Part 2 - Bangalore to Goa by car

continuing from Part - 1 -

Around 9: 15 am we reached Chitradurga, in my mind, I was telling myself, one more time to Hubli/Dharwad within a month ( a month ago,  I had been to Hubli / Dharwad). But things took a different turn no sooner we crossed Chitradurga.

Arvind, saw a signboard to the left which said "Mangalore" to the left. He soon started thinking about going on a coastal drive. It came out of nowhere and he was pretty adamant on taking the left turn and so he did!
At that moment, I really did not know where the road would take us ,or whether we could land in Mangalore and then come back to Karwar, because both places were in totally different directions. But I had nothing to say because we had already taken a deviation and had proceeded in the road which said To Mangalore.

The first place which came along the way was Channagiri. We stopped for tender coconut for the first time and for the second time stopped in front of a Sunflower farm. Not sure whose sunflower farm it was, but gatecrashed into it for few photos.

After taking few pictures, we proceeded along the same road. We had realized by then the road would lead us to Shimoga. So Arvind had a place in Shimoga where he wanted to visit, badly. So he ensured we had a mandatory pit stop at Shimoga, and the chosen place was PanchaTara IceCream parlour. He told me this place is so so famous and he ordered an ice cream or rather, Anamika.. I am guessing what was it !

After Arvind had his icecream, we proceeded towards Sagar - Jog Falls. Well no.. Anyone would think, we would have gone that route and then gone towards Murudeshwar and then Karwar. But no, all of a sudden Arvind told the road leading to Jog falls was in a bad state (not sure whether it was really!) and instead took the road to Agumbe. And we ended up in Agumbe Sunset point which was our next pit stop. And by the way to reach this place, we drove all the way through Thirthalli Forest which was kind of a breeze, I enjoyed the road to every bit!

Since we had proceeded towards Agumbe, a guy at the hotel told me, the only way to go to Goa now was via Kundapura / Murudeshwara and then Karwar. It was already 3 pm in the afternoon, the distance was huge and the time was very less, we proceeded towards our next point Kundapura. Upon reaching Kundapura we proceeded quickly towards VarahaAnjaneya temple right opposite to the Marvante Beach.

After seeking blessings at the temple we saw the beach. First sight of a beach after such a long drive. Marvante beach was excellent, we had less time, could not spend much time over there. But whatever we spent was excellent!

After Marvante beach we proceeded towards Murudeshwara, we were very tired and Arvind was still more tired because, he had driven most, so we tried to enquire about rooms for halting in Murudeshwara. Since it was December and that too Christmas time, one place told us about Rs 2000 for one night's stay.

Instead Arvind told we could proceed towards Karwar and halt at the designated place. Finally around 11 PM without further stops, we made it to Karwar where a guest house was booked for us. So after seeing so much one single day, we safely had made it to Karwar.

What happened over the next couple of days is just as exciting as this one.

Cheers,

PS:Below is our route for the day !

Part 1 - Bangalore to Goa by car

This trip dates back to December 2011 !

It had been three months since I had joined my new organization. I needed a break. I had been to a fairly long drive to Hubli-Dharwad-YellamanaGudda-Dharwad-Bangalore a month back. (1050 kms approximately). But still I felt I needed another break. So when my friend Arvind called me and told that he was planning to go to Goa for Christmas, I immediately told him, I was interested and to count me in!.

The plan was three people would start from Bangalore by car (Arvind's Honda City) and one more person would join in Karwar. The accommodation was arranged in Karwar. You might be wondering, we are visiting Goa, how could we end up staying in Karwar? But it was one of the best decision ever taken. We crossed Goa / Karnataka border 4 times in total. It still is one of the more memorable trips I have ever had. I plan to write in detail as much as I remember.

So we start right on the journey day, 24 December 2011, early morning 3 AM. I planned to wake up early and drive to Arvind's place. As I woke up and got ready to leave, it was already 4 10 AM. And by the time I found out Arvind's place, it was around 5 AM.

We did pooja to Arvind's car and then started to pick one of his friend who was waiting at a neighboring locality. Arvind's friend was waiting and then we proceeded towards Tumkur. Our initial plan was to travel along Tumkur road all the way to Dharwad and then directly to Karwar where we would make a night halt.

Along the way, we stopped for Tea somewhere after Nelamangala and then for breakfast and Sira, Kamat Upachar restaurant. We then cruised along NH4, to reach Chitradurga around 9 :00AM. After Chitradurga, what we did is one of the most memorable and sweetest blunders we have done till date!

All of that in the next post, below are few pictures till this part of the journey !

Cheers,

Happy Independence Day

Here is wishing every Indian a happy 67th Independence day!

Feels great to be an Indian, not only today, but each and every day!

I too had a great time today. The day started by meeting my ex-colleagues, yes people from my previous workplace, my lovely cab (shuttle) mates.

Pradeep had called for a early morning round of jog. We met over at his house. We had 5 of my ex shuttle mates, it felt great bonding with them. Really I miss my ex-workplace. More than the work, it was the friendship which grew amongst us, due to the long travel each day !

So we jogged for around 40 minutes, and returned to have a cup (glass) of tea at the road side stall.

All in all a good beginning to the day.

Around 11 am many of my relatives had assembled at the small ground opposite to my house. We played cricket for around 1 hour after which had lunch at my aunt's place. Then I retired to my home and bedroom and slept for a while. I did not get proper sleep, I quickly woke up in 20 minutes time. I once again slept around 5 pm.. and woke up around 7 : 15 pm, to find a missed call from one of my friends.

I called that person up, and had one of the most memorable conversations, for over a period of 40 minutes time.

Cheers to that.

Mullayanagiri trek

Last week, I had been to a trek in Chickmagalur. Mullayanagiri is a very nice place to trek, also its a treat in the monsoons. I registered for this trek and on the last day came to know the batch would comprise of 36 people.

Though I completed the Mullayanagiri trek, I did not venture into attempting the Baba Budangiri trek, since it was raining and the trek would be a very risky one.

