One night @Pondicherry :)

Saturday Evening. 6:30pm. Phone rings. Its Bikram.

me (picking up) - Hey Bikram!
Bikram - Hey Sug! how're u?
me - Am doin good! Wats up with ya!
Bikram - Yeah..all's well. What are you doing? What plans?
me - Nuthing great as such. I was getting ready to go for the Satsang.
(thinking) Looks like he and Roshith want to meet up for coffee/dinner.
Bikram - hmmm.. is it mandatory to go there?
me - Nah.. not mandatory. But I want to go.
Bikram - Oh..
me - Wats up?
Bikram - No nothing. Roshith and me were wondering if you'd like to join us for the evening. We are planning to drive down to Pondicherry.
me - Oh! great plan. When are we leaving?
Bikram - 7.30pm. We come back Monday Morning.
me - Cool! Lemme ask Shalini, Will call you back in 2 minutes.
Bikram - Sure! Donn make it late. We leave 7.30 pm for sure.
me - Yup!

Calling Shalini.

me - Hey! How abt Bikram, Roshith, S ohini, you and me driving down to Pondi for a day? Come back Monday morning.
Shal - Ummm....
me - Come on!
Shal - okay! :)

So we are all set.. We dumped in a few things in the bag.. and all set to go!

It was good fun! Like some school picnic, we sang songs.. played games.. talked and chilled out on the way! Reached there at some 3am.
Then in the morning.. Shalini and me went for some window shopping here and there.. sat on the rocks near the beach and talked..took leisurely walks by the sea.. took lift by some local man on his kinetic when we got lost..Visited the Aurobindo Ashram.. Went to the Chunnambar river for boating, had lavish lunch.. visited Roshith's parents..met Sohini's uncle-aunt.. bought cheap booze..Started frm there at 1am.... :)

Whoa! Thats what is called an eventful day! :D

bckgrnd - But It Rained - Parikrama
/me -

hehe.. today has been funny! on my way to the office my sandal broke..i dint particularly wanted to go back and change.. so i decided to just have some fun! :)
so i held my footwear in one hand.. and climbed the bus..got down and walked on the road.. walked uptil lift and came to the office! Shit it was hilarious - the way ppl were looking! :)

all throughout the day, i hv been moving in office without footwear.. its quite nice actually! :)

got no work in office for quite sometime now..been doing some timepass..

/me -
bckgrnd - Genesis ( Old Testament)

Day 2 at wayanad :)

Ok, So day 2 at wayanad was pretty enthralling too!

In that isolated weird place, we visit an equally deserted place called the
'the soochippara waterfalls'.. we took some bus which dropped us at some place X (I forgot its name) From there, we were supposed to walk down some huge distance to reach the waterfall place.. The roads were kinda funny with an uphill-downhill, bent-not bent kinda structure! it was slightly uncomfortable walking down those roads! But we were as usual having helluva fun - clicking pictures, talking.. looking around.. it was nice.

So, we are both goin down.. and we suddenly notice this unconstructed hut in the otherwise deserted area...So, we stopped by and asked them how far the waterfalls were.. that chap smiled at us, and told us some phone number in malayalam - and asked us to call at tht no. incase we needed help! :D. The number was - randae puujyamm muunnae onnae naalae ezhae!


We walked and walked.. and walked.. in the sun, and finally reached the place after some 1.5 hours.. Here we met one cucmber man.. and since we were running out of water, we did some bit of time pass at his place.. eating cucumbers, raw mango and pineapple :)
We had to trek down a lil to finally reach the much coveted waterfalls..
Now, I was one of those utterly unfortunate people, who hv never seen a waterfall in their whole life! So for me, even a small stream of water falling from somewhere is quite a sight! In such a situation, when I saw soochipaara (which Laina kept saying was like an ant infront of other Kerala falls) I almost fainted!!
I was so thrilled, its beyond words!! If you look at it, it is simple water falling in an uneven fashion coz its got nothing better to do! But the bloody kick tht you get sitting under one such thing is amazing!


