Random thoughts

They say as you work your way through the dot 0 release of the product, the release is out and you get 'in'. I guess even in life it's about battling through the initial tough time and getting a hang of the conditions. There are lots of bugs to be had on this product of life once you get your eye in !

My swimming saga !

The deadly-deep, unexplainable, unmanageable, unfriendly, uninviting, mass of wetness (cold, dark blue and clammy!) that terrorizes me and many others like me. Well no points for guessing as I am talking about much obvious "WATER ".I become overwhelmed in the water,the panic, then loss of breath, then more panic,then gasping for air, then sheer terror, then spluttering, then coughing . Water has always been as one of my greatest fears .After many, many years of avoiding water (with the exceptions being daily baths, showers,and enjoying with friends around the shores)I finally decided to take the plunge.

My mom and dad don't know swimming . My mom is highly scared of water and she never wanted me to learn swimming either. So ,I had to face resistances other than drag of water. Whenever I would make an attempt to learn swimming I would have my mother's fear resonating in my mind and I hesitated to even try to to swim. The older I got the more I resisted it until finally, I was a woman afraid of water. Why? Fear of water found a voice in my mum (u can drown and die ), and finally a root in my heart.

Today's world has presented us with unprecedented fears .Everything we eat can cause cancer and the air we breathe is dangerously polluted! Global warming is melting both poles, major cities on both coast lines are in danger of encountering Tsunamis. We should indeed make kids stay indoors for fear that a meteorite may fall on them.

Like most of you, I watched the Japan's recent earthquake , the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai , the assault that closed the door to innocence and opened the deadly door of fear that we never knew prior to the incident.Fear gained a voice in Mumbai from which we are yet to recover. Fear has little effect until it’s given a voice. Stand in a crowded room and yell “Snake!” and watch the chaos take over. Granted, looking at an inferno does perpetuate some fear, but when you give it a voice fear takes control of the entire situation.

Surprisingly, fear and faith are transmitted the same way. Both require a voice to multiply and be effective. “Faith comes by hearing” . You need to be receptive. . The negative report of fear is easily received and believed. Our hearts melts in fear very quickly and very few have the courage to fight after hearing such things. Once fear is communicated, courage is banished unless the shield of faith is proclaimed to protect the warrior. So you need to let faith will loom over fear. It’s all in what you listen to and what you speak. Who are you listening to and what are you speaking, faith or fear?

I decided to trust water and take a plunge . It took me 9 months to win over my fears and give voice to faith. I tried to swim last year but failed miserably. I try having a reasonably good amount of knowledge before starting any activity if not
knowing everything about everything I’m doing at all times and be the BEST ever at everything. When it came to water, no way could I let go and just relax enough to let the buoyancy of the water help me along. NO WAY. So i went through lots and lots of youtube videos and decided to join swimming classes with a heavily pounding heart.
Just the night before the morning I was to have my first class I had a nightmare in which I saw my maths teacher drowning.(By the way ,I love maths and I have nothing against my maths teacher.) So i gave it a pass day and missed my first day class .The second day I gathered all my courage , directed my thoughts on perceiving water as a positive element, and put an end to my water fear .

On day one the pool and I weren’t so friendly due to tot the simple fact that I was afraid of the water. Especially when it came to learning how to float when I didn't know how to stand back from the floating position. I literally thought that I was going to die. I have to admit that I was screaming and yelling for my instructor to put me back up to my feet to stand back in the pool, but after two days it was different. I finally wanted to try floating without being afraid of water. The key being continuous practice ,belief in the instructor and my abilities , the zeal to learn, and strong will power. I have started kicking , using my hands but the only hurdle which now remains is the breathing .I can hold my breath and stride out purposely for nearly half a length – but then I need to stop, catch my breath, and start again. Any time I try to turn my head to breathe, I get all out of time and end up with a mouth- or nose-full of water. Choking on half a gallon of water is not my idea of fun. So this is the next step I need to work on .

So far, with my experience in learning how to swim, I have learned the following things.

