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July 11 Minnesota Malayalee Association PicnicIt has been a dream for me to work in US, not just for the extra few thousands of rupees I would earn, but also because I love to see places and meet faces. I had to wait an awful long time for that to come true since most of my colleagues did their trips more than once and I still was waiting and waiting. Finally things went on fine and I got my bit of luck too. I stepped my foot in a foreign soil on 8th of June, 2007.
This has been my first trip to US and hence everything here was new to me. The place where I am, Richfield, is a little remote place. Around 10 miles from Minneapolis downtown, this is a very calm and quite place. I have seen people saying that comparing to other places in US itself, this place is very dull and boring, and I seem to like the place so far for the beautiful landscape and the romantic weather. And here where I live, is full of Indians and mostly from my company itself, so that was actually helping me not to feel out of place in this newly relocated piece of land.
It was slowly getting acquainted with this place, I had no hurries obviously, and that's when my colleague Sandeep Chandramohan told me about the Malayalee association here. Sandeep has been in this place for a while and so is better acquainted with the facilities around. He wasn't sure about the details and suggested to me to search Google. Hurrey, my first search itself returned me what I was looking for.
Minnesota Malayalee Association. Yes, this is what I was looking for. I was pretty happy to see this and to know that the Malayalees here have already established an association here though it's common for Malayalees to establish an association where ever they go. This basically means two things to me. There are a few fellow Malayalees around which will help me if I need to take advices and alike. Obviously, settled Malayalees are good stores for good food.
 And secondly, good Malayalee girls. Actually this should come first, but I thought why I should give a wrong impression to you guys by saying that first. In fact, I'm pretty decent in these matters. No misunderstandings, please.Now I need a means of transportation. In this country there are a few issues I've been facing going places. One is that the addresses are so short that it's tough to figure out the routes and second, if you are lost you are lost, that's it. It's tough to find someone on the road and ask his help for directions. So the first thing I did was querying a friend of mine in the same company whether he would like to join me. His reply was that he is already going there being a part of the volleyball team and he will definitely take me there. So all set for the grant event.
On Saturday, June 30th I got up at 12 that day which was quite early considering my weekend routines. I was all ready to go for the function by 1.30. That was the proposed time we all would meet up before we go. There I met a few comrades like Baiju, Varkey etc. Most of them were married and had cars and hence transportation was never a problem. I took Varkey's car with Sunil and then we moved off.
Varkey and Sunil both are Malayalees brought up outside Kerala. So their Malayalam too was fun to hear, and I was enjoying that all the way. We reached there by 2. As you would have already guessed, the first thing I looked around was girls. My eyes really disappointed me showing me only a few kids and some obvious mothers and grannies. Guys were high in number in comparison and they were in almost all age groups. They were serving lunch there and to my surprise they served burgers, salads and a few typical American dishes and not anything in traditional Kerala style. My hopes of a good evening died then and there.
It seemed there were taking their own time before getting the whole events kicked off. So I spent my time getting to know Sunil's friends, and obviously feasting on the junk foods they were serving. Luckily they also had soft drinks and watermelons. I stuffed my stomach to the brim but kept my eyes of beer which was also being served for the evening. I kinda avoid beer mostly, I seem to be much happier without it and has developed the skills for getting intoxicated without that.
VallamkaliThe first event of the day was Vallamkali, or that's what they promised us. We had a lake there close to the park called Bush lake where boating was being organized for a nominal fees. We earlier had paid annual membership fee and the event fee and so we didn't pay anything for the ride again. The race was being conducted in aluminum canoes and each team comprised of two persons. I and Sunil decided to be a team. There were around 8 teams initially but by the time the race finished two more teams came up from the spectators for the excitement others created.
Sunil is suffering from shoulder problems lately. It was not advisable for him to put pressure on his shoulders, the doctors had strictly told him not to. So I asked him to sit in the back of the boat while I will do the rowing from front. The way the canoe ride works is that the guy in front rows hard to give enough momentum, while the guy in back equally rows as well as steers the boat. But Sunil was so low in confidence in steering the boat and coupled with the few doubts he asked on how to do it, gave me the impression that he is not going to do good sitting back. So I allowed him to sit in front, which he also wanted to do.
We were not in the first 4 teams which went, so we could see the way other teams performed and how the whole thing works. By the time we went to drive it, we were so perfect in theory. But the boat had other plans, it was steering us unlike what I was originally planning to do. Its no kid play, steering the aluminum canoe was too demanding for a seasonal enthusiast. The objective of the race is to row to one end of the lake, take a small flag which is lying there and get back to the starting location itself. By the time we finished rowing one side; we both were feeling the tremendous pressure of blood rushing through our muscles and brain and were getting exhausted really quickly.
When we reached one end of the lake, rather than the canoe going to the shore, it hit something on the bottom itself. So I asked Sunil to jump out of the canoe and get the flag. I thought, since the canoe already hit a stone on the floor it shouldn't be that deep, but the fact was the water level went quite high there, close to his waist. He got all wet when he jumped off and obviously wasn't feeling good about it. Neither was I, not because he was wet, but because of the fact that the force he gave when he jumped off was swaying the canoe wildly. At one point it seemed that the canoe might turn upside down but luckily I could manage to keep it up straight. Now that we got the flags, we started our way back.
At this point all the four teams were near close and competing highly against each other. I was confident at that time that if I could row fast, I could easily win the race. But my body power was depreciating fast and had to slow down to a very pathetic pace. Sunil was also wearing out, and the lack of pace was making it so tough to steer the canoe from behind. We then didn't try to increase the pace, though even if we wanted to we wouldn't have been able to do that anyways. We slowly moved toward finish line and we finished the game in a little over 6 minutes. We both were totally exhausted and tired, had to lie down in the grass for quite sometime to get enough strength even to loosen up the muscles. There were a female team which was also competing and amazingly they didn't finish last. So finally, in the whole team strength of ten, we finished fourth overall. It wasn't that bad considering we hadn't done that in a really long time. Actually, this was Sunil's first time.
