Me, Myself and My Dreams...

Die Reise nach Deutschland (Teil 2)

2008-07-26T22:48:00.009+05:30

Well, rather silly of me to've left the last one at that, but I'll continue from the taxi ride. It was a rather pleasant experience. Had never experienced such temperatures, such pretty road-side views, such a good machine etc. and was, therefore, quite thrilled. On the Autobahn (freeway), the driver went upto speeds of 180 kmph which again was new and being rather fond of high-speed machines, I was already in my parallel world putting myself in the driver's place and cutting through the January wind, breakneck. Quite pleased I was. The 30 km drive took hardly 20 minutes (again mind-blowing for a Bangalorean) :-).

The Ascot was, and I guess still is, a very quaint, lovely hotel. It is removed from the hustle and bustle of traffic of any kind (not that there is much in Ditzingen), but is still close to the main road and the Bahnhof (railway station). It is also pretty close to a miniature graveyard, and through the graveyard lies the shortest way to the Bahnhof. :-)

I don't quite remember what I ate that day, but I remember that I spent almost the entire day sleeping. I think we went out sometime in the afternoon for some shopping. Yes, we did. It was a Saturday that we reached there, and on Sundays there are generally no shops open there. So we went shopping, and then having come back to my room, I went into slumber. I don't remember if I woke again that day. Doesn't matter. Sunday brought in a new day and a stern test of my elementary German language speaking skills.

I'd had breakfast from the hotel itself (complimentary) and thought I wouldn't need lunch, but found myself hungry pretty soon. Hadn't carried much food apart from biscuits and chocolates, none of which tempted me then (only then). Was too late for lunch from the restaurant below, so walked through Ditzingen hoping to find something to eat, and also to have a look around the place. It was pretty cold even then, around half past three and it was still freezing. I found a couple of places open actually. One, looked Italian, some name followed by Ristorante (am guessing Italian). But there were far too many people in there, so chose not to go in there and so went further ahead and having walked into dead ends in three separate directions, gave up and walked back to the hotel.

On the way back, I found a Turkish kebab place open. Think it was called Golden Kebaphaus (or something like that). So, considering it a safe option (kebab was about as close to familiar food as I could get then, I thought), I went in. The Turk running the place asked me something in German. It was rather strange, an Indian and a Turk in Germany; the Turk speaking what he considered German, that thought never occurred to me though. I guessed that he must be asking me what I was doing in his place when he'd rather be left alone on a Sunday evening. Well I'd learnt some German (or is it Deutsch) via an A1 course from my company, and so was about time I put it to use. I scanned the menu looking for familiar items, while the owner and the chef surveyed me with suspicion. Then having hit upon a choice, I mustered all my courage and German and said quite fluently, "Pizza!". "Mit?" was the obvious response from them. ("Oh shoot!!!") "Er... salami?" OK, if you say so... and the pizza base first and then the meat went into the oven. Meanwhile, I saw that the place also had a number of chairs and tables and thought it must be like one of our little eateries, where one also gets to sit and eat if one chooses to. I also realized that I might not look too bright carrying a pretty large pizza back into a hotel when I might have well got the same thing from there. So, I just put a small question across, "Kann ich... er... I mean can I sit here and eat?". From what I could see, that quite clearly blew the living day-lights out of them. "What??", one of them seemed to shudder. Then he seemed to regain some composure, or thought that this creature might be out of his mind and too much excitement might induce violence etc., and said "No, no... no eat here... NO!". Hmmm... categorical... Ok... No problem... "Can I have a Coke too?" Might as well have something to drink too. "Take anything, no problem!" Ok. Here's the money. See you... "Your change!" "Oh yes, thanks!" Enough adventure for lunch. What happened to the pizza is of course inconsequential. But yeah, I did eat it back in my hotel room. Not great, but who really cares.

That was the end of Sunday, for I went into slumber again, and woke up only sometime early morning on Monday. I was living in the Indian time zone still, you see. And so when Monday finally came, I was glad. Atleast we would be in office, doing something we could pretend to understand. So, by the 8.50 a.m. train, we went to Leonberg where our office was. And that leads me the essence of watching your step at every... well... step.

