Gowtham Speaks

Chitradurga Fort

2012-01-08T18:50:00.000+05:30

Chitradurga Fort visit was planned in the previous night. And the count decreased from car capacity of 5 people to only 2 when we actually started. Nevertheless, we took off on September 24th, 2011. "Nagara Haavu", veteran Kannada actor Dr. Vishnuvardhan's first film was shot here. Following this, many other movies were shot. A Couple of years back a Kannada movie namely "Kallarali Hoovagi" was entirely filmed here which covers most part of the fort in detail.

The drive from Bangalore to Chitradurga was smooth except that we paid Rs. 213/- for the toll (most of it was 2-way since we were coming back on the same day). The road is very good and the traffic, apart from trucks, was less. We covered 200km in just about 3 hrs and reached fort by 11 am. Guides would be available, both of us were not much aware of fort and the dynasty, so we thought it would be better to hire a guide. There were 13 licensed guides who take around Rs. 250/- for a 2+ hrs tour through the fort. ASI has declared this fort as a monument of national importance and hence any destruction is considered a serious offence now.

The fort covers about 1500 acres and houses a palace and 18 temples, a series of connected water tank, 19 gateways, 38 entrances, 35 secret entrances and 4 invisible passages and almost 2000 watchtowers, store rooms and garadi mane (traditional gym) and a jail. The fortification wall length is 8 km. There were some rocks which looked like elephant and frog. There was an interesting method to cut the rocks for construction material. Masons used to drill closely-spaced holes along straight line and pour water for months and the rocks were split precisely.

The fort, built in stages and expanded from 10th century to 18th century, consists of seven circular walls and popularly called "Elu Sutthina Kote" in Kannada. Of these, 2 are now part of the town and only from the third one, the present day fort starts. The walls contain loopholes to shoot the enemy and are surrounded by moat. After couple of 90 degree turns The gateways are accessible only after a couple of 90 degree left and right turns through passages. This slowed down invaders and made them easy targets so as not to allow the enemies to force open the door with long metal or wooden pieces by hitting the door gaining the momentum running to it.

Many of you might have heard the story of legendary Onake Obavv. This was the place where single handedly killed hundreds of enemy soldiers who were trying to enter through secret passage with only Onake (pestle).

To end with, it was a fabulous day and it's worth a visit. It was 2 pm when we climbed down and we returned after something fill our stomach. While returning we visited Vani Vilas dam off Hiriyur, a town on the way to Bangalore from Chitradurga on NH4. I will write about that next.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy on 2G scam

2011-12-29T13:00:00.002+05:30

This is an hour video of Dr. Subramanian Swamy on 2G scam. You may just listen and continue your work. I was reading bits and pieces of Dr. Swamy's words on 2G scam. Thought of searching for some of his speeches and found this one among others.

It gives a look into extent of scam. For those who do not wish to support Anna for whatever the reasons, might want to see this since Dr. Swamy is always taking into courts and fighting against corruption.

Phishing E-mail for Income Tax Refund!

2011-11-25T14:30:00.004+05:30

For those who are not sure what phishing is, click here. Basically, it is a method to get confidential information from you like bank A/c details or passwords etc.,

Well, I had received an e-mail today from Income Tax Dept. (somebody claiming so). I am pasting that here just to give a warning so that people do not get fooled and give away confidential information and being cheated in return.

#######################################################################

from: Income Tax Department refunds_portl11@incometaxindiafiling.gov.in

Dear Valued Taxpayer,

We have reviewed your tax fiscal payment for previous years and have resolved that you are qualified for a refund of the sum of 36,120.25 INR which is your accumulated tax excesses. Please submit a tax refund request and allow us to process it within 7(seven) working days.

To submit a request CLICK HERE

We appreciate taking the time to learn about our tax refund. It's one more way Income tax department can make your tax payment experience better.
Endeavor to fill in your Information correctly,to enable us make refund to your account without any delay.

Refund can be delayed for some reasons:

Applying after deadline of notification.
Submitting incorrect account information.

Tax Refund Department
Department of revenue,
Ministry of finance, India.

#######################################################################

I knew it was phishing e-mail because of following reasons.
1. It was not from "incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in" but was from "incometaxindiafiling.gov.in"
2. Income Tax dept doesn't ask information through e-mail and more over if you take a look at the link, it was redirecting to some unknown website.
3. This week only I had got CPC processing status as Nil Tax Payable/Refund
4. Income Tax dept doesn't pay refunds of multiple financial years in single shot. (PS: As per my knowledge)

Hassan Travel Loc 3 - Mullayanagiri

2011-11-16T12:05:00.000+05:30

After returning from Manjarabad Fort, we freshened up and visited a previous day function of our friend's wedding. Before going to bed, Jagga said "We shall go to Mullayanagiri tomorrow. If we start by 5 or 5 30, we can easily go and comeback by 10 30 or so." I was very much interested to go, but was not keen on waking up so early! He had already been to Mullayanagiri and nobody else had been to there. Still, looking at his enthusiasm to take us, I couldn't deny and agreed half hearted.

Around 5 30 AM next day, I was woken up by his knocks on my room door. Now, the urge to visit the place overtook the need to sleep and within an hour, we were on the road towards Chikmagalur, at a distance of 61km. Early morning breeze welcomed us to SH57 and we stopped at Chikmagalur for breakfast before continuing towards the destination.

Chikmagalur to Mullayanagiri via Kaimara is about 22 km. The road after Kaimara to Mullayanagiri was very enjoyable amidst green coffee plantation and forest. We could see steep slope on one side and steep rise on the other side as the peak gets nearer. Most of the places, road is very narrow and two vehicles do not pass side by side, either one has to take reverse and pave way for the other. Over all, it was very fun but at the same time very risky and dangerous drive towards the parking lot, atop the mountain. Unless you are an expert driver and the vehicle is not new to you, do not attempt to drive on this stretch, especially on a misty morning.

Almost near the parking lot, there was one drunken driver who refused to take reverse and from the other direction, there were 4 vehicles, including ours, one behind another. After good 15 minutes of argument, he took reverse but we were already walking having parked the car roadside. We didn't want to miss the chilling experience by fighting with some fellas.

There are about 100 steps to be climbed at the peak. It was full of mist when we were climbing and we could not see the steep slope below (which, we were hoping to see as it was one of the views couldn't be missed). As we were climbing all of us' ears started paining because of chilling cool weather. Quite a bit crowd was already there by the time we reached.

Finally after an hour, we started back to resume our participation in the wedding! To end with, it was a Fantastic place, which, better be experienced than expressed in words.

Hassan Travel Loc 1 - Shravanabelagola
Hassan Travel Loc 2 - Manjarabad Fort

ಕಾವ್ಯ - ಹರಟೆ: ಕನ್ನಡ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್

2011-11-13T11:13:00.001+05:30

ಆಂಗ್ಲ ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಗಳನ್ನು ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ತಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯೋಣವೆಂದು ಅನ್ನಿಸಿದೆ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ನನ್ನ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರಹಗಳನ್ನು ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದೆ ಕಾವ್ಯ - ಹರಟೆ ಎಂಬ ತಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇನೆ. ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇನೆ ಎಂದರೆ ತಪ್ಪಾಗುತ್ತದೆ! ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇವೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಬೇಕು. ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ ನಾನು ಮತ್ತು ನನ್ನ ಅರ್ಧಾಂಗಿ ಇಬ್ಬರೂ ಕೂಡ "ಕಾವ್ಯ - ಹರಟೆ" ಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇವೆ.
ನನ್ನ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಓದುಗರು, ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಕಾವ್ಯ - ಹರಟೆಯನ್ನು ಹಿಂಬಾಲಿಸಿ (Follow). ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ನಾನು ಬರೆದಿರುವ ಬರಹಗಳೂ ಕೂಡ ಹೊಸ ತಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣಸಿಗುತ್ತವೆ.

Tribute to Steve Jobs

2011-10-08T20:30:00.000+05:30

When I tuned to a news channel on 6th October morning, I couldn't believe Steve Jobs had died. It's not that he couldn't be died, for that matter, I knew he was suffering from a rare form of pancreatic cancer and I knew his liver was transplanted, but it was something which I didn't want to happen so soon. If one does not want 'something' to happen, then he would not believe at the moment when that 'something' happens really.

An year ago, I knew very little about Steve Jobs. Many of my friends were buying iPods and iPhones. I always thought they were not worth their price. Little did I know I was wrong. I was under the assumption that they were hyped until one of my friends presented me a third generation iPod shuffle. Along with, he handed over me a letter where in he had told me to use a wonderful product created by a genius, named Steve Jobs. I fell in love with it the moment I started using it. It's single LED which glows in different colors for different purposes, it's sleek size, single interface to go to next song, to previous song, to read out current song, to change the playlists and to inform how much battery charge is remaining and above all, amazing quality and effects of the music showed me to what extent I was wrong in assessing the Apple products. I became his fan.

What followed after was my interests in his biography. I went through about his way of seeing the potential of commercial success with the hobby projects, about his entrepreneurship, about starting Apple, coming up with Macintosh, about getting fired, starting new company, and taken over by Apple to have a very successful second innings in there, about his coming up with iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and becoming iCon. I also read about his being adapted, two fathers - one legal father and another one biological father, about two marriages, controversy surrounding his daughter, diagnosed with cancer etc., on personal notes.

Though he was mentioned in the same league of great CEOs like Henry Ford, he was always criticized for not spending his enormous wealth for philanthropic purposes as Gates or Buffett did.

One of my colleagues told yesterday he was going to buy iPhone 4S as a tribute to Steve, I thought I should offer my tributes by writing a blog post about him and this is the result!

Hassan Travel Loc 2 - Manjarabad Fort

2011-10-04T12:30:00.000+05:30

Having finished lunch at Hassan, we didn't go to hotel that was booked for us. Instead we continued on NH48 towards Sakaleshpur for our next place - Manjarabad fort.

It is on a hillock beside NH48 at a distance of 7 km from Sakaleshpur towards Mangalore. There is a village by name Donigal where trucks stop for a cup of hot coffee. The path adjacent to these shops, rather canteens, leads to Manjarabad fort. The fort was constructed by Tippu Sultan, then king of Mysore. Started in 1785, it took 7 years to complete.

Primarily, the star-shaped fort was constructed as part of defense strategy to see British Army from Mangalore. Also, it was used to store ammonium, horses, and a secret tunnel to Srirangapatna, capital of Tippu Sultan. However the tunnel is closed now. There were lot of chambers and we were told they were used to house horses, used as kitchens, bathrooms apart from storing war weapons. In the middle of the fort, there is a well/pond with 'plus' shaped stairs leading to it, which was the source of water back then.

It was drizzling when we went and we drenched. However we didn't quite feel it since our minds were filled by the spectacular view of western ghats the fort was providing.

This is Manjarabad fort from Google Maps, satellite view

After about an hour, we got back to our car and returned to Hassan.

Hassan Trip Loc 1 - Shravanabelagola

Hassan Travel Loc 1 - Shravanabelagola

2011-09-27T14:00:00.000+05:30

One of my friends was getting married on August 15th (what a co-incidence!) at Hassan. We planned to go by car on 14th morning itself and visit some places near Hassan. Since all of us had been to Belur and Halebeedu, we finalized on 3 places to visit. Shravanabelagola, which is just a few km off Bangalore - Mangalore highway (NH48), was the first one.

Shravanabelagola town is situated between two hills Vindhyagiri and Chandragiri with a tank in between, namely, Belagola meaning Bili Kola or white pond. Shravana or Shramana means Jain ascetic, meaning, lifestyle practiced to pursue religious and spiritual goals avoiding worldly pleasures. The town is named after this Jain ascetic and pond. The place is a Jain pilgrimage center as there is 57 feet monolithic statue of Gomateshwara on southern hill, Vindhyagiri facing North.

The statue, center of attraction, is the tallest monolithic statue in the world. The statue is carved beautifully as if anthills surround it and creepers encircle up to thighs. According to the information available, it was installed by Ganga King Rachamalla Sathyavaka's minister Chavundaraya in 988 AD. Gomateshwara or Bahubali was a son of first Jain Thirthankara, Purudeva. He was transformed after he won the fight for kingdom fought against his brother Bharatha.

When we left Bangalore it was 9 am and we stopped for breakfast at Hotel Mayura, Ballur cross. It was very expensive and the service was slow. From NH48, we turned left to Shravanabelagola at Hirisave, roughly 125 km from Bangalore. From there, it is 18km.

We trekked amid hot Sun and visited Basadis on top of the hill and tried our luck to encircle Thyagada Kamba, a pillar and if one encircles by his hands it is believed to be a lucky symbol. On our way up, we saw a lot of people climb up 2-3 times to offer some religious vows, many a times, holding children. After circling round the statue, seeing all 24 Thirthankaras and overwhelmed by the Majestic statue, we took some snaps of the inscriptions and started back.

We climbed down, had tender coconut water and started towards Channarayapatna, at a distance of 11km, (different road than the one towards Hirisave) and from there to Hassan.

Flopped Antharagange Trip

2011-09-18T14:30:00.000+05:30

"We must go somewhere outside Bangalore", my friend called me. It was already 10 am and we had just finished breakfast. I quickly considered quite a few options and decided on Anthargange. Following a blog by someone I don't know, I thought it would be a nice trek with caves on top of the hill. But little did I know my plan would be ruined that day.

By the time we got ready and leave the Bangalore, it was nearing 1 pm. We didn't stop till a Shanti Sagar on the outskirts of Kolar. We had lunch there. It was good until my wife got a cockroach free with the lunch!
We almost finished our lunch, so we started towards Anthargange querying the route. I do not write the route here since we took too many alternate routes as many roads were dug up in Kolar. Finally we got a tarmac road to Anthargange, but by then, it was cloudy and very dark. Time was around 3 pm.

