Goan Delight

It was raining very heavily when we reached Goa. We were driving from past 12 hrs !!. And this was not a good welcome scene. Everyone had a big frown on their faces. We expected goa to be sunny, blue sky, happy
and lots of suntan !!. But it turned out to be cloudy, windy, dull and heavy rains.

Well, somehow we manged to get a beach resort. Checked in and had a good sleep. since this was a off season goa was empty!!. Till now i was skeptical about the goa. But Goa was quite a revelation to me. Party starts at around 10 in the night and goes till the wee hours in the morning. Goa is very beautiful. full of greenery and lots of beaches. At night 12 we came across a drive way kind of place and there was a guy who was singing "tu hi meri shaab hai". his voice was magical and was strumming the guitar very beautifully !!. Goa is a kind of place
which never sleeps. Early morning beach football was too good. when time came to bid adieu to goa , I was feeling very bad as i was not able to spend much time there. But promised myself that i will be back as soon as possible .
Hasta la vista baby !!

I'm on cloud Nine !!!!

The organizer looked into my eyes and gave a doubtful grin. It was more of a sarcastic kind of look than confusing. This was the expression given by her when I told her my theme of skit which I would be performing and directing on our Customer Day. After convincing her, next task was getting actors!! . Only 1 week was left and no actors!!

I went to each cubicle and started asking them to act in my skit. It was quite an exciting, embarrassing and humiliating Experience. At last I was able to get some reluctant people to act for me. All of them turned up 1 hr late for the first day of rehearsal. It was very difficult to make 8 unknown people act. It went very bad!! The next day 4 guyz ditched me and again I was in look out for new people. To cut a long story short, I had hell time doing all these.On the D-day, I was quite tense about the outcome of my drama.

Well, the response was overwhelming. The praises have not yet stopped!! . I AM ON CLUD NINE!!

These are the responses from my skit mates:

From: Soumen
Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Hi skit-gurus,When first day I went to attain the skit
rehearsal I was so confused how it will come out?
Then I got together with few talented skit gurus
who made it so simple. At last we had done good job
in stage. So I am congratulating them who made it
excellent. I am specially mentioning for Satish(Director)
who wrote an awesome script for us. Further if u write
any script,please tell us we will participate without
any questions.Thanks all
in advance
Soumen
_______________________________
From: Dev, Vasu
Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Hello ppl,We indeed had a great time during the course of
practise and a much better time on stage on Saturday.
I think its time for  me also to confess.Even I had
some doubts as to how  would it come out  on the stage,
but I shld say that  when we have as talented
ppl as you all are,it had to come out pretty well.
Special mention for our director
(think there  is no need to right his name...we all know him)
,the Script that you  had made was really good which meant

half the Job was done and we had to only give the
finishing touches.
Cheers to everyone.
Thanks & Regards,
Vasudev B N

_______________________________

From: Cherumanalil Prasannan, VivekSubject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Congratulations to all my great boys for an awesome evening of high humor! Sathish , I'm grateful to get some memorable moments ...Guys
I'm still basking in the warmth of our gr8 evening , we were on cloud nine!!!!!Luv u alllll.........Cheeeeeeeers!!Vivek CP
________________________________
From: Burra, Satish Kumar Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!Hello Super Stars & Megastars......That was great show buddies, all most all every one congratulated me for that skit. Every body enjoyed it. So Satish ( Director ) any Future plans for entering into Film Industry.Above all for one thing i am very happy is I made 8 good and Talented friends .
Cheers
satish Kumar. Burra
SAP Consultant
________________________________
From: Pande, Subhash Chandra
Subject: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
I had an awesome time practicing the skit, though with initial skepticism that if its going to click or not. But later convinced myself that its for the practice and fun that we are doing this skit and eventual result was not something of importance.But it was a huge response folks, all my team members and folks of neighboring teams congratulated and said it was an awesome fun!!!!Kudos to Satish Murthy for his concept!!!Cheers, v have a long way 2 go mates!!!!!!!!!!!!Subhash Pande

The days of....

