Travel this year. 2014

1. Photography trek to Hampi - January 2014.

2. Kumaraparvata trek - February 2014.

3. KotteBetta trek - February 2014.

4. Kumaraparvata Clean up - April 2014.

5. Kashmir Trip - April 2014.

6. 10 Temples trip - May 2014.

7. Charmadi trek - July 2014.

8. Road trip - August 2014.

9. Nishani Motte Trek - September 2014.

10. Himalayan trek + Sikkim visit - October 2014.

11. Narasimhaparvata trek - November 2014.
12. Beach Stroll + Mountain trek - December 2014

Year ending 2014

Its been a unique year of kind for me, lots of ups and downs, lots of things happened. Loads of travel. Things which I never predicted happened in the year 2014. Which has made be a little bit more experienced person.

Lot of points I wish to write as a part of this post, let me try to recollect all of them.

1. October 2014, month started with a lot of surprise. Though it was an unpleasant one. It put me through bit of concern, but in the end, ended on a pretty smooth note. Though I still feel the repurcussions of it even today, I guess, I will have to get used to it.

2. October 22, 2014, I had to leave for my first Himalayan trek and this emergency in the first week put me in a spot of bother. I was not sure on whether I could go for the trek or not, whether I could lose money and on top of that, whether all these months of submission to discipline would go a waste. But in the end made it to the trek and believe me there were loads of ups and downs waiting for me over there too. Completed it and came back as a little bit more experienced person.

3. Travelled and trekked consistently throughout the year. There was no looking back.

4. Submission to discipline throughout the year. Infact loads of discipline. Made me a better person altogether.

5. Introduced a production issue at workplace, which costed money and made me accountable to the core. That was another experience.

6. Trekked Kumaraparvata twice this year. Could successfully complete it the first time and second time went there for cleanup activity.

7. Travelled to Kashmir this year, before the floods caused havoc over there.

8. Couple of road trips which I am very much proud of.

Cheers, will add more points once I remember.

Professional couriers .... highly unprofessional tracking

This post deals with the anxiety I had to face because, I had sent across a courier which contained vital documents and it was just not traceable.

It was 13 Oct 2014, I had to send some various very very important documents to Mumbai. I chose Professional couriers because they were somehow close to my home.

15 Oct 2014, was election in Mumbai and I can imagine there being a delay.

But when I called up on 16th afternoon still the courier was not delivered and let being delivered, it could not be traced at all. They did not know where the courier was.

Spent lot of money calling the store where I sent the courier, called up the customer care. None of whom had an answer. Each one told call me back after 1 hour.

Even if I called up after 1 hour, they had no idea where the courier was and still told, will call you back in sometime.

Finally at around 4;45 PM, the person who intended to be the recipient of the courier replied back saying he had received the documents.

I could take a breather now.

So, what I would like to tell is, I will chose professional couriers in future if and only if I have some casual documents to send. This kind of shoddy work, with some really important documents is not acceptable.

I will go and search the nearest DTDC counter next time.

Cheers,

Testing times - October 2014

October 2014, has been pretty tough on me. Its only 10 days and I have been at the recieving end of many things. Many of which I cannot write over here. 20 more days and the month is over.

Somehow, I only wish, I have come out stronger. Today my car got punctured at Bannerghatta road. It was peak sunshine. As I completed started loosening the nuts and  jacking up the car, a gentelman stopped and began to help me unconditionally.

With his help and 10 minutes later, I was ready to start my journey. Really, God either catches you or helps you fly when he pushes you over the edge. Got flat fixed while coming back home.

Also did loads of purchases over the last 2 days. One more week which is pretty testing for me at work as well as personally. Hope things turn out my way and I can come out victorious.

Till then,

Cheers,

Dance practice at office.

October 20 is the Annual day at our organization and as a result, there seems to be loads of preparation going on for it. Once such programme is a dance program performed by some of my colleagues.

They are practicing since the last two days. I have been breaking into their practice sessions and recording stuffs. It started out just to bring out their funny side by recording, but now on the second day, went off to see the practice just to avoid work.

We had a release and had worked for the last 2 days on that. This was a much needed break, watching these guys dance.

I wish I could post the video online.

Cheers,

Beach trek , updation of trek details

A week back, I posted few entries regarding the beach trek, which I did in the year 2013 November. I had left out lot of details on which beach we covered and when. It was due to the fact that, I hardly remembered the names of any beaches, which we went through.

Now I just searched over the internet and I am confident of updating my posts, I thought of giving it a try.

Cheers,

Snapdeal order cancellation

There goes one more online Cash On Delivery order cancellation. After groupon, this time it was snapdeal. After 5 days of booking a product online, I got an alert saying my order has been cancelled. Even before cancellation, I was quite curious since the status of the shipment, never changed for the last couple of days.

This made me call those guys up, just to find out, if the order would still hold good or to know the reason for the delay. I was informed that the order could be cancelled if not fulfilled.

Late in the day, I got a call from snapdeal saying the order was available at a cheaper price. By then I had contacted the manufacturer of the product directly and transferred money to his account instead of dealing with snapdeal. So now waiting for 3-4 more days for my product to ship from the manufacturer.

Cheers,

PS - Got almost 200 Rs lesser price right at the manufacturer.

Weekend today

Spent some time with relatives today. Had planned to go to Decathlon today, but could not. Instead drove along Mysore road in the evening. for around 15 kilometers!

It was a nice quiet interior place along Mysore road. After coming back got some food to eat from a nearby hotel. All in all a great day!

Came back and started playing Chain reaction on one of the mobiles and in the end we were 7 people playing the game at a single moment in time! Rather I could say, it was a 7 player game. It was indeed good too!

Cheers,

PS- Cannot call this as a road trip, but still labelling!

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 7

Return journey was even more fantastic. I shall remember it for many such reasons. We started out from Gokarna that day around 9 30 PM. We were driving along the Ghats to reach Sirsi. We proceeded very slow. I was not sure what was the reason.

I was sitting at the last but one seat of the vehicle. All the people had closed their windows and there was no fresh air to breathe at all!  Meanwhile I had some interesting conversations with a fellow trekker.

Once we reached Sirsi, I decided to sit next to the driver. We had a new passenger along the vehicle. Incidentally a cleaner friend of our driver had landed at Gokarna that day. He had a week long trip to Mumbai and our driver had voluntarily agreed to drop this chap to Bangalore.

It looked like he had worked very hard and was sleeping right next to the driver that too snoring. I was surprised, with such a heavy sounding engine, how this guy managed to sleep so peacefully.