- Don't panic and make peace with water . TRUST water. Remember when people panic they drown so just RELAX.
- Gently deal with your fear before expecting to make any headway with any swimming technique
- Believe in yourself and remember that you can always overcome your fears . the author of secret has rightly said that you can always make your dreams come true if you really desire to .
- Don't think too much on "why I can't swim while the kids around do it so wonderfully"
- Now is the time , you are never too old to learn . Learning is a constant process, so just start learning instead of thinking you are too old to learn.
- Try try again , the more you try the more you overcome your fear and more you want to learn .
- Seek help from instructors , friends to get proper guidelines on how to swim
- Move step by step . Try to gain expertise in step 1 before jumping to step 2 .
- Be strong headed and don't don't give up .
- Try to seek advise from people around in the pool . Don't hesitate in asking kids :). I interacted with people at all levels from the novice to the pros swimming in my pool and gathered my learnings . Believe me it really helps talking to people. You really do gain from other's experiences.
- Stop listening to people who say, “What? It’s easy. Why can’t you swim?”
- Its difficult but you have to settle down with a dark ugly skin . Chlorine really damages your skin . You can use sun-screen with spf 30+ for protection.

So, my goal is to complete a full lap of the pool without stopping. That,ladies and gentlemen, will be a history-making moment, and will cause waves of excitement .

Soon will i be a dolphin surfing in the ocean .

Don' worry baby !

Have you ever wonder where the story ends, and how it all began, I do ..I do
Did you ever dream you were the movie star with popcorn in your hand, I did
Do you ever think you're someone else inside, when no one understands you are
And wanna disappear inside a dream but never wanna wake, wake up
Then you stumble on tomorrow, and trip over today

Would you be happier if you were someone together
Would the sun shine brighter if you played a bigger part
Would you be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather
You're gonna be just fine

Are you not afraid to tell your story now, when everyone is done it's too late
Was everything you've ever said or done not the way you planned, mistake
So you promised that tomorrow, be different than today

Would you be happier if you were someone together
Would the sun shine brighter if you played a bigger part
Would you be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather
You're gonna be just fine
I think you're gonna be just fine
You're gonna be just fine
So don't worry baby

You're racing for tomorrow, not finished with today

Would you be happier if you were someone together
Would the sun shine brighter if you played a bigger part
Would you be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather
I think you're gonna be just fine

Would we be happier if we were someone together
Would the sun shine brighter if we played a bigger part
Would we be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather
I think we're gonna be just fine
I think you're gonna be just fine

Don't worry baby
Gonna be just fine
Don't worry honey
Gonna be just fine
Don't worry baby
Gonna be just fine

Just wanted to write these lyrics down :) . I love the song !!

Hampi - land of Stones and Stories

Hampi a majestic land was the final spot we zeroed down to when looking for a weekend getaway . Hampi is one place which is a land of ruins spread across acres of land with rich monumental heritage and history enough to leave anyone stunned .Infact I would say Hampi is poor man's Egypt , one place which can leave you completely awestruck by the grandeur of marvellously carved architectural remains.

The journey begins. Our journey began on a promising note as it was bestowed with showers of blessings on the onset of our journey which did save us from seething in Hampi's scorching sun .We started around 7:30 and boarded the bus to Hospet at 9:30 .The journey from Bangalore to Hospet lasted exactly 8 hours; we reached the Hospet Bus stand at 6.00 a.m. Then started the haggling with the swarm of auto drivers who descended on us even before we got off from the bus.The distance from Hospet to Hampi is about 13 kms and the autowallas started the amount at 150/-; we were able to get them to 120/- and then off we went. The idea was to go till the boat point on the river Tungabhadra from where we will go across to Virupapur Gadde to check out the guesthouse on that side. Ankit one of our friends recommended staying across the river as the nicer accommodations are in that part of Hampi – all favoured by foreigners mostly.
We took a motorboat , reached the shore and as we were walking we saw the word 'Kishkindha ' written on a board which provoked the genesis discussions of Hampi.The history of Hampi begins as the kingdom of monkeys or Kishkindha from Ramayana where Lord Rama met Hanuman. There is infact a temple atop a hillock which stands as an evidence to . Moving forward we checked out 2-3 stays with dingy rooms and finally landed in Shanthi Guest House.It appeared as quaint and popular place next to the river and scenic paddy fields. Rooms were nice with attached toilet and a swing right in front .It was a cloudy morning, on account of it having rained the night before – the weather was cool and breezy ,any attempts to get the sunrays were foiled by the cloud cover so I decided to lay on the swing , enjoy the serene view of lush green paddy field , hear the bird chatter and not to be missed do some occasional camera work .The whole thing of sitting on a swing, gabbing with friends and taking pics of paddy fields, had such a surreal feel to it. After feasting the eyes it was time for the real feast and we headed to Mowgli restra where we had a real sumptous and fillig brunch .To my surprise all the continental dishes which some of my friends oredered turned out really well which was least expected by me atleast . After the lazy friday brunch we headed for the Hampi sightseeing .