This was the mail sent to me by my good old friend Raghava.He is now settled in U.S of A .We were chatting about our school days and the gala time we use to have in our colony.

the days of hand-tennis
the days of 10-wicket cricket in the portico of your house
the days of King game in the colony streets
the days of Chacha Chaudhary,phantom, mandrake, Sabu, Diamond comics
the days of our walks to 'Nagara Kendra Granthaalaya' ( City central library )
the days of colony rounds in the evening during summer hols
the days of your stories about Jahangir uncle from Hyderabad
the days of tape recorders
the days of Colony Day celebrations
the days of I-Spy
the days of cricket in the colony grounds
the days/nights of our pseudo-Shivaraatri jaagaaran combined studies
the days of us practising Ramayana / Mahabharata quizes
the days of practising naaTakaas (skits)
the days of you narrating 'Shiva' story !
the days of playing Trade, Scotland Yard, bluff

how I wish I can re-live all those days again :((

Re-Engineering Love

I am sitting in a roof top garden restaurant with my friends.As We were talking about current affairs , Bantering each other , I notice that a couple sitting at the corner table holding each other's hands and lot of mushy mushy talks going on :).
As I walk down the dark cinema hall aisle looking for my seat, I notice heads resting on shoulders, shoulders touching.
As i walk down the road i notice couples walking with their hands entwined in each otherslost in their own world.As I move on with life , i realise that I miss being in love. hahahaha Quite a realisation after 25 years !!.
What kind of an emotion is love? Why is only this feeling called "love" is always soo much talked. Is it just the chemicals in brain , As ajay devgan explains to esha deol in yuva"love is nothing but XX , XY chromosomes". Are we just slaves to our genes.
Love is a commodity. A commodity, like, for sale? . Sale, discount, retail, designer, factory seconds, et cetera, et cetera. They sell. You buy. ( remember mia wallace and vincent?)
well movies like kuch kuch hota hai which makes love a commodity rakes in a moolah of 200 crores !!!!
re-engineering love into rational model?....uffffff

Trip to Waynad and Calicut - 2

DAY 2 : By the time we reached calicut it was 2:00 in the afternoon and everyone were famished and were Drowsy due to lack of sleep . So first we found a hotel and had our stomachs full and went to beach. The calicut beach was beautiful, clean and calm . Few guyz were playing football in the beach, We also joined in with them !! I was playing football aftermany years and had a ball of a time !! But we lost miserably to them ( 5 - 0..hahah) and i was kicked all over my legs..oucchhhh my right leg hurts even now :(. we played footballtill 5:30. I was very tired, i just went and sat on the rocks. Arabian sea was swelling with recent monsoons . Sitting there and watching the sunset and rhythmic sounds emnating due to the waves lashing the rocks brought a strange soothing effect inside me. I remembereda line from shantaram book - " There is soo much of sea inside us. our sweat, our tears taste saltylike sea !! " . Came back to hotel at 7:00 and played water polo in hotel's swimming pool !!Had a superb dinner and slept of by 9:30.