All in all very slow road, the road condition was poor. There was road work going on many such deviations and the driver was looking for some Tea to keep him awake. But he could not find any.

Somehow we made it to NH4. and after reaching NH4 it was another story. The driver could not reach speeds above 80 kmph. The  front left wheel used to wobble the moment we crossed the speed 80. As a result we had limited ourselves to this speed all through the return journey. Bangalore was 300 kilometers and more. It was a slow journey.

I always enjoyed driving along the highway. But today it was difficult keeping awake. The driver was too dozing. He smoked cigarette drank water did all the circus in the world to keep himself awake.

Finally at a toll, found some tea and drank tea. After drinking tea. he slept for sometime.  But the fellow passengers did not allow him to sleep instead woke him up saying, they needed to reach Bangalore early.

I made myself comfortable in the last but one seat and after some distance and sometime, the driver eventually stopped at a petrol pump near Chitradurga unable to drive any further. He dozed off for an hour or so.

So we were going to be delayed but the delay turned out to be huge. Eventually we made it to Tumkur by 8 AM and most people readily agreed to stop for morning breakfast too at Kyathasandra.

Once done, we managed to reach Bangalore by 10 30 AM. Reached home by around 11 40AM.

This brought to an end a memorable outing. Not all things went as per plan. We could not complete the entire beach trek. But it was sweet indeed.

Cheers,

PS - Ever since then I have fallen in love with Gokarna, Kumtaa, Honnavara. Love to visit these places again and again.

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 6

So finally, we did manage to reach OM beach in Gokarna. Meanwhile we could see couple of dolphins in the sea. So our beach trek came to an end pretty early. We skipped many beaches. Also we were running out of time.

As a result, this was the only viable option. Along with it, we also never found time to take a dip in the water. Now the time had come. We plunged into the water. Borrowed a fellows football and began playing in the water.

After good 30-40 minutes, wound up and proceeded to have a bath over there. After bath all the tiredness of the trek was gone. Felt really refreshed and lost enthu was back.

Now it was time to wind up and proceed towards the Sri Mahashiva temple for Darshan. Completed the Darshan and then proceeded towards Bhojanalaya for the Prasadam.

Felt really good. It was indeed refreshing. Completed the dinner and then got ready to start our return journey around 9 30 PM.

Cheers,

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 5

It happened so, as we started to trek for the day, we climbed up a hill and basically ended up losing our way. We did circles around the beach. Along with us, there was one more group. Now both the groups were doing rounds around the beach with no concrete roads to Aghanashani port.

This was at Barkha beach. We ended up at a place in the middle of nowhere. In front of us it was the sea, to our left and right, it was huge rocks. And there was a climb to our back which we had to take. We did and we ended up at the same place where we started.

We found one house asked for the path and tried the path but ended up in the middle of nowhere. In the end we retraced our path back to the house. It was 3 hours into the trek and we ended up calling off our efforts to reach Aghanashani port via trek.

As a result, we decided to find the nearest road and then take a bus to Aghanashani port from there a boat to Tadadi port or another beach.

So we walked a couple of kilometers to the road, where we found a Mahindra vehicle. We climbed on to it. It happened to take us to Aghanashani river port. Over there, we took some time out to munch on to some chocolates and drank some aerated drinks till the time the shop owner arranged a boat for us.

The boat came after a good 30-40 minutes. We were kinda partially tired after trekking round in circles and it was a hot day too!

We initially decided to make a move towards Paradise beach and continue the trek from there on. But once we reached Paradise beach we decided to move all the way along to Om beach.

So this would bring an end to our glorious trek, where we could soak up in the water and catch our shuttle back to Bangalore.

Cheers,

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 4

Had a good night's sleep. Woke up couple of times during the night just to check how much the water level had come towards us. It was a still good 50 feet away from us. The waves were pretty rough. It was a good experience sleeping under the open sky. There were insects crawling on the sand, but it was manageable.

It was nice. Woke up around 6 am. Rest of the guys too woke up around the same time. Few of us went into the beach just to soak up till our feet. Few others started building sand castles on the beach. All in all a great experience to remember.

We accumulated the Maggi packets brought and then started the breakfast preparation. Meanwhile we got ready and packed our belongings. Completed our breakfast and generously thanked and tipped couple of guys who had helped us with the vessel and wood.

So we started our journey towards Barka beach and then Aghanashani river port, where we had to take a boat to the other side before we could make our way to Gokarna.

Cheers,

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 3

After taking a break, we proceeded couple of kilometers, it was almost sunset and we had to find a place to camp. Remember we had to camp out in the open.

To our luck, we found a place, where couple of gentlemen were trying to build a hut kind of thing. We asked them if we could camp opposite to their establishment and just a few meters away from the beach. They even agreed to provide portable water to us along with a huge vessel/container for holding the water. This place was none other than Sangam beach!

We had hit a jackpot. So we started to unpack and it turned dark pretty quickly. We also borrowed wood from these gentlemen and then we started the campfire. Few guys started out with chopping vegetables few others started soaking rice for preparing BisiBele Bath.

We had forgotten to bring salt and couple of guys went ahead and brought salt. So we prepared dinner under moonlight with no electricity. There were few people on the beach that day.

We played couple of games in the dark in front of the campfire and thus brought an eventful day 1 to an end. It was a different kind of experience.

Cheers,

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 2

In order to have our packed lunch, we needed to chose a place, It was Mangodlu beach. There were couple of hills to climb and on climbing the second hill, we decided to take a break. It was pretty nice experience, sitting on top the hill under shade, with the sea directly opposite to you, having food etc etc.

While descending from this hill, towards Dhareshwar beach we found a trio from Germany sunbathing on one of the cliffs. Wished them afternoon and then proceeded.

But in the middle, many of our guys in the team ran out of water. It was easy to get water. Just need to move out of the beach into a neighboring village and ask for water from any of the households. There is also a road which runs parallel to the beach, where we could see few vehicles every now and then.

Somewhere in the meantime, we crossed Holanagadde beach, not sure, because I do not have pictures of the same.

It was around 5pm when we once again stopped for sometime, where we completed our snacks. It was indeed turning out to be fun. We decided to cover some more distance before we could actually make a halt for the day.

In the meanwhile, we encountered one more group from Bangalore which had come to do the beach trek. Co-Incidentally the organizers of that group and our group seemed to know each other.

