) and is walkable from Agumbe bus stand. Anyone in town can guide you to this house as it is on the main road and hard to miss. We got a chance to explore it

The hosts: Kastur Akka and Ravikumar. They briefed us about several places of tourist interest nearby and how to go there. Due to shortage of time, we could visit only few.

Agumbe is a place to be, if you wish to experience down to earth living and great hospitality.

Nearby destinations:

Agumbe Sunset Point *

Kundadri *

Jogi Gundi *

Barkana Falls *

Theerthahalli *

Gajanur Dam *

Mandagadde Bird Sanctuary *

Sakrebailu *

Thyavarekoppa Lion Safari *

Hebri *

Karkala*

Moodbidre *

Manipal Endpoint *

Maravanthe *

Sigandur *
Kodachadri *

Nagara Fort *

Agumbe also has a rainforest research centre.

Murudeshwara Temple, Beach, Lord Shiva statue

2011-11-20T10:02:00.001+05:30

Murudeshwara is a temple town off NH 17 (now 66) nearBhatkala. More than the temple, the town is scenic due to rock, beaches, agiant Shiva statue and so on. During theAria drive, I wanted to cover Murudeshwara and drive further towards Karwar,but family members pulled me down and had to restrict the drive tillMurudeshwara.

Main thing to see here is the temple. A giant statue of LordShiva is nice to see and take pictures. Clicked Aria in the backdrop of thisstatue and it appears as if Shiva is sitting on Aria.

Temple tower has some 18+ floors and by paying Rs 10 perperson, tourists can take an elevator to 18^th floor and enjoy thescenic beauty of Murudeshwara. Temple offers free lunch to divotees, whileaccepting generous contribution towards “Anna Dana”

The temple town of Murudeshwara appears to be dominated byR.N.Shetty- a business man turned politician. You’ll see RNS everywhere inMurudeshwara- RNS Motors, RNS College, RNS Hotel and so on. A hotel whichextends into the sea is another attraction here.

Below: Sudarshana Chakra which Lord Shiva believed to have used to block the Sun so that Ravana would think it is evening... Refer Legend to know more

A beach next to the temple is full of boat operators. Dependingon your pocket there are several types of boating you can undertake. For theadventurous ones, try Jetski at Rs 200 per round. I tried this for the firsttime in life and it was fun. The ride lasted for hardly 5 mins, but I couldtake control of the jetski and drive at full speed in the ocean. I couldn’tride solo though and was accompanied by the jetski operator.

Other boating options include bigger boats at Rs 40 per seator family boats (6 people) at Rs 400 per ride. On paying more, one can ridetill an island nearby, spend some time and come back. This costs Rs 1200+.

Nettrani island, where scuba diving is facilitated, islocated nearby. Read more about Scuba diving at nettrani here.

Murudeshwara is a great place to spend a day. Do visit whenin coastal Karnataka. Unfortunately I was very low on battery and had to ration the picture taking process. Must visit again.

And a best image for the last, clicked by Divya

Murudeshwara has a history as to how the temple came into being. Do read about it here.

Nearby: Scuba diving * Maravanthe * Ottinene * Sigandur * Kodachadri * Manipal Endpoint * Amet Cruises- Rates, packages and details *

Topgear India Magazine Review

2011-11-20T07:34:00.001+05:30

I’m a subscriber for Topgear Magazine (India edition) since December 2010. This post is a review of the magazine, based on my personal experience. If this topic doesn’t interest you please check my October archives.

Topgear is a popular TV show on BBC and its magazine version attempts to be equally good. India edition seem to retain a part of its international content with some localized articles. Topgear focuses mainly on cars. Most of it high end and international models. Makes interesting read of the cars one may never be able to buy in a lifetime. They write fairly honest reviews.