So, we both are just sitting around.. under the waterfall..and thanking the
Lords for the serene silent place..and thats when we notice a huge gang..
and someone waving at me ridiculously! I was like - eh? who the hell is
tht??

And guess what! Tht was Rachit!!! Good lords! We studied in school together and I hadnt met him for abt an year now. Had no idea where he was and this was one phenomenally surprising place to bump into each other!! :)

I was thrilled to see him.. He'd come there with his office gang.. for team
outing..
Laina and me then decided to join their gang.. considering we werent too keen on walking back 10 kms again for the bus stop! In their gang there was some chap who was Laina's college senior..Suraj's batch.. and so it was overall not so bad!

We all went for lunch.. where we heard interesting stories abt Renjith J! Apparently, he was part of the team , but cudnt come coz he was ill.. Next on the list was this place called eddakal caves.

Man! The trek-cum-rock climbing route to Edakkal caves was no less than a road to perdition! It was very steep! And I was bloody tired! You step on from one rock to another which would be some 4 feet high! You cannot stop and gasp for breath.. coz theres no place to stand.. you cannot go down, coz people are coming behind you,, You cannot go further up coz you'd run out of all the oxygen reserves!! It was hell! really! As in, I generally dont run outta stamina.. but while we were just nearing the peak .. I almost had a black-out, and I was sure, tht if I was destined to accidental death , this will be it. :D . And the worst part was that since you can see the peak when you lift your head, you cannot step back! Theres tht motivation.. that yeah, I gotta reach there!

But, finally, we did reach the peak, after tht horrible trek of abt 2 hours!
ALl of us sat around,,and talked.. then trekking down was fun.. it took us half the time..

We had to now get back to our hotel.. coz it was getting dark..
So we say a Bye to these guys..and decide to walk down..
we walk.. walk.. walk.. but not a sign of any bus stop.. it was getting dark.. and the road dint seem to end.. Tht was the first time we got a bit scared,, and both of us looked at each other with apprehension..tht what the hell we are doin! It was dead silent, and huge trees on either side of the road was like an icing to the deadly road!

Damn! We walked and walked.. and then we saw this jeep in the middle of the road..
There were two men and two kids sitting in tht jeep.. We sure hesitated for a while.. coz they looked the slimiest of men, Ever! But we dint hv an option.. and asked them where was the bus stop and more importantly, if we wud get a bus from there to sultan bathery.
They looked at us, and said, they cud drop us at the kalpetta-sultan bathery junction, considering they were going in the same direction..
Laina and me looked at each other.. I was very very skeptical.. and was about to say "No thanks".. When I saw Laina, getting into the jeep..
Hehe! Tht kinda rocked!! You know sometimes, in life you are looking for tht unsaid affirmation.. and its nice when you get it.. :)

So this chap dropped us half way and refused to take any money from us. He just insisted, tht we should tk care and get back safe..
From there some kind lady told us how to get a bus to kalpetta..the bus conductor was another dude! He looked like some university professor.. with a crisp check shirt.. neatly tucked in.. and wearing glasses.. and talking in full english accent! He really looked like the kinds who'd just tell you to take out ur books and start taking notes! :D

We got back to the hotel safely.. and our bus was at midnight.. The hotel man sent the security with us, to make sure we boarded safely.. The bus was 45 min late.. and tht security chap(an old man) stood there with us all throughout..

Overall, the experience was nice.. just very nice.
It does get unbelievable at times, when you look at all the niceness of the people.. But I have always believed, tht you get what you give. And there is always a certain amount of trust tht one should and one must imbibe in the other person.. theres no point living in a cocoon.. If you're wrong in yer judgement of the person, it'll hit you back - thts 4 sure. But then it'll only make you strong..Its not wrong..
Its always good to learn the hard way.. :)

*sigh* I promise not to write such a long post again!! :)

Pictures for 2nd day - Here :)

Day 1 at wayanad :)

Although I dont think I will be able to justify the ammmmazzzzing time I had with Laina in Wayanad in words.. I will still give it a shot! :D

SO we start from here on Friday night..and reach Kalpetta at 4:30 in the morning. It was still dark. The bus dropped us at some place where seemimgly drunken men were joblessly sitting all around..and the silence was kinda terrifying! we cud see a tea-shop in a distance..
We jumped out of the bus and I took a deep breath in the Wayanad air..something tht I had wanted for so long! :D

I turned around.. and we both smiled. Yes, we finally are here!