Having got off at the Leonberg Bahnhof, we were walking towards our office. It might be a km, probably lesser, the walk towards #6, Daimlerstrasse. As we came out of the station, we needed to cross the road, clamber up about a 150 steps (kidding, about 20, I guess) and then take the straight road to reach our destination. Well, we crossed the road, and started going up the steps. As we reached the first platform, I was offered the laptop to carry and take care off. I slung it over my shoulder and header forward. The next step I took forward, I don't know what happened. I don't remember too much of it, but I was looking skywards. I was seeing stars and below the stars I could also see my boots. Then, realization dawned and yeah, I had slipped. The whole thing might've taken 5 seconds, but time is relative to your position I guess. Not minding bystander gasps, I picked myself, which is a lot really, and header upwards, this time with much more careful steps. The wrist took the weight of the, but I could feel nothing then. Must be the cold. The pain lasted for another couple of days and then slowly slipped away. I think, though, that that is a jinxed place, because I clearly remember atleast two other times I slipped at the same place, but didn't fall. I guess I only slid then, but not very nice, no. Unless you're the onlooker of course, in which case it might have been rather amusing. :-)

That was my adventure for Monday, I guess. Tuesday was the case of the room-key-in-the-wrong-bag.

That, of course, could have happened to anybody. Well, like I said in my previous post (I have, you prolly missed it), I wasn't by myself. I was with my PL and since she had a bag with her, I chose to safely keep my room keys in th bag. That way, it would be safe. Well, not a bad idea. Only if you're going to stick together that is. Well, otherwise, you've got to make sure that the person with the key's going to reach the hotel earlier than you. If neither of them apply, then, well... you're going to have to go off on randomly planned walks after coming back from work. Specially once the lounge is as full as it is at those hours. Well, I did too but thankfully had to walk around only 15 minutes when I managed to see her and well , then it was again quite funny. But not if you're the goof with the big "SUCKA!!!!" cloud written over your head. :-)

Well I've been ranting on and on... I guess I will sum the rest of the trip quickly. The rest of the trip was quite OK. The days went well. Except for lunch with pasta. The weekend also brought with it a trip to the superb Mercedes Benz Museum. The museum is a superb demonstration of what good planning, thinking and execution can bring. The thought that has gone into the museum is exceptional. The display starts at the 8th floor with the preliminaries; and you feel like you're walking through generations as you move down the museum. It also outlines the important happenings of those times. The whole experience is absolutely brilliant. I will try to write a separate post on the museum; am not sure I can fit a half-decent description even in this sham of a post.

The star-attraction of this trip was, of course, the trip back. Having got to the Charles De'Gaulle airport fairly trouble free and having gone through the checks, we had lots of time for the flight to Bangalore. The scheduled time was 11.20 a.m. and the boarding time was 10.50 a.m. We just wandered through the numerous shopping centres and made a few little additions to our luggage. Around 10.30-ish we slowly headed towards our boarding gate. CDG is a huge airport; it takes long between gates at times and so we headed onwards knowing there was enough time. As we reached the gate, we thought we'd keep our boarding passes and passports ready. Fair enough. Only that I realized, to my utter horror, that I had neither on me. Well it was 10.45 a.m., 5 minutes to board and no passport! Wow! Didn't have a choice, ran back like mad to the last store we'd stopped in. A couple of inquiries later, some one had kept it safely. Only, they didn't remember where. Another 2-3 minutes later, someone pulled out the passport, boarding pass and my book holding them all and handed them over to me. Relief! Not yet... Have a plane to catch. That wasn't so bad, but for the fact they'd announced that if i didn't make it there immediately they'd be unloading my baggage. I fortunately managed to reach in time to avoid such a contingency and we finally barged into the plane like we'd run into the plane at Bangalore. Like catching the 43D from the Corporation bus-stop, after seeing it stop when you're still at the Hudson Circle signal. :-)

Wasn't too much fun then on, we just flew over lots of place and got off at the HAL airport at about a quarter-to-one in the wee hours of Monday morning. Of course, to commemorate my trip I had to bungle up there too. And so while the authorities asked me to slip my bag into the scanner, I dropped it onto the belt and the bag hit the big, red power switch promply turning the scanner off. Hmmm... the officials seemed at a loss of words on seeing that, specially now that it wasn't turning back on either. I wasn't too popular a guy in the airport at that point in time I imagine. But 15 mins later it was back to working and our bags were scanned, we got out of there and headed homewards.

That was, of course, a pretty uneventful ending to an eventful trip. But yes, it is one I'll always look back at with fond memories. So long for now, thanks for reading if you've got this far. I know it's been a rather long description of nothing, but then...

Die Reise nach Deutschland... (Teil 1)

2008-07-23T22:14:00.000+05:30

Well it's been rather long... ages... no... a little over 10 months since I updated this little thought pit of mine... A number of posts lie unfinished, but I'll let them rot. Not much to say in those.
A lot of water has flown since my last post. Rather pessimistic one that... even silly, when I look back at it. Of course, I haven't gotten any more optimistic or life hasn't gotten any better; in fact, it's taken quite a turn for the worse, and I've gotten used to a pretty miserable existence; but that anyway, is not my topic for the day.