VolleyballThe second event of the day was volleyball. Sunil was also competing as part of one team which Baiju was captaining. Varkey was also part of that team. They played really well though the other team wasn't giving them a good competition. Apart from the first 3 points which the opponent team scored first, they didn't even score a good total. They had given up the game in the first set itself, the second set Baiju's team won comfortably in a huge margin. This was the finals of the tournament which was conducted the prior week and so within this single game itself the Volleyball competition was over. Kudos to Baiju's team, it's their second consecutive win in two years. One more win next year, and the trophy is theirs for ever. Tug of WarThe next event was Tug of War. First it was organized for the women. It wasn't a planned team they were having; they just made one team out of the available few who were ready for it. And as what it happens always, one team was too strong for the other. The game was one sided with one team winning comfortably. It was fun watching, the loosing team didn't let go the rope even after the other team won it comfortably. The game gave some lighter moments during the day. That helped us to get over the fatigue we had after the boat race. For the next men's game too the same set of events happened. One team was too strong for the others, and if in case you haven't guessed it yet, I was in the weaker team. This time too the other time won in two straight direct sets, but let me tell you, they didn't win it easily. The match was a very tight one with the power battle extending over minutes in each set. That was quite exhaustive too. And before we could rest ourselves enough, we got the call for one more game. The team that won against us competed against another team in the meantime and they won again. So the team that lost second time wanted to compete against the team that lost first. So the team was all up once again, against the rope which was eating up the carbohydrates from the participants. This time too, the same sad plight happened. We lost again. This time the match was even tougher, it was quite funny when I think about it now for the reason that in between the match I got bored too and let the rope for sometime to exercise my hands. Ayways, who is worried about winning! Our aim is just to have fun. And that we did in all our ways we could. ThambolaThis is one of the two games, Mallus always do whenever they have a group event. The other one, called Anthakshari, was luckily not played. Here they improvised the existing game but not just calling out a number, but by combining that with a quiz. The organizer will annouce a question and we have to strike off the answer in the cubes if we had that. Most of the questions were like one singer singing a song and we had to find the movie in which the song was originally included. That was fun, with all these NRIs trying to wonder about the songs and the respective movies. Finally, when the game ended with the lucky participants winning a few prizes (The full housie winner got $20 in cash). Finally we had the prize distribution ceremony with the president of the association giving away prizes. Thats when I got to know that there were other events too which was organized in between, but only for kids though. Finally a few photo sessions, a lot of hi and byes. The event is over. It was an amazing day indeed. Had lots of fun, ate and drank a lot, pushed my body to the maximum physically and then got to see a few Malayalee faces. I loved the day, and is infact looking forward for the Onam celebrations from these guys itself. Hopefully, I'll get a taste of Kerala feast then. Pictures of the event are uploaded here. http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2090293096 October 03 Mysore Bike Trip
How would you feel when on a Sunday morning you go for a ride in the bike on along stretch of one-way smooth road with no traffic and no signal lights to stop you? Thrilled? Yes, absolutely. That's what I felt too. A lover of long drives, a passionate traveler and a fun-seeker, in these roles which I play, I took the most of it on this ride to ecstasy. It was just another Sunday morning when we (me, Manoj and Sujesh) decided to take the best of it by going on a trip to Mysore. I thought they were talking about going on bus, was really wondering whether we will get seats on the bus since its Desera season there, and then I heard them say "bike". It could have been an easy trip, our initial expectations were that the trip would only be 100 kms one way, but only discovered it to be 150 when we already past 25 kms from Bangalore. One of sujesh's colleagues 'Nishanth' also joined us for the trip. Not experienced in long journeys and high speeds, this chap had a pretty rough time being with us. Feeling sorry for him, but it couldn't have made better. After getting up late and repairing my speedometer which wasn't working for the past couple of weeks, we started after 11 AM. After the first 25 odd kilometers which was through the roughs of Bangalore traffic, we then gained on the momentum. It was the newly inaugurated Bangalore-Mysore four lane road and it was truly a stunning road to drive on. There were little or no gutters on the road, traffic was so rare, no pedestrians, no signal lights, no sharp turnings and no police checking (Manoj owned a Kerala registration bike). Had our breakfast at around 11.30 and then we really stopped only at one place to have a drink of water and that too after two hours. We were virtually flying at a consistent 80 kmph and much above. Nishanth was asking whether we could slow down a bit, but unless I'm not confident of myself and my drive, why should I satisfy his requirement and kill the thrill of the journey? He got more scared when we saw an accident on the way, but it was when we almost reached Mysore, so the slowing down then didn't really mean anything. It was an accident when one Tata Sumo tumbled down a slope almost 2-3 times. Hope nobody was hurt; we had to leave the place since it started drizzling then. We reached Mysore by around 3. Heard that the place would only open at 3 PM. So we decided to have lunch. Parked the cruisers infront of the townhall and then went in search of a hotel. Since it was a Sunday, we could find only one which served not so good food. Still had to take it for the sake of not missing a lunch. By the time we came back it was 3.15. When we looked at the entrance, we were horrified to see a really huge queue there. Its desera season, we could have expected that. Pathetically, we didn't. There was no point in waiting over there for hours to see the palace. The palace itself would consume a couple of hours and more to see. We need to rush back home too. A night drive would be much slower and dangerous due to the chilling climate and wind. Moreover, my colourblindness would trouble me more at night. So we went to Chamundi hills, spent some quality time there, took some decent enough photos went to see the huge bull on the way down and then climbed back by around 5.30. We then were going to Botanical garden, Vrundavan when we saw the beautiful Karanji Lake on the way. Nishanth was very particular