But the focus on everyday cars is less. Not much interaction with readers (Q&A), tips, tricks etc. They don't cover auto events (exhibitions, roadtrips, contests by car makers etc)

Couple of times when I cross checked, other auto magazines published better photos of the same event. To quote an example, when Audi arranged a desert drive in Q5 and Q7 for journalists, Topgear's pics were basic, while other magazines published more spectacular pics with Q7 emerging from sand dune and so on. This judgement can be very subjective though.

Topgear has tied up with Indiatimes group and their customer care attitude is poor. There is no email ID to write to and I've to make a STD call to Bangalore during business hours and couple of complaints were not addressed till date. For quite sometime topgear India didn't have its website in order. There was no response from their Social Media channels too. Purely because of this, I've almost decided not to renew my subscription.

What I like in Topgear India:

Buyers guide in every issue, detailing pricing for all models available in India
Fairly interesting stories
Occasional special editions, priced 50% more but subscribers needn’t pay anything extra
Section that talks about used vehicles
Abhinav Mishra’s column

What I didn’t like:

Tie up with Indiatimes and poor customer service
No email helpline for subscriber issues
Poor focus on bikes: Occasionally some high end bikes are featured. Everyday bikes don’t get much attention in topgear.
Not enough focus on everyday vehicles. Most of the content is about high end cars, which are nice to see and read for an auto enthusiast. But as a owner of a car or as a prospective buyer, if you’re looking for tips/guidance etc, topgear is not the best choice
Some content gets repetitive: For example, every time there’s a mention of SX4, they crib about A pillar obstructing the view, or every time there’s a mention of fiesta classic, its drivability is praised. The points are valid and genuine, but reading same thing again and again was getting boring.
No coverage on auto events-like vintage car rallies, road trips, automobile shows and other events which can be of use to automobile enthusiasts

Related: Tata Aria 4x4 Pride review * Scorpio Vls mHawak Review *

Sigandur temple, ferry ride, holebagilu

2011-11-14T20:45:00.001+05:30

Sigandur is a place in western ghats some 50kms from Sagara and 50kms from Kollur (Karnataka state). The place is popular because of Sigandur Chowdeshwari (Chaudamma) temple, who is believed to be powerful. But for travel enthusiasts, more attractive experience will be the ferry ride across river Sharavati.

Long long ago, when a dam was built across river sharavati (Linganamakki Reservoir near Jog falls) which submerged lot of localities and turned places into islands. Barge service was started to help locals reach their destinations. For tourists, it also makes a nice ride, along with their vehicles.

Having seen this in pictures, when I got the Aria I decided to take this route to reach my native. Though longer than regular Sagara-Udupi route, route via Sigandur added to fun and excitement. In Sagara town, take left turn towards Ikkeri and after covering about 40 kms, we get a place called Holebagilu (translates to River Door or entrance to the river). Being Monday afternoon, crowd was less and in about 15 mins we could get on the barge. Ferry staff have mastered the art of loading maximum vehicles on it. By seeing the size of vehicles they decide which one to be sent first and where it is to be parked. I drove the aria in reverse to park it on the ferry and got out to enjoy the ride.

Ferry ride lasted for about 20mins, giving enough time for photoshoot. Ferry (aka Jetti) is powered by two Ashok Leyland engines. About 5kms on the other side is Sigandur temple. Nothing unique as such, unless you believe in the divine power of the goddess. After visiting the temple you may either go back or proceed towards Kollur or Hosanagara.

Point to note:

1. On busy days like Sundays or during temple festival seasons, there can be huge rush of vehicles and since the number of barges/ferries is limited (only 2), if you wish to cross the river with your vehicle on the ferry, you may have to wait for several hours to get your turn. A more practical way will be to cross the river without the vehicle and take an auto on the other end, if you wish to return back after visiting temple. Else go very early in the day.