But all in all I enjoyed the trek. The worst part of the trek was the weight of my luggage. I almost carried 5.5 kilograms of luggage throughout the Mullayanagiri trek.

1.5 kilos of my empty bag.
1.75 kilos of my Nikon D90.
1 kilo of rain coat.
1+ kilos of 2 L water bottle.

I was rather slow throughout the trek, it was my bad part, that even after 3 treks, I still ended up carrying so much of luggage. Ideally luggage should have been 1-2 kilos only.

Next time, I shall be careful for sure.

Second day, had a blast in Dabbe falls. Got bitten by leeches around 4 times !

Cheers,
Sandeep

We chat with anyone, anywhere ! via #WeChat

We chat is a mobile text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China, first released in January 2011 (as per wikipedia). 

This entry is for the #WeChat contest on indiblogger.

More on we chat can be obtained from http://www.youtube.com/user/WeChatIndia?feature=chclk

Now that #WeChat has given an option to connect to anyone and anywhere, I too would love to connect with few people. I would like to have more insight into some of the key decisions these people have taken. 

So the people whom I would want to connect include:

1. Mr MK Gandhi - The father of our nation, whom I adore, respect and my love for whom is second to none.

"Mr MK Gandhi, Was independence really needed for India, would we have been a better nation under the British Rule. Instead of fighting for independence (since 1857), could we constructively built the country? Could we have seen a country as good as Hong Kong, instead of the one currently we live in?

Disclaimer - I am proud to be an Indian, I love my country, but there are so many things happening which make me ask this question.

2. Mr NR Narayana Murthy - The visionary and pioneer of the IT industry in India and the person who put India on the global roadmap also provided employment to lakhs of people.

"Mr Narayana Murthy, why did you chose the outsourcing industry instead of proprietary product / application development. In the last 30 years do you have a path breaking, ground breaking applications / products which sells licenses in millions or generates revenue, which is users' favorite?.

Now that you have come out of retirement and are planning to rebuild the company, do you plan to build a path breaking product and target record sales or would you concentrate on finding new clients who provide you fund and appropriate work (in other words, outsourcing) ?"

3. Mr Azim Premji - Founder of Wipro Ltd. Truly a brilliant professional.

" Mr Azim Premji, why don't you provide Work from Home option to your software company employees located in Bangalore. If that happens, so many vehicles can stop plying on the road, usage of air conditioning shall be reduced also people get to focus on work more rather than worrying about how to land in office and back home " ?

4. Mr Ratan Tata - Brilliant person, whose entire family has played a major role in India's growth.

" Mr Ratan Tata, why did you chose the build the world's cheapest car? Why did you not come up with an idea to build a limited production, expensive car like Spyker or Koenigsegg or Pagani. I am sure there are many rich people in India who could have afforded it."

5. Lord Vishnu - The Great Almighty, who has created all of us.

" Lord Vishnu, where are you? when will you descend on the earth, I would love to see you and I am sure you are the one, who could make this earth a much better place to live in. "

" As per wikipedia avatars typically descend for a very specific purpose. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu—to bring dharma, or righteousness, back to the social and cosmic order:[1][5]

Cheers,

This article is an entry to the #WeChat contest happening on IndiBlogger. More information about #WeChat can be found at their website or also on youtube.

Disclaimer -

I love my country more than anything and I have utmost respect for each and every individuals mentioned in this blog post. They have instrumental in shaping our country, giving employment to crores of people. I have the highest respect for each one of them and salute their contribution in making our country best in the world!

Kurthkoti - on the way to Gadag from Hubli....

I started from Hubli to Gadag, late in the afternoon. That day, did not have lunch. After attending the marriage, headed straight to Hubli CBT, there was no time for stopping for lunch.

So finished the work my parents had at HBL / CBT, took almost 1.5 hours, and I was waiting in the car, which I had parked on a narrow narrow road !.. Then started towards Gadag. The road was in too good shape. There were few potholes, and I enjoyed driving in the Sun... O yes, most of the days, I drove in peak sun, during harsh afternoons, and it was too good a chance to be missed.

I had seen the map before proceeding, and I knew, there would be a deviation which would say Lakshmeshwara 30 kms. I told my parents that we could go to Lakshmeshwara and come back to Gadag on the same day. Somehow, they did not agree.

I had to go to Gadag, and somehow abandon the idea of going to Lakshmeshwara. But on the way, I saw there was a deviation to Kurthkoti. It was about 6kilometers. Kurthkoti is my maternal grandmother's place. My mother was born there. It was kinda proud moment to drive to that place.

Since it was only 6 kms and based on one guy's opinion on the condition of the road, I decided to go to Kurthkoti. Believe me or not that was one of the best laid out roads. I heard Kurthkoti is the birthplace of many freedom fighters (I did not know this earlier. Sad). Salute to them.

I visited the Lord Hanuman temple over there. My mother was visiting this place after many many years. So she was kinda recollecting how few of the houses of the, then landlords used to be. Now most people have vacated Kurthkoti.

But all in all, I loved the place. Less people, less crowd. Fun!

Then headed back out, directly to the main road. I think it was after Kurthkoti deviation, there was one more deviation towards Binkadakatti. It seems to have a sanctuary. No more interested in seeing caged animals these days, I was hesitant so did not stop over here and headed into Gadag..

On entering, Gadag, I saw a board which read,
--> Lakshmeshwara 26 Km
--> Bangalore - 430 km.

Gajendragad 57 km
Badami 107 km

I now had a return route in my mind.. and what happened on the return journey, I have already blogged.

Some more to write on what I did in Gadag, which is altogether a phenomenal place..

Will do it shortly..

Cheers,

Gadag To Bangalore, 430 kms / 12 hours ... by car... Part 3

Part 1 - http://sandeepskulkarni.blogspot.in/2013/03/gadag-to-bangalore-430-kms-12-hours-by.html

Part 2 - http://sandeepskulkarni.blogspot.in/2013/03/gadag-to-bangalore-430-kms-12-hours-by_10.html

Continuing from my previous two posts, I would like finish off the series, with this one.. Let me see.  As I started my journey on this road, whose condition which I was not sure, the traffic got more and more less, there were few people around and even fewer vehicles. 