about a boating there. The climate was also pretty suited for that. So we decided to cancel Vrundavan and went to Karanji Natural Park. Including the camera and parking charges, the per head consumption of ticket fare seems to be little too much for the entrance, but the boat ride pulled us in. There was also a Butterfly garden there. But to kill the excitement, there was already a huge queue for the boat ride and the butterfly garden was around one and a half kilometers away which will be closed by the time we reach there by foot. But there was one bird sanctorum in the park where we could really get in close proximity of the birds. Forgetting the chickens which were running around, we saw a few peacocks, white peacocks, hornbills, swans and a few others. That made it a worth enough trip. After a cup of coffee and a handy needed rest, we started our way back by 6.30 PM. It was late and it was getting dark. So we didn't want to go anywhere. We headed back right the same way we came in. This time it was a bit slower for the reasons mentioned before, but the ride was equally exciting. Except for a few times when we couldn't sight the road well enough, we kept on our pace. We had our dinner on the way from the famous Kamat hotel in Channapatna, bought a few handicrafts (which I wanted to buy from the last time I was there) from there. Sujesh was driving Manoj's bike for the first few dozen kilometers but since he was lacking in pace and since he wasn't that comfortable on a long ride, had to give the rider seat back to Manoj. Manoj exceeded all expectations and put forth a good enough competition with me in speed which we both enjoyed. We reached back home by 10 PM and after viewing the snaps we took, we slept off hoping to kill the tiredness by the next day morning. The road all the way up and down was so beautiful and so were the road sides. Photographers could spend a lot of time taking pictures on the way but that will kill the pleasure of the drive. Luckily, none of us were good in that and so we carried on. It was a great journey on bike, my second best in terms of the distance (my best is to Hogganakkal which is 180 kms one way). Will love to go for a ride once again in the same path. Awesome trip!!! August 22 Mannus Wedding Trip
Mannu (Rajesh) got married yesterday, i.e. 20th of August. His marriage was fixed so long back. He was so anxious to get married. His phone bill was climbing fast. He got wedded with Leema, who is presently doing M.Tech. I wish the couple a happy married life.
Though the date was known long back, only two from Bangalore could make it. Me and Manoj. Sujesh and Anoop had some work in office and Sunny went to U.S a month back. We could only leave on Saturday night, since Manoj didn't want to waste a leave on Saturday.
We took the Island Express (Bangalore - Kanyakumari Express) and left Bangalore at 10 PM. There is a thattukada in Majestic Railway station which serves Bread Omelet. Manoj used to have it every time he takes the train, but I don't take the train so often, so hasn't seen that before. It wasn't that good as he projected it to be and adding to that it was quite costly too. The price was twelve rupees (Four slices of bread and one egg would hardly cost 5 rupees) which was a little indigestive for me.
We reached Ottappalam an hour and a half late. We were supposed to reach there by seven, but the train reached by 8.30. We had a splendid view of the Kerala scenery on the way though. As usual Manoj was busy explaining the praising that part of Kerala (Palakkad) to which he belongs. Rajesh had informed us that they will leave by around 8.30. So our worst fear was that they would leave before even we reach there. But luckily they also got delayed.
We rushed to Manoj's home which was at a distance of a five minutes walk. Took a quick bath and a haste breakfast. Manoj was on his toes, so couldn't eat much. But I took my time and had it patiently until they started to walk. I hardly could eat three idlis by that time.
By the time everyone was ready to leave for the marriage, it was 9.30. The marriage was at Kecheri which was more than an hour drive from Ottappalam. To add to the misery, the amount of travel space seemed to be too little. My gang, which then included Manoj, Rijish, Abhilash, Rajani, a sub-junior at CUSAT, and three friends of Rajesh who came from Madurai, had no room in any of the cars or bus around. Fortunately, we saw a Toyota Innova taxi cab coming the way and we hired it on the spot.
By the time we reached the Keecheri, it was 10.40. The Muhurtham was between 10.30 and 11.30. Everything went on well. I could take a few good snaps (I believe they came out nice
 ). Had a good time with him at the dais as well. It was funny to see that Mannu was shivering. For the poor guy, the tension was too much to handle. But he did make that up nicely in the photo-session. God knows how I'm going to perform at a similar situation.After that it was time for the feast. Every marriage is a crowd puller because of this phase of the ceremony. Manoj was literally crying for a lunch by that time as he missed his breakfast due to the unnecessary haste. Since Manoj got busy at that time, he couldn't join the first batch. So I thought I'll give him company. The rest of the people including Rijish and Abhilash joined the first sitting itself.
It was real rush when the second queue was getting formed. The pressure from behind was tremendous. I was getting scared of the condition of a few little kids who were standing right in front of us. It took good effort not to press upon them from the push behind. Finally when the door opened after a long time, the crowd gave a horrifying push from behind. I was also jammed between the wall and the crowd, but feared the worst thinking about the kids. Luckily I believe no one got hurt. But the poor chaps couldn't manage the seat because the oncoming traffic was too high for the kids to handle.
The feast was good, rather it was excellent. I saw pavakka kondattam served along the feast. This is the first time I'm seeing that as part of feast. Rest of the dishes was also good. Had two huge pappadams and two payasams. The ada pradaman was also excellent and I managed to have three glasses of it. So did Manoj.
But after that it was not good time for Abhilash or Manoj. They wanted to leave quickly. But the taxi drivers were told that every vehicle should leave only at the same time. They had more than an hour of restless wait before we could start our journey back.
There was a reception also in the evening. Since the venue was too close to his and Manoj's houses and did attend that as well. Ghee rice, Gopi Manchurian dry, Chicken curry, dosa and a few other dishes were served. Mannus other friends who couldn't attend the marriage were there as well. I did have a few new friendships made.
Finally by at around 8.30, we caught the same train back to Bangalore. It was a day full of journey. But the day was also filled with two huge feasts. So finally at the end of the day, it's a day well spent. Mannu, wishing you again for a wonderful life ahead. Hope you are enjoying your post marriage days. May 16 Hari weds NishaHari and Nisha got married on Sunday 15th of this May 2006, i.e. yesterday.