We called up the Hotel ppl( We had done prior booking in woodlands Hotel) and asked them where they were located. They gave us directions.. and after a 5min walk we could spot a watchman standing in the middle of the road. He stared at us and we stared back.
I uttered - "Umm.. Woodland Hotel?"
He nodded and started walking..We followed him. We soon saw a huge brightly lit board of the hotel.
He lead us in.
A sleepy but seemimgly nice chap welcomed us at the counter. He wore a blazer which probably would hv fitted his grandfather before dieting. He gave us the keys and we went to the room, watched the TV for sometime.. and then slept off..
There was nothing creepy abt this place and we felt pretty safe. Frankly, this hotel was perhaps one of the best things tht happened to us in the whole trip.

It was good fun overall! Met lots of interesting people.. travelled in local buses.. ate at random
places.. Knew wht it is like, to have a life where you can choose what to do..where to go..*sigh*

Met different kinda people..
1. the woman in the Hotel lobby whom we stopped for clicking a pic for us..

woman - ningal college students aano?
we - nah.. we are working in bangalore.. woman - oooh!!

hehe.. her look of bewilderment and how she looked at us from top to bottom..althought i dint really hv any age complex till now..it sure feels good when someone thinks you look way too young! :D

2. the hotel man..sudhir.. who kept contradicting himself everytime we would ask him for directions..
i think he realised it too... and decided to draw a map for us instead.. which was unequivocally
incorrect!
hehe.. he thought we were some high society russian women! he told us where to get the bus for meppadi.. and as we turned around, he prompted us..

he - umm,, well.. i'd like to tell you, tht everything will be written in malayalam. So...
and then he looked upset..
laina(smirking back) - yeah rrright!! eniku nalla pole ariya!! :)) he - ohh...

3. The woman on the bus stand who smiled excessively.. or tht pan shop guy who struggled to keep his eyes off his feet..or the bakery shop dude whose geography teacher would certainly kiss him for his knowledge!

after asking all over around.. we somehow took some bus and reached meppadi..

4. the hotel guy at meppadi.. who gasped in amazement when he learnt tht it was just the two of us who were going to trek to chembra peak..

man - randu kutti-gallo?
we - yo! :)
man - ayyo!! entha ingane pone!?? this was in such a sympathetic and concerned voice tht i almost thought i shed a tear at his concern..:D

he was nice.. he called a man and asked him to get the 'trusted auto man'..

man - nammal ariyane auto karane vilikyane!
and then he turned to us and said - tirichu varumbol evidanu bakshanam kazhikyane..!! (hv lunch with us when u come back from the trek)

the auto man arrived in a while.. he looked soooo paavam.. looked like someone had just slapped him :D. the hotel man told him to take us to the forest office and get the permission for trekking and then drop us 8 kms to the place where the trek began..and take not more than 60 bucks,.. he nodded obediently.

5. the paavam auto man who took us to the forest office.. but no one was there.. he dint give up, and took us to the quarters of the officers to make sure we got the permission... we were pretty chill all this while.. and clicking pictures everywhere!
finally one lady comes out of the house.. and gave us forms etc to fill.. she was sweet.. and was
amazed to see tht we were not hiring any guide to take us up the trek...:) she told us to taek care and be safe..

the auto man then took us some 8kms from there.. this was helluva isolated hilly road..peripherised by beautiful tea estates... not a soul to be seen anywhere,, we were enthusiastically clicking pictures everywhere.. adn stopping the auto man every 5min to click pics!! :)