As we set out on our tour of Hampi, we started witnessing the real charisma of the ruins much heard of .My knowledge of history however has become a bit rusty and I didn’t do much reading up before I went. Hampi is a true paradise for history lovers and has the beauty of unfolding many mysterious stories . Its journey from being a stretch of uninhabited land to the capital of one of the richest kingdoms in India, to once again becoming a neglected area forgotten for generations is vast and amazing.
Vijayanagara, the capital of the mighty Vijayanagara, was founded in 1336 AD by two Hindu brothers Hakka and Bukka under the able guidance of a Brahmin priest Madhva Vidyaranya. Bukka is credited with laying the foundations of a brilliant irrigation system, traces of which are left even today, and inspire awe and admiration among tourists.The kingdom became stronger with every new heir to throne but just like all good things come to an end this period of growth was followed by one of stagnation, with a few weak kings, and the Sangamas were replaced by the Saluvas. These were then followed by the Tuluvas.
The wheel of time took a turn and the throne was annexed by Krishnadevaraya – who left an indelible mark on the city, and indeed history, though he ruled for less than 20 years! It was he who re-established supremacy over south India, subdued the Bahamani Sultans, and re-captured Orissa. No doubt he wa a great patron of art and architecture . Most of the architecture of that period owes much to him, he embellished his capital too with great temples, and renovated those already present.
This fairy tale city was devoid of all its strength and splendor in 1565 AD when the then ruler Rama Raya was defeated and killed by a confederation of Muslim kings. The capital was ransacked and reduced to Shambles within 6 months by the victorious Mohamedans who left it desolate, resembling more a ghost city than a former captital. This in short was the tale of Hampi.