We reached Anthargange and parked our car. There is a police substation and a constable at the base from which there are steps to temple at a distance of approximately 300mts. He noted down everybody's name and sought address in detail. When I inquired about caves, he said there were no caves. We should not go beyond temple. There was a hillock range but it was the place of leopards There would be illegal activities going on and family people should not go. etc., To add to our dismay, drizzling started. Bottom line is our plan to trek and see the caves was shattered.

Anyway, being come so far, we thought of visiting temple atleast and return. There are too many monkeys in Anthargange. They literally attack each and everybody for the reason they only know. One monkey came and it almost attacked my wife and she, in order to escape, gave her bag to it. Monkey was confused on getting the bag without much effort, so it sat upfront scratching head. By then my wife realized her mistake and told our home key, wallet, everything was in the bag.

Now, it was our turn to attack the monkey and get the bag back. It was groaning but still sitting in front of us. When I tried to snatch the bag it tried to hit me and I took back my hand quickly. My friend was holding a stick with a lot of leaves so I told him to shove towards it. When money turned towards it in defense, I snatched the bag, this time very quickly. After that, we climbed up hurling sticks at monkeys.

We had not even reached the temple when heavy rain started pouring. We stood there for sometime watching rainfall. It was 4 30 pm when we got back to car and drove towards Bangalore.

I plan to visit again with proper route map to trek and reach the top and caves.

ದೇವದೇವರ ಮಹಾದೇವ ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವ

2011-08-20T16:00:00.003+05:30

ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ನಾಗರಿಕತೆಗಳ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಸೂರ್ಯ ದೇವನೇ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗಿಂತ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ದೇವರು. ಪ್ರಖ್ಯಾತ ಈಜಿಪ್ಟ್ ಪುರಾಣದ ಪ್ರಕಾರ "ರ" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಸೂರ್ಯ ಅವರಿಗೆ ದೇವರಾಗಿದ್ದನು. "ರ" ಆಕಾಶದಲ್ಲಿ ದೋಣಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಾನೆ ಎಂದು ಈಜಿಪ್ಟ್ ನಾಗರಿಕತೆ ಹೇಳುತ್ತದೆ. ರೋಮನ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ "ಸೋಲ್ ಇನ್ವಿಕ್ಟಸ್" ಎಂದು ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವನನ್ನು ಕರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಜರ್ಮನ್ ಪುರಾಣದ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವನು "ಸೋಲ್" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದನು. ಗ್ರೀಕ್ ಪುರಾಣದಲ್ಲೂ ಕೂಡ ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವನು ಪ್ರಮುಖನು. ಅವನನ್ನು "ಹೀಲಿಯೋಸ್", "ಟೈಟನ್", ಮತ್ತು "ಅಪೋಲೋ" ಎಂಬುದಾಗಿ ಕರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಪುರಾತನ ನಾಗರಿಕತೆ ಮೆಸೊಪೊಟೊಮಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ "ಶಮಶ್" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವನು ಪ್ರಮುಖ ದೇವನು. ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಅಮೇರಿಕಾದ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ನಾಗರಿಕತೆ ಇನ್ಕಾದಲ್ಲಿ "ಇಂತಿ" ಎಂದು ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವನನ್ನು ಕರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಹೀಗೆ ಉದಾಹರಿಸುತ್ತ ಹೋದರೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನೇ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ದೇವನಾದ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಲವಾರು ನಾಗರಿಕತೆಗಳು, ಪುರಾಣಗಳು ಸಿಕ್ಕುತ್ತವೆ.

ಹಿಂದೂ ಪುರಾಣದಲ್ಲೂ ಸೂರ್ಯದೇವ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ದೇವರುಗಳಲ್ಲೊಬ್ಬ. ಆದರೆ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗಿಂತ ಮಿಗಿಲು ತ್ರಿಮೂರ್ತಿಗಳಾದ ಹರಿ, ಹರ, ವಿರಿಂಚಿಗಳು (ಬ್ರಹ್ಮ), ಎಂದು ನಾನಂದುಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆ! ಈ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಕ್ಕೆ ಧಕ್ಕೆಬರುವಂತ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಅರಣ್ಯಪರ್ವದ ೭ ನೇ ಸಂಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅರ್ಜುನನನ್ನು ಇಂದ್ರನ ಆಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಕರೆದೊಯ್ಯುತ್ತ ಇಂದ್ರಸಾರಥಿ ಮಾತಲಿಯು ಅರ್ಜುನನಿಗೆ ಭೂಮಿ, ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಲೋಕ ಹಾಗೂ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಂಡಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ದಿನಕರನು ಪರಮಾತ್ಮ. ಮಹಾದೇವರಾದ ಹರಿಹರವಿರಿಂಚಿಗಳು ಅತಿ ಬಲವಂತನಾದ ಸೂರ್ಯನನ್ನು ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಕಾಲವು ರವಿರಥದ ಚಕ್ರ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಸೂರ್ಯ ಎಂದರೆ ಬೆಂಕಿ. ಸುರಪಥಿಯಾದ ದೇವೇಂದ್ರನ ಆಸ್ಥಾನದ ದೇವತೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬನಾದ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಎಂದರೂ ಬೆಂಕಿಯೇ. ಅಗ್ನಿ ಇಂದ್ರನಿಗೆ ನಮಿಸಿದರೆ, ಇಂದ್ರ ತ್ರಿಮೂರ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ನಮಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ ಹಾಗೂ ತ್ರಿಮೂರ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನು ದೇವನಾದರೆ, ಅಗ್ನಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸೂರ್ಯ ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಆಗಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತದೆ! ಹಾಗಾದರೆ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸೂರ್ಯ ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ದೇವರೇ? ಹಿಂದೂ ಧರ್ಮದ ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇದೂ ಒಂದೇ?

ಪಾಂಡವರ ಧರ್ಮದ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ದ್ರೌಪದಿ ವಸ್ತ್ರಾಪಹರಣ

2011-07-22T22:00:00.002+05:30

ಬಹಳ ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಯನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದ್ದೆ. ಧರ್ಮರಾಯನಿಗೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ ಎನ್ನುವ ಶೀರ್ಷಿಕೆಯಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ. ಆ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಉತ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತ ಹೊಸಮನೆಯವರು, "ದ್ರೌಪದಿ ಕೂಡ ಜೂಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಳನ್ನು ಒತ್ತೆ ಇಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ಆಕ್ಷೆಪಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ತನ್ನನ್ನು ತಾನು ಸೋತ ನಂತರ ಧರ್ಮರಾಯ ಅವಳನ್ನು ಪಣವಾಗಿ ಒಡ್ಡುವುದು ಯಾವ ಧರ್ಮ ಎಂದು ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಾಳೆ" ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಮೊನ್ನೆ, ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ ಕಥಾಮಂಜರಿಯ ಸಭಾಪರ್ವವನ್ನು ಓದಿ ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆ. ದ್ರೌಪದಿ ವಸ್ತ್ರಾಪಹರಣದ ಸನ್ನಿವೇಶವನ್ನು ಓದಿದಾಗ ಅಂದಿನ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಉದ್ಭವಿಸಿತು. "ತನ್ನನ್ನು ತಾನು ಸೋತ ನಂತರ ಹೇಗೆ ಪರರನ್ನು ಜೂಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒತ್ತೆ ಇಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯ? ಇದು ಧರ್ಮವೇ?" ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದಾಗ, ಭೀಷ್ಮಾದಿಗಳನ್ನೋಳಗೊಂಡು, ಆಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಯಾರೂ ಮಾತನಾಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಏಕೆಂದು ನನಗೆ ಗೊಂದಲವಾಯಿತು. ಯೋಚಿಸಿದಾಗ ಒಂದು ಸಾಧ್ಯತೆ ಗಮನಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂತು. ಧರ್ಮರಾಯ ಸೋತಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಕೌರವನ ಕಿಂಕರನಾಗಿಯಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಆ ನಂತರ ಗೆದ್ದವರು ಹೇಳಿದಂತೆ ಅವನು ಕೇಳುವುದು ಧರ್ಮ. ಅವರು ವಡ್ಡು ಏನೆಂದು ಕೇಳಿದರು. ಇವನು ಹೇಳಿದ. ಇವನು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದನ್ನು ಅವರು ಒಪ್ಪಿದರು. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಧರ್ಮದ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆ ಆಗಿಲ್ಲ ಅನ್ನಿಸಿತು.

ಇನ್ನು ಪ್ರಾಣಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮಾನ ದೊಡ್ಡದು ಎಂದು ಎಷ್ಟೋ ಕಡೆ ಓದುತ್ತೇವೆ, ಕೇಳುತ್ತೇವೆ. ತಮ್ಮ ಪಟ್ಟದರಸಿಯ ಮಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಚಕಾರ ಬಂದಾಗಲೂ ಧರ್ಮ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾ, ಸುಮ್ಮನಿದ್ದ ಧರ್ಮರಾಯಾದಿ ಪಾಂಡವರು ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು ಸರಿಯೇ? ಧರ್ಮ, ಹಾಗಾದರೆ ಮಾನಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಉನ್ನತವಾದದ್ದೇ! ಇಂದಿಗೂ?!

Pyramid Valley

2011-07-16T07:00:00.002+05:30

It was a Sunday evening, 24th April, and while sipping afternoon coffee, me and my wife thought of going to Pyramid Valley. Pyramid Valley is the world's largest meditational pyramid. However, we went not because to meditate instead to see the Pyramid itself. I am always interested in architecture, as I have said before. It is at a distance of around 28 km on Kanakapura road. The website has all the information.

When we reached Pyramid valley, it was cloudy and dark and we expected heavy rainfall any moment. At the entrance there is a map of the campus and we were asked to enter a hut like structure beside main reception. There a guy would explain what is meditation and its advantages in about 10 minutes. After listening to meditation tips, we came outside and walked towards Pyramid.

Pyramid, called Maitreya-Buddha Pyramid, has a base area of 160x160 ft and with height of 102 ft. Its external surface is covered by murals depicting various nature elements. It has a capacity of around 5000. There are beautiful murals and art work of Buddha in the lower hall, to remind him for his meditation techniques. It is said that the geometric design of Pyramids collects, radiates and stores cosmic energy and thus meditation done inside a Pyramid is thrice more powerful.

We sat quietly for sometime in Pyramid. There were many people meditating. Some were sleeping, though we were not sure whether they went to that state meditating or just that they were sleeping in pin drop silence.
We started back sometime later just when heavy rain started pouring on us.

For more information on Pyramid valley, click here.

Yana and Betthageri Beach

2011-07-09T14:21:00.000+05:30

During Ugadi festival time, we had been to native and decided to go for a day's trip. My brother wanted to go to a beach. Only me and my wife had seen Yana and no one else had. So we planned to visit Yana and go to Kumta for lunch and then head to Betthageri beach for sunset and return home.

It was a Sunday, 3rd April, and we were on our way to Yana. Yana is a village in Uttara Kannada district amid Sahyadri hills (Western Ghats) range with presence of huge unusual rocks. These rocks are formed of crystalline limestone. There is a popular saying in Kannada "Sokkidre Yana Rokkidre Gokarna", meaning, one needs quite a bit stamina to trek to Yana and needs quite a bit money to reach Gokarna, since, for outsiders, Gokarna would be expensive enough. But today, this saying is not applicable for both of the places! After Kannada movie "Nammoora Mandara Hoove" (1997), Yana became more famous and now there is a tar road, going very near to Yana and the trekking distance is reduced to only half a km.

We reached Yana via Sirsi, and taking Kumta road, soon followed by taking a deviation to the right. The distance from Sirsi is around 40km. We first visited the temple, a Shiva temple. For "Pradakshine", one needs to go inside the gigantic rock. The path inside resembles cave and there are a couple of small rocks hanging in the narrow space in between the rock. We had tender coconut, banana before resuming journey to next destination.

There are two roads from Yana to Kumta, our destination. One route is via Mabage village and waterfall, called Vibhooti falls. I had been to there and have had a blog posted about it. Click here to read. The other route is taking the route towards Sirsi and take a deviation to Manjuguni after about 20km, which would join to Sirsi-Kumta road. We took the former route as it was nearer, 48 km. One can find many pages in internet about the distance from Yana to Kumta mentioned as approximately 25 km. But this is wrong and via the shortest route, Kumta is at a distance of 48 km from Yana. However, from Yana till Mabage the road is very bad with jelly (crusher stones) and to travel 7 km on empty road, we took more than half an hour! We had some food, packed from home, and went to Kumta. After a pit stop for coffee/snacks, we head towards Honnavar and took a right for Betthageri beach, roughly 10 km from Kumta on NH17.

Betthageri beach is very clean, as it is still remote. When we went there, there was nobody else, though some people came after us from neighboring villages after sometime. We played for an hour in the beach and just when the Sun started to set, it became cloudy and though we got nice views, we didn't get nice sunset!

We returned to home from there via Honnavar and Gerusoppa. It was a wonderful trip with full family after a long time.

