This happened sometime in May(?) or was it April? I can’t really remember clearly. I was supposed to go to Gulbarga to coach a few students for the purpose of campus recruitment. The train was supposed to leave from the Yeshwantpur Railway Station at 5:20 PM. The ticket was with my colleague who was to board the train at the Yelahanka Railway Station! It normally takes about an hour & a half to reach that Railway Station from my house. Unfortunately, I left home on that day at 4:05 PM!! I rushed to the bus stand & somehow managed to get a bus that left at 4:15 PM! This buy dropped me off at the Mekhri Circle bus stop at 5:00 PM. From there, I had to take an auto to the railway station…. None of the few autos there agreed to go to Yeshwantpur railway station. Given my hatred for autos, you can imagine how tense I must have been at this stage. I finally managed to hail a passing auto & requested him to really race to the station. I managed to reach the station at 5:16 PM & at this stage, I didn’t know what platform the train was on!! I asked an IRCTC shopkeeper & was told that it was on platform 3, which meant that I had to take the skywalk with my HEAVY luggage…. It was at this point that the button of my shorts broke!!! Clutching my fast slipping chaddi with one hand & my luggage with the other, I made quite a sight as I was running down the platform with my chappals slapping across everywhere (ha, ha, ha) I boarded the train EXACTLY at 5:20 PM only to be told that the train would leave at 5:45…… Boy that was one day when my tension knew no bounds…. Whew!

The return journey was another story! That will come up in the next article…

5 Days Of Campus Connect Programs

I am indeed blessed to be a part of this WONDERFUL team that does a lot of the Soft (LIFE) Skills programs. As a result of this, I get to travel to a number of colleges & interact with the wonderful youngsters. I would like to share a few incidents here which have touched me.

The first college that I did this program for is SJCIT in Chikkaballapura, a bustling city close to Bangalore. On the first day of introductions, there was a boy in my class who said his hobby was smoking & drinking. On the fifth day he came to me & said 'Sir, I'd like to change' & I suggested a few things to him. I went back to the college after about 3-4 months & this boy came running to me & said; 'Sir, I've quit smoking & drinking & I now have taken an interest in my studies'. This incident took me upto cloud nine :).

A couple of years later, I was back in SJCIT & it was for a different group of people. Oh boy! After the first couple of days, these wonderful people made me feel REALLY special. On the last day, they gifted me a BEAUTIFUL tie & an awesome pen set, which are one of my favourites!

Soon after, I travelled to Mysore to do a program in VVCE. These AWESOME youngsters really treated me like I was some kind of a super star! The painting that these guys gave me is nestled safely in my cupboard & is the first thing that I see when I open my cupboard :)

The most recent program was in Kumbalagodu at VKIT. These LOVELY people treated me like I was a member of a royal family...... The photo of Lord Ganesha adorns the wall & is the first thing that people see when entering the house 'I am touched' ;)

Each one of these college students has really touched me in a way that I can never forget & all the praise & all those testimonials that these guys speak on the stage really makes me wonder; 'have I really done this?'

You guys are all VERY special to me & you all would remain in my memory always......

Just a change in perspective......

You tell a small child to not play in the mud. What do you think the child will do? EXACTLY the opposite. It will play in the mud. Why, if someone tells us ‘don’t think of a dog’ what do you think comes to our mind? Definitely, a dog. Of course, for each one of us it may be a different dog. For someone it may be a Labrador, for someone a street dog & so on, but still it will be the picture of a dog nevertheless. The point is, the more we focus on what we don’t want, the more we WILL keep getting it. Now why is this important for us to remember? The more we think of ABOLISHING corruption, the more it WILL persist. Please don’t get me wrong here, I am not in favour of giving bribes or whatever. In fact, I am of the strong opinion that all the corrupt ministers & bureaucrats must have their bloody b@!!$ chopped off with a knife & made to die a slow death. To quote a good friend of mine Sri Indroneil Mukherjee, corruption is not a thing by itself. We cannot fight it. Corruption is the absence of Integrity & Honesty. All that I am saying is our approach towards a cleaner country needs a slight shift in our perception. Instead of being against corruption, let us be in favour of integrity. Let us be in favour of honesty, let us be in favour of sincerity towards our jobs. Then automatically corruption will vanish.

So I humbly appeal to Sri Anna Hazare & the entire team that are fighting against corruption, I am FULLY in favour of your noble cause. I request you to change your perspective from ‘fighting against corruption’ to ‘fighting for honesty, integrity & sincerity’ then, I am sure you will win, we will win & the nation will definitely win.

Remember, the more we fight AGAINST something, the more it WILL persist…….

A Very Different Sunday

Sunday, the 21st of November 2010 was a very different Sunday compared to most other Sundays.....

My F-I-L, Sri, Adi & myself decided to visit our school principal's farm house about 55 kms from Bangalore. On the way to the place as we were driving, right in the middle of the road was this small little puppy. It was probably not even two months old. It was scared, didn't know where to go & was hungry. Afraid that it would get run over by a vehicle, I stopped the car & rushed out to pick it up. As I was about to pick it up, it squealed & made to run away. Thankfully, I was able to pick it up. There was a dhaba there & I asked those guys "anna, neevu ee naayi mari na saakteera?" for which the man there said "saar adu naavu eshtu sala adanna olage tandu itkondru, adu aache odi hogatte. channagide adu adanna neeve saaki saar." So I decided to take it to the farm house. There it was fed milk twice & finally started to move around there as it started to get used to its new surroundings.