Cheers,

2 days beach trek Honnavara to Gokarna - November 2013... part 1

Disclaimer - I do not know the names of all the beaches that we walked along. But there were aplenty. Please excuse my bad memories!

The year was 2013, it was my first trek with this group. I had got shortlisted and this trek was kind of unique, because it was a beach trek. It involved walking along the beaches or rather sea shores.

It was indeed fun. It also involved camping in the open, since it was a full moon day, there would be sufficient moonlight. The idea was awesome, Getting shortlisted was even more fun. What happened during the event was bit of up and down. But in the end, I need to digest it as another experience.

It all started on Friday, around 10 PM, when we had assembled at our pickup point. It was another routine pickup, but things did not look as usual.

Within 1 kilometer from the pickup, we discovered the vehicle had some problem with the clutch and the driver was finding it difficult to engage quickly.

Finally with things set, we started on NH4. Initial plan was to move to Haveri and then take a deviation towards Sirsi and then Gokarna. But due to some reason, we ended up going interior of Tumkur and stopped at Tumkur for over an hour.

In the end when we started from Tumkur we had come too much interior of Tumkur and as a result proceeded through the Shimoga road. It was getting cold, the month was November. Stopped somewhere near Arsikere for tea then proceeded.

I found some sleep and woke up in the morning when we had reached Sagara. Stopped in front of a hotel for breakfast. We brushed our teeth and then completed breakfast and started towards Jog Falls.

Then it was a slow descend to Honnavara, where we picked up groceries for preparation of evening dinner. We also got packed lunch from a hotel in Honnavara. The day was getting hotter as we got ready for the trek. It was almost 12 in the noon when we started the trek.

We started out at from Kumta beach. The sun was directly above us, but we were very happy to get rolling since we were travelling for the last 12 hours or so. The exercise was nice indeed. Then we passed the Vanamali beach.

It was over here, we could see lots of people who were engaged in fishing. There were boats too ferrying people, lots of eagles/hawks in the sky. One by one we made our way through the fishing village.

Cheers,

Few pics

Weekend

Been a pretty relaxing day today. Did not venture out of town, instead went to the nearby bank for some personal work, also sent across the income tax returns statement. Cleaned up some stuffs at home and above all had a good 3.5 hours sleep in the afternoon.

Now about to start reading a book, The Treasure Island on my newly acquired (used) kindle.

Cheers,

PS - Things to write about include.

my beach trek during the year 2013, Almost 1 year I need to recollect couple of stuffs and then write.
KP trek which I attempted 2 times this year.
Charmadi Ghats trek and Nishani Motte trek.

Purchasing a used kindle

I most likely will end up purchasing a used kindle by tomorrow. I am very excited. Its been quite a while I read a book to completion. Atleast and hopefully this will get me going.

Cheers,

Music during childhood days!

I have written in some previous posts about what music I used to listen to as a kid. I remember listening to Hindi songs from bollywood movies in the late 80's when I used to be a 3-4 year old kid. I remember QSQT, Tezaab and few other movies.

Apart from this, my father used to bring certain tapes which had english songs too. So here I could listen to U2, Madonna, Boney M, ACDC. I remember I never used to like ACDC, but now I enjoy them these days.

I loved Madonna back in that day and even today. Such awesome songs are hers. Then came the 90's. I still remember the year was 1994. One band re-appeared on the scene and they released a tape, the album was "Hell Freezes Over". And the band in picture was Eagles.

My father brought this tape and believe me, I too liked the songs a lot. New York Minute was my favorite and even to this date, it is still.

I never knew what was the story behind the Eagles. And after all these years of listening to their songs. Finally one day I thought let me read more about Eagles.

The year was 2010. It was never late. Apparently, The Eagles was an old band, which split up during 1980 and vowed never to re-unite again. And the saying goes. that the band would unite only if "Hell Freezes over" and so does the name come from. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

When they re-united, they called themselves as a band which took a 14 year vacation. But how did my father know all about Eagles in 1994. The answer was pretty simple, he used to listen to them during 1970's too!

Same way, he knew about the Police too. I came to know about the Police only during 2007. I was aware of Sting, but never knew this 3 piece outfit existed.!

Then there was one more band which I grew up listening to, by that time satellite TV revolution had happened and I could get a hang of new songs in teh market. The band was MLTR. 2 albums and believe me, I used to listen to those songs again and again.

Even today at workplace, I listen to MLTR, The Eagles, and few others too. Years go by but the melodies remain!

So does Jagjit Singh! I shall write one more post about Jagjit Singh!

Cheers for today!

PS - Whilst this english music thing happened, we always had access to Bollywood movies, Phool Aur Kaante, Roja, Coolie No 1, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Rangeela and many such Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi songs we got used to. Even to this date we still listen to those good old songs! Cheers once again.

Power cuts - during childhood!

This post is all about how I spent my time during power cuts during childhood.
It was a pre-internet era. Unlike most people in the west, we never had access to internet. I got a PC in 1996, but most of my friends could not afford one. Moreover there was no networking of sorts which we could make use of. Hence all of my childhood free time was spent on the streets, playing, speaking doing something with friends in the neighborhood.

So let me tell you couple of things which we did many times, once there was a power cut.

We used to sit on the street footpath and since the vehicles were not so common as of today, we used to sit there and tell out stories. especially ghost stories. Now after many years I realize all the ghost stories were cooked up, but believe me, at that age it was pure fun.

My friends were from all backgrounds, but the good part was, none of them were rich. they were poor, or moderate. All of them could not afford much of the richer things in life.

But being poor was a boon.
Life without internet was even more fun.
Without gadgets it was a bliss.. We could meet people everyday. There was no jealousy amongst our team.

Not sure where all of them have landedup. I hope they are earning sufficiently well. I moved out of Malleshwaram after 15 years, and been here for more than a decade at Uttarahalli.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Kemmangundi to Tarikere, Sri Amrutheshwara temple

After Kemmangundi, we proceeded towards Tarikere, where we had our lunch and then to Sri Amrutheshwara temple. After which we drove straight to Bangalore. Thus one more road trip came to an end.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Mullayangiri to Kemmangundi

After Mullayangiri we proceeded towards Kemmangundi. It was a hot day. But going through the Bhadra Wildlife sanctuary was like a breeze.

Cheers.

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - Chickmaglur to Mullayangiri

The next morning started early towards Mullayangiri. Reached the parking lot and was all geared up for the climb along the steps.