6. we reach teh base of the peak.. and see some 4-5 absolutely sidee men standing there.. who were obviosuly staring slyly!! *phew*.. as Laina's explanation goes.. *they looked bored of their lives and were staring for some change* rofl!! :)
so we get out of the auto.. and one man jumps and makes himself available for any conversation..
we asked him where the trek began from..

man - yeah.. its right there.. towards the left.my name is zuber..and yeah..how are you plannin to go back these 8kms after the trekking.
we said we dont know.. and tht was not our concern at tht pointa time..
man (getting upset) - By the way do you hv network?
i took out my cell.. yeah.. there was no network..
man - hmm.. theres a local phone there..(he pointed to his right).. and this is my phone no. i hv BSNL connexion..you gurls should be back by around 5pm.. i will get an auto for you from meppadi.. but in case you dont see me here.. call me at this no.

we were zapped!! really!

we - thanks.. thanks a lot..
man - do you hv enuf water?
we(examining the bottle) - yeah.. almost half a bottle..
man - what!!! no..this wudnt do! saying this, he snatched the bottle from ma hand,,and leaped across to fill it up..

we started the trek..it was sooooper nice! we trekked trekked.. found our own path..cleared the grass roots to make our ways..when we got tired, we wud stop by.. sit around on the rocks.. and sing songs.. generally talk abt stuff..we were carrying newspapers.. and we had tie up a sheet like a ribbon on the branches of shrubs, at every crossroads.. so tht we find our way back..

Quite brilliantly, Laina and me gelled in pretty well.. she is the sweetest thing.. really! :)
we reached the top in some 2-3 hours.. and yeah..we were dead tired.. but the moment we saw the view from the top.. i dont think i wanted to think abt the fatigue anymore!
we clicked lots of pictures.. and then just lied down on our backs.. and closed our eyes..
there was nothing but just the sound of the wind..it was almost afternoon.. but the breeze was cool.. and caressed our faces.. i smiled.. it was such a beautiful feeling...
you know, silence is something tht has never failed me to amaze me.. so many thngs fall in place, only if we'd shut up and just BE.

we lied there for dunno how much time.. the feeling was just too much to give up..we trekked back..and tht dint take as much time.. ma shoes kept slipping at every steep edge.. and Laina kept making fun o' me.. njaan paavam :( .. she'd click me everytime i'd fall!! :D

we came back..and met soem helpul gardener while looking for Zuber.. this gardener gave us some water to generally wash our faces and freshen up. he kept talking abt bangalore.. and was pretty upset coz we trekked alone.. and we were like - aiyye! wats the big deal!! :P

Zuber appeared in sometime.. and called for an auto..
on the way back... Zuber bhai.. the auto man and we two..got into interesting conversations.. in
general abt kerala.. wayanad.. and somethings here and there..
Zuber bhai had to stop by at his place and change..he invited us for tea/coffee at his house.. but we preferred otherwise.. :)
we tried clicking pictures with his kids.. but they ran away shyly..:D
even the auto man had to stop by at his place on the way.. and pick some stuff.. i was pleased to see tht he lived in 'such' a big house..

so after having all the breaks.. we reach back to meppadi.. where the hotel man greeted us.. and we had a nice lunch with kerala parotha and some coconut veg curry and fish curry respectively..

we called it a day and went back to the hotel..coz it was getting darker..watched tv.. talked till 2 in the night.. and then slept off! :)

*sigh* tht was day no. 1.. putting some pics here..

let me take a break.. will write abt day 2 in the next post :)

going for the AOL Silver Jubilee Celebration from tomorrow onwards!!
i am very very very happy!! :) :)

bckgrnd - "Kid Rock - Only God knows why"
/me -

Going to Wayanad! :)

Ok! So finally ma dream of visiting Wayanad (Kerala) has come true!
Am leaving today alongwith Laina! Its gonna be one helluva adventure - the best part being tht I hv never met or seen Laina.. I just know her through orkut!! Yeah I know it sounds ridiculous.. but its fun..aint it ? :)
We plan to go trekking up till Chembra peak.. then visit the Pookot lake.. Muthunga Wildlife sanctuary.. soochippara waterfalls and edakkal caves..