Mysore - City of Palaces

2011-07-04T23:00:00.009+05:30

When my in-laws came, we planned to go for a day's trip to Mysore. After estimating time for travel and food, we finalized 3 places - Srirangapatna, Mysore Palace and KRS.
Thus planned, we started at around 8 AM on March 19th, 2011. At hotel Kamat Lokaruchi, Ramanagara around 9 30, we stopped for breakfast and proceeded towards Srirangapatna and reached around 11 AM. Asking the route, we went to Sri Ranganathaswamy temple. There was an incident involving the priest regarding a photo taken inside the temple where photography was prohibited. Click here to read that.

Anyway, we came outside and went to Tippu's summer palace. Sri Ranganathaswamy temple is to the right if traveling from Bangalore and Tippu's summer palace, also called Dariya Daulat, is at the right side. The signboards are pretty well. The architecture of Dariya Daulat is beautiful. Photography is prohibited there, so couldn't capture in my camera. It is now converted to museum with many of Tippu's household stuffs, clothes, various portraits and photographs of his children, battle ground, fort and things like that.

We went to Gumbaz afterwards. Gumbaz is burial ground of Tippu's father, Hyder Ali. Now, one can find tombs of Tippu, his father, mother, wife and children there.

Our last place of visit near Srirangapatna was Sangama, which is the confluence of two branches of Cauvery. Of them, one is called Lokapavani and it is considered to be holy to take a dip and bath there. Many people give tribute to their demised parents at Sangama. However, we didn't like this place since somebody was worshiping and just beside that some fishermen were cutting fish into pieces!

We started from Srirangapatna and went to Mysore. We had lunch in a hotel near Palace and went inside Palace. Wow! I had never been to Mysore Palace, though had seen bits and pieces in media, and I liked it very much. A tour inside Palace along with nearby museum (then Palace before current Palace was constructed in early 20th century) took almost 2 hours. The architecture of the building (referred as Indo-Saracenic), a stoned structure, numerous photos and description beneath them, which tell us the story in brief, the gifts the wodeyar dynasty received, their household items - overall, it was fantastic.

We strolled for sometime, spending time in taking snaps, outside the palace and we left for KRS. Parking arrangement at KRS is good. I guess it is constructed recently. It was around 6 PM when we reached there. We took a walk and climbed up the dam to see the backwater and came back. It was 7 pm then and the lights were turned on, feasting our eyes. We started taking quick steps towards musical fountain, taking snaps all along and of-course exclaiming what we see. It took us almost 20-25 minutes to reach and watch musical fountain. We watched for some 15 minutes and we started back since we had to come all the way to Bangalore. KRS provided us an amazing sight and we had a great time enjoying there.

We reached Bangalore-Mysore road at Srirangapatna from KRS and from then, it was one stop journey at Kamat again for dinner before we reach home in Bangalore at 11.

ಮಣ್ಣಾಗಿ ಬಂದ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಕಾಸು!

2011-06-27T10:28:00.001+05:30

ಮೊನ್ನೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಅತ್ಯಾಶ್ಚರ್ಯವಾದ ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂತೋಷಕರವಾದ ಘಟನೆ ನಡೆಯಿತು.

ನಮ್ಮ ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪನ ಮನೆಯ ದನ, ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಮೇಯಲು ಬಿಟ್ಟ ತಕ್ಷಣ ನಮ್ಮನೆಗೆ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮಮ್ಮ ಹಿಂದಿನ ದಿನ ಉಳಿದಿರುವುದೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಬಳಿಕವಷ್ಟೇ ಅದರ ಮುಂದಿನ ತಿರುಗಾಟ. ಬಿಟ್ಟೊಡನೆ ನಮ್ಮನೆಗೆ ಬರದೆ ಅದು ಹೋಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ, ಒಂದಿನ ಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ನಮ್ಮಮ್ಮ "ಯಾಕೆ ಇಂದು ದನ ಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ, ಯಾಕೆ ಇವತ್ತು ಮೇಯಲು ಬಿಟ್ಟಿಲ್ಲ" ಎಂದು ನಮ್ಮ ಅಣ್ಣನಲ್ಲಿ (ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪನ ಮಗ) ವಿಚಾರಿಸುತ್ತಾಳೆ.

ಸುಮಾರು ೫-೬ ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ ನಮ್ಮಮ್ಮನೆ ಕತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಕಾಸು (ಬಂಗಾರದ pendant) ಕಳೆದು ಹೋಯಿತು. ಕಡೆಯ ಬಾರಿ ಯಾವಾಗ ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದು ಎಂದು ನೆನಪು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ದನಕ್ಕೆ ತಿನ್ನಲು ಕೊಡಲು ಹೋಗಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಇತ್ತು ಎಂದಾಯಿತು. ಆ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆವು. ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ದನವೇ ತಿಂದಿರುವುದು ನಿಶ್ಚಿತ ಎಂದಾಯಿತು. ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪನ ಮಗನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಿದಳು ಅಮ್ಮ. ಅವನು ಅದನ್ನು ೩-೪ ದಿನ ಮೇಯಲು ಬಿಡದೆ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಹಾಕಿ, ಅದು ಸಗಣಿ ಹಾಕಿದಾಗಲೆಲ್ಲ ಕಣ್ಣು ಹಾಯಿಸಿದರು. ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಕಾಸು ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ!

ಕಾಲ ಕ್ರಮೇಣ ಘಟನೆ ನೆನಪಿನಿಂದ ಮಾಸಿತು. ಈಗ್ಗೆ, ಸುಮಾರು ೩ ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಮುಪ್ಪಾದ ಆ ದನ ಸತ್ತು ಹೋಯಿತು. ಸುಮಾರು ೨೨ ವಯಸ್ಸಾದ ಆ ದನ ನಮ್ಮ ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪನ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು. ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂದುಗಡೆ ಹಿತ್ತಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅದರ ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ ನೆರವೇರಿತು. (ಮಣ್ಣಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಗಿದರು). ಮೊನ್ನೆ, ೨-೩ ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ದೊಡ್ಡಪ್ಪನ ಮನೆಯವರು ದನ ಹುಗಿದ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಗಿಡ ನೆಡಲು ನೆಲ ಅಗೆಸಿದರು. ಅಗೆದವನು ಮಣ್ಣನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಪಕ್ಕಕ್ಕೆ ರಸ್ತೆ ಬದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಕಿದ. ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶಾಲೆಗೆ ಹೋಗುವ ಹುಡುಗಿಯೊಬ್ಬಳು ದೊಡ್ಡಮ್ಮನನ್ನು ಕರೆದು "ನೋಡಿ ಅಮ್ಮಾವ್ರೇ, ಇಲ್ಲೇನೋ ಬಂಗಾರದ್ದು ಬಿದ್ದೈತೆ" ಎಂದು ಆ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಕಾಸನ್ನು ಕೊಡುವುದೇ! ಅದನ್ನು ತೊಳೆದು ತಂದು ದೊಡ್ಡಮ್ಮ ಅಮ್ಮನಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ತಂದು ತೋರಿಸಿದಾಗ, ಅದು ಅಮ್ಮನದೇ ಎಂದು ದೃಢಪಟ್ಟಿತು. ನಮ್ಮ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸೊಂತೋಷಕ್ಕೆ ಪಾರವೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. :-)

ದನದ ದೇಹದ ಯಾವ ಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಕಾಸಿತ್ತು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾನಿನ್ನೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಿದೆ.

ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ ಭಾರತ - ಆದಿಪರ್ವ

2011-06-04T17:05:00.001+05:30

ಶ್ರೀ ಎಲ್ ಗುಂಡಪ್ಪನವರು ಗದ್ಯಾನುವಾದಿಸಿದ ಕರ್ಣಾಟಕ ಭಾರತ ಕಥಾಮಂಜರಿಯ ಆದಿಪರ್ವವನ್ನು ಈಗಷ್ಟೇ ಓದಿ ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆ. ಕ್ರುಷ್ಣರ್ಜುನರು ಖಾಂಡವ ವನವನ್ನು ದಹಿಸಲು ಸಹಕರಿಸಿದ್ದು ಆಯಿತು. ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಕೆಲವು ಸಂದೇಹಗಳು ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಭೀಷ್ಮನ ಪ್ರತಿಜ್ಞೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಕಡಿಮೆ ವಿವರವಿದೆ. ಅಂಬೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಲ್ವರ ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಮತ್ತು ಭೀಷ್ಮ ಸಾಲ್ವರ ಯುದ್ಧಗಳ ಉಲ್ಲೇಖವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ! ದ್ರೌಪದಿಯ ಸ್ವಯಂವರದವರೆಗೂ ಬಲರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣರ ಹಾಗೂ ಪಾಂಡವರ ಭೇಟಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲ. ನನ್ನ ಅರಿವಿನ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಅರ್ಜುನನ ತೀರ್ಥಯಾತ್ರೆಯ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಶರಸೇತು ಬಂಧದ ಪ್ರಸಂಗ ಬರುವುದು. (ಅರ್ಜುನ ಮತ್ತು ಅಂಜನೆಯರ ಯುದ್ಧ.) ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ಪ್ರಸ್ಥಾಪವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಮೂಲ ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿಲ್ಲವೋ ಅಥವಾ ಗದ್ಯಾನುವಾದದಲ್ಲಿಲ್ಲವೋ ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಯಾರಾದರೂ ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೋ ಎಂದು ಕಾಡು ನೋಡಬೇಕಿದೆ.

Innovative Film City

2011-05-24T12:38:00.004+05:30

We had bought a Godrej refrigerator in last May from Girias, Majestic. That time, there was some discount and they gave two package passes, each worth 699/-, for 2 persons, meaning, 4 people could use. When my parents came from native, we decided to use it, on September 25th, last year.

It was a Saturday and we reached Innovative film city after traveling 35km on crowded Mysore road by 11 30. After exchanging passes with tickets, we visited Innovative Talkies. Innovative talkies shows some of the old movies for 10 mins. The talkies is made to look like very old with wooden benches and iron chairs. We watched some shots from "Sholay" before moving on to Wannado City.
Wannado City is a role-playing theme park, a designed city where a child can play a role of a firefighter, actor, TV reporter, chef, judge, pilot doctor ... One can even become a thief and go behind the bars!
We next moved to Mirror Maze. This was very good. All the rooms had only 3 sides with 2 walls angled at 60 degrees to the adjacent ones. One actually have to find out the way and move to next room. All the fun was in finding out the way to the next room.
Our next point was Dinosaur world. There are artificial dinosaurs. They move, they roar! This was worth visiting. Different species of dinosaurs along with sub groups are present there.

Our next stop was Fossil museum. Fossil museum gives an insight to the fossils of dinosaurs with information of various dinosaur fossils displayed. More the time, more the information can be gathered here!

Ripley's Believe It or Not museum was our next visit. Robert Ripley discovered a lot of unusual, odd and unbelievable stories while exploring in over 200 countries. The museum houses a part of these stories with bizarre exhibits on display. Here also more time is needed to read out all those stories.

We continued further to Louis Tussaud's Wax museum. This has statues of well known personalities around the world. The statues were realistic.

Time was running out and we proceeded to play for sometime amid hot sunlight. We played Golf though we didn't enjoy much. Not having extra clothes prevented us from jumping into Aqua Kingdom, which is nothing but an artificial beach, a good one, particularly in summer.
Most enjoyed game was Roller Coaster. This was fantastic. All the fun can only be experienced but can neither be explained nor be written.
Finally we visited miniature city before departing. It's like a portrait of a real city.

Overall, it was a good day trip.

ಹುಲಿಯ ಜೀವನ

2011-04-15T12:00:00.002+05:30

ಹುಲಿಗಳೆಂದರೆ ನನಗೆ ಬಹಳ ಇಷ್ಟ. ಹುಲಿಗಳೊಂದೆ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಎಲ್ಲ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳು ನನಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟ. ಆದರೆ ಮರ್ಜಾಲಗಳ ಮೇಲಿನ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ತಕ್ಕಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಇದೆ. ಕೆನೆತ್ ಆಂಡರ್ಸನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಜಿಮ್ ಕಾರ್ಬೆಟ್ ಮುಂತಾದವರ ನರಭಕ್ಷಕ ಹುಲಿ, ಚಿರತೆಗಳ ಬೇಟೆಗಳ ಸುಮಾರು ಎಲ್ಲ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನೂ ಓದಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಉಲ್ಲಾಸ ಕಾರಂತ್ ರವರ "ಹುಲಿಯ ಬದುಕು" ಎನ್ನುವ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದಿದೆ. ಇದು ಯಾವುದೇ ಬೇಟೆಯ ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲ. ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಹುಲಿಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಕ್ಷೀಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮತ್ತು ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಯಾದ ಹುಲಿಯನ್ನು ಮುಂದಿನ ಪೀಳಿಗೆಗೆ ಉಳಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಬಗೆಯನ್ನು ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಕೋನದಿಂದ ನೋಡುವ ಒಂದು ಗ್ರಂಥ. (ಮೂಲ: "The Way of The Tiger" by "Dr. K Ullas Karanth", ಅ:"ಹುಲಿಯ ಬದುಕು" )

ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಮೊನ್ನೆ ನಡೆದ ಹುಲಿಗಳ ಗಣತಿಯ ವಿಧಾನವನ್ನು ಭಾರತ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಬಹಿರಂಗಪಡಿಸಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೇವಲ ಹುಲಿಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ 2007 ರ 1411 ರಿಂದ 1636 ( 1706 ಬಾಂಗ್ಲಾದೇಶದೊಂದಿಗೆ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಸುಂದರ್ ಬನ್ ಹುಲ್ಲುಗಾವಲನ್ನೂ ಸೇರಿಸಿ, ಏಕೆಂದರೆ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಗಣತಿ ಸುಂದರ್ ಬನ್ ಹುಲ್ಲುಗಾವಳನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡಿಲ್ಲ) ಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿದೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಈ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯ ನಿಖರತೆ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಉಲ್ಲಾಸ ಕಾರಂತ್ ರವರೂ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಪ್ರಖ್ಯಾತ ಜೀವ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಸಂದೇಹ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಅದೇನೇ ಇರಲಿ, ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿಯ ಹೆಸರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿದ ಜನಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಮತ್ತವರ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಗಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಹುಲಿಯ ಆವಸವಾದ ಕಾಡುಗಳ ನಾಶ, ವಿವಿಧ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಹುಲಿಯ ಮತ್ತು ಹುಲಿಯ ಬಲಿಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳ ಕಳ್ಳ ಬೇಟೆ, ಕಾಡ್ಗಿಚ್ಚು, ಹೀಗೆ ಅನೇಕ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಂದ ಹುಲಿಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಕ್ಷೀಣಿಸುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದಂತೂ ನಿಜ. ಈ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನಿಷ್ಠ ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದಾದರೂ ಏನು ಮಾಡಿದಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಲಿಗಳು ಗಮನಾರ್ಹವಾಗಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಯಲು 40 ನಿಮಿಷದ ಈ ಕಿರುಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು (documentary) ತಪ್ಪದೆ ವೀಕ್ಷಿಸಿ.