They had their dreams come true after nearly four years of affair. If I remember correctly, it was in February 2002 that they started seeing each other. I've been pretty close to them till then, so with a pinch of pride I can say that I know more about beginning of the relation than any of my batchmates. But after that I gradually kept off from them. It was my call; to me it was inevitable, but I'm criticized a lot for that decision even now.
Hari and Nisha had traveled a lot of south India as part of their career and in its hunt. But not together. Nisha did her project in Bangalore, then got job in Hyderabad and then later was transferred to Mumbai. Hari has been in these cities as well. Now they both are in Mumbai for quite some time from now. They sure should have had a great time there and now they are happily bonded legally as well.
Nisha had told me long back that their marriage would be solemnized during summer holydays cause there were quite a few children to attend the function. As told, their marriage was fixed in May.
Since the marriage was on a Sunday, we took the pleasure of being there one day before. My room mate Manoj has been boasting about his place Ottappalam, for quite long time now. This is a place where a majority of Malayalam movies are shot. We had planned to roam around the place on the day before and then attend the marriage on Sunday and come back. A weekend holiday in Palakkad, planned well and executed to perfection. 13th of May, though it was a second Saturday, was declared as a working day in my company as a compensation to an unanticipated holiday last month same day, which happened because when Rajkumar died on 12th last month, the mob who attended the funeral got violent and created some unfortunate incidents which disrupted public life for over a day. (Phew!! that was quite a long sentence
 )We reached there on 13th morning. After a good refreshing bath and refreshments, as usual we got late for starting off. Luckily Manoj could arrange two bikes for us. We were four in number, me, Sujesh, Manoj and Sunny. We started off to Nisha's home first, because Sunny was leaving the same day to Ernakulam. Since he doesn't attend functions on Sunday because he has to attend the church, he decided to meet Nisha the day before marriage.
One bike was a new Unicorn; the other was an old Bajaj KBZ. The KBZ was too old and poorly maintained that he hardly hit the 60 kmph mark, the gears were slipping, the brakes was hardly there and not to mention the missing horn and the rear view mirrors. A journey that would take hardly half an hour took around one hour to make.
We met Nisha at her home at around 11 AM. The home was just awakening itself for the D day. She was in a casual dress, there weren't much guests around. And the guy who is supposed to help everyone around, her brother, couldn't make it from middle east due to non-availability of leave. We stayed there for half an hour, teased her a little, shared new stories about ourselves and then wished her all the best and left the place for an adventurous day ahead.
We then decided to go to Keezhoor. Manoj told us that this place is in the background in a lot of movies and is a beautiful place indeed. We reached there by around mid-day when the sun was in its glowing best. It's a place which is full of mountains and valleys. There were paddy fields a little quite far and the whole place was looking remarkably beautiful.
We took a lot of pictures from there. For one snap, I climbed one steep rock and then was stuck there for sometime because I couldn't climb back down. Then I decided to take the risk and then climbed down some how. It really scared the shit out of me.
By the time we came back to Ottappalam, it was 3 o'clock. So we went to a hotel called Choice to have our lunch. It was a pretty good hotel and for the outstanding food they serve, it was exceptionally cheap as well. Felt so good to have delicious homely food from outside after a long time. To me, the food I get in Bangalore is pathetic. Even the kerala restaurants here don't serve good kerala food.
What would a typical keralite do after a tiring morning and a heavy lunch? Sleep. Yes, we couldn't travel any longer and decided to go to Manoj's home and sleep. By the time we wake up, it was evening 6. Then we decided to rather stay at home and organize Manoj's computer. His machine was having voice issues and the folders were all so disorganized. Sunny was also getting late to leave. Manoj went to drop him. And by late evening Anoop kurian also arrived.
The next day morning, me Manoj and Mannu went to the near by temple. It was the same place where Manoj's sister Mini's marriage was solemnized. Since we were going to the temple, I borrowed one mundu from Manoj's dad which I decided to wear for the marriage as well. I always like to wear mundu. I feel keralites look good in kasavu mundu rather in any other dress.
We met Lekshmi on Ottappalam bus stand. I had asked her to come there since she was alone and couldn't go alone to the auditorium. We reached there in time, 10 minutes before the muhoortham. There we met Sachin, Sujith, Sreekanth, Prem, ... and handful of juniors. Female section was very weak. There were only three Dhanya PK, Dhanya Menon, Simi Menon.
The marriage was solemnized nicely. Me and Sujith took enough pictures. As a matter of fact, we were having competition there to see whose photos were looking better. We had a splendid time there. The feast was also good. And I did make a lot of noise and show-off with Lekshmi's new handy-cam. She said the video has turned out to be fine. I'm waiting to see it.
Lekshmi left immediately after marriage since she had to go to Trivandrum. We then got a call from Anup Vijayan that he is on his way. So we waited for him. Anup reached by around 3. He had his lunch and then we started our group discussions. In the mean time Sujith wanted to have some liquor, so we all went to Toddy shop. Almost as a pledge, I had stopped it years back, so I didn't touch. So did most of us except Sujith and Anup.
After sharing some light moments there we all parted. Sujith went to Thrissur to catch his train to Chennai, Anup and Sachin went to Palakkad, me Sujesh and Anoop retuned back to Ottappalam and by evening we boarded our train back to Bangalore.
Altogether it was an enjoyable journey and a memorable weekend. Thanks for Nisha and Hari for getting married :D. And best wishes for a very delightful lifetime too. Enjoy !!! March 15 Fly Like a Bird - Parasailing
Parasailing was one sport I only watched on TV. I used to love it. So when I got a chance to do it here in Bangalore, there is no second thinking.
It was organised by Care Adventures Unlimited, an adventure promoting organization established in Bangalore. Me, Remjith and Vinod Menon decided to go the moment we saw their website. We got confirmation last week and we were all set to go.
Remjith and Vinod took their bikes. I left mine at Domlur since three bikes were unnecessary for 3 guys. Me and Remjtih started off at around 9 from Domlur. We picked up Vinod at 9.45 and reached Jakkur Aerodrome shortly after.