Feeling VERY good about having done a good deed.

More news on this coming up shortly....

The Chocolate Doesn't Lose It's Value

Recently, I had the pleasure of making the association of some of the BEST people possible. My wife & I quickly struck a chord with them as did they with us. We hit it off & are now REALLY close friends. So one day, my wife said, "I am thankful to (I'm not going to mention that asshole's name here, I'm just going to refer to him as 'asshole') that asshole for only one thing. It is because of him that we got to meet such really NICE people. But then at the same time I also feel, 'what the hell, he didn't really do anything, the universe wanted us to meet so we met.'"

It was at this time that I thought of this:

Just because, I am being offered a chocolate by a monkey, the chocolate does not really lose it's value. The chocolate continues to taste just as delicious, it continues to retain its value.

The same thing is applicable even in real life I guess. A lot of times, we may be offered a REALLY good opportunity by some one who we may not give any kind of credit to. It is important that we recognise the opportunity & not the medium through which we get it.

I SINCERELY thank the Universe for giving me such WONDERFUL people in life [:)]

So does the chocolate lose it's value?

DEFINITELY NOT!

Ignorance is Bliss!?!?

I refer to this new ad by "Woodland Shoes" where they show the shoe being placed on a rock on top of a hill & there is this beautiful eagle that swoops down on it & tries to grab it thinking it to be some kind of prey. While the message in the ad about the grip of the shoe is really good & everything looks fine, think about this. The ad is actually highly insulting to one of the greatest superheroes of nature. Read on to find out why I say that about an Eagle.

The life span of the eagle is a whopping 70 years! However, when the Eagle nears 40 years, it starts to get old. The beak bends & is no longer able to easily tear at prey. The powerful talons are no longer able to carry away prey & the feathers become too heavy for this mighty bird. At that point of time, the only thing that it can do is, slowly starve to death. But NO! This magnificent bird flies back slowly & painfully to its place of birth. There it starts to hit its beak against a rock such that the beak breaks completely! Then it waits for some time so that a new sharp beak grows back in its place. Then it bites out it talons completely & waits for new powerful ones to grow back again! After it does this it then starts to pluck out all its feathers & then waits for new strong & light ones to grow back again. Having achieved this, it gives itself a new life of 30 years!!! (BTW, this is not some fancy story that I made up, but this is true)

WOW!! Maybe there is a lesson for us humans there!

This is why I find the ad insulting to the eagle.........

Honeymoon Ahoy!!

We wanted to do something different for our honeymoon & not go to the same places that have now become dirty, crowded & polluted. So we went on a road trip to Mudumalai, Ooty, Kabini & BR Hills (K Gudi). Each place was an experience of a different kind. My MOST favourite (as was my partner's) was Kabini. Here are a few pics that I shot from our digital SLR.

I must have shot close to 650 photos atleast (thanks to digital photography, otherwise I would have gone bankrupt in getting 18 rolls of film developed & photos printed to see atleast 300 good prints :( or I would have ended up shooting only a few 70 or so photos, sigh....).

1. The Gaurs & the Sunlight filtering through were in NagarahoLe (Karnataka ROCKS seriously Jai Karnataka Maathe)
2. The Cottage was in Blue Valley, Mudumalai (very nice quiet place)
3. The "Enclosers" was in Ooty (wonder who these "enclosers" are & what it is that they are enclosing)
4. The "Hotel" was in Kharapur (no longer do you have "Kaaka Angadi" or "Kaaka Hotel" )

Route Map

If you are driving, nothing like it.

Blue Valley.

The route that we took was very good. So that I what I will write about here. From Bangalore drive towards Nanjangud & as you enter the town limits of Nanjangud, keep going towards Gundlupet. At Gundlupet, take the road to Ooty. You will pass through Bandipur on the way & please drive slow there, because you will have wild animals crossing the road. Cross Bandipur & you enter Tamil Nadu. Keep going straight & then take the road to your left at "Theppakudu". This road will take you towards Masinagudi & then Blue Valley. Again please drive VERY slow because you are certain to find, Elephants, Wild Boar, Deer & Peacock right next to the main roads.

JLR (Kabini).

Again from Bangalore, cross Nanjangud & then just about 13 Kms before Gundlupet, you will find a road going towards your right & here there is a sign as well that points to Kabini. Keep going down this road (about 85Kms). You will pass through Sargur. Keep continuing through that road. Then you will reach HD Kote Circle. Take a left there & go about 6-7 Kms you will come to a fork. Here if you take the left road you will go to the Kabini Dam. Take the right road instead & drive about 32 Kms, you will come to JLR. 

JLR K Gudi.

There are two routes from Bangalore.

1) Bangalore, Kollegal, Chamarajanagar, K Gudi (shorter)

2) Bangalore, Nanjangud, Chamarajnagar, K Gudi.

The roads are closed from 6 PM to 6 AM. If you don't get there within that time, you are in for trouble. The forest is REALLY thick. Enter the lodge area before 6 PM or leave the jungle area before 6 PM. Don't get caught in between.

Just a few things to be kept in mind. PLEASE DON'T WEAR BRIGHT COLOURS INCLUDING WHITES for the jungle. PLEASE DON'T WEAR PERFUMES OF DEOS for the jungle. Please refrain from using plastic. Enjoy