We seem to hv made all arrangements.. but still theres a lil anxiety..
particularly, when yesterday Shalini psyched me with all sorts of hypothetical situations!!
What if this happens.. what if tht happens.. :)

hmm.. but I 'll be lying if I say tht I am not excited abt it still!! Whatever has to happen will anyhow find its way..

Lets see how it turns out! Will update on Monday! :)

bckgrnd - 'You're my religion - Firehouse'
/me -

just a matter of time?

I have always believed tht if God closes one avenue.. he creates several others..

While at school.. I was always competing with Anadi for 1st Rank.. but somehow I always used to miss it by 2-3 marks, and end up coming 2nd...I still clearly remember how stymied I used to feel, when during the award function Anadi used to stand before me in the queue for prize winners..But at the same time, I thought tht may be God has some reason to make me feel this way.. May be he wants me to work harder..And I dint give up..
At the risk of sounding conceited, I was elated when in class 12th Boards, I secured a state rank in CBSE... and I remember, my only concern was tht I had defeated Anadi - finally!

When I went to BITS, the IIT disaster kept ringing in my head.. and I wasnt sure if I had made the best of my decisions to join BITS..But still I was sure tht whatever is happening is certainly
happening for good.. and there is a reason for my being here..
And I certainly do not, in any way regret my degree at BITS now!!

There were lots of incidents in college too.. when I had literally thought tht this is the end of life.. hehe.. I remember what a huge crush I had on Vinod.. and when he dint respond.. I felt like I was ruined! But nah.. I had hope.. tht this is not wht is meant to happen..
And now Vinod is perhaps teh best of my friends.. and whom I adore more than anyone! ANd honestly, I think I like it this way better :)

Time passed.. and I ended up in IBM..
Man! I remember how I was sitting in Institute Cafeteria the day the results were announced and cursing my fate as to why I got IBM, when I had actually wanted Texas Instruments! I was scribbling in ma diary.. and the only thing I wrote was - 'Everything happens for good'..
And yeah.. it was indeed! I ended up in one of the best Microelectronics team here at IBM..with just exactly the kinda work I wanted..and with a manager who is one gem of a person!

Days went by...and I now gave my MBA exams..
Even with a good score in CAT and XAT.. I dint get any calls,..
I have just missed it..I just did... :(
An year's hard work just went unnoticed..
Frankly, in the end its not abt the score..Its all about being on this side of the fence or tht side of it..

Its a ravage. It really is!! Atleast looks like it.
But something within tells me tht this is not the end.. and there is something good in it too.. though I cant figure out what...

O God, where are the other avenues?? Exactly where are they!!! :(

I am beginning to wonder whether its just a matter of time tht we adjust to whatever has happened? or is it tht everything indeed happens for good!?

bckgrnd - 'boulevard of broken dreams - green day'
/me -

Addictions :)

Someone said - "Eat, Sleep and Be Merry!" Whoa! A lil more emphasis on the first idea, and it should hv been "Eat, Drink and Be Merry"!!

duh! x-(

Now for the flash news!

I hv given up tea, coffee, softdrinks and egg.

Its a 30-day test, alright, and began from 20th Jan. I am not going to touch either of them..
I hv been so god damn addicted to coffee and tea tht I used to consume atleast 10 cups of coffee and 8 cups of tea during a day.. and most of it.. coz I needed a break from my work! I want to abstain myself from it for sometime.. and reach a point wherein I can say a NO to it..

Plus.. Its all Tamsik food.. and I hv decided I can do without it. :)

I am doomed!! Its bloody difficult to abstain yourself from addictions.. but once u do it.. its for the good.. I hv been reminded of this fact a couple of times in various ways.. but I never seem to take my lesson..
Everyone has been making fun of this - right from my Mom..to Shalini.. to Pritish.. to Suraj.. to Ayana ...even the housekeeping boy in office!!

Lets see how far I go !! :)

bckgrnd - 'Halka Halka sa ye nasha! - Chocolate'
/me -