In between these 10 months, I have been to Germany twice. Mostly short trips. (I must add that these were official trips, company sponsored.) The first was for a week and the second for three. The first was a lot more memorable though. One reason being that it was my first abroad and that was quite a tempting prospect. But more because of the number of goof-ups. Must be humanly impossible to jump from blunder to blunder in such a short span of time. When I look back and think about it, it's pretty amusing, embarrassing even.

The trip was basically to attend a technical workshop. That part of it went well, no problems. Only that though.

It all started with the way the travel was planned. I wasn't in town for 4 days at a stretch. On the day I got back, I got to know of my travel plans. It was, well, to happen the very next evening. I (we, rather... my project lead also was in the travelling party) had to take a flight to Delhi first, and then a connecting flight to Amsterdam and from there to Stuttgart finally. All this was fine. But wait, something went missing... what? The tickets. Oh yes, we had no tickets. They were booked and all that, but our rather efficient travel desk chose not to send us our tickets. Well, they finally did and I left office at 2.45 p.m. tickets in hand and lots of time to catch a 5.30 p.m. flight.

I did manage to reach the H.A.L airport (this was thennnn...) just before 5... and after much hustling, was guided to the plane by a rather petrified lady at the Kingfisher counter saying, "Sir, the flight is almost taking off!! You must go right now!!!". Really? Wow... :-)
I got into the flight a little short of breath and looking straight into a pack of blazered business class travellers, looking rather bemused. Felt almost like running after a BTS bus and getting into it. Having done it 4 years with more success than failure, it felt pretty normal. But not for the poor business class babus I guess... I moved in to find my seat and to my infinite joy it was right in between two rather well-sized chappies. The author is no small chunk of humanity himself, and that made for quite a close gathering. Of course, I must add that the cabins up above were stuffed with luggage leaving only the space underneath the seat to keep my little travel bag and that made the journey all the more better with lots of leg-room and no chance of feeling cramped. Well it was to be only a 2 1/2 hour journey. So enough time to lose some flab with all those crunches I guess.

Anyway, the flight took off almost in time and we were mid-air when the entertainment started. The guy to my right (near the window) decided to watch a pretty hilarious Hindi movie called "Heyy Baby". I watched it for a while too. I guessed it was supposed to be hilarious from the rather loud bursts of laughter (not to mention a slightly rocky right side seat) from my right and from a well-mannered gentleman somewhere in front.
We were to land at Delhi at around 8.10 p.m., but were caught in a traffic jam upstairs, not at all unusual for us Bangaloreans. The pilot then must've decided to stay off the jam for a while, so he went around Mathura, Agra and back to Delhi again to keep from getting bored until all the planes went their way. Seeing that most of them had adamantly stayed put, he repeated the dose another couple of times until finally some mercy was shown and we were given the green signal. Landed in Delhi at 8.45 p.m. 4 hours to go until ദ next take off.

Nothing much happened at Delhi and a very sleepy me entered the KLM flight, with an aisle seat beckoning this time around. I don't even remember when or even if we took off, because I'd already fallen asleep. KLM is a pretty decent aircraft, with decent leg-space even for the likes of me. But nothing else is much good, specially not the food. Specially, not the sad attempt at Indian food. Nothing hurts than being woken in the midst of decent sleep to stuff your mouth with elastic sheets (they were called rotis, I think).

An uneventful, uninteresting flight later, we landed at Amsterdam sometime in the early hours of the day. The landing was the best I've ever experienced, though. Nothing as smooth. None till date. Of course, temperatures were pretty close to zero. So, the jerkin had to make an appearance as did the gloves. Then was the connecting flight to Stuttgart and about a couple of hours later we landed. The flight was over. The luggage was safe (rather surprisingly. as we learnt later), so were we. We header to our hotel (The Ascot, Ditzingen). In a Merc. In a journey of firsts, this was my first tryst with one. Quite overwhelmed I was. Inspite of it being a pretty common thing in airports there.

Me, Myself and My Interviews...

2007-09-13T00:30:00.000+05:30

When doubts starting clogging the mind, never dispel them. Let them clog it to a state where one cannot even think. Question yourself, tear your own self to pieces mercilessly and come to a point where you've realized you're just a bag of sh*t that's as unimportant to the world as a parked car is to a dog. Unwanted and despised. Maybe once all your pretensions, all the baggage has been dropped and you realize your worthlessness, you will begin to learn. Learn to think . Maybe, maybe it would lead oneself to something more worthwhile...

Spicks and Specks!