From the distance we could see people doing Parasailing. They were riding so high. It was exciting as well as scary. I started to wonder how would it feel like looking down from so high up.
We saw the organisers there and paid the fees of 350 to participate. They took us to the other end of the aerodrome. There were a few other people who were doing parasailing. So we could observe first how it was done and how safe it is.
Of course it was safe, they were having a great time too. Only thing is that a guy who was very tall had a tough time getting off the ground. May be he was lil too heavy or tall, or may be he didn't do the procedure correctly. But that didn't scare us. We were ready to go.
The first guy they picked up was me. I dont know why. But then I had no issues either. I quickly got geared up. The parachute got tucked up nicely and the jeep which will pull me up is ready. The jeep started moving. I started to lift up, I ran a little and then pulled up feet up. Yes, Im flying.
That was so amazing. I started to rise up, I added on velocity and slowly climbed up to 40-50 feet soon. It was so good to be so high up, with nothing in between you and the ground. The wind was blowing strong, you could see land so far across and ofcourse when you look down, you have a different feeling. To me, it felt like looking downwards from a train when its moving through a bridge.
After flying for 5-10 minutes, I slowly landed. It was a smooth landing unlike expected. I saw a few people getting down on their knees on landing. Luckily I had a great flight, or rather sailing.
Then Vinod and Remjith followed. They also had a great day. Everyone enjoyed the adventure to the fullest. By afternoon it was over and we were left with splendid memories of a wonderful sailing done in the open sky. A beautiful morning, spent in an amazing fashion. I loved it, so did they.
February 06 Thadiyandamol and Tibetan Monastery
This was my first trip with Travel Club of Accenture. Although I've been a member of the club from quite some time, this was their first mail to me. I decided to go the moment I got the mail since I wanted a trip to Coorg from the time I went for Kavya's marriage. That time we couldn't do much sight-seeing. I asked my colleague Remjith and he was ready too. Instantly mailed them back and got the seats booked.
The trip was to Tadiyandamol, the highest peak in Coorg district. Located 250 kms from Bangalore, Tadiyandamol is a favourite trek spot in Coorg, the Scotland of India. This is planned to be a 12 Km two way trek through exotic green slopes and valleys! Our guide for this trip is Ravi Shankar from the organization 'The Wild'.
Although we had a seating capacity of 22 in the bus, we were only 18 when the trip began. Other than me and Remjith, there were a couple of other mallus too which was a quite relieving feeling.
We left Bangalore by 10:00 pm on 3rd February. We reached base camp at 6:30 am, 4th February. It was like a cottage but slightly different. It was run by a family and the food is provided by them from their home kitchen. The rent was economical and the facilities were pretty good. I think the name of the cottage was KING COTTAGES, I'm not sure though.Post freshening up and having breakfast, we started for the trek at 9:00 am. We were told that lunch for all will be packed and made available on our way back. It was carried by foot by one of the workers at the cottage.
This was the toughest and longest trek I ever did. We walked for a total of 12 kms, 6 uphill and 6 downhill. The final 3 kms was pretty steep. We took around 3 hours for the uphill climb. While we were walking slowly out of exhaustion, one guy passed us although he was walking on a plain ground. He later told us that he is French guy and is quite experienced in trekking. He has climbed even bigger hills in Nepal and other countries. The most amazing fact was that he took only 1.5 hours for the trek. One hell of a guy.
The hill is not that beautiful at the top. Not on the way up too. It's worth only for the joy of trekking. Only trekkers entertained here, not sight-seers We reached back at base camp by around 4:00 p.m. There was a palace near back which we had the plan of visiting on our way back, but everyone was so tired that we dropped it. We later in the day had group activities like camp fire at the base camp followed by dinner. We also had the opportunity to talk to the resort owners and got to know about their culture and business.
They have a different culture of their own, as a matter of fact; they have a totally new language too. Their main business is coffee and paddy cultivation. They unlike other Hindus don't worship gods. They worship only their forefathers who are no longer alive. They are known by their family names like in Kerala and they are great Hockey lovers too. The last time they had a tournament there, 260 teams participated. They claimed that it's a record.
On 5th Feb morning, we had an early breakfast and left for Coorg. We had a chance to visit some of Coorgs' famed travel locale, the Tibetan monastery. It's an awesome place where the Tibetan monks live. The buildings are huge and awesome. It had huge Buddha statues in golden colour and there were lots of beautiful paintings all around. It's worth a place to visit at least once. It was also nice to see a lot of Tibetan monks in their traditional costume. After that we had lunch and headed back by around 3 o'clock. We reached Bangalore back by around 9.30 pm. My friends were there in Forum watching Malayalam movie 'The Lion' in PVR cinemas there. So I joined them, had dinner and went back home safely.
It was a physically demanding trip. Even on the first day I developed pain in my legs which worsened as days passed. But overall it was a great trip. It was well organized, the trip mates were awesome and the food we had all the way was amazing. I was greatly worried about the trip even before I started it. On Friday, I got mail from my manager that I'll be moving to a new package from Monday which was much tougher compared to the existing one. Then my bike got a flat tire a few hours before we started the trip. In my haste to repair it, I lost my specs some where. I was thinking of what worse can happen next when I started the trip. But over all, it was very satisfying and I'm a happy guy now. Great trip, great weekend. Hats of to Travel Club, Accenture. January 31 Karimchamundi Theyyam
This post is to give a brief idea about Karimchamundi Theyyam. First things first. Theyyam is a popular ritual art form found in Northern Kerala mostly in the districts of Kannur and Kasargod. Theyyam is normally performed in Kaavu not in Temples. Kaavu is a small representation of temple, but is found mostly privatly owned. Also the gods worshiped there are different (mostly one among the 10 avatars of Mahavishnu)
I had a private function at home on 21st of January. It was a big occasion when most of my family and relatives were present. It was associated with the restoration of Sarppakkavu at my tharavadu. But sadly I couldn't join them because of work pressures that weekend. My feelings and concerns are expressed in my yahoo blog entry Job V/s family.