Vibhooti Falls and Gokarna

2011-04-12T15:31:00.000+05:30

When I was in hostel, Shimoga while studying engineering (2002-2006), we went to many places. This is about one such trip, when we went to Vibhooti falls (also called Mabage falls, since its near Mabage village) and Gokarna.

It was November 1st, 2003, Saturday and we had holiday because of Kannada Rajyotsava. We planned to have one day trip, starting early, about 4 AM, go to Vibhooti falls, about which we had read in "Taranga", a Kannada magazine (article titled Mabage falls), play for sometime and start from there and go to Gokarna and come back to Shimoga late night reserving next day for rest(Sunday). We didn't know by then that we would not come back on the same night due to unforeseen circumstances!

8 years back we were not used to Internet search. So, we just followed what was written in the magazine. And by doing so, we took a longer route of Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar-Kumta-Mabage. The better route was Shimoga to Sirsi and then to Mattighatta, Devanalli via Hegadekatta and from there to Vaddi Ghat from Vaddi cross and Mabage. As per our plan, we started around 4 30 AM and reached Honnavar via Sagar around 9. Having breakfast at Honnavar, we started towards Kumta and after about 20km from Kumta, took deviation to the right at the place where deviation to the left goes to Gokarna. We further traveled for about 22 km enquiring Mabage village. From here, left deviation goes to Yana at a distance of about 8 km and right one goes to Vibhooti falls, again at a distace of 8km. It was around 11 when we reached Vibhooti falls after about 2km trekking.

Vibhooti falls is a two stepped falls. Water collects at the bottom to form a pool which is a good place to swim and play. We played for about two hours and started back to our vehicle. We retraced to NH17 and took deviation towards Gokarna, where our lunch was arranged.

I usually take front seat near driver, since I would love to watch driving (back then). Likewise, I was sitting at the front seat while most were asleep. There was a right curve and I could see a car coming from opposite direction but the sad part was our driver didn't see it! In a fraction of second of thinking why our driver is driving dangerously on the right lane, a loud noise, "Dhab", is heard. I could see our vehicle hitting a local car. An accident. Soon we got down from our vehicle and people started gathering. Luckily only the car was damaged but the family inside were safe.

We were 30 boys, all aged between 18-21, most were only in shorts, not expected to be treated well in a situation like that. We waited by road side for about 3 hrs and finally, after our vehicle owner agreed to come down to Gokarna, we were allowed to move but the vehicle had to be in police station until the owner arrives from Shimoga. It was 6 pm by the time we sat for lunch! We roamed Gokarna main streets and called the day off to settle at a place for the night, 10 each in 3 rooms.

Next day, visit to Mahabaleshwara temple was followed by playing in Om beach till evening. By then our vehicle owner and the car owner had compromised, so we could start our return journey. It was 10 30 PM or so when we started from Honnavar towards Shimoga after supper. Reached Shimoga around 3 AM. Thus, our one day trip was extended to 2 days with one day vehicle rent!

ಶ್ರೀರಂಗಪಟ್ಟಣದ ಭಟ್ಟರ "ಮಂತ್ರ"

2011-03-25T10:58:00.001+05:30

ಕಳೆದ ವಾರ ಶ್ರೀರಂಗಪಟ್ಟಣದ ರಂಗನಾಥ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿದ್ವಿ.ಆ ಪ್ರವಾಸದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇನ್ನೊಮ್ಮೆ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇನೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಸಂಗದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾನೀಗ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ.

ನಾನು ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡದೇ ಬರೇ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದದ್ದು ಬೇಕಷ್ಟಿದೆ. ನನಗೆ ದೇವಾಲಯದ ಶಿಲ್ಪಿ ಕಲೆಗಳೇ ಬಹಳ ಮೆಚ್ಚುಗೆಯಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಮಧುರೈಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಮೀನಾಕ್ಷಿ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದ ಒಳಭಾಗದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ತಿರುಗಾಡಿ ಮೀನಾಕ್ಷಿ ಮೂರ್ತಿ ನೋಡದೆ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಕನ್ಯಾಕುಮಾರಿಗೆ ಹೋದಾಗ, ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ, ಕನ್ಯಾಕುಮಾರಿಯ ದರ್ಶನವನ್ನೇ ಮಾಡದೆ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಸರಿ, ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಹೀಗಾಗುವುದು ಬೇಡ ಈ ಸಲ ಎಷ್ಟು ಸಾಧ್ಯವೋ ಅಷ್ಟು ಒಳಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು ಅಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿದೆ. ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಮಾರು ಒಳಭಾಗದವೆರೆಗೂ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರವೇಶವಿದೆ. ಪವಡಿಸಿರುವ ರಂಗನಾಥ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ ವಿಗ್ರಹವಿರುವ ಗುಡಿ (ಗರ್ಭ ಗುಡಿ) ಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಪ್ರವೇಶವಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಹತ್ತಿರದವೆರೆಗೂ ಹೋಗಬಹುದು.

ಹಾಗೆ ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತಿದ್ದೆವು. ನಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದೆ ಇದ್ದವ ಒಬ್ಬ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ನಿಂದ ಫೋಟೋ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ಕಿಸಿದ. ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗೆಯುವುದನ್ನು ನಿಷೇಧಿಸಿದೆ ಎಂಬ ಫಲಕ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಡೆ ಹಾಕಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಆದುದರಿಂದ ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗೆದವನದ್ದೆ ತಪ್ಪು ಎಂದು ಯಾರಾದರು ಹೇಳಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಭಟ್ಟ (ಅರ್ಚಕರು ಎನ್ನದೆ ಯಾಕೆ ಭಟ್ಟ ಅಂತ ಕೆರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಎಂದು ಕ್ರಮೇಣ ನಿಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ) ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗೆದವನ ಹತ್ತಿರ ಬಂದ. ಬಂದು ಫೋಟೋ ಅಳಿಸು ಎಂದು ಆದೇಶಿಸಿದ. ಇವನು ಆಮೇಲೆ ಅಳಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ ಎಂದ. ಭಟ್ಟ ಈಗಲೇ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಇವನು ಆಮೇಲೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದು, ಹೀಗೆ ಸಾಗಿತು ಅವರ ಮಾತು. ಮಾತಿಗೆ ಮಾತು ಸೇರಿ ಕೈ ಕೈ ಮಿಲಾಯಿಸುವ ಹಂತವೂ ಬಂತು. ಮಿಲಾಯಿಸಿದ್ದೂ ಆಯಿತು! ನಾವೆಲ್ಲ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಯುತ್ತ ಇದ್ದೇವೆ. ಆಮೇಲೆ ಆ ಭಟ್ಟ, ಹೊಡೆದಾಡಿ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಕಸಿದುಕೊಂಡೇ ಬಿಟ್ಟ! ಅದನ್ನು ಎತ್ತಿ ಬಿಸಾಕಿ ಮುರಿದದ್ದೂ ಆಯಿತು. ಅಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಸೆಕ್ಯೂರಿಟಿಯವರು ಇದ್ದಾಗ ಈ ಭಟ್ಟನಿಗೆ ಈ ರೀತಿ ಹೊಡೆದಾಡುವುದು ಬೇಕಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ನಾವು ಮಾತನಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿರಬೇಕಾದರೆ, ಆ ಭಟ್ಟ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆರತಿ-ಕುಂಕುಮದ ತಟ್ಟೆ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಂಡು, ಗರ್ಭ ಗುಡಿಯ ಬಾಗಿಲಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು, "ಬೋಳಿಮಗನೆ, ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗಿಬಾರ್ದು ಅಂತ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಲ್ವ ನಿಂಗೆ? ಬೋಳಿಮಗನೆ, ಕೋಣ ಬೆಳೆದಂಗೆ ಬೆಳೆದಿದ್ದಿಯ!" ಎಂದು ಕೆಳಮಟ್ಟದ ಶಬ್ದ ಬಳಸುವುದೇ?! ನಮಗೋ ಭಕ್ತಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹೊರಟು ಹೋಗಿ ನಮಸ್ಕರಿಸಲೂ ಮನಸ್ಸು ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆ ಭಟ್ಟನ ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಬೈಯುತ್ತ ಹೊರಬಂದೆವು.

Nuclear Power Plant Categories and Visit to Kaiga

2011-03-18T12:33:00.005+05:30

The unfortunate incident of earthquake followed by tsunami and the aftereffect - blasts of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant - brought back my memories of a visit to Kaiga Nuclear Power plant. Back in 1998, during my high school days in Sirsi, I had an opportunity to visit Kaiga plant as part of an excursion. That time, Kaiga had not started operation. One unit was ready but the other one was still under construction. (Now, there are 2 more units, constructed later). Public could go inside them. (Inside visiting is strictly prohibited to public now.) We hired a KSRTC bus and visited Kaiga, Kadra dam and came back to Sirsi, after spending sometime in Karwar beach.

There were guides to take the visitors to a tour and explain nuclear power generation process and different units - reactor, container, generator, transformer, and so on ... I can't remember in detail now but I do remember the big pipes to transport Uranium and the place where it would be split. Listening to the guide, we were scared as to what happens if anything goes wrong when in production.

Kaiga power plant produces 880 MW of power, making it the third largest Nuclear power plant in India. It is based on PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) technology which uses heavy water as coolant. This is more efficient in terms of fuel burning and also in terms of cooling requirements than BWR. BWR (Boiling Water Reactor), the other known technology for nuclear plants, requires demineralized light water as coolant. It requires cooling for many days even after shut down. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is based on BWR. The damage caused to the Fukushima Daiichi plant got worsened after the first blast due to pouring in of sea water, which, ofcourse, was not demineralized. The plant was not designed to handle this mineralized water coolant and hence there were subsequent blasts and damage followed by radiation leaks. Two reasons, one, BWR plants require many days of cooling even after shut down, two, shortage of light water (demineralized water) and usage of sea water for cooling were prominent for its subsequent heating.

Fortunately, out of 6 nuclear power plants in India, only Tarapur plant has 2 units of BWR and the rest are PHWR. So, damage will be less in case of any natural catastrophes. Atleast after shut down, these do not pose any threat of heating up. (Radiation leakage is ofcourse has to be taken care irrespective of types)

ಚಿಕ್ಕಂದಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಊರಿನಲ್ಲಾಡಿದ ಆಟಗಳು

2011-03-04T16:12:00.000+05:30

ನಾನು ಶಿವಮೊಗ್ಗ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಸಾಗರ ತಾಲ್ಲೂಕಿನ ತಲವಾಟ ಊರಿನವನು. ತಲವಾಟ ಹೆಸರು ಹೇಗೆ ಬಂತು? ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಇರಲಿಬಿಡಿ. ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಕೇಂದ್ರವಾದ ಇದು ಯಾವುದೇ ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಹಳ್ಳಿಗಳಂತೆ ಒಂದು ಹಳ್ಳಿ. ನಾನು ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು ಬೆಳೆದಿದ್ದು ಎಲ್ಲ ಸರಿಸುಮಾರು ಇಲ್ಲೇ. ಈಗ ಇರುವುದು ಮಾತ್ರ, ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ಅರಸಿ ಬಂದ, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ. ನಮ್ಮ ಬೀದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಬಾ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಆಟವಾಡಲು ಜಾಗವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ! ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಹೀಗೆ ಯೋಚಿಸುತ್ತ ಕುಳಿತಿರಬೇಕಾದರೆ, ನಾನು ಯಾವ್ಯಾವ ಆಟ ಆಡಿದ್ದೆ ಊರಿನ ಅಂಗಳ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಎಂದು ನೆನಪು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತ ಹೋದೆ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಗೀಚಿದೆ. ತಾವು ಬೇರೆ ಆಟಗಾಳನ್ನಾಡಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ, ಅದನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಲು ಸ್ವಾಗತವಿದೆ. ಈಗ ಊರಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಇವನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಆಡುತ್ತಾರೋ ಇಲ್ಲವೋ ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ.