2007-09-01T20:26:00.000+05:30

One more... Their first hit...

Where is the sun
That shone on my head
The sun in my life
It is dead
it is dead
Where is the light
That would play
In my streets
And where are the friends
I could meet
I could meet

Where are the girls
I left all behind
The spicks and the specks
Of the girls on my mind
Where is the sun
That shone on my head
The sun in my life
It is dead
it is dead

Where are the girls
I left all behind
The spicks and the specks
Of the girls on my mind

Where is the girl I loved
all along
The girl that I loved
she's gone
she's gone

All of my life
I call yesterday
The spicks and the specks
of my life've gone away
All of my life
I call yesterday
The spicks and the specks
of my life 've gone away

Spicks and Specks!

The Brothers Gibb...

2007-09-01T20:17:00.001+05:30

Been listening to so much of them lately... If I were to put up lyrics with every passing song, I'd have to keep doing it the rest of my time... Out of this world... Just out of this world...

For Whom The Bell Tolls (Bee Gees)

2007-09-01T20:07:00.001+05:30

Another beautiful, beautiful track...

I stumble in the night
Never really knew what it would've been like
You're no longer there to
Break my fall.
The heartache over you
I gave it everything but I couldn't get through
I never saw the signs
You're the last to know when love is blind

All the tears and the turbulent years
When I would not wait for no one
I didn't stop, take a look at myself
And see me losing you.

When the lonely heart breaks
It's the one that forsakes
It's the dream that we stole.
And I'm missing you more
And the fire that will roar
There's a hole in my soul.
For you it's goodbye
And for me it's to cry
For whom the bell tolls.

Seen you in a magazine
A picture at a party
Where you shouldn't have been
Hangin' on the arm of someone else
I'm still in love with you
Won't you come back to your little boy blue
I've come to feel inside
This precious love was never mine.
Now I know but a little too late
That I could not live without you
In the dark of the broad daylight
I promise I'll be there.

When the lonely heart breaks
It's the one that forsakes
It's the dream that we stole.
And I'm missing you more
And the fire that will roar
There's a hole in my soul.
For you it's goodbye
And for me it's to cry
For whom the bell tolls.

I never knew there'd be times like this
When I couldn't reach out to no one
Am I never gonna find someone
That knows me like you do.
Are you leaving me a helpless child
When it took so long to save me
Fight the devil and the deep blue sea
I'll follow you anywhere
I promise I'll be there.

When the lonely heart breaks
It's the one that forsakes
It's the dream that we stole
And I'm missing you more
And the fire that will roar
There's a hole in my soul
For you it's goodbye
And for me it's to cry
For whom the bell tolls
(FADE)

Barry, Robin and Maurice... *Salute...*

Ordinary Lives... (Bee Gees)

2007-09-01T19:44:00.000+05:30

This song is such a relief... such a relief... One for us ordinary people...

There'll be one small light all over the world tonight.
The search will go on for the one.
It was love with no name
And we glowed in the sun.

There was one small dream,
Incredible highs and lows,
What little we knew living ordinary lives (lives).
Made a dream for you, living ordinary lives (lives).

Ordinary people living ordinary lives.
Ordinary people living ordinary lives.

We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.

The clock on the wall keeps moving,
Time stands still,
No matter how the dice may fall,
Someone else always gets to call the number.

Say goodbye cruel world.
No pity no pain tonight.
Whatever the cost all is lost.
If this is love with no name,
Then it's all in the stars.

Whether it's wrong (wrong) or right,
There's no one to blame no (no) lies.
What else could we do
Living ordinary lives (lives)?
Made a dream for you,
Living ordinary lives (lives).

Oh, oh. We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people.

What else could we do,
Living ordinary lives (lives)?
Made a dream for you,
Living ordinary lives (lives).

Oh, oh. We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.
We were ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Simple lyrics and beautifully rendered by the immortal Bee Gees....
"The clock on the wall keeps moving,
Time stands still,
No matter how the dice may fall,
Someone else always gets to call the number." My word!!!

Hope...

2007-08-31T20:45:00.000+05:30

It must be the most vain of feelings... When all is lost, we still clutch at a last imaginary straw. In the midst of all our helplessness, it seems to give some meaning to our torment. And every moment, as the struggle goes on, as conflicts increase, that feeling seems to be the only solace. A chance in an otherwise unforgiving life... It's called hope...

The part that never happened... :-(

2007-07-15T21:42:00.000+05:30

I never could compose the third and final part of our trip... I guess I'll stop it at that too... Been too long now... :-(

A Trip Together... A Joy Forever... (contd.)