2. Some taxi drivers just refuse to get their vehicle on board the ferry, fearing vehicles might rub against each other during the ride and might get damaged. I took the big aria on this ferry and nothing happened. Ferry or Barge is highly stable as it crosses the river and there’s no swinging. If going by rented vehicle, highlight this part before starting and ensure that driver has no issues. Just be sure to keep an eye on the vehicle as some people tend to lean against it or sit on it etc as the boat moves.

3. Parking Fee: Rs 10, Ferry fee Rs 15 for cars, Re 1 per passenger

4. Open till 5PM only, do not be late. (I’m told there can be more trips during peak season/festivals) and the guys will operate the ferry one more round if paid well, but haven’t tested these)

5. Local vehicles, Buses get priority over tourist vehicles

An interesting observation to me was the temple well, into which devotees threw coins, hoping that goddess would grant their wishes in exchange. A smarter way would have been to drop cheques. Even while passing Krishna River in train, train passengers used to throw coin into the river.

Ok, finally a photo of the temple. I missed to take a long shot of the temple, so as to include the large empty field in front of it.

Above: Another barge coming from the opposite direction, with a Gajanana bus on it...

Below: Trees submerged till neck, can hint you about the depth of the water

Nearby:

Kodachadri *

Jog Falls *

Nagara Fort *

Keladi *

Ikkeri *

Maravanthe *

Note: Some of the photos were clicked by Vinay as I was busy driving

Related: Aria 4x4 review * Aria photoshoot Set 1, Set 2 * Aria in Mullayanagiri * ottinene

Tata Aria 4x4 pride review

2011-11-14T07:03:00.000+05:30

When the Tata Aria was launched about an year ago, it had to create a class for itself. It couldn’t compare/ compete with hardcore SUVs like Ford Endeavour/Toyota Fortuner/M Pajero which were priced 20Lakh+, nor could it compare/compete with lesser priced MPVs like Innova. Aria had lot of muscle and an array of features, but didn’t strike a chord with prospects much as the concept of crossover in this segment wasn’t that known.

I’ve already reviewed Tata Aria earlier in this post, but that was based on few minutes of drive. Lot of things have changed since then. I got to drive the Aria for about 10 days, Aria is now available in 4x2 at a reduced rate, there’re new competition such as Mahindra XUV500 and so on. Here’s an updated review based on recent experience.

Aria’s armory of features: Aria Pride had a series of features

· Cruise control is nice to have on a highway.

· Red colour foot lamps in all doors instantly reminded me of Mercedes Benz J. Useful when getting in and out of the car in night.

· Reverse camera is cool and makes parking easier. This is more practical than Merc’s parking sensors which beep if anything comes too close or Xylo’s mirror mounted indicator which shows the gap between the vehicle and an obstacle.

· Rear door wiper runs automatically when in reverse gear

· Steering mounted audio controls are cool. But this means driver will have to deal with additional commands by the passengers to increase or decrease volume or change track. Accidental pressing of these button can also spoil the fun

· Instrument panel is fully loaded and shows almost everything except may be the latest cricket score. Aria gives very specific indication as to which door is open, while Scorpio VLS I’d tried used to just say “One of the door is open”, forcing people to open and shut all doors till the warning stops.

· Electrically folding external rear view mirrors are also nice. When stuck in a narrow road trying to give way to an oncoming vehicle, I enjoy seeing the expression on the driver of the other vehicle as Aria’s mirrors fold on their own (of course I need to press a button) to get some space

· There’re lot of roof mounted storage bins. My passengers hardly used them.

· Ground clearance is good. At 205mm, it is 25mm more than XUV500, Scorpio, Xylo and Innova, just short of Ford Endeavour by 5mm. With its low body design, Aria is easier for elderly people to get in, compared to other SUVs.

· Windows roll up or down completely with one touch. No need to keep it holding till it rolls completely

· Rain sensors are cool. Wiper speed gets adjusted depending on rain intensity.

· Follow me home lamp is useful. You can turn on the headlamp by pressing a button on the remote controlled key

· Top of the line variant gets auto lighting- can adjust light intensity depending on darkness outside. Again sounds like a BMW/Merc feature and is cool to have in a under 20 lakh car.