Coming back to my tale we hired an auto and our first halt was Krishna Temple .The Krishna temple at Hampi was built by Krishnadevaraya to celebrate the success of his Orissa campaign. It is believed that he brought back with him, an idol of Bala Krishna – Krishna, the child – which was enshrined in this temple. Each pillar of this temple was beautifully adorned with carvings which were a masterpiece .The ceiling of this temple seemed to be burnt as a part of the loot nad plunder. A short walk from the Krishna temple leads us to one of the most impressive figures in all of Hampi – the monolithic sculpture of Narasimha – the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The huge size of the idol reflects the sheer awesomeness of the sculptors (aided with no fancy machines )of that time .Next was a lingam – almost adjacent to this figure – which is believed to have been commissioned by a poor woman. Another monolith, it is as majestic as the earlier one, except for the embellishments. This is called the ‘Badavalinga’.
Next we headed to Hazara Rama Temple .This temple was full of carvings depicting scenes from Ramayana . Just outside the temple was Hampi bazar where sacks of diamonds and emeralds were traded. The bazaar is spread across acres of ruins. What a fortune it would have been to live in that era , disregarding the wars of course .
After that we covered Queens bath ,Lotus Temple , Elephant stable and Watch tower. Queens would take bath and kings would rejoice from the watch tower :P . Lotus Temple had an amazing symmetrical architecture . After resting for a while we headed to an Underground temple. This is below the ground level. There is always a certain level of water inside. It has a connection with some remote water source it seems.
This was near Royal Enclosure , our next destination was the largest extant enclosure. Occupying an area of 59,000 square metres and protected by lofty double walls, it housed as many as 45 buildings including the Mahanavami Dibba , King's audience hall and the public bath. Mahanavmi Dibba was splendid and standing there gave an insight of all the kingly constructions spread around . There was a secret chamber for those who would experience a chill down their spine by the thought of spooky , mysterious , dark chambers.
After doing our photo shoot we descended towards the most splendid and photogenic place of Hampi ,the Vittala temple. To reach this place you can take a battery operated tram run by women promoting eco-friendly practices and also empowering women by providing them employment.The temple's gopuram is practically all gone, but inside, its another story .The highlight of Vittala temple is its impressive pillared halls .The halls are carved with an overwhelming array of sculptures on the giant granite pillars.These are monolithic pillars, with 16 or 25 smaller pillars in each one and among these are the musical pillars – which not only give out notes when struck, but are also said to reproduce the sound of various musical instruments .Then there is the stone chariot which is possibly the most famous and most photographed structure in all of Hampi.
The day would have been incomplete without shopping for some local wear , there was an array of shops in front of Virupaksha Temple decorated with haram paints , colorful tops , funky junk jwellery and the English hats . We did some shopping and headed back to our guest house Shanthi .We ended the day, with a long and lazy dinner in the sitout area of Mowgli. The glow of the lanterns was bewitching and lent a surreal look to the whole place. The food in this place was incredibly good; we tried the Indian ,Chinese and Italian dishes mainly and were happy with the lot. Some entertainment for the evening was provided by a group of firangs sitting next to us ;).
Now came the day two where we had on list to cover Mango tree ,Hanuman temple and the
coracle ride .We started with Hampi temple at 7 am and after climbing 512 steps. The view from there was amazing , and the great boulders that surround this lovely little place appeared breathtaking! . After attending the Arti we rushed back to grab breakfast which was kinda disappointing as we were there in an off season and most of the food joints were closed . Next was time to get all decked up in the Hampi attire we girls purchased the previous day . We had a portfolio shoot in that funky oops funny attire and then we were all set to relish food at much heard Mango tree restaraunt. Mango Tree is a lazy and relaxed restaurant that can be reached by walking through a banana plantation, west of the Hampi Bazaar. It has a nice
terraced seating with views of the river .They also serve nice food at a very reasonable price . Nice place to kick back for a while in the middle of a hot day.
Full with sumptous lunch we went for the final coracle ride which was so serene and makes you wonder about the great boulders ..how they came to be there, no one knows for certain. Mythology says they were thrown there by a mischievous god. Science tells us that they are the last remnants of a volcanic eruption… No matter how they came to be there, they stand vigil, sole witnesses to the highs and lows of various dynasties who passed by….They watched over as kings were born, as kings ruled and made their names, some for their valour, some for their wisdom, some for their greed….. They stand testimony to the kings’ foresight….. As water channels and aqueducts, capable of supplying water even today, five hundred years after
they were made…They stand testimony to the kings’ understanding of markets…. as huge areas set aside for commerce…They stand testimony to the kings’ spirituality…
in the form of huge temples… most of all, they stand testimony to the creativity of the artisans, who created works of art which the world would admire…
Standing tall among all the ruins, are they telling us not to make the same mistakes as those before us? To live a peaceful life without greed or enmity, forgetting petty differences such as religion and languages, to live in peace and harmony, for as humans, our life is short. We will soon pass on, but these huge boulders shall remain witness to our lives too, and what we choose to make of it! Tada the philosophy time over and it was time to say goodbye to Hampi

Before I say a goodbye here I would like to share some freebies for those of you who plan to Hampi soon -

Must Carry
A nice camera , sunscreens and scarf or a cap .

When to go?
The best time to go to Hampi is whenever its raining towards Bangalore side so that the temparature becomes bearable . Months of October to February would serve you the best .

How did we get to Hampi from Bangalore ?
The best way is to take a bus to Hospet. Its an overnight journey from Bangalore to Hospet and from Hospet you can hope in an auto.

Where to stay?
There are two options
- To stay near Hospet, where one can get accommodation – not advisable as Hospet is around 13 km from Hampi
- At Hampi town – there are many guest houses and lodges near Virupaksha temple and then many more across the river, there are many places which have a typical hippie, Goa feel.The lodgings are basic but scenic. And is a popular haunt of backpacking foreign tourists. To get across the river, one has to take a ferry to cross the river (2 min ride, ferry runs from 7 am to 6:30 pm). Mowgli or Shanthi are nice ones to check in .

Must do
Hampi sight seeing of course , lunch at mango tree , visit to hanuman temple and pampa sarovar and the coracle ride in the typical hippie outfit available at Hampi .

What's in a name .....