2007-06-06T21:53:00.000+05:30

Part II - Meenmutty Falls

Having made the trek back towards our TT from Soochippara falls, we were now ready to continue our journey. The braver lot having tasted blood... I mean water, from right below the falls, they were looking for a chance to dive into the second waterfall. Meenmutty beckoned. We couldn't wait to get there. Any delays made everyone restless. A bottle of Sprite later, we were on our way. The route was again capturing our imagination. The curves, the tea plantations, the little houses atop the little hillocks were a pleasing sight. The welcome change from the concrete and glass jungles in the city seemed to make everyone fresh. Everybody had a whale of a time laughing, joking... all in good spirit. In this vein we made it to Meenmutty via Meppadi and Vaduvanchal towns. The place was very sombre. It had a quiet about it. It wasn't exactly by the nearest main road or town and it showed. There was just a house there and a few jeeps parked. We asked about and a friendly local gave us directions.

He told us that it was a kilometer walk along a fairly even (relatively) road... then a slightly steep descent towards the falls. We asked if it was possible to get into the water. He, being polite, didn't laugh us off. There was an offer to get us a jeep. But the walk was what everyone was there for. We walked on. The road was a little marshy. But it was ok generally. We made our way towards the tougher part of the journey knowing not what lay ahead. And not a lot later, the descent started. It was comfortable to start off with. Just a curving small path, with place to walk one at a time. Piece of cake. Well... it went on... and on... and on... We couldn't hear water yet, so we knew we had a while to walk. Then we saw people on their way up. A polite inquiry and the responses were like... "5 kms more... very steep... to dangerous." "Nothing there at all... just a small opening to see some water falling." Well a waterfall is basically that, why complain? And people were really panting. Hands on knees, some unable to move.

We looked at each other. A smirk and a grin later, we were on our way again. The path though got increasingly steeper and more difficult. It started to get a little slippery at places. But sticking together was a great thing. We just guided each other along and things went well. Then, after a while the path was more imagination and less visible. You see, now were well and truly into the jungle.

Welcome to the Jungle... Welcome to the Jungle...
The path now on was between and below trees, with roots of other trees as foothold and branches of some other trees as support. Whew! But no one wanted to stop. It was one experience no one wanted to miss. It was tough. It was dangerous. But if you were careful, it could be done. And we did. After a while, the sound of water falling became clearer and louder. That only made us want to reach there more. We really didn't know how long, how far or what lay in store. People we met every 10 minutes kept telling us it was another 20 minutes. So we stopped asking. And as the water got louder and we knew we were almost there, we got our second wind. It was pretty tiring at times. But the fact that we were close drove us on. One of our dearest pals, KB as we call him had a tough time. His shoes simply wouldn't let him carry on. He thought it best to rest and we found him a nice ledge to wait for the Cobras to turn up. :-) About 10 minutes more and the water was visible. It was a short climb down now. It still was risky, but no more than we'd been through.

And then we were there. This sight took the weariness out of us in an instant. The water gushing down in a torrent, the sound, the forest around... Heaven in the midst of a jungle...
The sight by the fall was no less majestic. Nature and her beauty. Wish I could show it in its entirety. No camera could capture it. None whatsoever. We had a few nice shots with the falls in the background. The place to stand was only a little ledge. We took our snaps and then slowly trudged back. The entire walk downwards had taken about 50 minutes. It was an uphill task getting back now. LITERALLY!!!

At around 3.45 pm, I think, we started the climb back. It was tough on the body. But less risky. The uphill climb meant lots more of support and lesser chance of falling. So slowly again we made our way up. We reached KB and his ledge soon and made our way upwards. The climb was less adventurous. It was pretty tiring though. Second uphill journey of the day and it was taking its toll.

It seems a law of nature. The beginning of a climb is always the hardest. Once you settle into a rhythm you just get used to it. Doesn't make it any easier, but it's a lot more manageable. And that way, we made it higher up till there was wayside shop with buttermilk. "Mor" as is the term in Malayalam. With pants ringing, "Yeh Dil Mange Mor", we all went into the little shelter. Had a glass or two of the refreshing drink. And then 10 minutes later, we were on the road proper. Now it was no problem and we reached out TT in another 15 minutes.

The little house at the corner of the road had a well. And everyone quenched his thirst with the spring water. Cold and fresh.

That was end of the adventure for the day. It was 4 p.m. and we started back towards Kalpetta town. To put our feet up and get some rest.

We hadn't had lunch. So we stopped on the way back at Meppadi's Hotel Taj, had a bite to quieten growling stomachs and then we were on our way back again. There was an idea to visit Pookode lake, which offered people boating and some fun in general. But we could reach there only by 6, which was closing time. So, Pookode had to be shelved. And it was back to PPS, Kalpetta - our shelter.