Hardly any vehicles to overtake, I still was ready to take whatever condition of the road, it may turn into.  So after few kilometers, found a nice place to take a picture, and here is what I captured.  I enjoyed stopping and parking my vehicle on the road in order to take this picture and enjoy this moment. 

After this I proceeded towards Laksheshwara, but somewhere on the way, I saw a signboard which read Magadi. Suddenly I remembered, this was the same place on the wikimap, which said there were migratory birds which could be found. So I took a left turn to head into this place to catch a glimpse of these birds. Infact they can be seen at a distance from the main road only. But in order to get a much closer look I proceeded towards the lake which is about 0.5 kms from the main road, to the left. What I saw there was just mesmerising.. So many birds, making such huge noises. Though my 105mm lens could not capture much because they were at much larger distance, but I did what ever I could.. 

I enjoyed every minute I spent next to the lake. Finally headed towards Lakshmeshwara. Over there saw the centuries old Sri Someshwara temple. Felt so so good, to be amidst history. Als o it was my grandfather was from this place. I was feeling so so good, just to be associated with this place in some way or the other. After sometime may be 45 mins, we decided to proceed towards Bangalore. 

Since there were not much signboards available, I started to asking villagers and whomever I found on the way on directions to Bankapura. Finally after 70+ kms from Gadag, I could actually see, NH4, where it cuts the road which leads to Bankapura. I felt so so relieved to have made it without any punctures till here. 

Oh, by the way, I did not tell about the condition of the road, it was just great, there were potholes in few places, but not that deep, and the tarmac was in a decent decent shape.

I then realized I had to visit Sri Nagareshwara temple in Bankapura, as well as the peacock sanctuary. My parents were hesitant on visiting another ancient temple, instead told me to check out the Sanctuary only instead. I was hesitant too, to see the ancient temple.

When we entered the sanctuary, we asked the few people over there about the way to the sanctuary, they told the location, but instead we reached the Sri Nagareshwara temple instead. I loved it, knowingly or unknowingly I got to see one more ancient temple. 

Then after asking locals on where to find peacocks, I went about couple of other roads, but was unable to locate any and since it was getting close to 1 pm I had to start my journey to Bangalore and decided to call it quit.

It was time for lunch and after driving few good kilometers, found the Kamat hotel, behind a Reliance Petrol pump. Had lunch and then proceeded towards Chitradurga.

It was getting hot, but I was enjoying the drive very much. Sometime, it seems there is so much of fun in just doing things extreme, driving 1000kms all alone, driving in the afternoon, with sun rays hitting ur face through the window, driving with very few vehicles on the road in the afternoon, so many things which I enjoyed.

Then once I reached Sira, took a break for coconut water, and then proceeded towards Bangalore, but it was getting late, and the traffic pile up on Tumkur road towards Bangalore, was just way too much. Had tough time driving amidst huge number of trucks, finally made to home via NICE road and Kengeri at around 8 45 pm.

So all in all it was 12+ hours of driving, what a sweet feat !

Cheers,

Gadag To Bangalore, 430 kms / 12 hours ... by car... Part 2

Continued from

http://sandeepskulkarni.blogspot.in/2013/03/gadag-to-bangalore-430-kms-12-hours-by.html

I had slept after taking an antibiotic the previous night. I was pretty afraid, what would happen the next day. I woke up around 5 20 am that day and checked the condition of my throat.

Believe it or not the throat infection had gone almost 85-90%. Everything had cleared off. I was so so happy that, I started singing a Kishor Kumar song early in the morning. Indeed, why shouldn't I? I was so so happy, that I could enjoy my 400+ kms drive that day, instead of worrying about the sore throat.

After thanking God for the turn of events, I got ready to check out of the hotel. So by 7 15 am I was on the move, my parents felt better as they no more to worry about the my health, they felt now I could drive safe.

My parents had thought, the travel from Gadag to Bangalore would be so lengthy that, they had advised me to vacate the room previous day and move to a different hotel in Haveri so that we could cut the last day travel distance by 70-100kms. I was very hesitant. Somewhere down on wiki map, I had read there were couple of places which I could visit on the way to Bangalore from Gadag.

If I had vacated the room the previous day evening, it would mean, I would no longer, get to see them. I was very hesitant and my adamancy paid off. Not only did I get to see the places, I got hold of the medicine too.

Then came a series of other challenges along with it. First thing is reaching Bangalore before dark. The other challenge was the condition of the road. I never knew how the road was, after my experience in the bad Thiruvalanamalai to Krishnagiri road (NH 66), I was ready for anything. Considering the fact that my sore throat had even subsidized, I simpy said, bring it on!

After having breakfast, I prepared myself mentally for the journey. Opposite to the hotel, there was a petrol pump, I went there to get some more DIESEL and air. But the guy told me there was no air available. He told me to proceed in the road which leads to HUBLI, there would be more pumps available there.

But I was hesitant to go that way, I could see a road opposite to the petrol pump which led to Bankapura and there was no need to go to Hubli at all.

There are couple of roads which go to Bangalore from Gadag.

1. Gadag > Hubli > Bangalore
2. Gadag > Laksheshwara > Bankapura > Bangalore.

We came to Gadag using option 1. But I was hesitant to go by option 1 again. So I asked this guy, the road condition of the option 2. He told me its terrible, why do you want to take a chance better go to Hubli and then Bangalore. I just told him I want to go that way and left the petrol bunk.

I felt quite confused, because I did not want to encounter any punctures this time. But at the same time, I did not want to go to Hubli and then to Bankapura coz it simply would mean an extra drive for about 30 kms and moreover there was nothing there to see too !

