Good going …

One of my new year resolutions  was to visit 10 new places this year. This post is a mid year review of how much has been achieved and how is the next half gonna be executed I have not been posting my travelogues online, so the world doesnt know yet where have I been.

Whats acheived ?

Warangal/Yadagirigutta – One day trip in the month of March , wanted to make it a bike trip but went by train and bus. I liked this trip, it made me feel like a real traveller. The trip was decided at 23:30 in the night and off we went at 05:30 hrs. Research for the trip was made only using google and the internet This trip was never planned but it happened so there were lots of minor and major mods done to the trip, like Yadagirigutta was never on the list but it happened, found a good trav buddy Nitant on this trip.

Guntur/Vijaywada/Amaravati/Kotapkonda — Made this trip in april, courtsey dear friend Sasi. It was during Ugadi, when sasi invited us to his hometown Sattenapalli. Some of  the places visted on this trip are Narsimha swamy temple at Mangalgiri, Ma Durga temple at Vijaywada, the huge 32 feet shiva linga at Amaravati, a quite evening on the banks of river Krishna and finally a short bike tripa and a trek to the top of Kotapkonda. All these places are within the radius of 200 kms and we covered it in 2 days. Oh yes almost forgot to mention it, on this trip we somehow managed to get into the river-side farm house of a billionaire in vijaywada which had a discotheque, an open air bar and a motor boat in it, it was sort of the things you see in TV

Srisailam — This was a very quick 1 day trip to the Lord shiva temple at Srisailam in the month of April. Much of the trip was in an hired Innova, and the heat in the month of April stopped made the trip a very tiring one. Something that made this trip special was it was my first outing with my wud be in-laws !!!

Medak/Pocharam wildlife Sanctuary — Finally a bike trip after a long wait of 6 months with my roomie KD Bhai. There is nothing much to do on this trip,  The destination was just an excuse for the ride Medak has an old but beautiful chruch and a boring Bird santuary. But 250 kms in 8 hrs … nostalgia !!!

Indore/Bhopal/Ujjain – This was the most recent one, last week of june. A trip to remember, not because of the places I visited but because of the people I met It was my first trip in Central India, Indore was much to my expectations, lotsa shopping malls and cute gals, spicy food and hustle bustle of an upcoming metro. Bhopal was an utter dissapointment, better not talk to about it. Ujjain is a beautiful temple city, really enjoyed it.

Whats to be achieved ?

Six months in the year and 5 new places/trips added to the list, good going, perhaps this is the first new year resolution I would be keeping up to.. wooohoo. Research has begun for a trip to Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram sometime in August, and also a bike trip to Nagarjun sagar in Sept. In the pipeline is a bike trip to Bidar too! Would like to go on some adventure trips in the later part of the year.

Jagannath Rath Yatra

Its Rath Yatra today, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannath. It would be a joyous and festive day at Puri today. The deities of Jagannath Mandir – Lord Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra – are traditionally installed on huge chariots (rath) and devotees would pull the chariots through the bada-danda (grand street at Puri) all the way to the Gundicha temple. This is the time when the Lord “comes” to the devotees. Some under-privileged sections, foreigners, and devotees from other religious belief are not allowed in the Jagannath temple at Puri. Lord jagannath comes out this day so that everyone can catch a glimpse of him, it is said that just a glimpse of the Lord takes away all the pains, sorrows and augurs happiness. Devotees chant “Jagannath Swami; Nayan Path Gami; Bhava Tumeh”. It means O! Lord Jagannath! Enter my heart through my eyes.

Normally the festival is in the first week of July, but this time it is on Jun 24th. The monsoons have also been delayed, and its almost 41 C at puri with humidity as high as 92%. The devotees would have a hard time this year. As per news reports, despite the hot and humid conditions, there seems to be no decline in the number of devotees.