When the mornings used to be fresh , misty and absolutely breathtaking, . The air fresh. Branches on the trees are laden with sparkling jewel like dew drops. The lush green grass carpet which would welcome you to take a stroll or just go for a relaxing workout or soulful meditation . Such a lovely way to start the was about these morning walks and the thoughts that your mind would go through as you look up at the sky, the trees, the lush green grass bed and the sunrise and realize just how small we are relative to the universe, yet we are equipped to do great things with each day. These used to be the morning moments whose memories would sojourn for the day , refresh the soul and renew your body .

But as its rightly said "humans have the capability to destruct anything and everything " and thus these soulful opportunities don't present themselves now :( .
me. First came the excretory wastes of animals . Next came shards of glass from broken bottles, plastic refuse, discarded fruit-juice packets, trails of gutka packets left as if for giving hiking clues to the visitors , food leftovers and waste from mobile eateries . Finally, the tree-fellers made an appearance with their motorised blades usurping the joy of enjoying fresh breeze ,walking barefoot on the grass or just lying down. This is the plight of Cubbon Park and may be many other parks too which have turned into a sea of litter . Littering of such big parks is the de-greening of a city whose historical appellations Garden City now seems like misnomer.

Every bit of litter has an owner and comes with a personal responsibility everyone would shun from .I would like to load the argument a bit further. It has to do with a particular social malaise that to a large degree afflicts us as a species – we take serious counter-measures and have strong convictions against direct risk (terrorism, theft, rape or violence), but turn a blind eye towards issues when the penalty is distributed.In India, most of the place look like a litter graveyard. Everywhere people litter without thinking for a second. Some people don’t use litter box where available, just dump their waste anywhere. And sometimes people find difficult to find a litter box to dispose waste. Why there are not enough litter boxes everywhere? By the way, why there is no law against litter on public places? This, to a large extent explains why we have filthy, claustrophobic parks growing in number where people litter without compunction .I guess one should better stay off from parks if picking up after is beyond his/her capabilities. Pick up every bit of garbage you throw whether it is biodegradable or not. Smokers, don’t forget the stubs. and gutka eaters, the wrappers are not for permanent route marking for hikers to come.

Last Friday was pretty interesting in many ways. We had a voluntary time off from the company and around 40 folks from our office decided to join hands with an organization called Cubbon Park Mithra Sangh and aid crusade against litter. Cubbon Park Mithra Sangha is small group of environment conscious people formed by Mr. Narendranath an architect in Dec 2006. This is a group of proactive people who instead of cribbing and whining about litter disposal and environmental degradation, decided to adopt a hands on policy to do something about the litter that has been tainting Cubbon Park . Armed with reusable trash bags, tongs and protective gloves, all the members of have been picking up the trash from the park .To do their bit for the environment and in the process promote environmental awareness, already the group have adopted the Bal Bhawan portion of the park for trash clearance . It has started the task of spreading awareness among the users by picking up garbage over week ends and weekdays . It has also awakened the Horticulture department and have been successful in their endeavors of getting more trash cans , flower beds etc .
They have also networked with many corporate organizations , ngo's etc to scale their project to big heights .

It was a fun experience for me and people from very high positions who wouldnt be into the cleaning of their houses turned up to exhibit civic responsibility displaying that it must be a priority for everyone. We started as two groups going in one two lines. But soon we were drifting off to different directions. We had to wind up sooner than we thought because of the huge bundle of plastic bottles , gutka sachets , wrappers , DIAPERS , cigaratte stubs , plastic cups , torn cloth pieces that were collected. That was a little shocking considering we found the park in quite a good shape from far :).
Then we had a good discussion headed by Rajesh Dangi who collected our feedbacks and told us about the steps to be a part of CSPM. There is just a lot of things you need to take care of before getting stamped as an initiative! But Rajesh and team, undoubtedly worked hard and made things a lot easier for all of us! Kudos.

It was sheer pleasure to watch the commitment and dedication of every single member.
While cleaning I thought that one day of cleaning will not amount to anything but I realized by end of the day that if we will keep on doing it until it forces people to take notice and realize that it falls on every individual to make a difference, realize that litter belongs to bin and not the garden.

Trust me when you are out there and doing these things, you get this feeling of actually doing what you want to see happen around you. That one feeling is worth all the effort.So, the next time you are walking down any street munching on biscuits or digging into a packet of your favourite chips, think about the effort that goes in to keep our city clean before throwing away the empty packet on the garden/roads.I had some great learnings I would like to share :-

1) It took the guys throwing gutka packets in the garden to make me realize that I am not paid a dime for my cleaning efforts so far. Some of them were shocked to learn that I was picking up their ‘Gutka’ and ‘Pan’ covers in that blazing Friday afternoon for no charges whatsoever. Cheryl please note :)

2) It is impossible to clean the clean even the cleanest looking piece in a day as it is indeed a reality folks, for every piece we picked up there were hundred more lying in the sand .