Instead I chose option 2. But after confirming with one more person. Once I came out of the petrol pump. I saw a taxi (yellow board vehicle with a registration number of KA 26. Gadag registration). I thought this was my only chance. This guy might know the road condition. And indeed he knew. He told me the road is bad in a couple of places but rest all its fine.

I felt relieved.. And there after I started my journey to Bangalore..

What happened next.. Well will post it in part 3.

Cheers,

Gadag To Bangalore, 430 kms / 12 hours ... by car... Part 1

I travelled from Gadag to Bangalore, on one Saturday during the month of December 2012, precisely 2012 December 1st. I was through with all the stuffs I had to do on my Hubli Dharward Gadag trip.

The list included,

> Attending a marriage in Dharwad,
> Meeting some person in Hubli near CBT.
> Going to a relative's home in Gadag.

Apart from these, I even visited couple of temples in Gadag, and Lakkundi as well. So I was through with my goals for the trip. Now was the time to head back to Bangalore. Loads of stuffs awaited me in Bangalore. But let me tell you about something which happened previous day.

The day before I was about to catch cold and had a severe throat infection. I tried hard but my throat just gave up on Friday, the day before I was heading to Bangalore. Also signs of cold / flu was starting to show. I got pretty scared. I had to drive 400+ kms, I was the only driver, and taking cold tablets would induce sleeping while driving. With no option to endure the pain, I went to Gadag market with my parents to buy some vegetables. We also purchased some beetle nut and some stuffs which I do not recollect at this moment. We also purchased GHATE.. (phapda ? as per Jethalaal of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah chasmah )/

I was finally looking for a medical store somewhere in Gadag Market, but was unable to find one easily. Finally I found one and believe me, it was something which I will remember for the rest of life. What happened there will be etched in my memory for years to come.

I went to the medical shop and told him I have a throat infection and needed some antibiotic. He asked me whether it was severe or mild. I told him its very bad. He gave me a tablet called Azbest (500mg dosage). He asked me if I have signs of COLD / FLU. I told him I have, for which he gave a tablet called SUMO Cold, which was a huge capsule. After telling him to make a reciept for these tablets, I told him my side of the story that I had to drive all the way to Bangalore the next day, and I was the only driver.

He listened to me and suddenly reminded me to take only half the tablet of Sumo Cold, because, it would make me drowsy while driving. I told him I would and when I got the bill, I was suprised,
3 tablets of azbest 500 + 3 tablets of Sumo Cold costed me 75 Rs. (Azbest was Rs 20 each).

I took a tablet while having my evening dinner, (I ate 4 idlis that night), in a hotel very much opposite to the medical store, and I still remember, I brought 10 packets of RAJU SUPARI that day for Rs 5.

My parents thought I was crazy but somehow I justified my purchase. So then I came back to the hotel room and slept off praying to God to give me strength to drive the next day. I also told my parents, whatever happens tomorrow I am going to drive, there is nothing stopping me, for which they replied, you are the only driver and there is no other option !.

What happened next is another story continued in Part 2

Trek to Thadiyandamol Part 3

The second day just all about relaxing and having fun.. Early morning we took a walk along the estate within which the homestay was located. Then after having breakfast, we went to visit Cheluvara falls.

There took a dip in the waterfalls, it felt like heaven. Enjoyed it the most, We was there for around 2 hrs  then headed back to the homestay. We then packed our belongings and set out towards Bangalore. Before that we thought of having a good old Coorg meal and stopped at a hotel in Virajpet.

The food was great, the location was great, in the heart of Coorg, the feeling was just awesome. Then we started from Virajpet towards Bangalore. All through the journey we were chit chatting talking about loads of stuffs. I ended up talking with almost all people in my cab also the neighboring cab, including drivers. So all in all it was great.

For tea we stopped at Maddur tiffany;s and then it was my drop at Kengeri around 7 30pm..

The two days went like a rocket. Met loads of new people which was the best part and walked few kilometers, which was even more fun.

Cheers,

Trek to Thadiyandamol Part 2

Continued from post 1

I was asleep after 2am in the morning, and was awake around 5 30 am. The reason being we had lot our way. Incidentally, the road which the co-ordinator used to take to reach the home stay was dug up for repairs and we tried taking alternate roads, but landed at the same place everytime.

But with the help of GPS, somehow we could track down the homestay finally, at 6 15 am.

We all introduced ourselves and one by one, everyone got up to freshen themselves. Finally around 9 am everyone was ready, finished our breakfast, which was some Kodagu food, the name of which I hardly remember and we started after having our packed lunch. Since the trek starting point was around good 5-10 kms from the homestay, we travelled by the van.

The trekking group was kind a fun, we had people from all age groups from 11 year old to a 50 year old. There were two instructors / co-ordinators.

The trek to Thadiyandamol was kind of fun, initial stretch was a plain road with no inclines. I had carried my D90 on this trek, and believe me it was a big big distraction while walking. In the month of december with lot of dry areas, there were no good photo captures (as usual). But all way long, I was lagging behind, just because, I was trying to take photos every now and then.

After 3-4 hours of trekking we reached the peak. It was kind of nice achievement, because the last time I went to trek was almost a decade back. I do not even exercise regularly. I really thanked God, that the trek to KP was cancelled, else I would have suffered.

And we came back the same day to the homestay and evening was kind of total fun. On the way somewhere in Virajpet couple of guys got down to get tapioca chips. It was tasting too good.. Bad that I did not get some.

Once we reached the homestay, we had tea coffee, cakes, and other delicacies.

Needless to say that day, I ate as if I had not eaten in generations.

And then there was campfire. That day, I slept in the open on the homestay terrace and under the starts. It was too good. The gates of the homestay was open, anything could have come onto the terrace. But still I was hesitant and slept in the open. 5-6 other guys too slept in the open..

Then next day woke up at 6 am and the rest part, I will post it sooon as part 3...

Cheers,

How I reduced my Facebook usage and saved countless hours.

Disclaimer - This post is all about MY usage of a Social Networking Site and it is not meant to offend anybody.