ಸದ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇಷ್ಟೇ ನೆನಪಾಗುತ್ತಿವೆ,

- ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್

- ಚಿನ್ನಿ ದಾಂಡು

- ಲಗೋರಿ

- ಗೋಲಿ

- ಬುಗುರಿ

- ನೆಲಕೋತಿ (ಕಲ್ಲು ಸಗಣಿ ಅಂದರೂ ಇದೇ ಹೌದೋ ಅಲ್ಲವೋ ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ)

- ಮರಕೋತಿ

- ಚಿಬ್ಬಿ (ಕುಂಟಬಿಲ್ಲೇ)

- ಸಿಕ್ಕರ ಚೆಂಡು (ರಾಮನ ಚೆಂಡು ಭೀಮನ ಚೆಂಡು)

- ಕಂಬ ಕಂಬದಾಟ

- ಕಣ್ಣ ಮುಚ್ಚೆ ಕಾಡೇ ಗೂಡೆ

- ಜೂಟಾಟ

- ಕುಂಟಾಟ

- ಕಳ್ಳ ಪೊಲೀಸ್

- ಕಬಡ್ಡಿ

- ಕೊಕ್ಕೋ

ಇವಲ್ಲದೇ, ತೋಟ, ಬೆಟ್ಟ, ಗುಡ್ಡ, ಬ್ಯಾಣ ಅಲೆಯುವುದಂತೂ ಇದ್ದೇ ಇತ್ತು.

ಒಮ್ಮೊಮ್ಮೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಪಾಲಕರು ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿದ ಪರಿಸರವನ್ನು ನಾವು ನಮ್ಮ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಕೊರಗು ಉಂಟಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅಥವಾ ಈಗಿನ ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ತವರೂರಿಗೆ ವಾಪಾಸಾಗಬೇಕು!

Nandi Hills by Our Car

2011-02-23T10:01:00.001+05:30

Bought a Santro car! So, what next? It was December 26th, 2010, sunday. Dialed some buddies to go for Nandi Hills. But none was free but that didn't stop me and my wife from going. We left our home at 7 a.m. and thought to drive for sometime before breakfast. We didn't stop by any hotel till we cross Hebbal and once we crossed, we didn't find any! We crossed BIAL deviation and took left at Devanahalli and one more left (I don't remember the place' name) reached Nandi cross. On this road we spotted some tea shops with bread and buns but no hotel. Finally when we turned right just before 3-4 km from Nandi hills, we found a hotel. We had a tasty breakfast there. Those who start early from Bangalore can have breakfast here - after Nandi cross. By the time we finished breakfast, there was no fog and sky was clear. Reached Nandi Hills and paying car fee went on top of hills and parked the car. Here there is one more hotel 'Ranjitha'. Though we didn't have anything there, that looked average if you are too hungry.

View on the way to Nandi Hills

On the way to Nandi Hills

All the way from Hebbal till Nandi Hills, there were too many cyclists cycling. It looked to me they were all part of some cycling club since they knew each other. Their age ranged from 18-20 to 60-65! The road after Nandi cross till Nandi Hills has many hair pin curves and it gives great pleasure in driving. At the same time, one has to be very careful since at many places vehicles coming down would come at higher speeds and left side of the road is very steep and dangerous.

Nandi Hills map

I am not going to write much about the places on top of Nandi Hills or its background since one would get any number of websites stating about all the places of interests to tourists and their significance. I am just writing my experience. There are many stories why it got the name Nandi Hills. But what is unambigous is Tippu used it as his summer palace. There is a fort (also called Nandidurga) covering hilltop and you need to enter inside (two wheelers not allowed). One point here is for those who want to go by two wheeler, most of two wheelers get punctured there and there is a puncture shop! Anyway, we did see following.

View from Tippu Drop

* Fort - You need to enter through it.
* Temple - Nice temples with only stones (both walls and pillars) and Kalyani (pond)
* Tippu Drop - Fantastic view point and with good camera, excellent panoramic photographs can be captured. This is where prisoners were thrown from.
* Children's playground - Not much to write about it
* Amruth Sarovar - With lot of fish including one with golden orange colour
* Tippu's summer palace - Entry barred to public, we could see only from outside

Amrutha Sarovara - spot the golden coloured fish

Tippu's Summer palace

Places which were not interested
* Nehru Nilaya - Nehru used to stay and now it is guest house of horticulture dept. of India
* River sources - Mostly dried up
* Secret Escape route - Came to know about it only when came back

We started at around 11 30 and stopped by the same hotel where we had breakfast and reached Bangalore for lunch.

Southern India - R&D Hub

2011-02-04T12:26:00.000+05:30

Most people in India would have wondered atleast once or another as to why Bangalore became so much popular for IT. But careful observation reveals an interesting fact that except Delhi-NCR, no north Indian city any defence research and development center, including HAL, NAL, ISRO, DRDO, LRDE or PSUs like BEL, BHEL, BEML. These are all based almost in Southern India. It is said that because south India is surrounded in all 3 sides by water bodies, all these organizations are moved to south so that foreign infiltration would be less. There is a story that at one point of time, some of these organizations got some work outsourced to them from western countries. Thus More work came to Southern India followed by more talents and in turn more local companies started and foreign companies established their development centers! I don't know the authenticity of this story. May be somebody knowing anything on this might just give his opinion.

Madurai Meenakshi

2010-12-28T12:48:00.001+05:30

Madurai, city of temples, is one of the ancient and prestigeous city of Southern India with rich cultural and heritage background. Madurai Meenakshi temple is one of the greatest cultural and architectural landmarks, built during early A.D and restored in 14th century.

For one of my colleague's marriage, we, 8 guys, went to Madurai on May 28th, 2009. The marriage was around 80km from Madurai at a place called "Rajapalya". The hotel for us was booked there. After around 10 hrs journey by Airavata, we got down at Madurai to find a vehicle waiting for us to take to wedding place. We got in and we met with a minor accident on the way. It was over 11 o'clock when we reached our hotel. We got ready quickly (more than an hour!) and went to choultry. It was 12 30 or so and wedding functions were finished and even reception was getting over. We managed to wish and could give a pose (which we won't miss always).

It was time for lunch and having skipped breakfast, we were very hungry so had heavy lunch, without bothering what the items were actually. While coming out, we saw two people sitting on different tables taking something and noting it down. When we enquired, we came to know they were gifts. I didn't know till then that in Tamil Nadu (or could be in some communities in TN) you have to give gifts and have to make an entry as to for whom you are giving the gift.

Our way back to Madurai was pleasant after heavy meals and we arrived near Madurai Meenakshi temple around 5PM. While entering we came to know we had to come out of the temple by 6 PM. (I don't remember the reason now, but it was not our constraint, instead temple administration's). Madurai temple is very huge and one can actually see it's gopuras from quite a long distance (1-2 km) on top of Madurai's buildings. (Gopura is ornate monumental tower, at the entries of Hindu temples - a prominent feature of Hindu architecture) Inside there was huge crowd to see the temple and Meenakshi idol. We roamed all along the temple wherever there were less people and came out after around an hour.

I am not writing much about the temple. It is best seen than said. Instead of posting the pictures, I am posting a link where you can virtually walk inside the temple. Click here to step inside.

You can see other Tamil Nadu temples here.

PS : It needs Adobe flash player and takes a while to load.

೧ ಜ್ಯೋತಿರ್ವರ್ಷವೆಂದರೆ ...

2010-10-19T21:18:00.002+05:30

ಮೃತ್ಯು ರವರ ಅಕ್ಷೋಹಿಣಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕಪಿಸೇನೆ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಖಗೋಳ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವ ಜ್ಯೋತಿರ್ವರ್ಷವನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ದಿನನಿತ್ಯದ ಬಳಕೆಯ ಕಿ.ಮೀ. ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುವ ಯೋಚನೆ ಬಂತು. ಸರಿ ನೋಡೇಬಿಡೋಣ ಅಂತ ಕುಳಿತೆ.

ಜ್ಯೋತಿರ್ವರ್ಷ ದೂರದ ಮಾಪನ. ಬೆಳಕು ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷಕ್ಕೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ದೂರ ಚಲಿಸುತ್ತದೋ ಅಷ್ಟು ದೂರವೇ ಒಂದು ಜ್ಯೋತಿರ್ವರ್ಷ.

ಬೆಳಕಿನ ವೇಗ ೧ ಕ್ಷಣಕ್ಕೆ ೩,೦೦,೦೦೦ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.
೧ ನಿಮಿಷ = ೬೦ ಕ್ಷಣ = ೬೦ x ೩೦೦೦೦೦ = ೧,೮೦,೦೦,೦೦೦ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.
೧ ಘಂಟೆ = ೬೦ ನಿಮಿಷ = ೬೦ x ೧೮೦೦೦೦೦೦ = ೧೦೮,೦೦,೦೦,೦೦೦ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.
೧ ದಿನ = ೨೪ ಘಂಟೆ = ೨೪ x ೧೦೮೦೦೦೦೦೦೦ = ೨,೫೯೨,೦೦,೦೦,೦೦೦ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.
೧ ವರ್ಷ = ೩೬೫ ದಿನ = ೩೬೫ x ೨೫೯೨೦೦೦೦೦೦೦ = ೯,೪೬,೦೮೦,೦೦,೦೦,೦೦೦ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.

ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ೧ ಜ್ಯೋತಿರ್ವರ್ಷವೆಂದರೆ ೯ ಲಕ್ಷದ ೪೬ ಸಾವಿರದ ೮೦ ಕೋಟಿ ಕಿ.ಮೀ. ಗಳು!

Kodaikanal

2010-10-02T19:14:00.002+05:30

Of major South Indian tourist places, Kodaikanal and Munnar were the places I had not yet visited but wanted to visit. So, after marriage, me and my wife decided to go to Kodaikanal on March 4th, 2010.

Kodaikanal is one of the most beautiful hill stations in India, situated on Palani Hills - Western Ghats Mountain Range. Similar to Ooty, Kodaikanal was developed by British for summer homes. Wherever one goes, he would only see mountains, valleys and pine forests.

As both of us didn't have any idea, we had booked a package tour through Travellers' Inn, with a delux cab for site seeing.

We arrived in Kodaikanl and put up at a cottage in Kodai Resort. After refresh, we started and La Salette church was the first place we visited. It's a centuries old church. We were not much interested in it, so quickly came out. Next place to visit was Bear Shola waterfall. It's, actually, a series of waterfalls amid hillock. Beyond third fall, there is a cave and people say there used to be a lion before 150 years! There was a pit-stop on our journey to next place to peek a tree beyond a metal fence, roughly 500 years old. It looks large enough for such an old tree. We went to Mountain Beauty after. We liked the foot-path to reach this place as much as the place itself. This place has a very beautiful view of the mountain range. From there we just trekked to Dolphin Nose. It's a shape formed by rock at the cliff's edge.

By the time we were back to hotel it was over 3 pm and we were starving. Day ended strolling in Kodaikanal. Except breakfast on the day of arrival, we had food all other times till leaving Kodaikanal in a veg hotel near Kodaikanal main bus stand. I don't remember the name but it's just opp to bus stand and 10 min walk from our hotel Kodai Resort. All along we used to see carrots sold on roads. These carrots were very fresh and sweet.

Day two started with Upper lake view. Here we were told the center lake of Kodaikanal - Kodai lake - was not natural but man-made lake. We then went to see pine forest. This is one of the most sought place for movie shooting. I thought I had seen the place many times in different movies! Moir's point was our next place of visit. It's a monument in respect of Sir Thomas Moir. I don't know much about him apart from "turned the first sod" which was carved in granite on the monument. We then went to Shanti Valley View. While coming to this point, we were thinking of places other than mountain views. But in Kodaikanal most of the tourist places are mountain views and one can't ask for something entirely different. This valley is also called suicide point and there is no doubt one who wants to commit suicide, dies. It is very steep. Further, we went to Guna Cave. I still do not know why it is called a cave as there was no cave of any sort. This was, again, a valley view but you need to trek a little in hillocks. Pillar Rocks was the next place of visit. Now this was quite different in the sense that the cliff is formed two rocky pillars.

We moved to Green Valley View after pillar rocks. This was very crowded and there were many shops selling locally crafted items and dry fruits along with various oils. There was a botanical park. My wife purchased some seeds for our gardening. Not many plants grew from it though! There were too many monkeys in Green Valley.

We did visit two temples - Jain Temple and Kurinji Andavar Temple. In Kurinji Andavar temple, one guy was selling flowers. He forced me to buy 6 small garlands, telling only Rs 10/-. He couldn't understand English or Hindi and I didn't know Tamil. I told him only 10 by showing my fingers for all the flowers. We went inside and the priest worshiped in our name and even before we started turning back, the priest took those flowers and gave to somebody. We thought same flowers might come outside to that seller again! When we came out, the seller started asking me 60/- as each costs 10/- I got angry and gave only 10/- and left the place. Everywhere in India, sellers cheat not only foreign nationals, but our countrymen also. Nothing wrong in Aamir Khan advertisement or Slumdog Millionaire.

After temple visits, we went to a botanical park called Chettiyar Park. We were told March was not the season. There were two many plants forming canopy and they were cut in various designs. Only lacking were flowers in large number. Next was Coaker's walk, which runs along the edge of a hillock facing Kodai Lake. Finally we went to Kodai lake and looking at the colour of the water, we decided against boating! I did a horse ride and it was awesome! There is a govt run botanical park near lake Bryant park. That was good to spend evening time.

We packed up and left Kodaikanal around 7pm.

Ooty - Queen of Hill Stations!

2010-03-21T12:48:00.015+05:30

Its been a year since I went to Ooty and so, I may not be able to do justice to Ooty's beauty through my blog. Anyway, an effort to describe the place, which was promoted by British as an ideal summer retreat.