So I went home this time taking leave on 27th of January. 26th of January was a national holiday on account of India's 57th Republic day. Got the opportunity to attend Puthiyakaavu Temple Utsavam for the first time even though the temple is just 5 minutes of walk from my place. I never could manage to be in Kannur at this time of the year before. This time I head from someone about this Theyyam called Karimchamundi.
This is a very rare Theyyam attributing to its scary nature. Karimchamundi is performed at 3 o'clock at night and only lasts for an hour or two. Also this Theyyam performs a very rare act of killing chickens. Normally Theyyams doesn't do animal killings. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to watch it and so me and dad got up at 2 AM and went to the place.
I'm not sure about the kaavu's name. I think it's Ilamurikan temple. Its near to a place called Vankulathuvayal, at around 8 kms from Kannur city. On reaching there we got a clue on what's in store from the entrance itself where there was a board which said "Women are not permitted inside". As soon as the performance all the lights were switched off to increase the dramatic effect.
Karimchamundi has his face decoration in black unlike other Theyyams. It had dressing like Theechamundi and Vishnumoorthy but from the Karimchamundi's recites it seemed that it is an incarnation of Kali (Goddess!!!). Karimchamundi also said that even Yaman is afraid to look at her. But the face mask Karimchamundi wore in the middle of the act was that of Varaham (wild boar) which is the third avatar of Mahavishnu.
After an hour of performance, Karimchamundi started to do what it was famous for. Biting chickens. These chickens were given as offerings to the kaavu. Karimchamundi first cleans the chickens neck peeling off the feathers. Then it holds the chicken (the head in one hand and leg in the other) like a flute and bites right in it's neck and then plucks the head off and throws it in the air. Its pretty scary to watch and no wonder ladies are not permitted inside. Not to mention that people are scared to visit the kaavu on normal days too.
It's something which you have to watch to feel it. I have posted a couple of pictures in the album here. I'm afraid I couldn't completly grasp the beauty of the act in camera. In case you are interested in watching it, lemme know, Ill keep you informed about any performance which will occur next. Of course, the act is pretty rare to find.
Please go through the pictures and give comments. Help me improvise. January 16 Sreejith ban gaya MCSD.NETIn yet another daring endeavour, I touched one more milestone in my career. I passed microsoft certification of MCSD.NET today.
Hope you had read my blog when I cleared MCAD.NET. Here is the link. Here are the extra two exams I cleared after being certified as MCAD.
Compared to MCAD, this one was more tough. I had never worked on VB.NET and Solution Architecture is a totally new game for me. But still I emerged as a champ. Sometimes I feel its too good to be me. January 10 Paramekkavu & ThiruvampadiLast weekend I was fortunate enough to visit Paramekkavu & Thiruvampadi temples in Thrissur, Kerala. There are the temples were the famous Thrissur pooram is conducted. Here is a photo of thrissur pooram.
I was there for my cousin's marriage. Reached Thrissur town a little late by around 11.30 AM. So the temple was closed then. But got a beautiful view of temples from there and I took these photos. I believe these turned out fine. Waiting to hear your comments.
January 02 Ending the year with a trip to Hogenakkal
There wasn't a much better way for me to celebrate the new year than celebrating it with a tour to an exotic place. And I did that in sytle. I had a trip to a beautiful place called Hogenakkal on 31st of December 2005. This new year I satisfied two long standing unfulfilled wishes. 1) A long drive in a bike and 2) visit to Hogenakkal. Hogenakkal is a well heard place. A lot of movies has been shot here, the recent one being the Malayalam movie called Naran. Hogenakkal is a place around 180kms from Bangalore. Initially me and my room-mate Manoj were in a confusion whether to take the trip in a bike. None of my other room-mates were quite interested and we couldn't hire a cab for the reason of being economical. It was not until the morning of 31st that we decided to go. We got up late from sleep and by the time we finally said an OK to the tour, it was 9.30 AM. We had a quick breakfast at Domlur and then we started off in a Fiero FX bike. We knew 180 kms would take around 5 hours and luckily it took more or less the same time. Manoj drove most of the way since he owned the bike. Only when I thought he wasn't having enough speed, I took the handle in my hand. The way to Hogenakkal was via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Kaveripatana and Dharmapuri. The road till Krishnagiri from Bangalore is excellent, 4 line and without gutters. After that the road worsens. Near to Dharmapuri, the road is like a track for dirt birking. The average speed for some kilometers had to stay down below 30 kmph. Once the road condition improved, I took on the steering. And I made sure that the average speed stayed above 80 kmph for the next 30-40 kilometers. By the time we reached Hogenakkal it was 2 o'clock. We took lunch from a hotel there called CMH. It was owned by malayalees and we food good homely food. Its very hard to find good kerala food in Bangalore, even in malayalee restaurants. Bangaloreans prefer spiceless and sweet sambhar which most of the mallus wont like. Not to talk about Puliyogere, lemon rice and other bangalore delicacies which I cant even think about eating. From there the only way to see the waterfalls was to take a Coracle. It costs a handy sum, let me tell you. Normally they take 4-5 people in them and they demand 120/head if its just a ride and around 150-200/head if we want them to wait in between to take a bath in the water. But we were just two. We cannot pay so much for a ride. We said we will pay 300, not more. And finally he agreed. Neither of us had options, so he had to. The falls is a beauty to watch. Amazing. We can go upclose and see it and even feel it. Its a huge fall, its a combination of a lot of falls rather. A large amount of water flows through them, it looks like a miniature Niagra We took a light dip in the water too. Its not like a bath you normally get in any river or falls. Here since the water flows very fast and since the water is too deep, there is a small place near by, where you can get your body wet. Its not steep, there aint enough room for you to swim, and the fish in the water sure makes you tickle. They wont even allow you to stand and pose in the water. Luckily the fishes were interested only in the toes. By 5, we headed