The year dates back to 2010. Before 2010 I was using orkut. I did not take much interest in facebook till then. The story starts in the month of July 2010, I was in Singapore, I had accepted an offer from a company over there, and one of my house mate told me, facebook is more popular than orkut these days. I simply said ok and told to myself, let me have a facebook account myself.

Within couple of months, I had accepted loads of friend requests, though I was kind of hesitant to send a friendship request to anyone, and to this date I am still hesitant. Then I started to travel within Singapore and started posting many pictures and also started going through what other people are doing via Facebook.

Through the next one year till August 2011, I started using more and more facebook, the primary reasons being.

1. Internet was kind a cheap in Singapore and I had no restrictions on my usage.
2. I had countless number of hours to spend, as I was alone, and each day, I needed some company in the form of Internet / facebook / blogs.
3. I found friends to chat on facebook and many people were like me, who stayed in different countries away from family and they too needed to kill time. It was a perfect match.
4. I was more interested in kinda boasting by posting different pictures ( I guess human tendency ).

Finally in the year August 2011, when I thought I had enough of working in Singapore, I left my job and came back to India. Initial two months, I did not check facebook. Coz I had no job and people knew I had relocated to Bangalore. In order to hide myself, I stayed away from Facebook.

Then once I found a job in Bangalore, I was again back on facebook, and this time I had enough enthusiasm to travel to many places in and around Bangalore, I started posting updates pictures etc etc.

But soon I tried to communicate with few of my older engineering classmates on facebook by leaving them a message, pinging them on chat etc etc. It was by the way after many many years. These are the same guys who had sent me a FB friendship request and now did not even reply to my messages.

Then I realized, all this is social networking is a gimmick. I wanted to shut down my account and never visit it. But I had seen couple of guys who deleted their account and within a month they were back.

So I had to do something where in I still had my account enabled, (because, I had many many photos uploaded into it. ) and yet spend lesser time on it.

The main reasons which told me to use lesser facebook are...

1. I had loads of other things to do in India, playing PC games, watching TV, listening to radio, movies books, cleaning my room, coding etc etc. So chosing FB over these was like letting myself down.

2. Internet in India is slow, and is priced. I still have a restriction of 1GB download limit. So I had to stop.

3. I was no more alone, I had loads of people around me, spending time in virtual world was no more necessary.

So my goals were these.

1. Retain my FB account -
    coz of loads of pics uploaded, I had loads of travel plans, I wanted to show atleast few people know about my photos if not all..

2. Spend lesser time on FB.

So I went about thinking what to do, and found out the main reason I spent more time on FB was because of other people's posts, their updates, their photos. If I could cut them out on focus on only a few people's updates, I thought I could save time and indeed I was right.

Out of the 100 friends I had on FB at that time, I put 85+ of them on RESTRICTED LIST. So that they do not get my updates.

On the other hand, I unchecked their news feed, so that my wall gets lesser posts, lesser downloads and lesser time.

It worked. I no more had to see other people's updates, and I no more had to tell them what I was doing as I was least interested (Remember, they did not reply to my messages on FB). My Facebook WALL is CLEAR !

All in all its a win win situation. I spend may be 10-20 mins each day on FB checking on updates of my trekking group , and other few people who share similar interests, may be 20 odd. For rest all its like bye bye . And believe me, its almost more than one year, till now nobody has asked me, " why don't I get your updates. ". Cheez I am happy.

Cheers.

Trek to Thadiyandamol Part 1

My trek to Thadiyandamol Part 1

I love to go for a trek. All these years I was never serious about it. Though I enjoy being on the road (esp on highways), I even enjoy being in the wilderness as much. So having loads of thoughts on going for a trek since the year 2010, it took quite a while to materialize.

I had plans to go for a trek in the month of July 2012, but things did not materialize, and one person whom I trusted to join me during the trek just said no. I did not take his NO that much seriously, but the fact is he went with his family for a weekend trip, while I was at home waiting for him to join for a trek, hit me way tooo hard.

I decided, hence forth there are no friendships involved in trekking, its only me all way and the trekking group. My parents were concerned how I would go for a trek with strangers, without me knowing anyone. But I was hesitant.

I registered for a trek to Kumaraparvata, and did not worry about who comes for it or not.How I registered for the trek is another story, which I hate to write, coz it will be kind of exaggerating to write about events what happened.

The day after registering, I did not get proper updates from the trekking group about the trekking registration. Finally on the day we were supposed to leave Bangalore, I came to know that, the trek to Kumaraparvata had been called off, due to lesser number of people of enrolled. Instead they asked me if I was ready to go join the Thadiyandamol trek, instead of KP. Unwillingly I accepted, but it turned out to be the best decision I made during the year 2012.

So we were supposed to leave on Friday and since we proceed on Mysore Road, I opted to have a pickup at Kengeri instead of some place within the City. I chose to stand in front of the Kengeri bus stand. That day there people digging a borewell in front of the Kengeri bus stand, I reached there around 10 15 pm and came to know that the pickup would be around 11 30 pm. I waited and waited watching people pass by and also watching people digging a bore-well.

The cab finally came sometime after 11 pm. There were all strangers in the cab. I did not speak to any of the fellow trekkers till the next day. Initially I occupied the last seat. Since the windows were sealed, I chose to move to the first seat instead. Sat next to the co-ordinator and behind the driver and then all through the night, kept on speaking to them, finally after 2 am in the morning found great sleep, I was snoring sitting in the front seat, which was kind of funny.

Also sitting right next to me there was one guy whose name I could not pickup even after  4 times of him repeating. Never mind, started speaking with him too. Told him, about my crazy road trip which I took to Goa, during the year 2011 December. I spoke about all the things which we did in Goa, just to realize he was a native of Goa. What a co-incidence I thought.

Then after I found sleep I was woken up around 5 Am when we lost our road. Incidentally, the road which was supposed to lead us to the Home stay was dug up and even our co-ordinator was kind of clues less on which road to take and it was pitch dark.

What happened next.. I will continue in the next post....

Cheers,

Things to write about !