We got there at around 7. All I wanted to, was to lie down. There was also the group dinner at the restaurant below, planned for 9 p.m. So we just freshened up. And waited for everyone to assemble. The dinner was the only sad part of the trip. The meals were served late, the waiter got on everybody's nerves, and it was such a mess, we were glad once we managed to get out. I wouldn't want to elaborate. I can't live through the episode again.

Then it was back to the rooms again. 6 in a room. We played Dumb Charades in our room for a while, 6 of us. We chose the hardest ways to represent simple stuff and an hour went by with more laughter and fun. Then all I remember about the day is that I switched off the lights. The next thing I remember is Sunday morning, approx. 7 a.m. People already dressed ready for the long day ahead.

A Trip Together... A Joy Forever...

2007-05-28T20:56:00.000+05:30

Wayanad... An unknown to me... atleast till Saturday last... It's a place that's often been in the news and mostly for the wrong reasons. The issue (at Muthanga) between the tribal populace and the government had taken such an ugly turn that it shook the very base of the ruling Govt. at that point in time. There were also lots of people visiting the place. The mountains and the natural settings of the place offered many people time in peace away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It also offered the adventurous a chance to stretch their legs and go on energy-sapping treks and rock-climbing expeditions. But all this was still only hearsay to me... and I'd daresay to most of our gang that chose Wayanad as the place to go for a trip together, before we went our ways. Most of them had got fabulous opportunities to pursue their higher education in some of the better universities abroad/here. Some had got opportunities to work on-site for their firms. Some of us like me had nothing happening, but this was a chance to spend some quality time with all these fellas who had become very close friends.

We, i.e. the 12 of us, left Bangalore on the night of Friday, 25 May. We had booked for a Tempo Traveler (TT) and that was a decision that offered us a lot of convenience and time. The journey was fun - unlimited. Atleast till everyone decided to put up their legs and close their eyes. It all started at Kids Kemp on MG Road, the first pick up point, where most of us assembled. Then we picked up the rest of the gang on the way to Mysore Road. And then started the journey. We stopped first at a temple on the way to Mysore, people offering prayers to ensure a safe trip and then we got on our way again.

The first pit-stop came at the magnificent Mysore Palace. We must be the rare ones who chose to visit it at 1 a.m. The palace with all the lighting and the golden shimmer looked beautiful. We stopped, admired the beauty of the place snapped up a few moments. Then we went on. Away from Mysore. Via Gundalpet, Bandipur and then the historic Sultan Bathery. By the time we'd gone past Gundalpet, most of our boys had decided to shut shop. All were preparing mentally for the treks that lay ahead, I believe :-). Bandipur didn't throw up any of the resources it holds to our waiting eyes, apart from a herd of deer... That itself was a scene remarkably beautiful. Their grace and movement... Aaah... Simply regal!!!

The night went with one more stop for tea in some cold place. The name I can't recollect. But the hot tea, I can't forget. By around 6, we'd reached Kalpetta... The driver, though, suggested that we go another 10 - 15 kms ahead... he talked about a view-point. He had a glint in his eye as he talked about it. We knew we simply had to go there. Now getting off the TT at 6.30 a.m. and looking down from those heights... Whattay sight!!! It was like we had landed straight into paradise... first thing in the morning. From then we all had a positivity about us. We knew this trip would be special.

The place has a remarkable beauty to it. Be it the stunning waterfalls or the beautiful peaks; the curving roads or the opulent tea gardens; the place has beauty that is natural and, like with most of nature's creations, mesmerizing. We tried capturing the beauty of the sight on our cameras. But the pictures will never tell the whole story. You must have imagination and use it to imagine a sight that is a gazillion times more magical than what the images convey. From here, having seen this beauty of a sight, we set off, back towards Kalpetta town. PPS Tourist home, where we had booked rooms, awaited us. As we reached the town, people guided us to the place and we were there, in no time. As we checked in, we realized we didn't have all the rooms we booked for. We'd asked for 4. We had only 2. That proved a blessing in disguise. We needed the rooms only to sleep in. And 4 beds in a room were good enough to house 6.

I hadn't slept all night. The journey was beautiful. Night journeys always are. The enveloping darkness fondles you in her arms and cajoles so much distress away, light finds you a changed man. This journey through the night was no different. But at times no sleep can leave you weary. But the bath in ice-cold water was such a lifter. Everyone was getting ready and by about 10 we left the place to find ourselves some breakfast. After a decent meal, and having made inquiries and a plan, we left to our first destination - Soochippara falls.

