a step towards heaven...

anbin paadai serndavarukku mudive illayadaa....

manadin neelamyeduvo aduvey vaazhvin neelamadaa..


These were the exact words my heart was humming as I lay on the bed looking into the cieling high bulbs in the large room.

I had just donated my first sachet of blood! What a feeling!

I have wondered many a times why I never ended up on a bed with a tube taking out the cherry-red liquid from me into a sachet. But that chink is now off the corner of my brain and I am happy.

I was literally grinning throughout the process. people who know me well know me to be a movie freak. But nothing could have soothed me better than Kamal's voice gently whispering those lines in my ears! :)

Happy!

Me...a travellin soldier...

Guess what… same old story. I have been traveling like nuts for the past couple of weekends. The Jan 20-21 weekend was a ‘History channel’- visit to the ruins of Hampi and surrounding places combining the visit to Kavitha’s wedding in Bellary. The next long-weekend was celebration time for Saro’s birthday at Tuticorin and the house-warming ceremony of Sri’s new home at Coimbatore.

That I believe a picture speaks a thousand words will be evident with this entry. Enjoy [forgive the bad arrangement ]…


Viroopaksha Temple, Hampi



The ruins of Hampi...

YogaNrisimha and Queen's Bath [approach]

Pillar Mandapam Monolith Vinayaka Temple [outside]
Lotus Mahal and The Stables


Raga-Pillars
Stone Chariot







At the wedding...

Now for some snaps at Tuty and Padmanabha Palace

At the Grihapravesam...

She lied to me. Again.

Honnemaradu...

With a certain pesky animal out of the way, the time was ripe. But the plot had been hatched weeks ago knowing that this time would come. Maybe it’s the monsoons of India or plain ad-hoc-ism that this time of the year I get extremely interested to shrug the world off and head into the wild! And boy, we just did that and how!

This time around it was a often-trekkers-known place called Honnemaradu near the Karnataka district of Shimoga. Nine of us office guys-n-gals packed minimum stuff and headed to this environment friendly place where no smoking, drinking or even outside food is allowed. The facilities were also minimal with only an open well and four walls to do as a bathroom and a dilapidated toilet with a single pipe outside as the only source of water! But the staff in-charge at the place was skilled and well mannered and helped us have a great time.

The weekend spent in the islands was exhilarating and calming at the same time. The serene surroundings with nothing but wilderness around were a treat to the eyes. But what activities were planned for us took us into the groove! First we had a few hours of life-jacket aided swimming in the Sharavathi River, in the backwaters of the Linganamakki dam. Then we took coracles into the river and learnt the basics of rowing and maintaining direction. After a really tiring session in the waters we came back for lunch and after resting for sometime we headed off to one of the islands for a night camp and bon-fire et all!

It already got dark before we reached the island and then we all had to take our torches out to find wood for the fire. After a crazy half an hour of finding dead twigs and wood as fuel [we are not to uproot any tree for this purpose] it was just we and the stars. All of us learnt the basics of laying out a tent in the middle of nowhere and then had to put up one ourselves. After that we had a great buccaneering session – just the fire for light and high pitched songs under the billion stars. Stuff of dreams! :)

Early morning we rose with the sun and had the arguably best half an hour of our trip. Sitting silently on the shore of a water body watching the sun rise in all its splendor, disturbing early morning mist and clearing the clouds is one experience worth having a 1000 times. Then we rowed back to the mainland and after a great breakfast of poori-sabji we were all ready for the trek up the nearby hill. We walked the trail of 1.5 kms that lead us to the hill top from where we could see the winding river and all the islands sprayed around and also the dam at a distance.

All was not yet over and we once again forayed into the river and this time as pairs in canoes. We had to put to practice what we learnt about rowing and each pair rowed to a distant island from the mainland and back. I would say it gave a sense of self-worth. Though we did not want to leave the place we already had a train waiting for us back to Bangalore. So we left with a heavy heart but a heady experience from Honnemarudu to Jog falls before taking our train back home.

I am going back again!

The out-of-the-world week that was!

Wow what a week it was! I am yet to come out of the heady feeling that I was in, throughout week Jul9-Jul15. Without any shadow of doubt, it has been the best week of my life, as I comprehend it now. Even if I do want to bring it all in here and save it for posterity, read it sometime in the future and derive happiness from the words, I don’t know if I would do justice to those inner feelings through these mere words. All I would want to do is capsule this week’s time for repeated consumption! Alas… time won’t wait, so here it all comes in the blog.

Sun Mon Tue – Marriage (growing up)

The 9th and 10th of July was my cousin’s marriage. Being a part of this family function and also playing a useful part in the proceedings gave me immense satisfaction and was sure a learning, growing experience. In simple words, my inner voice said – ‘you are now 24!’ And I can assure you that’s not a bad feeling at all. 11th was rest day and nothing works better than taking leave from office spending ‘quality’ time with near and dear ones. I enjoyed the food, the people and everything about the big fat wedding! :)

Wed Thurs – Food (Bliss)

The excellent streak of amazing food that I had in Chennai stretched into Bangalore also. 12th July, Wednesday was super lunch at Krishna Kafe. 13 July, Thursday was shopping@ Forum and dinner at Pizza Hut. Of course the company I had for both the sessions made the midweek worth remembering! ;)

Friday [Jul 14] – Crossing borders

This was predestined I suppose! The storyline is, a someone from across the globe decides to go on a crazy ‘hat-hunt’ with a equally crazy guy across the city! And did the rain-god have a ‘dry’ sense of humor or what! Both of us were totally-totally drenched before we could reach the theatre for the evening show! [Albeit with our prize cap safe with us]. The consensus was that, if only the movie was for a smaller duration, Superman Returns could have been enjoyable! And yeah, she loved the gift! :)

Saturday [Jul 15]– Perfect finish

When in a dream everything feels great but chances are that we will forget it once awake. But there are some dreams that refuse to go even after we are wide awake because the last few moments of the dream were such exhilarating moments. This Saturday was such a finish to the great week. Everything (well almost) was perfect about the trip 7 of us from office took, to Nandi Hills 60kms off Bangalore, on 4 bikes! :) The weather was just perfect for a long drive with really cool wind and the occasional drizzle. Clean roads leading to the mist covered hills in the horizon, with flush meadows / agriculture land on either side was irresistible. And I do have to mention the ‘wow’ home-made breakfast and lunch we had taken with us to the trip. I am actually unable to get words to describe the fun and frolic we had atop the hills playing cards, mocking the monkeys, taking umpteen photos and having a blast!!


Life is good, as it has been for quite sometime now and I don’t intend to stop having fun like this!