Though I told myself, I would write about 25 posts, during my 2 day weekend, of 9-10 March 2013, I haven't been able to do so. One reason being I could not get enough things to write about, the second being, I sat down to watch the movie Forrest Gump today and after which I slept of totally.

But before that, I have listed down few stuffs which I would love to write about.

1. Trip to Hubli Dharwad and Gadag. November 30, 2012.

Though I have already written couple of posts about my travel to Hubli, Dharwad and Gadag, I still feel I could write more. I thoroughly enjoyed myself on the trip and Gadag was one awesome place to be. Far far away from Bangalore crowd, I felt harmony, peace over there. Hence want to write some more stuffs.

2. Trip to Vellore Golden Temple September 27, 2012.

I went to my neighboring state of TamilNadu to visit the Golden temple at Sripuram, Vellore. The trip was indeed fun.

3. Trip to Kasargod, Coorg December 2012.

Would want to write couple of more stuffs about this trip as well.

4. Trek to Thadiyandamol. December 2012.

My first trek after planning for more than 3-4 months.

5. Trek to Kumaraparvata February 2013.

Some amazing events and lots of walking !

6. Series on IT industry Tamasha to be continued..

7. My Indica Vista TDI
On owning one for 3 years period out of which I was out of India for about 1years 2 months.

Cheers,

Now its time to go back sit, and write few lines in my notebook and come back and type in over here.!

Things to do or learn this year !

There are loads of things which I have on my list of things to do.. Not sure if I can call them bucket list, but yeah...happy to have a big list.

So here I am trying to list down few of them.. along side topics of posts which I intend to write in the next couple of days..

I am two down,, #23 posts pending 48 hours remaining !

Without typing any more unwanted trash, let me start writing actual stuff which I intend to write.

On thing which I wish to do in the new year

1. Travel -
       Though in the last couple of months there has not been much interesting related to travel, I still have the    entire year open, and I am pretty much optimistic about it. Though I am not keen on travelling out of Karnataka, coz it takes longer duration, I am still open to it. Also keen on travelling with cousins and relatives.

2. Photography -
      I have been taking photos for quite a while now, I have been using my D90, wherever possible, but I still end up with crappy photos most of the time, and it leaves me embarrassed all way along. So I wish to improve my photography skills.

3. Drive -
    Driving goes hand in hand with travelling, but sometimes I travel using hired vehicles, so keeping this option as a different point. My love for driving has increased by many folds once I did my 1100km drive to Hubli Dharwad and Gadag !

4. Photography editing.
    Photography not only deals with taking pictures, but also editing them. I have installed GIMP since long time, but kind of not getting interest or time to invest into it. I have loads of plans to modify pictures which I have already taken to make them better. I get very jealous when people use all kinds of tricks just to get one photo right ! When they can do, why can't I ? Well, may be I have pretty much other stuffs to look into !

5. Read some books.
   Have almost not read any book to completion in last 6 months. Started couple of books, but could not complete them, somewhere in the middle just lost interest in them.

6. Learn something new technically.
    Love to learn ASP.NET MVC / Ruby on Rails and something using which I can build a website. So this includes stuffs apart from my routine office work.(Javascript, REST, some more web related stuffs is my priority).

7. Write proper code professionally.
    Though I have been writing code since quite a while, still not satisfied with quality of code I write. I am realizing this after interacting with a European counterpart and finding it difficult to get 30 lines of code pass through review. Actually would love to scrutinize each line of my own code in future, instead of unneccesarily putting in few kilo lines which in the end will never reach production.

8. Join a new organization.
   I currently work as a consultant to a company, so one of my priorities would be to join an altogether different company. For years I have been evading and trying not to become a lead (team lead / tech lead whatever crapola) but looks like now, its inevitable. Wish me luck !

Cheers, will update the list as and when I have more points !

First post for the year 2013.

After a casual discussion with my friend at workplace, thought of writing some posts over here. So here I am writing the first thing for the year 2013.

As usual I do not have any strong content or opinion to write for in the year 2013. Just its the usual crap / cribbing etc etc.

I see, I have written only 25 posts in the year 2012, though the year had loads of charm, both work wise and travel wise. This year, its started out on not such a great note, with not much travel in the first couple of months, but I would not mind, there are 10 more months left.

I wish to write 25 posts in the next couple of days, not sure if I can achieve that or not. But I am already 1 down.. Let me take a notepad and list down what to write, so that I can get it up and running phast.!

Cheers,

Sri Veeranarayana Temple, Gadag

Absolutely loved, Gadag, nice place.. was there for a purpose and believe me it was a bliss.. 

Utsav Rock Garden, Gotgodi Park, Shiggaon

On the way to Hubli, I had a pit stop at Utsav Rock Garden...
And it was fun..

Adding few more pictures as I see few hits for this post!

North Karnataka trip

As the Kasargod trip happened in the month of November, I had couple of functions to attend during the month of December. Also I had plans to travel to North Karnataka for a marriage and couple of other reasons.

The thing which makes it memorable is that, I was supposed to travel by road and I was the only driver :)-. It  felt good but it freaked me out at the same time. I still was pretty scared. I had to drive 1100 kms all by myself, which was a big big thing. But in the end I did it and I feel pretty proud of it.

Here is the list of places I visited

1. Ustav Rock Garden, Gotgodi Park, Shiggaon,

2. Hubli

3. Dhaward

4. Kurthkoti

5. Gadag.

6. Lakkundi

7. Lakshmeshwara.

8. Magadi

9. Bankapura.

Cheers

Bekal Fort Beach , Day 1 , Kasargod

Along side humidity there was also lot to cheer on day 1.. There was Bekal Fort beach.. and it was just mesmerizing..

Cheers,

Bekal Fort, Day 1 Kasargod

My first day in Kasargod, was all about humidity, Bekal Fort and Bekal Fort beach..

Cheers,

Sri AnanthaPadmanabhaswamy temple, Kasargod

After visiting Madhur, I proceeded towards Sri AnanthaPadmanabhaSwamy temple.. and all this was well before 8 30 AM..