back. We reached Bangalore by around 11 PM. Night driving was much toughter along the way. For the first 100 kilometers until Krishnagiri, there are no street lights. And with that bad condition of the road, that sure is enough trouble invited. We slipped on the way once when Manoj was driving and when I was driving, we narrowly missed a lorry while overtaking. The tourist busses and lorries take much portion of the road and with their high beam lights once we were forced to go off-road while not driving in a slow speed. After krishnagiri, I took the handle again. I made the bike's speedometer touch the 100 kmph mark for the first time. I covered a handsome 40-50 kilometers in a little above 30 minutes. That was a drive of a life time. One which I sure gonna remember for a long time to come. By the end of the journey, we sure were worn out and tired. Our back and neck were paining like anything. But we took time and explained about the great trip to our room-mates that night itself in full excitement. Thats what make the trip's thrill complete. Its the best trip I had from Bangalore. A definite not-to-be-missed place. But I would recommend not to take a bike for the trip. Its a tough ride with bad roads and night riding is a pain with merciless lorry drivers and chilly night climate. Also carry quite some hard earned cash with you. For the coracle ride and an optional massage(Rs.100) there, you need to spent some money. So pack your bags, get set and go. I'm waiting to hear your experiences on the trip to Hogenakkal. And don't forget to call me if possible for the trip as well. I'm dying to go there again. I have coined together the photos taken on the trip to a video. Click here to view it. Do post comments. December 20 Swamiye saranam ayyappa
It has been very hectic times lately in my life. This month has been full tight. The package I was working in my project was nearing its completion. Had lots of stuff to do to make it ready for the release. I had plans of going to sabarimala on 16th. For that I had applied for leave on 15th, 16th and 19th. But as days progressed, that seemed to be impossible.
I didn't have my tickets booked from Bangalore to Kannur. My return tickets were booked though. I wasn't sure when I could leave Bangalore. I wanted to leave on 14th. But even on 13th there was so much of work pending. I became more and more doubtful about my trip. Was getting nervous too.
I left office at 12 PM on 13th. I was getting frustrated. I called up home. Told parents that the trip was still in a doubtful stage. They got upset too. My mom conveyed this to her mom and my dad's mom. You know what, the very next day there were a lot of prayers and offerings going temples way.
 The next day things were tight as well. There were so much of work pending and I wasn't courageous enough to go and ask my PL about my planned absence the day after. But by evening, the unexpected happened. PL himself came to me and said you can have leaves tomorrow and day after. It might be coincidence but still I believe it was Lord Ayyappa and my grand mothers' prayers that helped me when I was standing absolutely helpless.
I rushed to the bus stand, fortunately got tickets to Kannur. There wasn't much rush. Reached Kannur on 15th morning. Went to Akliyath Siva temple near my mom's sister's house and I wore the maala which is customary before the trip to sabarimala.
The morning next day at 11 AM, I started of the trip to Sabarimala after a prayer at Thalap sundaresha temple, Kannur. I had booked tickets in Vivekananda Travels who organizes package trips to Sabarimala. The duration of the trip was 3 days and the ticket rate was 900 including food and accommodation.
The first temple we visited was Kadampuzha Bhagavathi temple in Malappuram district. The temple is believed to be established by Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya. It's in a beautiful location in the middle of a forest. Nice calm and quiet place. Then we headed off to Guruvayoor.
Reached Guruvayoor Sreekrishna Temple by around 6. Guruvayyor got its name because it is a temple which is believed to be established by Guru (Deva guru Brihaspathi) and Vayu (Vayu devan). It's a very famous temple with huge rush all around the year. Could spend a lot of time inside the temple. Could manage to get inside too. Normally we have to stand in queue for hours to get inside. But fortunately there wasn't much rush when I was there. When I was living in Ernakulam, I never could go inside though I had visited the temple a number of times. Felt so happy because the trip was giving me good fruits.
The next day we got up early at 2 AM and started off at 3 AM. The first temple to visit was Tripayar Shri Rama Temple. Since we reached there early in the morning at 4, the temple was not open then. So we just circled around the temple and came back. Then we visited Kodungalloor Bhagavathi temple and then Chottanikkara Bhagavathi temple.
Chottanikkara has been my favourite temple. I'm not in a habit of visiting temples. The only temple I was attached to was Chottanikkara. Reason unknown though. Got an hour to spend there. I was extremely happy again. Chottanikkara temple has two Bhagavathi prathishtas. One is the Santhaswaroopam (melkkavu) and the other is Roudraswaroopam(keezhkkavu). I couldn't inside melkkavu since there was so much of rush there.
Then we went to Vaikom, Kaduthuruthy and Ettumanoor temples, all Siva temples. It's believed that these three temples were established by Parasuraman on the same day at the same time. So if we visit these three temples in a single day, its equivalent to visiting Kailasam. So got the good fortune to be at the same place at the same day as well.
Then we headed to Erumeli. Reached there by 1 PM. There we do the ritual called Petta thuttal (dance). It is compulsory for people who are going to sabarimala for the first time (kanni ayyappanmar). Though I was there in Sabarimala, it was as long as 20 years back. I don't remember anything now so I also joined the dance. It was an amazing experience of dancing in sun at mid-noon shirtless on main road. Loved doing that. Kanni ayyappanmar need to collect sharam (arrow) also from there which has to be dropped in Sharamkuthiaal near Sabarimala Temple.
After starting from there we reached Pampa by around 3 PM. It's the closest place to Sabarimala reachable by road. There you have the Pampa river which is a holy river. I took a dip in the water which is believed to wash out our sins. I also gave bali to my dear ones who passed away.
Then we started the climb. It's a 5 kilometer climb. But it's very steep, at least the first couple of kilometers. Fortunately the road is concreted, but still then it's a tough task. It would take hours to reach the top. I took 2-2.5 hours. Then we could see the temple.