· Ability to switch between 4x4 and 4x2 on the go is cool. Shift happens without any hitch.

Another thing noticeable is Tata is very serious about Aria and doesn’t want it to be another Taxi Model. Usually manufacturers keep on offer a low spec, low cost variant often preferred by taxi operators. In Aria even cheapest variant comes with ABS with EBD, All disc brakes and other features, which if removed could have made it cheaper and more attractive to tour operators. Looks like Tata wants aria to be a family wagon.

Also to be noted- for naming Aria variants, Tata has shed its traditional convention of LX, GX etc and has chosen terms like Pride, Pure, Pleasure- idea Tata seems to have sourced from Range Rover.

I subjected this beast to a 2888kms drive in about 10 days. Spent about 11020 on diesel. That is about 240 litres or close to 12kmpl. On board computer showed an average of 11.5kmpl though. 4x2 variant is 200kgs lighter and should give better mileage. More about the drive later.

What is missing/not good:

· Skoda Yeti and Mahindra XUV500- the other two SUVs in Aria’s price range, have Hill Hold Control/Hill descent control. This helps vehicle negotiate steep hills without having to stall or roll back. Aria misses this

· Clear Lens tail lamps could have been nice. But I believe that has been preserved for next facelift.

· When second row door is completely open (by 90 degrees), it blocks front doors from opening (see pic). This appears to be a simple design issue which Tata engineers can fix. Also probability of someone opening second row door completely is very low and hence this is not a huge drawback.

· Fuel tank cap opener- Aria’s fuel tank cap can be opened with a gentle press when the doors are unlocked. But fuel station staff are not trained to this- they expect fuel tank cap to pop-open, as it happens in other vehicles which have a lever/button to unlock fuel tank cap. So everywhere I had to get out of the vehicle and show the petrol station staff how to open the fuel cap.

· Touch of wood would have been nice. Aria’s cousins Grande gets wood finish, but aria misses on it. While leather options are available, there can be some customers who like wood.

· Controls on steering wheels can be either re-positioned so that they don’t get accidentally pressed, or another button can be given to turn them off/lock them. Soundtracks abruptly getting changed can annoy the passengers

· No automatic option. I always prefer manual, but there’re few who prefer auto.

· There’s no skyrack or foot rest below the door for that SUV feeling, if these matter to you. (Even XUV500 doesn't have them, but Scorpio, Endeavour, Tata Safari have them.

Standby for another post detailing the drive experience and how Tata Aria fares in comparison with rivals.

Note: Some of the photos were clicked by Vinay as I was busy driving

Related: Aria photoshoot Set 1, Set 2 * Aria in Maravanthe * Nagara Fort * Mullayanagiri * ottinene

Designer Artifacts, Agra Road Restaurant

2011-11-10T17:33:00.000+05:30

In case you're bored of recent series of posts involving South Indian destinations and an overdose of Tata Aria, here's a change.

These photos were clicked way back in 2008 during a visit to Delhi, Mussoori and Agra. At a restaurant on the way to Agra were these artefacts, meant for sale. The restaurant was overpriced, so were the artefacts. Nevertheless they were worth watching and photography worthy.

Don't have much to write about, just enjoy the photos.

Animal Rescue Centre, Saligrama

2011-11-08T16:02:00.000+05:30

Sudheendra Aithal is an animal lover and runs a small rescue centre at his house in Saligrama, a town on NH17 (now NH66) in Udupi District, Karnataka.

He's been running this centre since several years and is a known person in locality for any animal related issues. His house is located close to Saligrama Gurunarasimha temple and those visiting temple usually visit his house to see the animals being treated there.

Below: Sudheendra Aithal shows us a tortoise which was caught by fishermen in their nets- one of its legs is cut off by the fishing net and it is blind- he says. Mr. Aithal feeds it with fish everyday to keep it alive.