Felt good visiting the temple, the climb. Everything went well.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Balehonnur Sri Rambhapuri Mutt to Chickmaglur

After the Mutt visit, we headed back to Chickmaglur for the night's halt. Had not booked any lodge in particular. We found one and called it day!

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - Yagachi dam to Balehonnur Sri Rambhapuri Mutt

After Yagachi dam, we proceeded towards Chickmaglur. Crossed Chickmaglur and proceeded towards BaleHonnur to visit Sri Rambhapuri Mutt.

The road was not that good, took quite some time to cover the 30 odd kilometers.

It was a nice place, really enjoyed the place, its calmness, tranquility.
Over here we could see a on a piece of stone, a 2 d stone carving, turning into a 3 dimensional one over there years. It is termed as a miracle. Not sure how to describe it in words nor provide more details on it. Worth a visit!

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - Belur to Yagachi dam.

After lunch proceeded towards Chickmaglur, on the way stopped at Yagachi dam.

Need to post pics which reside on my other PC

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - lunch at Belur

Since it was mid day prasadam was available at Belur temple. There is a huge premises diagonally opposite to the Belur temple parking lot, where people were calling out to come fast, saying last round of lunch was about to progress,

We hurriedly inside and completed lunch. Prasadam was really good. Felt nice.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - Halebidu to Belur

Next on our destination was Belur. It was well past noon and it was pretty hot. One more awesome place to visit with those fantastic temple our ancestors have left behind for us.

Just wondering what would it have been in its full glory.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur - Bangalore to Halebidu

On this trip, we started from our home, took NICE road from Kengeri to Tumkur road. Our first place of interest was Halebidu. The ancient temples are simply awesome. I was lucky enough to visit them again.

Cheers,

2 day road trip, Chickmaglur & surrounding places. - Prologue

In the month of November 2013, my cousin from Pune had come over to Bangalore. As a result, me and my cousins decided to travel out of town on another road trip. This time, not by our vehicles, instead via a hired TT tempo traveller, 12 seater.

The place we finalized was Chickmaglur. I have been to this place many times, but still agreed as this was one of a kind experience.

Here is a list of places we covered.

1. Halebidu.
2. Belur.
3. Yagachi dam.
4. Balehonnur Sri Rambhapuri Mutt.
5. Mullayangiri peak.
6. Bhadra forest.
7. Kemmangundi.
8. Tarikere Sri Amrutheshwara temple.

It was an awesome trip. Worth the time spent in all ways. Now time to document it a bit.

Cheers,

3 days road trip -> Jog falls to Bangalore

After Jog falls visit, moved towards Sagar and Shimoga. Had evening snacks at Hotel Ashok in Shimoga and then started towards Bangalore by 6 30PM.

It was an all out drive towards Bangalore mostly through 2 lane roads. Reached Bangalore around 12 45 AM midnight and reached home around 1 40 AM.

This brought to a close an awesome 3 day trip. Partly planned rest all by instincts.

Cheers,

3 days road trip -> Apsara beach to Kamath Hotel to Jog falls

After playing football, taking pics and then spending loads of time on the beach. moved on to Kamath hotel in Honnavara. Incidentally, this happened to be the same hotel where I had breakfast when I did 10 Temples trip.

Found out that, the same waiter who served us, was still available, and served us this time too. Had south indian meals, skipped curd.

Most people ate icecreams after lunch. I did not. The after effect of which all of them fell asleep while climbing Jog Falls Ghat section.

These guys handed the responsibility to drive on me as all guys in the car dozed off. I drove on that road as slowly and carefully as possible!

Reached Jog falls around 4 20 PM, there was a huge crowd as Rajnikanth and Sonakshi Sinha were there shooting for a movie. Apart from that, there was a huge weekend crowd. Felt very hard to negotiate traffic, as I was driving petrol car. I am used to diesels, petrol seems like a new thing to me!

Cheers,

Installing whatsapp for blackberry.

Now I have a wireless router, I got whatsapp for blackberry installed. Now happy to use the same, until I buy a new phone.

Cheers,

Tips to write, for me!

I read quite a few blogs, on a not so regular basis. Each of the writer uses great words to describe stuffs they want. So in the end, apart from me there are many such readers who follow them.

My blog has been quite silent in the last 2-3 years, due to many reasons.

> I always was not in reach of a PC/laptop, so that I could sign in and just post.
> I spent one year away from home
> I have loads of topic to write, but always have wondered, how do I write or post them, in way similar to other bloggers or rather professional bloggers.
> Trying to chose topics, which interest other readers.

Due to the reason 3 and 4, I only have ended up on the losing side.
> I have not blogged much.
> Though loads of things happened around in me in the last 2 years, (By God's grace everything is fine, I am still doing good), I did not chose to write.
> Also I did not attend to my blog that much.

Now that I have got the power of wifi router & I no more am interested in what other people want to see on my blog nor I am bothered about my writing style, I am more interested in documenting things which I am into, so that I can atleast read them some day in future. I may end up making this blog private, not found on search engines as well, but till that day. cheers.

Yesterday was watching the movie Ghayal, today saw bits and pieces of the movie HUM. How thankful I should be to have watched these movies as a 6-7 year old kid. I never could soak into these two movies but as an adult. totally appreciate Amitabh Bachchan's acting in HUM and Sunny Deol's action sequences in Ghayal.

And these two movies are almost 25 years old. I guess these guys were 25 years ahead of their time, that is why they could produce, act contribute to such awesome movies!

Cheers

3 days road trip -> Mirzan fort to Apsara beach, Honnavara

After Mirzan fort, we had planned to go to Apsara beach in Honnavara. In the middle, we found a shop to inflate the football which we had brought along with us.

Within 30minutes we were at Apsara beach. The crowd was less almost nill. Played football, clicked pictures and had a nice time at Apsara beach for more than 2 hours.

Cheers,

PS - To post pics from other machine which has the pics

Today @ office & home

Not much to write about workplace today. Many people were on leave and few others were busy planning for the annual day event, thinking of what events to organize.

All in all a relaxing day. Since I could not get shortlisted for either of the two trekking events oen being my reasons given and the other being not available on whatsapp, I have two days to write much wanted posts on this blog.

Also thinking of buying Xiaomi Red Me phone this Tuesday. For tomorrow planning to go in search of Forclaz 500 shoes. Seems like there is a 1200Rs waiver at selected stores in Rajajinagar. But even before that, need to check on the price in Decathlon. Will do that.