By 6.30 after standing long time in the queue, I was able to fulfill my long ambition. To climb the golden 18 steps of Ayyappa temple (Pathinettampadi). Then I saw the Ayyappa idol. It's so beautiful and calm, you would want to see it for a long time. It's a special feeling then. You won't be thinking of anything else but Ayyappa. The only thing that your mind will be speaking would be the mantra "Swamiye saranam Ayyappa".
After that we visited Malikappurathamma, Nagam and navagrahams, and then we went to the room to take rest. There we unpack the irumudikettu, take the coconuts filled with Ghee, break it and collect the ghee in a container. This ghee is then given to the temple for Abhishekham early morning at 4 the very next day and collected back as prasadham. Also the other items in the irumudikettu namely avil, malar, camphor, dry grape, kalkkandam, vellam, rose water, sandals, kalabham, bhasmam, kunkumam , ... I don't know whether I'm forgetting anything. These are collected and mixed up as per use. These are then distributed as prasadham to the devotees who brought them there.
After 4 AM the next day, after we collected the ghee after abhishekam, we start to climb back. The downhill descent is tougher than the uphill climb. The being the router being rough and bad and also the body weight comes in the front foot rather than the back foot when you climb up. We reached the bottom of the bill by around 7 AM and then headed back home.
On the way we also visited Malliyoor temple near Kottayam. It's a Ganapathi temple. We lunch there and then started our journey again. On the way, since we were coming via Kozhikkode, we had the opportunity to buy some good Kozhikkodan halwa which is very famous. Fortunately, nobody was interested in buying liquor at Mahi (Since Mahi is a union territory, liquor is very cheap there).
Reached Kannur by 10. My mom and dad were there to pick me up. It was such a relieving journey. Though I slept for less than 3 hours for 2 days continuously, I was not feeling the tiredness because of the extend of enthusiasm everyone had all the way. This was a special journey in the sense that this was a journey which I planned around a year ago. This was to thank the mighty Ayyappa for doing something great in my life. Though I had other plans of doing it, he made a better alternative and did that for me. The route is not important, only the destiny is. And I'm very happy and satisfied about it. Thank you Ayyappa.
October 10 A R Rahman Live
Day before yesterday, 8th of October 2005, I went for A R Rahman Concert in Palace Grounds Bangalore. Here is my experience. The program was supposed to start at 7. But it started raining in Bangalore from 4 itself. I was in office then and waited for long before going to Arun Ravi's hotel. By 5.30 when the rain stopped I went to Pai Viceroy in JC Road where Arun Ravi was staying. By the time I reached there it started raining again. We called up the organizers and they said the show will go on in spite of the rain. So me and Arun decided to go. But it was harder than we thought. The rain was getting stronger and stronger. We had to stop and wait in between for the rain to lessen when the conditions became unsuitable for riding a bike. Finally we reached the concert place by around 8. We thought we missed a major part of the show. But the show was also getting delayed due to rain. The place was a total mess. All around it was water and mud. We were totally wet and in the cold night we were shivering like hell. To make matters worse, we had Rs.500 tickets which were for the farthest pavilion from the stage. The stage was barely visible there and only way to make out what's happening there was to listen to announcements through mike. Finally the rain stopped. The show started at 9. It was a rather shaky start unlike expected. The singers were not initially in sync. and the speakers seemed to have echo. And nothing in the stage was visible. But since majority of the crowd had left due to rain, the police allowed people in the back to jump barricades and move to front. So we jumped a couple of barricades and finally reached the front (probably Rs. 5000) ticket. Then we all started enjoying the show. The maestro started playing the best of his creations and the crowd was swinging and dancing along. It was a nice performance from hariharan, shanker mahadevan, sadna sargam, sukwinder and the lot. A R even played some of his unreleased tracks. Each song was beautiful and sounded as original as hearing it on CD. In between, Sivamani also had a great solo performance on percussion which was greeted by applauses and cheer by the crowd from beginning to end. All in all, it was an amazing concert to watch. And when he was playing his last song, "Vande mataram", it started to rain again. This time it was even stronger. Despite the rain, the crowd continued to be in their seats, singing along. Great spirit, great audience. The place could have been easily made a hell by the crowd if they wished to. But they kept it cool. Stood their grounds, and when the concert ended, left the place in peace. Three cheers to them. It was indeed remarkable. Since it was raining, me and Arun Ravi decided to hang around the place until the rain ceases. The rain stopped after one and a half hour. Till the time we stood in a small shelter, shivering and praying for the rain to cease. Finally when the rain ceased, we drove back home, took a couple of sandwiches from the room service and slept happily. It was a very hectic day. And for around 6 hours we stood in rain fully drenched in water. But still we were fortunate enough to watch a splendid performance by his highness A R Rahman himself. So at the end of the day it's been such a good day. September 26 MLTR Live
Yesterday I went for the concert of MLTR in palace ground, Bangalore; my first concert of a foreign band. Earlier, I had been to the concerts of Parikrama, Moksha, Euphoria and the like but this one was totally different. MLTR focuses on soft rock and love ballads unlike others.
The concert started at around 7.30 and ended before 9.30. Didn't even know how fast the 2 hours went by. It was so amazing. The songs were so real to hear it live as if we hear it on the CDs. They played the best of their songs, all with the perfection they can possibly achieve. That was so lovely and romantic.
Unlike the other concerts which played head-banging music, MLTR played soft songs all the time. People were just standing and singing along, without screaming and jumping. To me, without the body getting involved, the mind doesn't enjoy
. But hey, who cares. It's all about music and about MLTR. Enjoy!!! MLTR rocks.Today despite being busy at office with trainings and self study, all the time my mind was humming the tunes I heard yesterday.
In my search for freedom
And peace of mind I’ve left the memories behind Wanna start a new life But it seems to be rather absurd When I know the truth Is that I always think of you Someday someway Together we will be baby I will take and you will take your time We’ll wait for our fate Cos’ nobody owns us baby We can shake we can shake the rock |
