last day @ IBC

 Rest of the pics.....

My office is shifting to a new place. This older location near Dairy Circle, Bangalore was really nice. Attaching view from one of the Huddle Rooms.

Cycle Diaries

Rest of the pics

I think Bangalore is just awesome place for cycling and I try to utilize any opportunity I get. Asked Rags (one of my roommate) if he is interested ? He said yes then I planned, didn't disclose the distance though :-).  We started for the shri Ravishankar Ashram in Kanakpura road, around 25 kms from our place. I had visited the place earlier and had liked some locations on hill top.

Google maps helped us to figure out the route, but there were quite a few. While going we choose to go via Koramangala -> Bannerghatta road -> NICE road -> kanakpura road. NICE road was really nice :-), It was just awesome for cycling. The slope was also helping us, you hardly need to use paddles.  We later came to know that bicycles are not allowed on that road :-).

Reached Ashram, there was a shuttle showing various places at Ashram. The Sumeru and Viskalakshi Mantapas are really nice places. Had lunch there (they serve free lunch to everyone) and after resting under the shade of the green trees for about an hour started our back journey.

In our back journey we choose different route, kanakpura road -> Banashankari -> koramangala. The road was in very bad shape due to rains and the Namma Metro construction work. And to add there was no mud-guard on the back tyre of my cycle so I was getting a constant spray of mud on my back. We reached our home around 5.00 PM after travelling more than 50 Kms........ huuuufffff quite a distance.

Not to mention the Bangalore's weather was very supportive :-)

Dussera @ Mysore

Dussera @ Mysore Enjoy the pics......

It was a Random plan, visited Mysore for a day during dussera, as we had heard a lot about it. We first visited Chamundeshwari Temple on the hill top. Then we are told from local people that there are various events, most notable Royal Parade at the Palace, Torch light parade at Bunni Mantapa and various shows at Vrindavan Gardens. The more important aspect came a bit later that you need passes to attend these and there is no way you can get them on the spot. We thought for a moment what to do as we didn't have any passes, then decided lets give a shot and we reached the venues on time.

First event Royal Parade at Palace, the venue was already full with people from all over India and many foreigners. We stayed at the main gate for some time, and soon the whole area was getting filled with more people like us :-). With request/force they finally allowed everyone inside. We could manage some place to sit in front, actually we tried to stand sometimes to get a better view, but the crowd behind us reacted like we asked for separate Telangana or may be more Cauvery water :-). The parade was very lively presenting various cultures and music of karnatka. The show came to an end with Elephant Balarama carrying idol of goddess Chamundeshwari.

Till we reached the second venue Bunny Mantapa it was 7.30 PM and again the same situation no passes and again the same solution :-). So they allowed us inside, It was even better we got proper sitting places in the Gold class of VIP quota :-). It was a huge ground with flood lights all around. The show started with a wonderful Laser show and performance, followed by wonderful aerobics, in between some people landed from sky in parachutes and other events went on. Then came the big event Torch light parade, this wasn't the advertisement of EverReady batteries or something as I first thought :-) 900 karnatka Police staff entered the stadium holding the torches (Mashal). It was great parade with perfect synchronization. They got arranged in various positions and displayed messages with their torch lights, It was just awesome.

We didn't have time to visit the third place as it was only one day trip. My final comments :  One should definitely visit Mysore during Dussera but better pre plan everything. The festival goes on for 9-10 days with lots of events organised daily. 

Coastal Andhra, A Glimpse from Train

I clicked some pics while I was going to my home town Vizianagaram from Bangalore. The train route covers a significant part of coastal Andhra. Enjoy the greenary.....

IISc Jhankaar 2010

I was pretty much aware that even if you go on time what happens in SDA (Satish Dhawan Auditorium), if any function is organized there. So I was there with some other enthusiasts half an hour before to attend the IISc Jhankaar 2010.

    It was just wonderful performance by everyone with perfect blend of Indian and Western dances. When I was watching The Krishna and Gopis sequence, I really got a glimpse how Krishna's presence would have mesmerized Gopis and everyone present there. I am really not a correct person to describe all the events but one thing is for sure as part of audience we enjoyed each moment of it, be it Maharashtriyan Folk Dance, Bhangra, Semi classical stuff or all the varieties of western dances Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Rock n Roll, Jive etc. So very well done IISc Dance Club.

    I clicked some pics but I couldn't do much with my point n shoot camera from audience seat. It was bit dark and there were very rare still moments during the dance. Still putting some of them here for a glimpse of the event.

    

 

A Rainy Day

Posting some pics of a Rainy Day, From our Apartment (Navya Nest) terrace. I was very surprised to see the different patterns everywhere, tried to capture some of them.

Thats stupid ....

        I went to a tree plantation program in Domlur (nearby Koramangala) and was discussing the event with one of my friend. There were around 120 saplings to be planted that day and around 5-6 varieties of saplings were there.

        We started planting the saplings as planned, at some places creating cluster of trees of the same type,  was also part of the plan. I dig a big hole and suddenly realized that there was no sapling of the expected tree in that cluster. We didn't want to waste the digging effort so I brought some other type of sapling and planted it. The program was over once we are done with all the saplings.

        While telling about this incident to my friend I felt so happy that see whenever I will visit this place I'll be knowing that I planted this tree as that was different from the whole cluster of trees. I was happy like a kid who did some great job and my friend, she very well knew this kid needs some encouragement. I got a praise saying that you did a wonderful job, I felt even more happier.

        Once the call was over I realized, that was stupid, he he he :-)