Watched a part of, one of my favorite movie Ghayal. I simply love the movie Ghayal. They dont make movies like that anymore. What background music. What a plot, what action. Believe me, even if I watch it 100 times I will never get bored of it. The only not so interesting part is the first half where some unexpected events turn up, which really are not that enjoyable. But all in all, I simply love the movie GHAYAL.

Its a true source of inspiration for me atleast, to work my ass of in reaching a well deserved goal.

Cheers,

Handling rejections - 2 day trek

After my last post on handling rejections, here is one more. Here is all how it unfolded.

I presently go for treks with one group in Bangalore. I do not want to name the group. I also am involved in some not so important voluntary activity of the group and also participated in a social event organized by the group.

So there was this so called 2 day trek organized by this group and the organizer being XXX.

About organizer XXX I had got some feedback, saying there shall be ragging sessions at the end of the day, where a person is literally asked to do something which he is not interested in. This feedback was same across 3 different sets of people who had participated with this organizer.

As a result, in the registration form, I mentioned that, I wish not to be ragged or asked anything to do which I am not interested in. And can you guess what happened after that, I got rejected.

As per the group's policy person taking part in social event gets the first priority callup. Now out of nowhere I had to deal with another rejection. I could have escalated this. But since the group is a free service provider anyone can act as per their fancies. So I had to swallow the bitter pill.

Never mind, I still remember the two construction worker kids on an early morning, who were very satisfied with their packet of buiscuits unaware of what is happening in Kudremukh!

I have a long term goal in mind. So I need to work on that.

As I complete this post, found this nice article on DLM!

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2014/09/let-go-little-things.html

Cheers,

PS - This has got nothing to do with me expressing hatred towards someone. Its just about a point where everything we expect just does not happen. We have to deal with rejections. 

3 days road trip, Mirzan fort Kumta Day 3

After good night's sleep, woke up early got freshened up and first thing was to visit Mirzan fort in Kumta. I simply love the highway starting from Udupi till Goa. Its too good.

Last time I had the previlege of driving on this road, in the afternoon, early morning. Thoroughly enjoyed my drive on this road. This time too the case was same.

Once we reached Mirzan fort, came to know it was not yet opened. Hence proceeded to a nearby hotel in the main road.

Breakfast was Misal Bhaaji. What a lovely food. I had 2 full plates of a low calorie one and my friends made fun of me as if there was no tomorrow. When I came back and searched internet, found out its a specialty of Kumta. How proud I feel that I ate two plates.

Its nothing but Avalakki, on top of that, boiled vegetables, lentils, masala and salt, topped up with Sev. I tried the low calorie one with no Sev top ups and left out the potatoes.

Within the avalakki there were lots of fried items too,which I left out, like Chakkuli, Nippat etc.

All in all the shop was a go-down of fried items. What a nice breakfast I thought, next time, definitely will take my parents over there too!

Cheers to Misal Bhaji.

Cheers,

Topics to write...

There are actually loads of topic to write, which I am thinking of. It can be categorized into

1. Childhood.
2. School.
3. College.
4. Work.
5. Cab.
6. Travelling.
7. Trekking.

I remember many such happenings which I would like to write about. I always wonder, how would it have been if I had maintained a journal writing account of each day. It would have been fabulous. On top of that, writing with pen and paper in days without internet would have been even more fantastic. I can only wish.

But I still got a chance to go into rewind, remember as much as possible and put it up over here.

So hoping to write as much as possible, so that, in future, I could read them and not miss the current happenings.

Lets see how it goes.

Cheers,

At office today

Usual day @ office. Today we had no much work as, we had a sprint release yesterday and today was more of a cleanup day. Infact since last 2 weeks we had only minute modifications, nothing major though. Hence it was bit relaxing for the last 1.5 weeks after hectic schedule for the last 5 months.

Was looking at pluralsight today looking at some tutorials, as well as read some javascript stuff. Thing which have eluded me since many years. Hope I can become proficient in web technologies as well.

By evening, we had a major discussion for the next sprint and that guaranteed more work for coming days. In one way its better, but again, cannot read much at office!

Cheers,

At office today

I still have some excitement left for posting today making use of the new router. At office my neighbor got a new Xaomi Redme phone. It looks cool, just the worrying factor being amount of free RAM.

Never mind, another preparatory mail on a topic has put me to caution. Also looks like my expenditure shall go up, because of that. As of now kinda concerned.

Cheers,

Favorite eat out spots on the way back 2012 - 2013

The year being 2012- 2013. I worked as contractor for one of the companies in Mahadevapura, whitefield. It would take us lot of time to come from all the way to Mahadevapura to Uttarahalli. As a result there were many such occasions when we stopped and had snacks on the way back.

There were a bunch of fully enthusiastic guys in the office shuttle. We had a list of favorite spots to chose to eat.

1. Iyengars bakery - JP Nagar 3rd phase.
2. One more bakery in JP Nagar on the road to Indira Gandhi Circle,
3. Kaggi's Chikkalsandra.
4. Dominos pizza JP Nagar 3rd phase.
5. Goli , vada pav - Chikkalsandra.

The entire crew of the cab was just fantastic. I badly miss the company we had over there. After I left the organization, few others too went onsite. Few people still ply via the same route, but the unity was somehow broken!

Cheers,

PS - If someone from that cab Route # 19 reads this post, holla to you guys!

Office cab today

As usual came by office today, people were hungry and stopped on JP Nagar 3rd phase, in order to have some snacks at Iyengar Bakery opp to FedEx.

It was already late, I mean 9 15PM, but people were still insisting, so had to stop.

All in all people were happy.

The last time, we ever stopped at the same Iyengar's bakery opp to Fedex was sometime early in the year 2013, whilst I was working with ABB. Our cab used to come by the same route and we once stopped over there and gobbled up Nipattu, Palya bun and puffs I guess. That time it was sponsored by our cfo. I was still not that calorie concious and had eaten pretty nicely.

This time I controlled myself and did not eat anything, which is kinda achievement.

Cheers, 

New wireless router

Finally, I have it over here, posting from my faithful old laptop which I purchased in Singapore. Got a new WiFi router and now I am a happy man. Shall post more entries into this blog. Many of which correspond to the past events in my life over the years.

I wish to write more.

Cheers & Yay, I am a happy man.

PS - Without a wifi router something was surely amiss. I hope I can keep my excitement to write more, going for many days to come.

3 days road trip -> Magod falls to Kumta

After visiting Magod falls, we headed to Kumta, it was turning dark, the roads were curvy along with good amount of traffic. Coupled with that, there were heavy rains. It was difficult to drive, but we managed and reached Gokarna cross.