Here at Hyderabad, the Rath Yatra is carried out by ISKCON. There are also some special prayers arranged at the new Jagannath temple at Banjara Hills. I will not be able to make it there today, as I am travelling to Indore this evening. Next year I wish Rath Yatra is celebrated at the new Jagannath temple in just the same way as in Puri, that way Oriyas here at Hyderabad would not only get to enjoy the festival but also it would make us feel at home

Today – 06/11/2009

Its such a boring day today … absolutely no work. Its like one of the days when you get tired of browsing and want your manager to assign you some work

Thought this was the right time to checkout twitter, heard a lot about it and wanted to try it. After creating my profile, I was wondering what do I do next ??? Searched for some friends, found a few, started following them. Posted a few updates, but no-one replied, felt like it was like talking to a wall. Then started searching for topics and posted replies to it, aahh now I got it why do they say it twitter Have you ever been near/under a huge tree (preferably a Banyan tree) sometime late evening? All kinds of birds return to their nests and keep chirping like hell, as if , as if the sky is falling down, whith abolutely no-one understanding who is saying what !!! Felt twitter to be the same, there are some many people talking with so many others, its like you are in one big room with the entire world in it, you can talk to anyone and whatever you want. It was like I was lost in this room while trying to find someone to have some meaningful discussion. It was frustrating. Will give it a try again tommorow

Any tips on twitter are welcome

Review : Bajaj Service Center, Kondapur, Hyderabad

Had to write about this …

I own a 2005 Jul Bajaj Pulsar 150 E/S. I am very satisfied with my bike, had no issues till date. Its  just I was never satisfied with the service offered by Rahul Bajaj Begumpet. Those guys suck… I can do a better servicing than them. They just get the bike washed, put an expensive Engine oil, even if you don’t want it, get everything that you don’t want to be done, perfectly On one such occasion I found couple of monograms missing, when I complained the same the reply that I got was “Aap agli baar kahi aur servicing ke liye de dijiye” :O I love my bike and didn’t want to get her serviced at un-authorized places, so had to go with these idiots.

Last month I moved from Begumpet to Madhapur, and last Sunday I gave my bike for servicing at Ultimate’s bike Service, Kondapur. The reception at the service station was warm, one of the technician took my bikeout for a test ride and came back with what he thought had to be serviced, and he was bang on. There were couple of nagging problems which Rahul Bajaj couldn’t fix over a period of 2 years, and now these guys promised me that they will be fixed. I gave them a long list of things to be done, including a battery change, teflon coating brake drum change and some other problems. While leaving the service station I was just thinking the service should not be worse than Rahul Bajaj

Got a call from Ultimate’s bike Service at 6.30 pm, “Sir your bike is ready, please collect it”. Hurriedly went over there, the bike looked spanking new, thanks to the teflon coating, it was done perfectly. Took the bike for a round and was surprised to see all nagging problems had been fixed !!! I was just delighted !!! The service was SUPERB !!! There was attention to every detail, everything was done just the way I asked them to do it. I loved the way the bike has been performing since then, now I don’t take the usual 2 kms route back home, I now take the 5.5 kms long route….

I would recommend everyone Ultimate’s bike Service, Kondapur for all kinds of Bajaj bike servicing, below are the details :

 

Ultimate Bike’s Service

Kondapur
(Near Harsha Totyota Showroom)
ph : 9948573434
Bikes serviced : All

Blogging on the move …

Recently I got myself a new mobile handset, Sony Ericsson W350i. Last night I got the internet configured on it. Got the basic apps like GMaps, GMail and Gtalk downloaded to it. Browsing through the various options found two cool thingie in it. First the RSS feed option, you just need to add the feeds to it and it keeps on updating on the go Next is the Blog this feature. You take a picture, on the go add your text and subject on the phone itself and publish it, and in seconds its there on Blogspot…

I took some pics and posted them here. I know most phones now a days have these features, but was really surprised to see it on a phone worth just 5k, guess technology is getting cheaper, faster than I thought The Blog this feature is something that I wished on my mobile phone. The only drawback, I can post them only on Blogspot not on WordPress.

An Appeal : Missing Apurva

Received a forwarded mail about this missing 8 year old Apurva, this post is an attempt to help her parents find her. I was touched by this story, it has been 5 years since Apurva went missing but his father is still searching for her. I tried to validate this email and did a google search, and found the below excerpt from a News interview… ”I want to see her at least once,” says Sergeant Ravi Shankar of the Indian Air Force, breaking down.