3) It was awesome fun meeting different people and one of them was a walking encyclopedia . I end up learning some great stuff from great guys .

4) I realized last Friday how grossly uninformed I was in the field of waste management. So the time is ripe to read and learn more.


It was a wonderful experience for me and all I would say is life’s too short to be apathetic. It’s too short not to love your Mother Earth. And although the world is not a perfect place, each day we can do our best to make it better :) Please make use of the "Use Me's " and lets keep up the name "Garden City "

Democray : 'Of' the people , 'For' the people , 'By 'the people

Anna Hazare's call for the need to fight the corruption has awakened and really moved many a souls like us and found resonance throughout India . People from all walks of life came forward to support the noble Gandhian protest of Mr Hazare . This truly tells us the vitality of the issue and how it has been disturbing us all .
Corruption is a challenge. And public agitation is required to shame government. But it is possible to maintain, in reasonable good faith, that the Jan Lokpal Bill is not necessarily the best, or the only solution to the corruption challenge. It may be just a rigmarole .Already we have a complex institutional machinery beyond the interpretational skills of people like you and me .

The bill demands creation of an institution which will be power supreme and can exercise authoritative actions on any institution and command any kind of police, judicial and investigative power. What is the guarantee that this institution with
all good men remains uncorrupted , why as a common man we should exhibit trust on this institution and not in the politicians ? Why should we look upto those few selected endowed with the authorities , who will wield all power to unsurp the current democratic machinery .Probably we can answer saying that the selected few will be really virtuous and selfless beings who have set examples of integrity and
sacrifices that lesser mortals find difficult to emulate .

We look at the politicians with contempt but will be full of respect for this non elected body . Why the need a check on existing government ? There can be no substitute for good people in governance.Politicians can always find some menas to tweak the laws and use it in their interests . No tighter laws would be able to address the corruption ,we have passed laws against dowry but has it stopped ? I dont think just a law is powerful enough to blow the deep rooted corruption menace.Its doing no good except for adding one more abstraction layer ... if manager is not good quality, introduce senior manager; since senior manager does not work, have director; since we can’t trust our directors, have a further CEO, endlessly deferring to new positions at the top of the heirarchy without attending to basics.


Four days and government succumbs to all the demands put forth by Anna Hazare , agreed that demands were perfectly valid but the whole way of achieving it ,we as citizens, not be subject to the moral coercion of a fast-unto-death on this issue.
There are others who have been and might resort to fast until death , the righteousness of this is really boggling . I am deeply moved by Anna Hazare's call for the need to fight corruption but I just dont agree with the form and partly with
the substance of his agitation.

We all get hit by corruption and infact we are the ones who are nousrishing this plant of corruption . Its the common man who aids and abets corruption .Whenever we are on the wrong side of law we find ourselves bribing police , when we need to get some document related stuff done, were the ones passing money under tables . Anna Hazare has done his part , now I think its our turn , we all owe to the veteran a promise to keep the momentum of his started revolutionary act . Let us all cut the
roots of corruption and stop bribing rather than waiting for a magic to happen to vanish corruption .

Bird Watching !

Brawling threads in my code left me with frayed nerves and exasperated mind ...
Not to mention , an irritable mood with low tolerance and a nagging boredom that just refused to go away. A quick remedy was bird watching .I guess this works as a cooler for many of us and as for me , some of my friends know that it just works out wonders for me ;)

Well so a weekend getaway it was , a day trip to Ranganthittu Bird Sanctury . It is a place close to Mysore and some 150 kms from Bangalore so we decided to ride till the place instead of taking a cab.
Route: Bangalore -> Ramnagaram -> Bidadi -> Maddur -> Mandya -> Srirangapatta -> Ranganathittu .

We decided to start early in the morning which didnt turn out to be really early eventually and we were on our way 45 minutes past six .Total disarray of plan. I wanted to reach Ranganathittu by 8:30am so as to take the first boat, but we weren’t even close , so we decided to stop to grab quick breakfast at Kamat in Maddur . Dashed to reach Ranganathittu by 10 am finally ....