If we went straight, we could proceed to Gokarna, we took right it would lead us to Ankola and Karwar, left to Kumta. Refilled at the fuel station and took left turn towards Kumta.

Two of our guys on the bike had searched for rooms in Kumta. It was Hotel Vaibhav, so we stopped at Hotel Panduranga International for dinner. It was nearing 10 PM and the hotel was nearly closing. Completed dinner and headed right to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

Cheers,

3 days road trip -> Khanapur -> Yellapur -> Magod falls

After lunch, we decided to go to Kumta directly instead of Karwar, there seemed to be a way to reach Gokarna/Kumta instead of Karwar and we chose that.

So we proceeded towards Yellapura. Over here couple of stops for pics and then proceeded to Magod falls which was totally unexpected. On the way we saw a board to Magod falls and took a deviation. Thats it.

The falls was nice, since it was the first time of me visiting the same.!

Cheers,

3 days road trip -> Gokak -> Belgaum -> Khanapur

After completing Gokak falls, we headed back to Belgaum to proceed towards Karwar or Kumta. It was not yet decided. Where to have lunch too was not yet decided.

We started towards Khanapur, and I told the rest of the guys that, we shall have lunch at any Khanavali available in Khanapur. Back of my mind, I was not sure whether we would encounter any Khanavali over there or not.

I just told them convincingly that, there shall be one. And believe me, we could find one with ease. It was along the main road.

Cheers,

3 days road trip -> Gokak falls

Woke up early on Day 2, got ready and started towards Gokak falls by 7 AM. Tried to have breakfast in Belgaum, but none of the hotels were open that early, hence proceeded with an empty stomach.

We had to travel around 50 kilometers and a wrong choice of road costed us some time, as we had to negotiate potholes and gravel. At the end made it to Gokak by 9 AM with couple of breaks in between for some pictures.

Had breakfast at a local hotel in Gokak and then proceeded towards the falls.

Water was less at Gokak falls courtesy the dam. But none the less, first timers were quite impressed by the hanging bridge, old British style buildings. For me, it was 4th time since childhood days, last visit being in 2009, 4.5 years earlier.

Cheers

3 days road trip -> Night's halt @ Belgaum

As the day came to a close, we concluded that, we could not make it to Gokak falls and as a result, decided to halt at Belgaum. Approached the KSRTC bus stand and chose to have dinner. Found a Jain hotel opposite to the bus stand and finished dinner. Then started searching for lodges.

While couple of people went in search of rooms, me and few others went to buy, local sweets, Kunda/Ghate and Bhakarvada. I got 3/4 kilo of kunda and 1/2 kilo of bhakarvada. Handling them over the next two days became a challenge as we were running out of space in the car.

Found a lodge and slept for the day.

Cheers,

3 days Road trip -> Utsav Rock Garden, Gotgodi Park, Shiggaon

This was my second visit to Utsav Rock Garden in Shiggaon. It had been almost 2 years and lots of things had changed since then. Here are few more pics! Many things remained the same though!.

I thoroughly liked Utsav Rock Garden, but this time, people with whom I had gone there, liked this place even more than me!. They thought it was a visual treat!

Cheers,

3 days Road trip - Bangalore -> Timminakatti -> Utsav Rock Garden -> Hubli -> Belgaum.

It was 15 Aug 2014, the day started at 4 am, I had not prepared anything in terms of packing, I had to put together my clothes and all necessary stuffs. I had to reach Ring road at 5 30 AM, but in the end it got delayed and reached only at 6 15 AM.

So after my pickup, we proceeded to Nelamangala, to head right out of town. Its over here, we stopped for necessary fuel at Shell Petrol pump.

The day's plan was to stop at Kyathasandra for breakfast, then directly at Davangere for lunch. After lunch, a visit to the Ustav rock garden at Shiggaon.

Along with us, one more person, drove a bike. He infact thought Kyathasandra was after Tumkur and as a result, directly went to Tumkur instead of stopping at Kyathasandra. As a result, we decided to stop at Sira Kamath hotel for breakfast.

Reached Sira at around 9 40 AM, then had a good breakfast and proceeded towards Chitradurga. After Chitradurga on the way to Davangere, we encountered a major hurdle, there was an accident which had occured and the highway was blocked.

This took some time to clear and we reached Davangere after this. Over here, one of our group  member's friend was in Ranebennur, Timminakatti to be precise. His home was over here and it is he who invited the entire 11 members for lunch at his place.

Hence took a detour at Ranebennur and went towards Timminakatti. Had a great lunch. After which it was time to leave. Time was around 3 pm and next was Utsav Rock Garden, in Shiggaon.

Cheers for now.

Places covered, 3 day trip

There were few places which were enlisted to be covered during the 3 days, but in the end, we could not complete all of the enlisted places, instead chose few of them.
Visited places:
1. Utsav rock Garden, Gotgodi Park, Shiggaon, – Day 1
2. Timminakatti , Ranebennur, Day 1
3. Gokak Falls,  - Day 2,.
4. Karwar, Sadashivgad fort – Not covered.
5. Gokarna  - Not covered.
6. Murudeshwara – Not covered.
7. Mirzan fort Kumta – Day 3
8. Padukone. – Not covered.
9. Honnavara beach – Day 3
10. Idagunji Sri Ganesha temple. – Not covered.
11. Jog falls. – Day 3

Along with Utsav rock garden, we also chose to visit a friend’s place at Ranebennur. Timminakatti village it was, where we were treated to a nice meal.
Cheers,

3 days road trip, 1500 kilometers

August 15, 2014, was a Friday and with no trekking plans in sight, there was a chance for something different. It ended up being the amongst the best 3 days of 2014.

There are other better days in 2014, but these 3 days, I enjoyed truly.
Went on a road trip with few of the guys who organize and accompany me for trekking.

So, it was 3 days, 1500 kilometers and loads of driving, visiting places and then repeat!.

It started out a couple of weeks before 15 Aug 2014, carefully planning the roadmap. In the end, the road map just got thrown out of the way and we went in a way that was totally unexpected.

Places covered.

1. Timminakatti, Ranebennur
2. Utsav RockGarden, Shiggaon.
3. Gokak falls.
4. Magod falls.
5. Mirzan fort.
6. Apsara beach
7. Jog falls.

Cheers,

Handling Rejections - Himalayan trek

Been bit busy for the last 4 weeks or so. Loads of work at office plus stuffs at home keeping me busy.
Finally saw a trekking event to the Himalayas. The team size was 8. It would have been my first trek to the Himalayas. I have been working hard for the last 8 months.