 

Mr Ravi Shankar was posted in CAR-NICOBAR in the year 2004 as a Sergeant in the INDIAN AIR-FORCE. On 26Th of December that year his family fell victim to the unfortunate Tsunami that struck out the eastern coast. He along with his wife and two children (photo below) were washed in the deadly waters. Reaching out his wife managed to cling onto a tree but his small son (picture insight on the left) had swallowed too much water and passed away in her arms. Ravi also in desperation to swim lost grip of his daughter’s (APURVA) hand. She was washed away and was never to be found again. Until one day they came to know of her being sighted at a relief camp. On contacting the authorities they came to know that this little girl was abducted from the relief camp and was missing again. Since then Mr. Ravi Shankar has been travelling to Chennai every year with a hope to see his daughter. He has been publishing  MISSING columns in major Dailys in Chennai. 

 

 

This is APURVA's picture taken in year 2004 with her younger brother.

 

 

 

I request people who own there personal blog pages to post this girl’s picture there as it could be of significant help. In case any news of any nature is found regarding her (APURVA) please drop in a mail at the below mentioned mail id’s or the following address.

 

1. James mathew( 123.mathew@gmail. com )

2. Amit kumar ( amitkumarmajor@ hotmail.com )

3.. khem chandra pan ( khemchandrapan@ yahoo.com )

Or contact:

Mr. RAVI SHANKAR

SMQ – 17/2

AF VAYUSENABAD

TUGLAKABAD

NEW DELHI-110062

Happy Ugadi … Ugadi Subhakansalu

Its the telegu new year Ugadi today, and Gudi Pawa at Maharastra. I dont have any connection to South or Maharastra, or do I have, roomie is from AP and TL from Maharastra Well as usual its a official holiday today and I am stuck here at OFFICE Anyways wishing everyone Ugadi Subhakansalu and Gudi Padwyachya tumha sarvanna Hardik Shubhechha. 

Sasi (my roomie) has invited me to his hometown on occasion of Ugadi. Me and my travel buddy Nitant are leaving for his hometown late evening. We have also planned to visit Vijaywada and nearby places  over the weekend. I tried to push everyone to make this a “bike” trip, but it didn’t work. Atleast I am getting a good break of two days. Will be posting the details of the trip on Monday, until then happy weekend everyone…

Girl Power !!!

13.45 hrs

22nd March 2009

Somewhere in Necklace Road, Hyderabad

I was on my way to Prasads, Masakali was riding pillion. Masakali is da lady love more on her later. We had quite a few arguments on how bad female drivers are and how Masakali cannot ride a bike. Suddenly out of nowhere I challenged her, girl can you ride my bike? that shall prove my point. I thought she would let go of the topic, but to my utter surprise, she said yes I will. She had driven her dad’s scooter quite a few times, but a 150 kg bike (pulsar 150) !!! Now there was no way I could back down, I had to let her try.

I brought the bike to a halt, necklace road was empty with a heavy heart handed over my dear bike to Masakali. After a few instructions on gear shifts and some “pulsar” basics, she was ready to go. I was thinking if we both fall down on the road, what an embarrassment it would be. She puts the first gear and as a pro she slowly releases the clutch, the pulsar responds beautifully and the bike starts rolling. Wow was my first reaction. She slowly scaled gears and the drive was smooth, except for a single instance where she screamed, where are the BRAKES Overall it was 9.5/10. 

The best part of the story is the awe factor, while she was driving and I was riding pillion, everyone on necklace road was staring at us. That was something cool and happened with me the very first time. 