Surely, It is such a bliss to visit a temple early morning after having a bath and an empty stomach. Let it be the first thing in the morning. Sure your day will go awesome.

Cheers,

Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Temple, Madhur, Kasargod

On day 1 in Kasargod, the humidity was unbearable. I was sweating like crazy, and during night, it rained like crazy with lightning as well. But the second day was pretty much fine. We started early.

The one thing I remembered not to miss in Kasargod was Sri AnanthaPadmanabhaSwamy temple. But unable to find directions on day 1 and being too tired I had left it for the second day.Early into the morning, I started and on the way decided to ask few autodrivers about the directions to the temple.

Luckily, instead of telling about Sri AnanthaPadmanabhaSwamy temple, they asked me whether I was looking for directions to Madhur.. When I said yes, they told me the directions and then only I came to know that there was one more beautiful temple in Kasargod , which I haven't heard of.. May be I do a little bit more searching next time.

So finally after having found the directions to the proceed to Sri Madhur, on the way I saw a board mentioning about Sri AnanthaPadmanabhaSwamy temple.. I thought today was a lucky day and indeed it was.

It is such a bliss to visit a temple early morning after having a bath and an empty stomach. Let it be the first thing in the morning. Sure your day will go awesome.

Cheers, here are some photos.

Time to recall some of my travel this year.

The year 2012 has been a pretty good one for me.. I have learnt a lot of things, read very few books this year (which is sad..but true). I have also traveled to loads of places some of the places I am going to write about here and also post some pics. Apart from that I was super busy in the months starting from February to July working on a product, which went out pretty well.

Then there was some time off which I took then again wrote some code for a prototype which went pretty well. Now during the last month of the year 2012. I have started working on a new project, I have loads of work for the year 2013.

But the thing which I would like to mention is that I have almost travelled 2200 kms in the last one month and I am extremely proud of it. At the same time, what makes me even more happy is that this year I could take full responsibility to deliver a product and I did it... Loads to look for next year..

Cheers

Who is responsible ? An Indian IT Company example

I have had the privilege to work across few different companies in the last few years. Most of the companies where located in India. And this series of blog posts is aimed at IT companies in India only.

In one of the companies I was working for a manager. I was previously working for a different team and had recently completed a project and had been allocated under the new manager.

I worked on a couple of tasks for a week under him and after which he told me, even after two weeks of hard work there is nothing which is achieved. There is no progress on this front. It pretty sad he said. Honestly speaking I felt offended. I had tried to do some work that too hard work within a short span of time. All of which failed.

But instead of finding what went wrong, I was at the receiving end, thats no surprise you get when you work for a NON Technical Manager. Its like a leading a team of mechanics without even knowing basics of mechanics.

So I left the manager say his thing and for the next 3 weeks did no work, just pretended that I was busy.

The manager took leads into this particular task of evaluating something for the next three weeks. At the end of three weeks, he too was not able to prove anything. He raised his hands saying " WE CANNOT DECIDE ".

He also said. " If I cannot decide after 3 weeks NO ONE else CAN decide " which sounds absolutely ridiculous.

So he called for a meeting, and went to the basics and started asking us about our opinions and what are the criteria we are evaluating against. But the criteria itself was not clear. He again asked who sets the criteria.

Well atleast none of the developers set the criteria. It has to be some guy who is the end user or manager I feel. Now since nobody was taking responsibility for defining requirements, owning the evaluation criteria the non technical manager just raised his hands and said we need to put an end to the task.

What a sad way to end a stupid task. But when I analyzed, the whole thing we did for a month and half  was nothing but bullshit.

When there are no clear cut requirements why should we take up the task.?

If the manager says there is no one to define the requirements, its upto the manager to set the stage, arrange for a minimum set of requirements  He should get hold of the stake holders to get a bare minimum set of criteria as to what the end users are looking for. After all he is being paid to get the project on track. If the project manager himself does not know his responsibilities, what is the point paying him such a hefty sum of money ? (Or is he aware of his responsibilities and just absconding ?)

Without this how can we dive into the task. But these non technical managers are in their own world. They want huge salary but hate to take even a single bit of responsibility.

Yes they hate their responsibilities, which seem beyond their intellect. Failing in their responsibility might lead to the loss of job (which they think), which would put a big cut in the monthly EMI which they are paying for the newly purchased big FLAT.

So finally who is responsible ? Its got to be the managers, if you do not put goal posts within a football stadium a player will be simply be kicking the ball.. yes but where and what is the ultimate destination, is unknown..

cheers,

Recruitment in the Indian IT Industry (developer role)

Having worked in the IT industry for over 7 years and after having worked few different companies, I have a fair amount of idea on the recruitment process and what people really are looking for.

When it comes to hiring a developer each recruiter wants to hire a developer who is the best and wants to pay a meager salary. Recently one of my friend got an offer from a company, he has about  5years of experience and he got an offer of 6.5 lakhs.

I mean what kind of shit is that ?

People want best resource but they want to pay less, so that the senior managers of the team can show cost cuttings or lower budget and they themselves get good appraisal / hike for running business on low cost ? What crap.

Also while recruitment there comes into picture a thing called technology. Its a specific area where a person has worked or specializes  As a software engineer people are willing to learn and adopt any new technology. But who will allow them to adopt?

If you have worked on technology A for 5 years, but the requirement is for Technology B,. do u think you will even get shortlisted ??? who wants your 5 years experience on a different technology ?

Technology B means technology B.. who wants Technology A...

Assume a derby race.. you have horses running over there. Suppose if you bring a untrained horse which needs to be groomed for may be 3 -5 days .. you think you can run the horse in the derby? . I guess may be after 3-5 days.. but in IT industry its different.. you do not stand a chance.

But bring a donkey which is wrapped in the skin of a horse into the derby and tell its ready to run the race.. Its allowed though it ends last or may not even finish.. but its allowed.