I had every reason to be hopeful for getting short-listed. But in the end, I got rejected because, there were more experienced people who had enrolled. More experienced in the sense, they had trekked Himalayas before.

As of today feeling very awful. Not able to digest the fact that, 8 months dedicated hard work and still one step behind. I  need to work harder. I dont know why people including me take rejections this seriously.

Saw a couple of kids of construction workers, this morning. They were so happy enjoying their packet of biscuits. They were so so happy with the basic amenities and here I am finding it very hard to even digest the fact that, I ve been rejected for Himalayan trek.

Why do we have such high hopes. Why cant we simply try and leave the rest to God. Why cant we simply be happy with smaller things in life.

I promise, I shall improve.

Cheers,

PS - due to a drop out in the shortlisted members, I got invited for this trek again. By God's grace, this thing has happened, on 5 September 2014. As of today, 6 September 2014, still deciding on how to proceed. Keeping fingers crossed whether I can make it!
Cheers

10 Temples trip, Epilogue

Finally at around 3 20PM started from Sirsi to Bangalore. Asked a local about directions to Haveri and then to Bangalore. He was surprised that I chose Haveri instead of Shimoga and Sirsi. I was more interested in joining NH4, instead of driving through Sagar and Shimoga.

The toll would cost money, but NH4 was 4 lane road with ample space to drive. Finally I got a clue on how to proceed to Haveri. Meanwhile, we stopped at the Haveri Market where my parents brought 1 kilogram of mangoes. I asked an auto rickshaw driver about the directions to Haveri and asked him about the Sagar road. He told me distance is same via both roads. I chose to come by Haveri only.

While driving to Haveri encountered loads of confusing roads, with no signboards. Had to stop and ask locals on how to proceed. Also there was lot of road work going in multiple places with bad stretches of roads. Luckily with no punctures and continuous driving made it to NH4 around 5 30PM.

From then on roads got better, so did darkness and the rain. Made it to Sira around 8PM, not before encountering heavy rainfall at Chitradurga. Had to stop at couple of places on NH4 for around 10-20 minutes as there was no visibility at all. Vipers were at full swing but rain was more, and could not see at all.

From Sira, rain subsided and could make it to Bangalore by around 12 15 in the midnight. This brought to an end an awesome road trip and the good part is I drove alone all along the way, with no GPS relying on locals and signboards. And thats what is called God's grace.

Cheers,

Sri Marikamba Temple, 10 Temples trip - Temple 10 Day 3

Started from Gokarna and came back to Kumta, where there is a deviation towards Sirsi. We had to climb a ghats section. It was fun driving through ghats section, Devimane ghats. Traffic was less. But it was pretty hot.

The distance to Sirsi was around 80 kilometers, covered it in around 1 hour 40 minutes approx.

Reached Sirsi and parked the vehicle around 2 PM in the afternoon. The temple was open and there were many devotees. Completed darshan of Sri Marikamba and we were back around 2 40PM.

Then it was time to have lunch. Instead of opting for heavy lunch we just ate idli's at a hotel opposite to the temple.

Now I told my parents, we covered 10 temples over the last 2.5 days and now it was through drive to Bangalore. They felt happy and at the same time worried, because I had to drive in the night to make it to Bangalore. I had not hidden that fact from them and as 3 PM approached this night driving thing became more clearer.

What happened during the return journey, shall write about in the epilogue.

Cheers,

Sri Mahashiva Temple, Gokarna, 10 Temples trip - Temple 9, Day 3

After visiting the Mhatobar Sri Vinayaka Devaru temple, we headed right towards Gokarna, not before passing Honnavar and Kumta.

I wanted to continue till Gokarna on empty stomachs, but my parents were scolding me to stop for breakfast. Stopped at a hotel in Kumta. Then proceeded towards Gokarna. Also saw deviations to Kollur Mookambika temple. My parents once again started insisting to return to Bangalore instead of visiting Gokarna. But I wanted to visit Gokarna and Sri Mahashiva temple hence proceeded right straight.

It was around 11 AM when we reached Gokarna. Once again crowd was less, we could get nice Darshan of Sri MahaShiva. Gokarna fascinates me. Somewhat laid back kind of town. Every time I go there, I somehow end up wondering, when will I return again.

After darshan came back around 12 15 PM. This time, did not have prasadam. Not sure why, but my parents were consistently asking me to start the return journey to Bangalore that, I forgot to even think about prasadam.

So started the return journey at around 12 40 PM.

Cheers,

Mhatobar Shri Vinayaka Devaru temple, 10 Temples trip - Temple 8, Day 3.

Woke up around 6 30 AM. Got all ready and prepared to leave by 7 25 AM. Plan was to leave towards Idagunji, then towards Gokarna and then towards Bangalore but not before stopping at Sirsi.
I somehow was able to convince my parents, by telling them, we could reach home by midnight. Did I reach by midnight, well, will tell you about that in coming posts. But first about Idagunji Mhatobar Sri Vinayaka temple.

It is around 20-25 kilometers from Murudeshwara. There is a deviation towards the right, as we move towards Gokarna with a big visible deviation and entrance. Reached the temple at around 8 10 AM. There was no crowd. Felt really good, as we were again on empty stomach. All 3 days, on empty stomachs, first thing to visit was the temple. Prayed to God and then we started towards the next point.

Cheers,

Nisarga residency - 10 Temples trip, Evening Day 2

Not sure which lodge we stayed, I guess it was Nisarga residency. That evening, I had difficulty getting sleep. It was way too humid in Murudeshwara. I did not get proper sleep till 12 in the midnight. Also the thoughts of driving tomorrow, the whole day was driving me crazy.

My parents were scolding me, to start towards Bangalore, right in the morning, but I was of the opinion to visit Idagunji Mhatobar Sri Vinayaka temple, then Sri Mahashiva temple in Gokarna then return to Bangalore.

With these thoughts in the mind, I finally set to sleep at around 1 AM in the night.

Cheers,

Sri Shiva Temple, Murudeshwara, 10 Temples trip - Temple 7, Day 2

After Marvante, I wanted to reach Murudeshwara quickly and look for room over there and then visit the Sri Shiva temple today itself. Also after yesterday's shower in the evening, I was even more worried, on what would happen if it would rain.