DAY 3 : By the time i got up it was already 10:00 AM and my friend's were still sleeping !! so i slept again !!. By the time we got ready and left calicut it was 2:00 in the afternoon.Our next journey was to Edakkal Caves. Edekkal caves - Two caves are located at a height of 1000 m on Ambukutty Mala near Ambalavayal.The New Stone Age Petroglyphs on the walls of these natural caves at Edakkal are evidence of the civilisation that existed in these regions in prehistorical times.We reached edakkal caves at around 5:00 and locals warned us that caves are closed at 4:00 pmitself and it is very slippery and no light inside the caves at this time and asked us notto go there. As usual these villagers words instead of deterring us from caves fuelled us towardscaves !!. after a Steep climb of around 500m we reached Ambukutty Mala. It was already gettingdark but we continued on our trek. The entrace to the cave was around 6 feet wide and 10 feet high , It was a closed by a gate . We thought of climbing the the gates and go inside but due to lack of light and the danger of getting lost or slipping into the oblivion stoppedus. so making a promise that we will be back again we started for bangalore.We were driving back to banglore and it was around 9:30 PM and we were passing through Muthanga national park , Just after a curve we saw a herd of Elephants standing by the Road !! before we could realize We went ahead of them so we took a turn and came back again !! This time a huge Tusker was standing on the road !! But seeing the light it went inside the jungle ..ufff that was close and was foolish of us to do that. Later we came across a Bison herd.By the time i reached home it was 1:00 am. It was quite Rejuvinating , With a smile on my face i went to bed :)

Trip to Waynad and Calicut

Was having a jinxed up feeling from quite few days. I wanted break from this boring monotonous job life. So started planning for a weekend outing
We made a list of many places and started eliminating them based on distance and rains (Since many places are experiencing heavy rainfalls now) and at last we zeroed in on Waynad. Nobody had much information on this place, what we came to learn later is that waynad is the second highest rainfall region after Chirapunji and Mowsyram!!!!
We started on Friday night at 11:00 and Reached Waynad, Vythri at around 5:00 in the morning. The waynad is like heaven on earth. It is 6000 feet above sea level. Waynad is a place non pareil.
Day 1: We had to park our Car in Vythri itself as our Resort is 9 kms deep inside the jungle and the only way to access it is by a 4WD jeep or by trek.
So we took a jeep till resort. The resort was like a big haunted house from Ramsay movies. There were only 5 people in the resort and all of them were Like straight out of a ghost flick!! They used to stare at us whenever we go out or come in, they never used to speak. To make the matters worse the place was full of leeches!! We had hell time plucking them out of our body. The only other thing which is known to suck blood like leeches is Vampires
And these 5 people in resort were like vampires. My friend had a feeling that they will become vampires in the night and suck our blood .haha!!
Whenever a cloud used to pass the hill (Resort was on the edge of a hill) the resort would be covered by a thick white blanket and wind used to make a Eerie whoooooooooosh kind of sound and it was soo hard that one couldn’t hear what the next person was speaking!! . My friends were already on the verge of nervous breakdown and like last nail in the coffin; my dad called me up and told that Waynad is full of king Cobras!! And asked us to be very careful while walking. The place had no power so we had to walk around the rooms with candles or torch. Had a feeling that we were back in medieval times. The villa in which we were staying had two levels; One at the ground level and other underground!! So my friend murali felt that according to movies , ghosts stay in the underground and after much argument and persuasion I and Mahesh were pushed to sleep in underground !! murali , gopi and prabhu slept above safely. We had to keep the candles burning all through the night and there were strange noises like scratching, running, crawling!! In the room and Mahesh would sit bold upright in the bed even for a slight sound. Finally morning came after a painful sleepless night. Quickly got ready did all the settlements with resort guys and ran for Vythri!! Everyone was relieved to leave the resort.
After coming to Vythri, We resumed our journey to calicut. That’s it for day one :)
Will come up lots of photos and details about day2 and 3 in next post

Hosur Road - Road to perdition !!