Every one was in high spirits. We were all looking forward to the trek and the waterfall at the end of it. We reached the vehicle park at around 12, I think. The curving roads, the high mountains, the clouds and the tea-estate all made for a fabulous sight. The journey to Soochippara was close to 25 kms from Kalpetta town, I think. But the sights around made it an absolute pleasure. We reached the place at around 12 noon, I think. From the vehicle park, it is a 1.5 - 2 k.m. walk down to the actual falls. The path though is neatly covered with stone slabs that makes it a lot easier for more people to make it to the falls with less risk. A few snaps of the road and some attempts at heroism later, we were making the walk down to the falls. It was not too difficult and we reached the falls in about 20 minutes. The sight that greeted us was beautiful again. Water falling from a great height always is a pleasure to see. This was no different.
The slightly more adventurous chose to venture in to the water. At places it was really slippery with all the water making the rocks soft and the algal growth not helping our cause either. A few really brave ones got under the water fall. And from their reactions, I could gather that it was an experience. They enjoyed their time under the sun... water rather. I tried capturing a video of them in there, shouting at the top of their voices. Slightly less adventurous people [ ;-) ] chose to wet their feet in the cold water and return. We took as many photos as we could, shot a few videos and then decided to bit adieu to the place. Nothing worse than saying goodbye to places as beautiful as these. But our journey had to go on. And so it did. Packing our bags, we embarked on the long trek upwards. Now this was no piece of cake. Going up is always a strain on the knees and back, atleast mine. And after a while, it started hurting. I kept going (not that I had a choice :-), but still) and after a while the climb eased out. I still was at the rear end of the team. That though was good. I stopped by the side for some minted lime juice. Two glasses later, i was fresh again. Now there was not much left back to where our TT was. So once we made it there, it was time to get into the comfort of the TT and onto our next stop. Meenmutty falls. Now atleast to the onlooker like me, Soochippara was a walk in the park. Meenmutty is where it all began.

(to be contd....)

Lost In Time...

2007-05-20T19:09:00.000+05:30

At times even here it's frustrating...

LOST…

Someplace, somehow lost in time,
Finding my feet in a world not mine,
Everybody seems such a stranger here,
Lives are lived governed by fear.

Fear of failure, fear of criticism,
Everything here smeared with cynicism
There are no people, just moving objects,
Slick tongues are masters, the rest abject subjects.

Processes and systems are all I hear,
Man-machines burning blood and tears,
All in a day’s work, for a morsel, for a grain
Is it worth the strain, the drain, the pain?

Where is the charm, the romance, the flair
In matters of life, of heart and brain?
Why do we live this life not ours,
Cheating our own selves for a cause not even ours.

Throw it all away and walk a man, a free man
Free to live a life you can.
Write your poems which no one reads,
Think your thoughts and pen those tales,
And see the new heights your soul scales.

And then when you will depart one moment,
In poverty, yet with strange contentment.

Feels stifling to suppress oneself to live in a world not meant for one... And it's shameful, the lack of courage to throw it all away and walk away... Away from artificiality...

The Last Straw...

2007-05-20T18:19:00.000+05:30

Here goes another piece.... Manifestation of my times in Chennai where I got really lonely and only could find solace with myself and my limited imagination...

Clutching at that last strand of straw,
I looked up to see,
The heights I had traversed,
To reach such a low.

The strand lookin’ at me smiled and I couldn't read,
That look was eerie, and I asked of it,
“I'd give you anything you wanted if only you would not break now”,
That smile turned to peals of diabolic laughter.

And like the sands of time running down a clock,
The grains of the strand started falling,
And as I closed my eyes, waiting for the last straw to break,
Thought maybe now I'll rest in peace.

But a long while later, I still realized,
That straw held firm, I was still alive,
There were now not one but a clutch of them,
Entwining themselves into a bunch.

I watched in amazement and equal despair,
Wondering what on earth was going on,
The straws got stronger, the bunch turned into rope now,
I could still make no sense.

Looking down now, that straw barked,
"What more need I do dear man?,
You've a rope and all you need is to pull yourself up again,
Can't you do that even, to live?"

As if out of slumber I awoke then,
Still not knowing what was goin’ on,
Pulling myself up, up, up and over,
I got myself over the edge again

As I lay down on the grass, wondering what had happened,
I heard the straws quietly muttering,
"Well done fellas, we've done atleast our bit,
The last bit of action for us albeit
The sheep of the man'll be here again tomorrow,
To chomp us off till the last bit"

I still was dazed, but I got up and walked away,
Not knowing what to do or what to say.
On the way I heard a cry of anguish and pain,
As I saw a knife stabbed into someone's heart.
That was from a fellow-man and as the victim bled to death,
All I did was to watch on.