Luckily it did not rain. I reached Murudeshwara around 4 15 PM, found out a lodge which was around 1 kilometer from the temple, and had ample car parking. This time, it was ordinary room instead of AC room. Parked the car inside the compound and set out towards the temple.

We did have Darshan, also there are many temples over there. Prayed to God and then clicked some pics and it was 7PM and we were back. Had dinner at Kamat restaurant over there. Crowd was a bit more infact. Humidity was even more.

Cheers,

Sri Varaha Anjaneya Temple, Marvante, 10 Temples trip - Temple 6, Day 2.

Once we started from Udupi, I had plans to stop at Marvante. Opposite to the beach is Sri Varaha Anjaneya Temple. After going through various places on the road, we finally reached Marvante around 3 00 PM.

The temple was closed, but I was contented with still visiting and praying to God. We could see the idols.
Also took couple of minutes to see the marvellous Marvante beach. There was beach, beach all along the way as we reached Kundapura and made our way out. Felt great riding next to the sea.

Now it was turn to reach Murudeshwara.

Cheers,

Sri Krishna Temple, Udupi - 10 Temples trip - Temple 5, Day 2

After packing from the lodge in Ujire, we headed out straight to Udupi. The distance was around 100 kilometers and the went through all kinds of roads. Big, narrow, small. But it was fun. Most of it was on 2 lane roads and could see in couple of places there were marriages organized too.

At only place near Karkala, one car was in front of us, fully decorated with flowers, ready to ferry the bride and the groom. The day was getting more hotter and I had to reach Udupi and get prasadam there too.

Especially after what Vikas Khanna told about Sambar in Udupi (Twist of taste season 3, fox life), I was quite keen on going there having lunch prasadam.

Reached around 11 40 AM I guess. Took 20 minutes to figure out the parking lot. Then there was slow moving queue. It was huge, but not as huge as yesterday's.

Finally after an hour, we had a good Darshan of Lord Sri Krishna, and proceeded to have lunch. Rasam was excellant as told by Vikas Khanna. Felt really good after lunch, felt lazy too. My parents yet again wanted to sit in shade and relax for sometime.

But I insisted to start the journey towards Murudeshwara, because distance was more, and yet again, I had booked no rooms. So had to look out for lodges yet again!.

All about that in the next post.
Cheers,

Sri Janardhana Swamy Temple - 10 Temples Trip - Temple 4, Day 2

On the way back from Sri Sadashiva Rudra temple, we found out there was another temple. Sri Janardhana Swamy temple. Went to this temple, had darshan. I felt really good. There was a wedding about to happen at that temple too!

So now headed back to our lodge. On the way thought of having breakfast, but then, returned to our lodge. Had breakfast at Disha hotel.

Now it was time to leave for Udupi. It was getting hot as the day progressed. What happened next, in another post.

Cheers,

Sri Sadashiva Rudra Temple - 10 Temples Trip - Temple 3, Day 2

Had a pretty decent sleep, woke up around 6 30 AM. Today had plans to drive to Udupi. But before that, I had to visit couple of temples at Ujire.

Started at around 7 10 AM to Sri Sadashiva Rudra temple at Ujire. Reached around 7 40AM. There was very less crowd. Harike Vana was almost empty. Prayed for almost 5 minutes, asking God for loads of things.

I always feel good, when I visit a temple on empty stomach early morning, Yesterday's Kukke Sri Subrahmanya temple too, had been on a cup of tea and nothing else. Today too totally empty stomach. Cannot ask for more.

And it was time to leave around 8 30 PM. My mother collected prasadam and then we returned to Ujire. On the way visited one more temple.

Cheers,

Sri Aripady Mutt Lodge - 10 Temples Trip - Evening Day 1

After Sri Manjunatha Swamy Darshana at Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, I decided to proceed to Ujire, and look for lodges over there. Ujire was just a mere 9kilometers from Dharmasthala. My parents were very happy on seeing Ujire come so quick.

Checked at a lodge at the beginning of the town. It had all the rooms booked.  Then enquired at Sri Aripady Mutt lodge.  Luckily rooms were available. Rooms were exactly the same depicted in the pic. Clean neat and excellent. AC room was made default I guess.

Settled in the room around 4 15 PM and within 15 minutes, it started to rain. Rain was pretty heavy. I should thank God for ensuring we are not travelling in the rain or even searching for rooms. Enjoyed a rainy evening all indoors watching TV and eating junk food like chips, cream biscuits.

Evening had dinner at the below hotel called Disha. And thats it an eventful day came to an end.

Cheers,

Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy Temple - 10 Temples trip - Temple 2, Day 1

After completing Darshan at Kukke Sri Subrahmanya temple, started towards Dharmasthala. Luckily Dharmasthala was approximately 36 kilometers from Kukke/Gundya cross. I was overhelmed. I thought I could get Prasadam at the temple.

We need to proceed towards, in the same road, which leads to Mangalore and after some distance, there is a turn to the right, with indication saying, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. From the deviation, its around 7-10 kilometers.

Reached Dharmasthala, and parked my car over there, at certain distance from the temple. Incidentally, on May 2nd there was a mass marriage was organized. Preparations where on at the place, where I had parked my car. There was huge crowd at Dharmasthala too. On top of that, it was so much hot.

We decided to go for special Darshan costing Rs 250 per person I guess. We could cut the queue and move some distance ahead. After an hour of waiting in the queue, we finally had Darshan. It felt really good. My parents too felt good. They thought, finally their wish had turned into reality.

The heat was right on. We proceeded right towards the lunch hall. My parents took 3 seats while I went ahead to fill up my water bottles. Incidentally I had to jump the barricade/partition kind of thing to fill up water bottles, as water was accessible to people only who had completed lunch and I was in the part where people were about to start lunch.

While going out of the hall, one person serving food, asked me, if I had completed lunch to which I said, no, and told him I was about to fill water before having lunch. The gesture made me really happy, because, over there in Dharmasthala, people were so much interested to serve, and wanted to know if the devotees had lunch or not. I was a total stranger to that person, still that person enquired. I felt really good, really really good.

Finally at around 3:30 PM+, we were done with the Sri Manjunatha Swamy Darshan as well as had Prasadam. So it was time for next destination. My parents wanted to sit for sometime after lunch, but I was bit reluctant, as we had to search for rooms to halt.

I had booked no rooms, I was new to the place and knew nothing about surroundings of Dharmasthala. By the way Dharmasthala was crowded, I decided not to make a halt over there. Instead thought of Ujire, else was planning to drive all the way to Udupi.

What happened next was yet again, by God's grace.

Cheers,