Currently his rescue centre houses few horses, wild buffaloes, monkeys, cats, dogs, birds, a Persian cat and so on

The Persian cat gives a stare as I try to make it pose for picture

Sudheendra Aithal once had an issue with law enforcement agencies- as he was taking care of wild animals at his house which is illegal, forest department officials had once confiscated animals. Eventually he got appropriate permit and now all's well. People willingly donate to him as he doesn't ask for money.

Do pay his centre a visit if you love animals and if you're passing through Saligrama town on NH17

Aria, Maravanthe and Boat Pooja

2011-11-07T17:23:00.004+05:30

On our way to Murudeshwara, we stopped at Maravanthe to take some pictures. Maravanthe is a nice place some 12 kms from Kundapura town. Maravanthe is scenic because it has got Arabian Sea on one side and Souparnika river on the other. NH17 passes right in between.

An additional surprise was in store for us.

Close to the shore, about half a dozen boats were circling around in the sea, bursting crackers. Boats were decorated, with lots of people in them. We stopped to check with locals to find out what is going on. We were told that it is their way of offering pooja to sea goddess, for giving them their livelihood.

Padukone is a town nearby. Deepika Padukone and Prakash Padukone have their roots here. Padukone is a partial island. It is connected by land but that route is fairly long. A more popular means of travel is by boat across the river Souparnika. I remember crossing the river in these boats during childhood. Nothing much has changed since then. Even the rates remain almost unchanged. If you wish to take a joy ride in the river and not just cross it, then boating facility has come up of late. A varaha temple is also located on the banks of the river. For now, leaving you with pictures.

Later in the day we took the road route to Padukone, which was another adventure by itself.

Nearby: Ottinene beach * Kodachadri * Murudeshwara * Manipal Endpoint

JLR River Tern Lodge, Badhra Dam

2011-11-07T16:52:00.001+05:30

We paid a short visit to Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR)’s facility in Badhra Dam catchment area. Called as River Tern Lodge, the location was much better than I had expected it to be. Proximity to water and an island being part of JLR facility made the campus more desirable.

Room rate starts at Rs 4050 per day per person, including stay, food and a set of activities. Similar to other JLR facilities, pricing is on the higher side for common man, but nevertheless their campus runs full most of the time thanks to international tourists and corporate patronage.

Main attraction of the campus is the island. Submerged in Badhra Dam catchment area, this island houses several cottages and is connected to the main campus by a wooden bridge. Recently Karnataka CM Sadananda Gowda laid foundation for constructing a ropeway bridge connecting the main campus with island. We were told work would start once water levels come down. May be next year this time, hanging bridge will be another attraction here.

Badhra wildlife sanctuary is nearby and Forest department organizes jeep rides into the forest. But probability of sighting the animals is believed to be very low compared to other reserve forests.

Badhra Dam is nearby and makes nice view from the JLR campus. It appears some careless guests/staff of JLR throw the waste paper plates and other stuff into the catchment water. We could see some floating waste in dam water when we visited it. Boat ride takes you for a ride in the dam around the islands. Water sports for kids involve some floating equipments and stuff around which kids can have good time.

Food is veg and non-veg mix. Cottages have just enough space. Balcony is the best place to be, with lots of water everywhere.

I didn’t see tented cottages here, as in Bheemeshwari, K Gudi etc. There’re hardly any alternatives in the vicinity other than JLR. You may have to go to Tarikere/Badhravati/Shimoga for decent hotels.
Near to the main dam, upper Badhra project is also going on. This project was in news recently for scams and financial irregularities.

River Tern isn’t as popular as Kabini, Bheemeshwari, Galibore and other closer to Bangalore facilities of Jungle Lodges. It is a nice place to spend couple of days with nature, assuming you’re not constrained by the budget.

Below: Upper Badhra project site

General Review of JLR * K-Gudi elephant bathing *