Daily morning as i get into my car to goto office, A sense of nihilistic feelings sets in. Just to think of Hosur road spoils the day. I am travelling in this road from just 3 months but i am already reaching a saturation point. The traffic is too heavy all throughout theday and it is always a bumber to bumper ride. The traffic management is pathetic and to make matters even worse, The roads have got narrower due to the elevated highway project which is underway. Each and every vehicle which travels on this road daily has a Dents or scratches on it but it the pedestrians and Two wheelers who are always at peril. Its too dangerous to cross road or travel on 2 wheelers on that road. I almost see an accident daily !!! this is actually driving me crazy.This week i have witnessed 2 accidents . 1 ) involving 2 software engineers who were travelling on a bikebanged into a car , they were just ahead of me. They hit the car and fell below a lorry but thankfully Lorry guy applied brakes and they narrowly missed the lorry tyres !!. But they were wriggling on road like a fish which has been taken out of water. They were totally covered in blood .I stopped my car to help them but a traffic police came and asked not to stop. Immediately within 10 mins an Ambulance arrived and took them to hospital. I was praying that nothing should happen to them , Hopefully they are still alive . 2 ) This Accident i saw yesterday , An old man around the age of 65-70 was attempting to cross the road just then a BMTC bus came and hit him. I think he died on the spot. I could see blood flowing on the road. I was greatly distressed to see this. The poor old man was just not fast enough to run across the road. All throughout the night i was not able to sleep, The images of that old man lying in a pool of blood kept on coming. By simply applying brakes, The bus driver could have saved that old man's life.I wonder where humans are heading to ? . In a mad rush for money people have left everything behind. humanity has taken a backseat and hosur road is the best example for that. Truly , HOSUR ROAD is a road to HELL !!

It hurts !!

I am back after a long time. Had been to lot of short trips in the recent times. Like madikeri, Yelagiri hills, Hindupur Etc. would tell about the trips at a later time.
A lot of emotions and thoughts are pent up inside me. Have to vent it out. I have lost a very close friend recently. lost in the sense means exactly the friendshipbut it is as good as losing the friend itself and one more friend who is very close and exclusive suddenly decides to be not soo close or semi exclusive. IT HURTS !!! It is hurting me big time .
Friend 1 : I know this person close to 10 years now.A very close friend Have spent a lot of time together in college days. We were together in the hard times , good times and Bad times. Suddenly this friend gets adventurous and starts a relation with a japanese who is elder to him and married, has 4 kids !!!. We all friends object to it as it not at all acceptable for his own good. Now he is ready to leave his parents and friends for that person. A good friendship has come to an end.
Friend 2 : Known for more than 10 years. We share a platonic relation. A friend who is very close to heart. Suddenly that person becomes cold for the reasons best known to her. I have tried talking to her but i am not getting any responses.
My life is woven around this people and the void that has been created due to them has hitme very hard. Philosophical or rational thinking is not helping me much to bridge a gap between emotion and practicality. Probably only time could reduce the void created by themin my life.

Aerial view of Vizag

I took these snaps of vizag from my mobile

Full of Myself !!

These Pics of mine were taken by my friends through my mobile. I found them quite interesting as you can see me in different moods and these snaps range from last 1 year till date.

A beautiful city called Vishakapatnam!!!

Can anyone explain to me what is that Orb over my head !!!




























2 weeks back had been to vizag to attend a friend's wedding. the vizag or vishakapatnam was a complete revelation to me !!!! wide roads , wonderful beaches, hills, buddhist complexdating back to 2nd century B.c, discos. I was completely bowled over by the cosmopolitan culture of the city. some of the places worth seeing over there are Rushikonda, kailashgiri,the beach road, submarine museum , thotla konda , sandyline restuarant and 10 downing streetdisco !!. had a complete blast over there. Also had been to Burra caves, Arakku valley anda reservoir of river gosthami( I dont remember the reservoir name).while coming back went tohyderabad to see my friend who got kidney transplanted recently.
I had an unusual experience near that reservoir. while coming back from burra caves we decidedto visit that reservoir. the reservoir is around 60 kms from vizag and by the time we reached that place it was around 6:15 and not a single person was there , it was completely isolated.it was a fantastic place . my friend jai prakash took a snap of me and srinivas. after he tookthe snap he called us and showed us the snap. there was an unusual light over my head !!!.that place was completely isolated , no boats, no humans, no source of light watsoever.these kinds of mysterious lights are called "Orbs" in photography jargon.so wat are these ORBS? a technical glitch in the camera? or something beyond our comprehension!!!