Man'll always be man, superior and gifted,
He'll find out new things no one's ever done,
But he'll never understand, never ever understand,
The smile he got from the last straw.

I never quite managed to poetically word these lines... Guess I wasn't too inclined to the aesthetics of poetry when I worte them...

Kiran

Lone Furrow...

2007-05-11T22:28:00.000+05:30

I tend to write whatever comes to my head at times... and this post is probably a result of that disease...

When there’s no one beside you to pull life’s yarn,
There seems to be only one bull in the cold barn,
You know you aren’t thinking right,
You don’t trust your sight,
The sight of that comrade seems a hallucination,
Support and love seem a mere illusion,
Trust me you’re wrong.

No one ever ploughs a lone furrow,
Maybe there’s no one to wipe that sweat of the brow,
Maybe there’s no shoulder to rest your weary head on,
And no lap to lie uninhibitedly in,
But your love will always be there.

Maybe she’s gone and you think you’re alone,
The thought of her face makes you more forlorn,
The redness of lips, the brightness of smile,
Seem like they’re away more than a thousand mile.

But still you know, it’s only that that’s keepin’ you alive,
That distant glimpse, that memory when at five,
You used to meet her to share your day’s happenings,
And comfort her when she told you of her mishappenings,
It’s those memories, those dreams,
Those are the beams,
Which keep you standing on your feet.

Never mind the loneliness, the weariness, the pain,
From criticizing the world you’ll always refrain…
And when you toil and the sweat wets your brow,
Know that you aren’t ploughing a lone furrow,
You’ve got the love of her steadfast in your heart,
Takes you so far above those with mere pretence,
And life’ll always love you with one sentence,
You loved…

I'm not quite sure about the content, I didn't feel like refining it.. It came to me after a long break and I kept it the way I wrote it first...

Lost Somewhere in Time...

2007-05-07T23:23:00.000+05:30

A lost feeling has always been around, no matter which the place. It's always been with me, more faithful than my shadow, and totally invisible to the world outside of me. Well, more than my shadow, I suppose. Shadows, I've heard, exist only when there's light. That is so much unlike this feeling, which manifests itself in the form of darkness - haunting, disturbing and at times fondling.

I wonder if it's also a feeling of having been born 2 decades too late. The feeling gets to the extent of being nauseating in the midst of sophistication. Not technical sophistication, no, not the gadget kind. Sophistication of minds, sophistication of values... and trying to sophisticate something as wild as the mind could not be anything short of Apocalypse.

But again, nobody seems affected. Are they or aren't they? Not even "they" can tell... Everybody seem to have developed a natural skill to fabricate themselves into the same pattern. The few that don't are outlawed and ridiculed as no-gooders. Now, this whole idea of good and bad can be trashed over several volumes, but never mind. We'll let the terms stay.

This whole idea - that of trying to mould oneself into a conventional pattern and present oneself in that way to the world while not quite knowing why - seems to spring from competition. Competition for what, I'm never quite sure, but people are competing. There was a time, long back, when people all over were fighting one another. That was for food, for a day of life. Sustenance. That's what it was.

But today, somehow, the whole game has changed. The fight to survive has long since become insignificant. Dominance. Ah yes, that's keyword now. The buzzword. People, now having learnt to sustain, want to dominate. Whom? Fellow beings perhaps? The world? Maybe! Countries wanting the world on their side is not unheard of.

And somehow it seems the right thing to do. There are lots of people wanting to dominate. There are also lots who don't. And, I suppose, those are the very people who bear the brunt. Often tagged meek and losers, they're subject to mental vandalism by the "respected" bunch with power.

I've probably gone a little off track, but it's hard not to mention what you see. The change has come about in the last 2 decades or so. Where the focus seems to've shifted from enjoying life to maximizing the benefits out of life. And if 20 years I could lie on my bed listening to Rafi Saab and be deemed a romantic, something similar now and I'm termed national waste. Of course, I'm not contributing to the per capita income. I'm not writing source codes in some alien programming language and showing myself off to be a good developer and an awful engineer.

You can never understate your self, you've got to market yourself well. Oh I must stop! All this is just too much to take. I never will be able to appreciate this way of life. Where individuality is taken away to be replaced by a multitude of processes. And where the essence of life is replaced by a lifeless mechanical system. The heartbeat by a pacer. And we're all morons for not living our lives that way!

I detest it... I detest it so much, I wanna give it all up and walk out on this existence. Atleast for the peace of having done one thing with all my heart.