On 21st March 2009 morning, around 6 am, I woke up to see outside landscape and I found only mountains and tea plantations. The mini bus which I was traveling was climbing up slowly (seems like never ending) and I concluded - Yes. We are nearing Ooty!

After breakfast, we went to Doddabetta - the name derived from Kannada, meaning Big Hillock/Mountain. Doddabetta provides a fantastic view. It is said that on a clear day one can see upto Chamundi hills of Mysore! (I don't know whether such clear days exist!). There is a telescope there if one wants to have a better view than what can be seen through naked eyes.

We came across a volunteer guide and he got into the vehicle telling he would show all the places in the vicinity. That guy was already drunk (at noon) and he could speak only Tamil and he drilled, without stop, one of our colleagues who happened to be from Tamil Nadu. We could do nothing other than laughing.

We went to a tea factory after Doddabetta. It was good to see the various processes and stages of tea powder production from tea leaves. Then we bought home-made chocos and continued our travel to Conoor. On the way to Conoor, we stopped by some places, some view-points.

The guide knew only Roja film and Chaiyya Chaiyya song from Dil Se. He was showing us pine tree forests and some mountains all the way to Conoor and telling Roja film was shot there and not in Kashmir as people thought and Chaiyya Chaiyya song was also shot there. We don't know whether he was telling true.

In Conoor, we sent our vehicle back to Ooty and caught the train. We came to know at 11th hour and ran to railway station and got the tickets to Ooty. The train from Conoor to Ooty is like a bus. The journey was wonderful and we were continuously taking snaps. Its a must do if one goes to Ooty.

We went to Govt. run botanical garden and were there till late evening after we got down the train in Ooty. The garden is good for evening time pass and worth visiting.

Next day, we visited a pine tree forest (do not remember the exact spot name) and back water (again, name forgotten). There was horse riding as well and some of us had fun riding it. Next place was again some view point. (I guess it is 8th Mile or 50th Mile or some 'Mile'). It was beautiful.

Our next destination was Pykara waterfall. Now this was something funny. We were climbing down the steps in search of waterfall and we could see none! Then a localite told us that the place we were standing itself was the waterfall. There was only stream flowing. I lost my bracelet there :-( Our last visiting place was Pykara boating lake. It was nice.

It was sunday 7 pm when we reached Mysore and the palace was lit beautifully. We spent sometime there before heading to Bangalore.

Click here for more pics.

ಕೋಲಾಟದ ವೀಡಿಯೋ

2009-12-07T20:25:00.006+05:30

ಈ ಬಾರಿಯ ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಹಬ್ಬಕ್ಕೆ ಊರಿಗೆ ಹೋದಾಗ ತೆಗೆದ ವೀಡಿಯೋ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ ಲೇಖನಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ಕಿಸಿ.

Dodda Alada Mara Ride

2009-10-30T16:17:00.009+05:30

It was sunday on 22nd Feb, and with no interesting movies to watch, me and Jagga were feeling bored and we started off without knowing where to go. It was already 4pm, so we could think of no place other than Dodda Aladamara. (Big Banyan Tree)

Dodda Aladamara is a giant banyan tree located at a distance of about 25 km from Majestic, Bangalore. To reach there, one has to reach NayanDahalli, (Mysore Road - Outer Ring Road junction) and from there head towards Mysore and cross Kengeri. After 2-3 km, one can see "Rajarajeshwari Dental College", Kumbala godu. One has to take right turn here and Dodda Alada mara is just 7 km away.

The tree is said to be around 400 years old and a single tree spread across acres of land. Now we can't make out which is the main tree and the explaination the localites give is that the main root is destroyed due to some disease some years back. We can, even now, see the connection between most branches (not all).

Nevertheless, it's a good place to hang on particularly for evening walks. Not to mention monkeys are intelligent here! We headed back towards Bangalore after wandering for about an hour there. For more pictures click here.

ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯ ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವುದು ಮತ್ತು ಕೋಲಾಟ

2009-10-24T19:19:00.008+05:30

"ಢುಮುಸಾsssಲ್ ಹೊಡಿರಣ್ಣ ಢುಮುಸಾsssಲ್ ಹೊಡಿರ್ರೊ"
"ಢುಮುಸಾsssಲ್ ಹೊಡಿರಣ್ಣ, ನಾವ್ ಹೋಗ ಮನೆಗೆsss" ...
...
"ಯದುಕುಲೇಸನೇsss, ಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಪರಸು ರಾಮನೇsss, ಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಪರಸು ರಾಮನೇsss"
...

ಇದೇನಂತ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯಗೊಳ್ತಾ ಇದೀರಾ? ಹಳ್ಳಿಗರಿಗೆ, ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಮಲೆನಾಡು ಸುತ್ತಮುತ್ತ ಅಂತೂ ಇದು ಏನು ಅಂತ ಕ್ಷಣಮಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೂ ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾಗಿ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ. ಗ್ರಾಂಥಿಕ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ "ಅಂಟಿಗೆ ಪಿಂಟಿಗೆ" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುವ ಈ ಕಲೆಗೆ ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಹೃದಯ ಭಾಗವಾದ ಸಾಗರ ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯದ ಸುತ್ತಮುತ್ತ "ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವುದು" ಎನ್ನುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವವರು ದೀಪ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಂಡು ಮೊದಲೆರಡು ಸಾಲಿನಂತೆ ಕೂಗುತ್ತ ಮನೆಮನೆಗೆ ಬರುತ್ತಾರೆ, ಬಂದು ಹಾಡು ಆರಂಭಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಮನೆಯವರು, ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವವರ ದೀಪಕ್ಕೆ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಹಾಕಿ, ಅವರ ದೀಪದಿಂದ ತಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ದೇವರ ದೀಪ ಹಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ಪದ್ಧತಿ. ಅವರಿಗೆ ಹಬ್ಬಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಹೋಳಿಗೆಯನ್ನಿತ್ತು, ಸಂಭಾವನೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತೇವೆ. (ಮನೆ ಒಳಗಡೆ ಬಲ್ಬ್ ಹಾಳಾಗಿದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಫೋಟೋ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ, ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವ ಗುಂಪು ಹೊರಗಡೆ ಹಾಡು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು, ಅವರೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡಿಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ)

ನಂಗೆ ತಿಳುವಳಿಕೆ ಬಂದು ಸುಮಾರು ೧೬-೧೮ ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಪ್ರತಿ ದೀಪಾವಳಿಗೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಇವತ್ತಿಗೂ ನಾನು ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯಂದು "ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವವರು" ಬರುವುದನ್ನು ಕಾಯುತ್ತೇನೆ. ರಾತ್ರಿ ಮಲಗಿದ ವೇಳೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದು ಎಬ್ಬಿಸುವ ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವವರನ್ನು ನೋಡಲು, ಅವರು ಹೇಗೇ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಹಾಡಲಿ (ಅಥವಾ ಹೇಳಲಿ), ಕೇಳಲು ನಂಗೆ ಚಂದ.

ನಮ್ಮೂರಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಪಂಗಡದವರು ಹಬ್ಬಾಡಿದರೆ, ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಪಂಗಡದವರು ಕೋಲಾಟ ಆಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅದು ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯ ಮರುದಿನ. ಎಲ್ಲರ ಮನೆಯೆದುರು ಕೋಲಾಟವಾಡುವುದು ರೂಢಿ. ಇವರಿಗೂ ಕೂಡ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಂಭಾವನೆಯ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಹೋಳಿಗೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟರೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸ ಕೋಲಾಟವನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಸಂತೋಷಪಡುವುದಷ್ಟೆ. ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಕೋಲಾಟದ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಎಸೆಯುವ ನಾಣ್ಯವನ್ನು ಅವರು ಕಾಲಿನಿಂದಲೇ ಹೆಕ್ಕಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ನೋಡಲು ಬಲು ಚಂದ. (ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಬ್ಲಾಗ್)

ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಹಬ್ಬಕ್ಕೆ ಊರಿಗೆ ಹೋದಾಗ ಹಬ್ಬಾಡುವುದು ಮತ್ತು ಕೋಲಾಟ ಎರಡೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. :-) ವೀಡಿಯೋ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ.

Bluff or Shimsa and Talakadu

2009-09-26T18:30:00.016+05:30

After our graduation, we, classmates, had never been to any place together. So somebody suggested and everybody else agreed to visit Shivanasamudra and we went there on Jan 31st, 2009.

Actual name of Bluff or Shimsa is Shivanasamudra, which has two waterfalls namely Gaganachukki and Bharachukki. At Shivanasamudra, river Kaveri branches off into two and drops over cliffs forming multiple waterfalls. We went to Bharachukki and left out Gaganachukki as we prioritized visiting Talakadu than Gaganachukki. The hydral power plant in Shivanasamudra is first in Asia! From Bengaluru, there are two ways to reach bluff. One via Maddur -> Malavalli from Bengaluru Mysuru road and the other one is via Kanakapura->Malavalli. Distance is almost same but first one is better as the road is good.

Having breakfast in Kamat hotel, Ramanagar, as usual, it was around 11 am when we reached Bharachukki. Unfortunately, our time of visit was not very good as the water at this time of the year would be less. But who goes only to see the beauty, we were to enjoy the trip after all! Coming back to the day, we climbed down the hillock and reached the bottom. To go below the falls and to play most in water we hired 'Teppa', (Raft or ferry, I don't know what it's exact counterpart in English). Getting soaked in water after sometime was giving us lot of cheerfulness in that heat. After playing in the waters for about an hour we were back to land and started for Talakadu.

Talakadu, full of sand, is a small town beside river Kaveri. It has great history and buried underneath in sand are 30 odd temples! It is also associated with the "curse of Talakadu" by Alamelamma. She cursed "Talakadu Maralagali" along with two more curses which include "Mysore Wadeyar may not have children for all time". Almost everybody in Karnataka know about these and I don't write anything more.

Talakadu is a very good place to hang on for some time with family and/or friends. We spent sometime along the river shore after taking a round to the other end in Teppa. This time instead of rowing, they were just pushing with the help of a long bamboo pole. When we asked the depth, the guy told it's just 4 feet! If we knew this earlier, we wouldn't have given him Rs 100 just for taking us otherside of the river once.

The most funny part followed this. One elderly lady volunteered herself as a guide even when we were refusing. Then she started addressing every one of us as "PuTtamma, Chinnupaapu, Ganesha, ... ", and so on and particulary one of our friends Seena, who got very close to her in that short period and was pity about her. She not even closed her mouth for a second and we were just making fun of her.

It was getting dark and we started from Talakadu at twilight hour towards Bangalore and had something in Kamat hotel, Ramanagar once again!

ಭಾವನೆಗಳ ಲೀಲೆ

2009-08-20T20:48:00.005+05:30

ಅವನೊಬ್ಬ ಸ್ತಿತಪ್ರಜ್ಞ. ಯಾರೇನೇ ಹೇಳಲಿ, "ಓಹೋ, ಹೌದಾ, ಖುಷಿಯಾಯ್ತು", ಅಥವಾ "ಅಯ್ಯೋ, ಹಾಗಾಗಬಾರದಿತ್ತು" ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ಹಾಗಂತ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂತಲ್ಲ, ಆದರೆ, ಇಲ್ಲವೇ ಇಲ್ಲನೆನ್ನುವಷ್ಟು ಕಡಿಮೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ಅವನು ಏನಾದರೂ ಚಿಂತಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅಥವಾ ಖುಷಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅವನು ಹೇಳಿದರೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬೇರೆಯವರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು.

ಎಲ್ಲರ ಜೀವನದಂತೆ, ಅವನ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲೂ ಒಂದು ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಜೀವದ ಪ್ರವೇಶವಾಯಿತು. ಅವಳು "ನೀನೊಬ್ಬ ಮುಚ್ಚಿದ ಶೀಷೆ, ಮುಚ್ಚಳ ತೆಗೆದಿಡು, ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ನೀನು ತೆರೆದಿಡಬೇಕು" ಎಂದಳು. "ಹೃದಯ ಸುಗಂಧ ದ್ರವ್ಯದ ಶೀಷೆ, ಮುಚ್ಚಳ ತೆಗೆದರೆ, ಅದರ ಪರಿಮಳ ಹೊರಟು ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ" ಎಂದ. "ಆದರೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತೆಗೆಯುವೆ, ಇನ್ನುಮುಂದೆ" ಎಂದ.

ಕಾಲಕ್ರಮೇಣ, ಗೊತ್ತೇ ಆಗದಂತೆ, ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ತಕ್ಕಷ್ಟು ಸ್ಪಂದಿಸಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದ. ಮುಂಚೆ ಕಥೆ - ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳನ್ನು, ನಿರ್ಲಿಪ್ತನಾಗಿ, ಕೇವಲ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ, ಕುತೂಹಲ ಮತ್ತು ಕಥೆ ಎನ್ನುವ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಿಂದ ಮಾತ್ರ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದವ, ಆಮೇಲೆ ಭಾವಪರವಶನಾಗಿ ಓದಲಾರಂಭಿಸಿದ. ದೂರದರ್ಶನ, ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳುವ ದೃಶ್ಯವಿದ್ದರೆ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಇವನ ಕೆನ್ನೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು ಧಾರಾಕಾರ ಬರಲಾರಂಭಿಸಿತು. ಭಾವನೆಗಳ ಚಿಲುಮೆಯಾದ. ಅವನ ಚಿಂತಿತನಾಗಿದ್ದಾನೋ, ಖುಷಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದಾನೋ, ಅವನ ಮಿತ್ರರು ಹೇಳಬಲ್ಲವರಾಗಿದ್ದರು!