Ranganthittu a bird lovers paradise was basically the brainwork of Dr. Salim Ali. who, during his survey of the birds of Mysore, advocated for the establishment of such a sanctuary. Thousands of birds thronge on the small six islets . We took a
ticket (50 Rs per person) for a boatride and since the sun was getting harsh , we straightaway headed for it and decided to take the rest of the tour later .

Most common migratory birds include painted storks, open billed storks, white ibis, darters, spoonbills and night herons. winter is the best time to visit when it is full of migratory birds so we were able to spot some local birdies and missed on watching pied kingfisher , river terns .

We could spot painted stork, herons, darters, cormorants etc...crocodiles are in plenty and you can often see them sun bathing s ... there was a huge tree which was home to some thousands of bats ....I am yet not done with feasting my eyes with the sight of pied kingfisher and river tern .. may be next time .

After the boatride we went for a stroll , had a brunch by opening up the packed food
we carried and then settled on a bench chirping for quite a while .So overall Ranganthittu was an awesome experience with scores of birds around ... So if you are a person of interest in winged creatures , certainly Ranganthittu is the place .Best time would be around winters , you can also go for a boatman who has knowledge of birds , give him some extra 100 bucks and add more vibrant colors to your tour .It would be great if you carry binoculars or a high zoom camera .

Job 'less'

Life has been pretty trying for me for last few days ... Work life being pretty stressful not because there's too much of work but coz of the fact that there needs to be work but there isn't any leading me to devour on arbit works adding nothing but randomness and making me feel sick .

I want to write my gmat exam and have somehow been taking preparations real slack .Sometimes I feel so miserable that i am not able to give my 100% I feel like quitting my job and just study . But our jobs mean more to us than we think they do. If our jobs could talk, they would give us a piece of their minds. They would remind us that they do not ask for a lifelong commitment from us, and yet they bring us a sense of achievement and challenge. All they ask of us is sincerity at whatever we do.And of course, they pay the rent.And perhaps at time, we forget to give them the respect they deserve.We don't take them up when we should.We don't quit them when we should.

So hi 5 to jobs everywhere. To jobs of every kind. To jobs that mean so much to us.
To jobs that make us who we are !

As time goes by ...

It's still the same old story
A dream to reach paths of glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome you :)
Even if you get an year older ..
And you sit and poder ...
As time goes by.

Had a very subtle start of the day which grew from "simple" to "simply amazing" .
This time after long I was at home to celebrate my birthday courtesy bout of
miserable jaundice .It was a very different birthday where unlike treating my stomach I decided to give my body a chance to indulge and went for a body spa :)

On this birthday I do think that I have gained some more worldly wisdom or perhaps not ...
The girl with shimmering dreams , pleasing whom was no mean feat ...
Candy floss , chocolates and nutties who would let adults talk of tooth decay
close her eyes and float away......
To the girl with myriad thoughts on her mind astray ...
Wondering why things have to go this or that way ...

I welcomed my day with thoughts sublime ...It was a great day with lots n lotsa fone calls messages and finally a rocking eve interspersed with some household chores as my mum wasnt in the pinkest of her health :( :(
I was constantly thinking of all this vagueness, of explaining everything that doesn't agree by ,"Well you can't be sure. That's another world view", is disquieting. May be, I am just becoming indesicive, lazy. May be, I have gone too far and its time to constrain a few things, become sure about them.
One thing I am least sure about is other people's feelings. Many people are so inscrutable. They will keep smiling through cyclones. And its becoming more and more important to understand those feelings, for more and more people come into my life from circumstances- present and past, and motivations that are not in sync with mine and therefore they may react quite differently from me to the same stimuli. Nor do I have time and occasion to know their circumstances and motivations, given the little time we spend together. Its difficult as time goes by .
But I do think that with this year I have started becoming a bit decisive ,neways being decisive is not my forte and after the initial sally, progess has been that of a sail boat in the doldrums. Let's see

Oh yeah about the birthday it was a bful one :) where I got my fav Dairy Milk :) :)
Lotsa other chocs , closest to my heart - Ganeshji ,pretty greetings , lovely wishes and blessings pouring down ..
and a much cherished evening get together with family n cousins after loong on my bday :)