The Indian IT industry is like that.. One technology people are not entertained in interviews for another technology.. Unless they provide fake experience and prepare for interview questions from the website. (wrapping donkey in a horse skin I mean).

If you think that the job is so challenging that it needs a real developer instead of someone who needs to be groomed, you are wrong.. India is the outsourcing hub.. you can imagine what kinds of projects we end up with. You can get the job done by a high school drop out, forget having an engineering degree..

Cheers

Disclaimer - any co-incidence is regretted.. this post is my personal opinion.

Working as (software) Contractor in India ... Why do I get offended often?

These days I am getting offended pretty often. Today was one such day. Though some crazy reasons, some of which really should not bother me, but I am cribbing, hence this blog post.

Earlier today, I had a short introduction meeting with a senior manager of the neighboring team. There are 5 members in the team, which I have voluntarily involved myself in. I do not charge anything out of the project fund.

So I was the last person in line to give an introduction to the senior manager (who happens to be an expat). No sooner I started saying about myself, my immediate manager from the team interrupted in between and told the manager that I am from XYZ company (I am a consultant / contractor).

Somehow I got offended, I could myself have told this one, was there a need for someone else to point out saying I am not a permanent employee of the organization.

Working as a contractor or permanent employee is altogether my decision. But is it so much important to pin point in a meeting saying I am not an employee.

Well, what can I do, its my choice of employment, but really is this some form of discrimination ?

Never mind, cheap minded people and cheap gimmicks, who value permanent or contract other than work..

Cheers,

PS - I am working 100% full time in a different project. this project is voluntary involvement. Nothing related to bench warming btw.

99% of all Meetings are waste of time

Why is work from home option, not available in India ?

Today I am in a good mood to write.. So let me punch in few more lines on this blog after which its pure source code..

There has been a debate in my office shuttle about why work from home option is not available in India. Its available in few companies.

So here is my take on the so called topic.

Work from home is a superb option when the work we do actually adds to the client's business. You may sit at office or at home but still the client wins because you help him with your solution, which you churn out from your home.

But in most (so called) software companies, adding value to client's business is far far away. Not sure we actually add value, but we sure add loads of TIMESHEETS / INVOICES at the end of the month.

Each individual working from office is billed in the timesheet at a particular rate (say 25-30 USD per hour).
So if work from home option is provided, and if the client becomes aware of this ( yes he will, he will only have to provide for the infrastructure of course), he will tell the company to cut down on the billing rate per hour.

Yes, per hour billing is inclusive of AC / power / biscuits / water / tea etc etc. So work from home drastically reduces billing and therefore loss of business.

Yup, I re-iterate, here in India business means sending timesheets to clients for approval.. Whether your work adds any value to the client or not, seriously takes a back seat or may be the BABY Seat :)-

So work from home option is strictly NO NO in companies which only do business via TIMESHEETS.

Secondly managers (who get paid a lot) hardly involve in any technical stuffs and are more interested in doing contractor kind of jobs like asking status to developers would end up being JOBLESS if all developers start working from home...

Thirdly some bare basic infrastructure cost which company hates to invest !

Cheers ,

PS - Some companies have work from home option available.. Kudos to them :)-

Disclaimer.. All of this post is only my opinion. Any co-incidences is regretted

Why are non technical managers billed in a software company ?

Disclaimer - this post comes out of my own head, and any co-incidences with anything, anyone is mere fictional.

In a software company each individual is billed based on the number of hours he puts in. Software companies can be generally of two categories (atleast two is what I know. there may be others which I do not know).

1. Product based software company.
2. Service based software company.

Product based company can be India based or it might be a company from other country which has set up a shop in India as a subsidary. Remember its a subsidiary, there are hell a lot difference between a subsidary and one headquartered in other country.

Service based company  provide customized software services to clients on demand. external clients pay money to them to get the work done. Services can range from consulting, software design, development, migration, 24X7 support, maintenance, enhancement. (Honestly speaking, I have seen only maintenance and 24X7 projects in India).

What I feel the main difference between product based and service based is that, Product based companies have their own intellectual property, their own software (own stuffs) which they can install a 1000 times over 1000 different places and sell to 20000 clients and still no one questions them.

But in service company everything is owned by the client, including the source code. Whenever the client wants, he can shift from one vendor to a different vendor. (cost cutting I say ).

This post is all about billing, my main area of confusion is

" Why are non technical people in a project billed out of project funds "

I have seen this happen in both service and product companies and in some service based companies where it does not happen.

As we move up the career ladder (in India) we are mostly inclined towards a managerial role. Which means managers are people with more number of years of experience under their belt. Managers hardly do any project related work like coding, debugging, bug fixing. (Exceptions exist of course) They are more into project planning (using estimates prepared by developers of course), budget allocation (hardly you need a SSLC pass candidate for doing that mathematics), talking to the client and promising whatever comes to their mind, the developers being caught off guard (of course)

So what do these managers actually do after all these years of experience which actually adds value to the business. May be I have wrongly interpreted the meaning of business.

Business for me is how much value add we do to the client's business. like how much of our code goes into production and saves time and earns revenue. But for managers business means, how much billing happens for the company (where they work). They are hardly concerned about what value add we do to the clients. (well in most companies this happens, atleast in the last 7 companies I have worked for in the last 7 years this happens).

In case of 24X7 support / maintenance we directly add value to the customer. .but yeah..do you need an engineering degree to do that ? to change a single line of code over few weeks ?

If this is the case, why are these so called managers billed under project funding when they are doing NOTHING TECHNICAL WORK concerned to the project.

How a company manages its projects should be its headache. (I mean it should be at its own cost, not at clients fund). Why does the project funding gets eaten up by these people who hardly contribute.

Such is life. I hope we soon have a famous CEO like that of the 80's who used to fire people. Until then I crib I crib...

Cheers,

PS - I hope to remain technical in many more years to come.

I literally had a manager who used to stand behind people to see what they are doing. Oh yeah.. I forgot, once a lady said.. " They are actually paid to do that "... O really .. " You are the next (managerial candidate) I thought "