- ಅವನು ಮುಂಚೆ ಇದ್ದಿದ್ದು ಸರಿಯೇ? ಅಥವಾ ಆಮೇಲೆ ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆಗೊಂಡಿದ್ದು ಸರಿಯೇ?
- ಅಥವಾ ಎರಡೂ ಸರಿಯೇ!? ಇದೆಲ್ಲದರ ಮಿಶ್ರಿಣವೇ ಮಾನವ ಜೀವನವೇ?
- ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಪರಿಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗುವಡೆಗೆ ಎಂದರೇ, ಭಾವನೆಗಳು ಕಾಲಕ್ರಮೇಣ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಆಗಬೇಕೆ? ಅಥವಾ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಆಗಬೇಕೆ?
- ಸನ್ಯಾಸಿಗಳನ್ನು (ಪ್ರಪಂಚದೆಡೆಗಿನ ಸಂಬಂಧ ಕಳಚಿಕೊಂಡವರು) "ಮಹಾನ್ ಸಾಧಕರು" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುವುದು ಎಷ್ಟು ಸರಿ, ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳಿಗಿಂತ ಮಾನವ ಉನ್ನತ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ಭಾವನಿಗಳಿಂದ, ಅದನ್ನೆ ತೊರೆದರೆ?
- ಅನುಭವವಿರುವವನು ಅನುಭವಿ ಆದರೆ, ಭಾವನೆ ಇರುವವನು ಭಾವಿ ಆಗ್ತಾನಾ?

ವಿ.ಸೂ. :- ಯಾರಾದರೂ, ಈ ಕಾಲ್ಪನಿಕ ಕಥೆಗೆ, ಆಮೇಲಿರಿಸಿದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಏನಾದರೂ ಅರ್ಥವಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿದರೆ, ನನಗೆ ಅಚ್ಚರಿಯಾಗುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಅನುಮಾನವಿಲ್ಲ. :-)

Capital of "God's Own Country" & Cape Comorin

2009-07-26T19:36:00.047+05:30

I had to go to Thiruvananthapuram for some days for office work. I, along with 3 more colleagues, one of them is from Thiruvananthapuram itself and the other two visiting for the first time, went there on Dec 14th, 2008. Same day, during afternoon, we went to Veli village to mark the start of our trip.

Veli tourist village is a good picnic spot, where the Veli lake (rather river) meets Arabian sea, which is around 10 km from Thiruvananthapuram. After wandering in the park for some time, we went for paddle boating. That was first experience for me. We were given life jackets and half an hour time. It was very enjoying. There was horse riding as well, though we weren't interested. I have been to so many hotels, but I never had Coconut milkshake which we had at Veli. It was good. I don't have any snaps of Veli as my Camera battery had dried out.

Next week, we were busy in our work. On 20th, saturday, we visited Napier Art Museum, located at the heart of the ciy, built in 19th century. The museum houses a rare collection of archealogical and historic artefacts, bronze idols, ancient ornaments, etc. It's worth visiting the place.

Near to the museum was the zoological park, built in 1859! I had never been to a big zoo before, so I found it providing home to many animals. There were elephants, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, zebra, leopards, tigers, lions, sloth bears, fox, jackals among many more. There were a good number of birds too - various pelicans, parrots, peacocks, vultures, hawks, ostrich etc., Reptiles were there as well.

Next day, we started early to Kanyakumari, southermost tip of Indian peninsula, which was nearly 2.5 hours of journey from Thiruvananthapuram, via Nagarcoil. Wow! Kanyakumari, cape comorin, offers fantastic sight with seas in 2 directions and an ocean in 3rd. It's the very confluence of the 3 water bodies - Indian Ocean, Arabean sea and Bay of Bengal. The thought, of being at the bottom most tip of India, geographically, makes us feel something!

On the beach, I laughed remembering my question to my father, almost 15-16 years before. "How can we distinguish the 3 seas at Kanyakumari" I had asked, to which my father had replied, "The three seas have different colours - Red, Green and Blue and my boy, you can make out the difference."

Post lunch, we went to Vivekananda Rock Memorial. One needs to buy a ticket and wait in a long queue to put your foot on the boat, which carries to the rock. History says that Vivekananda swam to the rock in 1892 and meditated for 2 days and attained enlightenment before leaving for World Religious Conference, held in Chicago. The memorial was built in 1970. Many books titled "Awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached", the very famous quote of Swami Vivekananda, were found there.

Beside this is Thiruvalluvar statue, 133 feet tall stone sculpture. Thiruvalluvar was a Tamil poet and saint and whose exact period is not known, though it is predicted as between 2nd century B.C and 8th century A.D.

We were waiting for the sunset and on that day, sunset time was 5:50 and clouds covered the sky from 5 to almost 5 45. We just started for bus stand and the clouds started to clear. We could just watch for a minute just before getting into the direct bus to Thiruvananthapuram.

Last place before heading towards Bangalore was Kovalam beach, roughly 15 km from Thiruvananthapuram. My friend Raghu (who is in Cochi) happen to be there in city on 22nd and we went out to Kovalam beach together. There we chatted more, than playing or enjoying the sunset at the beach.

I should tell you about the food practices in Kerala. It was horrible at the Kovalam beach (the only beach I visited in Kerala) to even glance at the shacks, as they display dead prawns, crabs, lobsters, kept on trays. Being a vegetarian, it was not a good sight for me. I used to have Veg meals for lunch in Thiruvananthapuram and the supplier would ask beef toppings or curry along with veg meals!

On 21st, I was in Kanyakumari, TN, 22nd Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 23rd, Bangalore, Karnataka and on 24th, I was at my native place! (Talavata).

For more pictures, click here.

ರಾಮ ವಾಲಿಯನ್ನು ಮರೆಯಿಂದ ಕೊಂದಿದ್ದು ಸರಿ?

2009-06-18T20:41:00.005+05:30

ಯಾರೇ ತನ್ನೆದುರಿಗೆ ಯುದ್ಧಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂದರೂ ಅವರ ಅರ್ಧ ಶಕ್ತಿ ತನಗೆ ಬರಬೇಕು ಎನ್ನುವ ವರವನ್ನು ವಾಲಿ ಪಡೆದಿದ್ದು ನಮಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತೇ ಇದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಅವನು ಸುಗ್ರೀವನ ಹೆಂಡತಿಯನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡರೂ ಸುಗ್ರೀವ ಅಸಹಾಯಕನಾಗಿ ರಾಮನ ಸಹಾಯ ಬೇಡಿದ. ರಾಮ ಒಪ್ಪಿ, ನೀವಿಬ್ಬರೂ ಹೊಡೆದಾಡುವಾಗ ನಾನು ಮರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ವಾಲಿಯನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲುತ್ತೇನೆ ಎಂದ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಮಾಡಿದ ಕೂಡ.
ರಾಮ ಬಾಣವೇನೋ ಬಿಟ್ಟ. ವಾಲಿಗೆ ಪೆಟ್ಟಾಗಿ ಮರಣಶಯ್ಯೆಗೆ ಹೋದ. ರಾಮನನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ವಾಲಿ ಹೇಳಿದ. "ನಾವು ಮೃಗಗಳು. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗೆ ಮನುಷ್ಯರಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗೆ ಒಂದು ಹೆಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಗಂಡು ಅನ್ನುವ ನಿಯಮ ಇಲ್ಲ." ಪಶ್ಚಾತ್ತಾಪಗೊಂಡ ರಾಮ "ಹಾಗಾದರೆ ನಂಗೆ ಮುಂದಿನ ಜನ್ಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೀಗೆಯೇ ಸಾವು ಬರಲಿ" ಅಂದ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಕೃಷ್ಣಾವತಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅರಳಿ ಮರದ ಕಟ್ಟೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಕುಳಿತಾಗ ಅವನ ಕಾಲನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ, ಜಿಂಕೆ ಎಂದು ಪರಿಭವಿಸಿ, ಬೇಡನೊಬ್ಬ ಕೃಷ್ಣನಿಗೆ ಬಾಣಬಿಟ್ಟು, ಕೃಷ್ಣಾವತಾರ ಕೊನೆಗೊಳಿಸಿದ ಎಂದು ಮೇಧಾವಿಗಳು ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.
ಇಲ್ಲೇ ಉದ್ಭವ ಆಯ್ತು ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ. ವಾಲಿ, ತಾನೇ ಹೇಳಿದ ತಾವು ಮೃಗಗಳು ನಾವು ಯಾರ ಹೆಂಡತಿಯನ್ನಾದರೂ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು ಎಂದು. ಹಾಗಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ, ಮರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ಒಂದು ಮೃಗಕ್ಕೆ ಬಾಣ ಹೊಡೆದದ್ದು ತಪ್ಪಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ. ಅಥವಾ ಬೇಟೆಯ ನಿಯಮದ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ತಿನ್ನುವುದಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಮರೆಯಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾಣಿ ಹತ್ಯೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದೇ? ಆಮೇಲೇ, ಸರಿಯೇ ತಪ್ಪೇ, ವಾಲಿಯನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲಬೇಕಾದರೆ, ಅವನಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗದಂತೆಯೇ ಕೊಲ್ಲಬೇಕಿತ್ತಲ್ಲ (ಅವನ ವರದ ದೆಸೆಯಿಂದ).

ಪಾಪ ಕೃಷ್ಣಾವತಾರದ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಅನ್ನಿಸ್ತು ನಂಗೆ!

Shivagange - A Holy Rocky Hillock

2009-06-13T20:05:00.015+05:30

"Lets go to Nandi Hills", I said, "But we have to be there by 6 am!".

We were planning for the next day, i.e., 15th Aug (2008). But in the evening, it rained so heavily that made us to drop the idea of being there on the summit by 6 am. Not just that, we even dropped Nandi Hills picnic, which never came true till today!We inquired some friends and decided on Shivagange, a rocky hillock and a fantastic trekking place with temples at the summit. The place is around 60 km from Bangalore towards Tumkur. A deviation has to be taken from NH 4 at Dabas pet and travel for 8 km to reach at the base, though the hillock is visible from Highway.

Me, Jagga and Acharya started by 9 am and picking up Manu, Prasanna and Deva on the way, all wearing jackets to protect from rain, set towards it and reached by around 11. Thanks to Varuna, the rain God. Nevertheless the weather was so nice and with clouds covering entire sky, Sun was not visible, A happy sign for trekkers.

We started climbing the hillock and we struggled a lot to keep the biscuits and chips with ourselves when our so called ancestors were trying desperately to drag them away. I am talking about monkeys, which would be there in large number at Shivagange. At once it jumped at me and even opened the zip of my bag to peek inside! So daring. Its a challenge how much you can keep before reaching the summit.

Half way, there is a place called "Olakallu Teertha", where, inside a cave, a small well with a diameter of 3/4th a foot is there. There is water in it but one has to shove his hand till the shoulder to reach the water. If he touches it, it is believed he has good luck, otherwise considered bad luck.

We took around 2 and half hours to reach the summit, eating cucumber, watermelon and drinking buttermilk on the way, including testing our luck by reaching water inside the well. The scenery is so fantastic and fabulous that I can never forget, at least in the near future. There is a suicide point also and a kannada novel refers it to as "Shantala's suicide point". I am not sure but I guess a character named Shantala committed suicide by jumping down in the novel at that place.

After photo sessions, we climbed down, which took an hour and a half approximately. But Varuna thought he should not keep quiet and heavy rain started pouring when we just started our ride and not even reached Dabas Pet. Finally, when it sl0wed down we resumed towards Bangalore and reached not before having snacks at Kamat hotel, Dabas Pet.

For more photos please follow this link http://picasaweb.google.com/gowthuhk/ShivagangeTrip#

ಧರ್ಮರಾಯನಿಗೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ

2009-06-06T13:36:00.001+05:30

ಯಮಧರ್ಮನ ವರಪ್ರಸಾದದಿಂದ ಜನಿಸಿದ ಯುಧಿಷ್ಠಿರ ತನ್ನ ಧರ್ಮ ಪಾಲನೆಯಿಂದ ಧರ್ಮರಾಯನೆಂದೇ ಕರೆಸಿಕೊಂಡದ್ದು ನಮಗೆಲ್ಲ ತಿಳಿದ ವಿಷಯ. ಆದರೂ ಅಶ್ವತ್ಥಾನ ಮೃತಹೊಂದಿದ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ, ಧರ್ಮರಾಯನಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ದಿನ ನರಕವನ್ನು ನೋಡುವ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ ವಿದಿಸಲಾಯಿತು ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಆ ಹೆಸರಿನ ಆನೆ ಒಂದು ನಿಜವಾಗಿ ಸತ್ತಿದ್ದರೂ, ಅದನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿದ ರೀತಿ ದ್ರೋಣಾಚಾರ್ಯರ ಮಗ ಅಶ್ವತ್ಥಾನನ ಮರಣದ ವಾರ್ತೆಯಂತಿತ್ತು. ಹೀಗಿದ್ದಾಗ ನನಗೊಂದು ಸಂದೇಹ. ಪಾಂಡವರ ಕೌರವರ ಜೋಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ದ್ರೌಪದಿಯನ್ನೇ ಜೂಜಿಗಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ, ಯಾಕೆ ಧರ್ಮರಾಯನಿಗೆ ಏನೂ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆಯ ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪ ಆಗಿಲ್ಲ?