Moral of the story: Never underestimate girl power, and it’s amazing to ride pillion when your girlfriend is driving the bike

Mango showers … ummmmm

Hello world it rained today here at Hyderabad !!! Whoo hoo

Its was the mango shower, remember 7th standard geography? Well mango showers don’t happen in Hyderabad, but what the hell I always had a fascination for rain. Being from a costal area I  have seen a lot of it and when it rains there it rain cats and dogs. But here at Hyderabad its like once in a blue moon especially here at Hyderabad. But somewhere I felt today’s showers to be somewhat special, it was like a blessings from above. I was trying desparately for something since last 8 months and finally suceeded today. Everytime when it rains there is a nice smell when the parched earth is sprinkled with rain water, but this time the smell was different, the sweet smell of success.

Thank you God …

A day at Warangal

It has been almost a week since I did this trip, but didn’t have the time to write about it. It was Friday (Feb 27th) when I decided to go for this trip, just to break free from the very monotonous schedule of mine. I knew I had to go somewhere, but where was the question. Went to Google and tried to find out places near Hyderabad. The best place that I could find was the “Kakatiya Dyanasty capital — Warangal”. As per some websites Warangal had some good tourist attractions that could make a good day trip. I wanted to make this trip a bike trip, but alas no more bike trips. Had to google around to zero in on places to visit and then google maps to get familiar with the city of Warangal. I had planned to go for this trip alone, but luckily Nitant was also interested to come. What more, plans ready and we were leaving the next morning.

It was a saturday morning and we started at around 5 am from our room. Reached Secunderabad station by 5.30, we had planned to go by the Krishna Exp, scheduled at 6 am. But the look of the queue at the ticket counter made us re-think about the next train at 7.30. Nitant went ahead and got the tickets via a local and 20 rs extra. Boarded the train and off we went, it was the first time that Nitant travelled in a general compartment. Boy no need to thank me I had my share long back. We reached Warangal at around 9 am. Found a local S/W engg who helped us plan the city travel. Warangal is a very small city, you can get to any place from any place in a shared auto for just about 6-7 rs !!!

First it was the Bhadrakali temple, reached there by 9.30 am. Read a lot about this temple on various websites and blogs, but it turned out to be a dissapoinment. The temple is a good one but far below my expectations. It had a very beautiful goddess Kali idol, the one with 8 hands and each hand having a weapon. It was a nice place and had a small lake next to it, where some local school children were on a picnic.

 

 

Nitant @ Bhadrakali temple

 

 

 

 

Me @ a lake near Bhadrakali temple

Next was the thousand pillar temple, read even more about it and after the last dissapointment, wanted this to be a hit. We had a quick breakfast and were there by 10 am. It was again a nice temple but again a dissapointment, we wanted it to be a big temple so that we could spend some time here, as there was only more place on our travel list.

The temple is a good example of Kakatiya architechture, but most of temple has been destroyed and only about 10 % of it is left now. It was amazingly cool inside the temple, may be due to the heavy granite structure. Nitant as ususal had a nice plan of taking a pic with some school children out there, it gave him the “Swadesh” feeling.

 

Nitant's "Swadesh" Moment

 

Thousand pillar temple, Warangal

Now the question was it was 10.30 and all our travel destinations were over. Only one was left the Warangal fort, which we found after a  few enquiries, that it will also be a flop. So we had to plan for something else, a few calls later we had two more destinations, Yadagirigutta or Ramappa temple. We went for Yadagirigutta as it was enroute to Hyderabad.

Boarded a n APSRTC “express” bus to Bhongir, and after 2 hrs and 30 mins we were there at Bhongir. During the bus journey found some interesting facts about Nitant, that guy is also a traveller like me Yadagirigutta was about 10 kms from here. After a quick lunch boarded an auto to the temple. Bhongir has a fort there, but we were too tired and it was a hot afternoon to go for the fort which was atop a hill. Yadagirigutta Devasthanam is actually a Laxminarasimha temple atop a hill. It was a quick visit through the temple and we were back at Bhongir by 5 pm. Oh yes almost forgot about Nitant’s encounter the fortune teller at the temple, the ones with the parrot. Well we knew the fortune teller lied, but those were some plesant lies

From Bhongir we boarded one more APSRTC express and were back at Hyderbad by 7 pm. Overall it was a nice trip, I was missing that spirit of travel and got a lot of it and found a nice travel buddy Will be travelling a lot more now…