/* ಈ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಉತ್ತರಿಸಲು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಆಹ್ವಾನವಿದೆ. */

Goa - A Tiny Emerald

2009-05-09T13:15:00.004+05:30

One fine day, 2008 March last week, we (Me, Jagga and Manu) thought we could go for a trip. We also thought we should decide the date, place and invite others instead of asking everybody for probable dates, otherwise the trip itself wouldn't have happened. We called our friends immediately we booked 4 tickets in KSRTC to Karwar (as we didn't get train tickets) for April 4th evening when only we 3 were confirmed, rest denying. Finally Deva joined us as 4th member, when none of us were aware of boarding, lodging, travelling etc., in Goa. We just googled it and found out some places and left.

It was 9 am when we got down in Karwar and had breakfast. Not knowing the train timings, we caught a KTC (Goa state transport) bus and reached Margao by around 12 noon, two of us looking at Western ghats, rest continuing sleep...

When we checked into a hotel in Margao, everybody was eager to have shower - a desperate needy at the hour. After having lunch in a Kamat hotel nearby, we set for Colva beach dressed in shorts, convenient to play in sea-waters. We played in sea, watched sunset and returned to our hotel. We used only public transport on our first day.

One unusual thing about Margao (or rather different than what we thought), is town's time to embrace the sleep. We started for dinner at around 9 pm and we walked around 3-4 km till the town's center and still we didn't get even a single hotel opened that time! Hotels, shops, market, - everything was closed for the day. We had a tough time finding to have food and finally we settled for paav bhaji, he too was packing up, which we found luckily on a roadside.

Next day (6th) we went to Anjuna beach, where Scarlett Keeling's body found just one month prior, and we got into a cottage. We changed bus once at Panaji and then at Mapusa on our way to Anjuna village. It is quite a different beach, full of dark brown rocks near shore, not usual sandy. Its also a famous shooting spot.

After playing for a while, We left the shore and hired two bikes. Now this is something very common in Goa - rented bikes. We asked a guy for two bikes, which he gave willingly, taking Rs 250 per day per bike, and not even bothered to ask whether we knew the driving or not, let alone DLs! When we were about to start, he told about accelerator and brake!

We then visited Bhaga and Calangute beaches. Those two are beautiful beaches, where we enjoyed most. We played water sports, watched sunset for second successive day, and did shopping. There is a very good veg restaurant in Calangute, (name I don't remember now, must be some 'Sagar') where we had both lunch and dinner.

Next day early morning, we explored Anjuna Beach a little more before heading to to Panaji. As soon as we got down, probably guessed by our confusing looks, somebody came and was leading us to a hotel, the next moment! We checked into a hotel, Sona, near Panjim bus stand. After enquiring about cruise timings, we booked for that day evening's, since it was already time for morning's.

We then booked a cab cum guide to show us temples and churches. First we visited St. Francis Xavier's Church, whose speciality lies in the preservation of St.'s body from around 450 years. Near to that, we can find one more famous monument Se Cathedral, which truly depicts the royalty of Goa during the Portuguese rule. The art museum there, is good to visit. I am not going to write the historical significance of these architectures that you can get, very well detailed, if you google it.

Churches enough, next thing was to visit some of the famous temples. We visited 3 famous temples - Shri Mangesh temple, Goa's one of the most prominent temples, located at Mangeshi village, followed by Mahalasa temple, another name of Vishnu's Mohini incarnation, located at Madroli village, and Shantadurga temple, which has an impressive idol of Durga, who is said to have mediated between Vishnu and Shiva and stopped their war. Goa's temples are really good and one can find the architectural similarity between them.

After that we went to Dona Paula and Miramar beaches, visiting 'big foot', a miniature setup to recreate the rural life of Goa's olden days. Big foot got its name because of big footprint that was discovered on a rock and the footprint is believed to bring good luck for those who stood upon it. The laterite sculpture of Saint Mirabai in Ancestral Goa has been cited in the Limca Book of Records as the Longest Laterite Sculpture in India.

Hmmm, it was time to say good bye to Deal(Deva, our friend), who had to leave us for his home. We then went on to ride cruise. In cruise they take us on the water for about an hour's ride. There will be dance and / or similar programmes on it.

Next morning, we woke up early and before 6 am, we were at Panaji bus stand to catch the bus to Margao, from where we had to catch Konkan train (Vokha - Ernakulam Express) at 8 or so. That journey from Margao to Karwar in train was the best train journey I ever had! Though we got the seats in II class, we soon left the seat and stood in the door for our entire journey till Karwar. It averages about 120 kmph. There are so many small tunnels and 2-3 lengthier ones as well. (2-3 km long). Even inside the tunnels, dark and lit by small bulbs, the train didn't reduce the speed. The sound was horrible, when it goes inside. And we were afraid at times, seeing rocks and stones very much near to train! Wonderful journey nonetheless. It reached Karwar in 45 mins (rail distance - around 70 km or so)

Finally we got down in Karwar and caught a bus to Talavata, (my native place) via Gerusoppa ghat on 8th of April.

PS : For more pictures, you can refer to my picasa album http://picasaweb.google.com/gowthuhk/GoaTrip#.

ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಹುಡುಗಿಯ ಪ್ರಥಮ ಕವಿತೆ ... ನಿನ್ನ ನೆನಪು ...

2009-04-25T15:57:00.000+05:30

ಮುಂಜಾವಿನ ಮಂಜಿನ ಮುಸುಕಿನಲಿ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಬೆಳಕಿಗೆ
ಹೊಳೆಯುವ ಇಬ್ಬನಿಯ ಹನಿಯಂತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ನೆನಪು ...

ಚೈತ್ರದ ಚಿಗುರಿಗೆ ಮೈದುಂಬಿ ಹಾಡುವ ಹಕ್ಕಿಯ
ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿ ದನಿಯಂತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ನೆನಪು ...

ಬೆಳದಿಂಗಳ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲಿ ಮೈಚುಂಬಿಸುವ ತಂಗಾಳಿಯಲಿ
ತೇಲಿ ಬರುವ ಕಣಗಿಲೆ ಹೂವಿನ ಕಂಪಿನಂತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ನೆನಪು ...

- ರಂಜನಾ ( ಯಾರಂತ ಕೇಳ್ಬೇಡಿ!!! :-) )

- ಸ್ಪೂರ್ತಿಯ ಸೆಲೆ ಗೌತು !!!

ಹರೆಯದ ಕವಿತ್ವ

2008-03-11T21:41:00.000+05:30

ಯೌವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಕವಿಗಳಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಏಕೆ ಎಂದು ಯೋಚಿಸುತ್ತ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದೆ, ಮೊನ್ನೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಯೋಚಿಸುತ್ತ ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಯಾವಾಗಲೋ ಓದಿದ್ದ ವಾಕ್ಯ ನೆನಪಾಯಿತು. ಏನಪ್ಪಾ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಸತ್ಯ ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತಿಕೆ ಬೇಡ, ಆದರೆ ಸುಳ್ಳು ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಧೈರ್ಯ, ಮತ್ತು ಆ ಸುಳ್ಳನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಲು ಬೇಕಾಗುವ ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತಿಕೆ ಎರಡೂ ಬೇಕು ಅಂತ.

ಇದನ್ಯಾಕಪ್ಪಾ ಹೇಳ್ದೆ ಅಂದ್ರೆ, ಹರೆಯ ಅಥವಾ ಯೌವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಭಾವನೆಗಳು ಹುಚ್ಚು ಕುದುರೆಗಳ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಓಡುತ್ತಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಲೋಕವೆಲ್ಲ ಶೃಂಗಾರಮಯವಾಗಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಮನಸ್ಸು ಮೊದಲ ಪ್ರಾಮುಖ್ಯವನ್ನು ಈ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೇ ಕೊಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದನ್ನು ಅಕ್ಷರ ರೂಪಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿಸುವುದಷ್ಟೆ ಉಳಿಯುವುದು, ಕವನ ತಯಾರಾಗುವುದಕ್ಕೆ.

ಹಾಗಾದರೆ ಕವಿಗಳು ತುಂಬಾ ವಯಸ್ಸಾದವರು ಇದಾರಲ್ಲಾ? ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ ಇಷ್ಟೆ. ಹರೆಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಶೃಂಗಾರ ಭಾವದಿಂದ ಹೊಮ್ಮುವ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಮೇಲೆ ಅವರು ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದಲೇ ವಯಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಅತೀತರಾಗಿ ಕವಿಗಳೋ ಅಥವಾ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳೋ ಆಗುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ಇದನ್ನು ಮುಂದೊಂದು ದಿನ ಮುಂದುವರೆಸುತ್ತೇನೆ.

Sangama, Mekedatu and Chunchifalls

2008-03-10T09:32:00.001+05:30

Let me go through our trip to Sangama and Mekedatu.

Sangama is the place where river Arkavathy, a tributary of Cauvery joins the main river. The river then flows towards Tamil Nadu.

We, myself and my friends, started from Bangalore around 7 30 am in a Qualis. We stopped in Kanakapura (around 60 km from Bangalore) for breakfast. I don't remember the name now but I guess it is Ratna or Geetha Upahara or something like that near Mysore road deviation.

After hot idly & vadas we started with new enthusiasm and reached Sangama around 10 am. By that time only one troop apart from us was there playing in the river waters. There we played in waters for an hour and crossed the river which was only upto knee high for 4 km trip to Mekedatu.

The bus journey from Sangama to Mekedatu is one that everybody has to experience. One can't find any place, rod, or whatever part inside the bus which is not rusted! Around 10-12 mins of way goes beside Cauvery river, a good one to watch. Occasionally spotted deers are seen here, which was once a hub of tigers, around 50 years ago.

In Mekedatu monkeys come and pull from your hands if you have any food stuffs or drinks. They don't have any fear of human race. Water dashes in between the rocks on which you can't stand firmly for longer time, for sunrays make it hot enough. We spent around 2 hrs there busily taking photographs in different angles possible.

While we were waiting for the return bus, a monkey was sitting like a yogi - doing meditation. I suppose he can understand English also, for when we scolded him, he backed off! We headed back to Sangama in the same unforgettable journey. It costs Rs 25/- for one sided journey or Rs 40/- if taken for return trip also between Sangama and Mekedatu.

There is nothing in Sangama to have proper food. We can get lussey, banana, and fish, thats it. There are a few hut like shops selling these. We ate grapes, orange, biscuits, drank maaza etc., that we had taken with us.

We started around 3 pm from Sangama to reach Chunchi falls on our way to Kanakapura, which is roughly 10 km from Sangama. I am from Malnad region of Karnataka and to be more specific, World famous Jogfalls is just 10 km for me and I have been there more than 50 times. For me Chunchi falls or the scenary in its vicinity was nothing enthusiastic. There one thatha would be sitting to collect parking fee of Rs 20/- to park under a tree. He takes us towards the bottom of the falls, and one can almost say he is a guide. We thanked him and paid Rs 20/- (he won't ask, we only paid looking at his enthu in 70 years of age).

We repeated our stop at the same hotel in Kanakapura where we had breakfast in the morning, this time to have Masala Dosa, which was good anyway. We reached Bangalore around 6 30, need not to mention that we played Antakshari game, memory game + so many others apart from pulling each other's leg for just any reason!

But A nice trip though.

Innocent Ones Arrested?

2007-07-12T17:07:00.001+05:30

I shall ask you one prominent question about American Police. I meant, your idea about Indian rural police and American rural police. Whom do you think better of the two? Ok, you will have a better answer after reading this.

Recently I was reading "The Innocent Man", by John Grisham. It was not as I expected it to be. Though, a thriller, its pace was slow. I skipped half the book and went to the last sections which was, to my surprise, authors note. I followed his note and came to know that the book was a real story. After reading it, my opinion of American Police changed!

On december 1982, there was a rape followed by murder in Ada, a small town in US. The girl was Debbie Carter who happened to had no rivals at all. The police could not find the real killer and arrested and charged a man named Ron Williamson only because a guy named Glen Gore told the police that he was there with her on the night in the club Coachlight, even though there were witnesses who saw Gore dropped by near her apartment late in the evening, on the same date. Dennis Fritz was also charged only because he used to go to bars with Ron. The police had blood and hair as evidence and they didn't match with either Ron or Fritz.

A year and a half later, a woman named Denise Haraway disappeared mysteriously. A boy named Tommy Ward was arrested considering Haraway was murdered and disposed by him only because someone described two boys with a young lady and one of the boys description matched Tommy Ward's. The point was the description which caused to arrest Tommy Ward was matching almost half the boys in the town. And after questioning him continuously for eight and a half hours, that was unrecorded, he was exhausted answering to questions he never knew. Finally he confessed saying he dreamt of something like murder only so that he could tell the truth in the court and to get relaxed for the moment. He could never relax in his life!

Karl Fontenot arrested only since he was Tommy's friend and he too was made to confess. Even though their confessions conflicted on the way Haraway was murdered, the police claim they were the killers and the police don't have any clue or evidence!

Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot are still serving behind the bars. Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were released in 1999 as they were proved to be innocent by DNA test.

Indian police, in my opinion, may not be able to find the killers quickly but they would not file charges on innocent ones. Answer to above question now.

Statement of John Grisham

"It is an intriguing and horrifying story: the story of the dream that got Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot convicted. Karl and Tommy deserve attention and help. I encourage anyone with any information about this case to send it to their attorney. It is important to learn from this nightmare. It is also important that this nightmare somehow be unraveled."

For more details, please read "The innocent man - By John Grisham" and visit http://www.wardandfontenot.com/. Even if you google it, now you will get numerous sites about the tales.