Travel « Ramblings of an Eccentric Soul…

Day 2 – Germany – highlight I got lost!!

July 30, 2006 by RR 4 Comments

I had mentioned about the excellent German public transportation system. How it is all punctual. Well, couple that with a few others – No idea of German, and not having any clue as to what time is the last bus to your place plus the fact that Germany shuts down itself by 7 or around that, you have a recipe for getting lost. !

It was my second day here – the day after I reached. The second day in Erlangen and Germany, I reached back from office to Erlangen Bahnhof. Once we alighted, me and Harsha decided to go to Kaufland – a shopping supermarket. After our purchases there, we decided to grab a beer and a sandwich at a cafe by the road. We were done by around ten minutes to 8:00pm. We bid our goodbyes and I walked back to Hugenottenplatz, where I was supposed to catch my bus. I went and checked the time to realise, much to my horror that the last bus left at 7:01pm. I immediately checked other places to check up on other buses that go in that direction and would drop me closest to Doris Ruppenstein Strasse. I found that #285 would get me to a place, from where I could walk back to my apartment. I got into the bus, happy that I managed to come outta the situation unharmed and mentally patting my back. I settled down comfortably in my seat. Then I realised that the bus was going towards Harsha’s place, which is in the opposite direction of where my house is. I comforted myself, and my 6th sense, which started sending signals that I may have a long wait. It was confirmed when I saw Harsha getting into the bus at the next stop. !!

“What are you doing here?”, he asked me. “I am making potted plants dumb nut,” came my mental reply. I told him that I was trying to get home. He confirmed that I was going the wrong direction. I asked him if it’s ok to wait for sometime in the same bus. He told me that the wait would be about 40 minutes and he CANNOT confirm, if it will finally reach the place. I decided, and he urged me to get down at the next stop and walk back to Bahnhof and look for another bus, going in the opposite direction. So, I got down at ze next stop and walked back to Bahnhof. By this time, my mind was sending signals haywire, and panic was slowly setting in, especially when I saw the time that it was 8:27pm. I went back to Bahnhof and decided to get some help as to whither I was supposed to go…

I walked to a group of 3 old men, half drunk with alcohol [with a guy holding a bottle in his hand] and the other half drunk on enthusiasm. I ventured to tell them that I was lost and I had to get to Doris Ruppenstein Strasse. I knew it may only have half registered with them, as they suddenly spat a spurt of Deutsch strictly amongst themselves. Then one of them repeated the street name to me, with a questioning tone? I replied with one of the few German words in my lingo, “Ja”. He nodded and gave me a smile through unmanaged teeth, which gave me a ray of hope. He took me outside the Bahnhof and told me something, Swei Aitte Zeeven, which I couldn’t follow at that time. Luckily a guy, standing on a bicycle told me, “Two Eight Seven”! I figured as much that it must be the bus to take. I should have just taken the damn bus and gotten outta there, but then I had to make sure that they realised what I was talking about. So, I told them – Siemens Med. This is a bus stop in itself and also a big landmark as far as Erlangen is concerned. This guy gave me a reply – Ja.

Now, the English speaking guy decided to help me out and asked me where I wanted to go. I was only too relieved that he could at least speak English. I decided to jabber out fast – Doris Ruppenstein Strasse 10, Med Apart, very close to the Siemens Med building. !

Now, that thoroughly confused and he took me to the taxi stand, and they exchanged a spatter in German as well.

NOTE TO WARING WANDERERS: TAXI GUYS DO NOT APPRECIATE BEING ASKED THE DIRECTIONS FOR A PLACE IF YOU DO NOT INTEND TO USE THEIR SERVICE OF TAXIING TO THE PLACE!

He was least interested in telling me where it was. I checked the time and decided enough is enough, It’s time for me to go home and bake in the oven [Oh, that's the name I have given to my apartment]. So, I told myself, screw the money, let’s just get on to a taxi and be done with it. ! With that, I told him, “yeah I need the directions and please get me there”. He gave me a smile and yes, I got back home. !!

So, rules: If you are using the bus services in Germany, make sure you are well aware of the places. Coz, I paid 8Euros, when I realised that i could have just walked to my house. It’s hardly 2-3 kms !

On a side note, check this blog out – Konfused Khopadi. It’s one of my closest buddies, who’s rekindling some fire ! He was here @ sidzofrenia. Now having moved to wordpress, much to my urging, he’s restarting his own blog. Pay him a visit to urge him on…

Filed under Babble me more, I read here..., Life, Life in Deutschland, Ramblings, Travel

Life in Deutschland

July 30, 2006 by RR 13 Comments

Finally, I got my hands of Harsha’s Dell Latitude D810 and also managed to get connected to the internet from the hotel! Consequently, I can manage to write that blog entry of mine, which has been on the pipeline for quite some days. I will also try to finish off a story that started immediately after I reached here. !

First of all, some important points to start off with…

-> A laptop is simply the best machine to write your blog on. Simply super, the way your hands just move around the super soft tiny keyboard. Kinda answers my question as to why the authors would go in for a laptop that is light, small and doesn’t have a super cool [or hot] machine with sizzling graphics subsystems and inhumane amount of main memory!
-> Internet in Germany is blazing fast. In office, the net gives me about 200-400MBps. Yeah, you heard that right. Consequently, I am piling up setups in my harddisk! Yes, the crack sites are blocked. But then, @ home, i wouldn’t have a websense equivalent, and cracks are never too big to download!
-> I _have_ decided, even at the cost of dying hungry, I am gonna get that laptop of mine by the end of this week! And also at the cost of getting myself kicked outta my new apartment, which I will be shifting to by Tuesday anyway !
-> 15.4″ in the laptop is more than enough. I am using a 15.4″ inch display right now, although running @ 1680*1050 resolution. But my laptop will most probably running it only @ 1280*800 resolution, which mite be tolerable, once I am used to it !!

Ok, now back to the topic at hand – Life in Deutschland! A briefer has been provided in my previous post. A lotta changes from India, and Bangalore. Well that must have sounded more like the obvious statement. Lemme elaborate.

Bangalore – lotsa people, close and not. Always there’s an ear to which I can go yap yap, which might be recieved or not. I used to look forward to the nots, and then try and make discussion from that. It also helped that there were darlings in Bangalore. Life was easy in office. And at the end of it, altho I was coming back to a 2BHK shared by 4 people, there was always someone around to see me at home. If nothing, free calls to pals inside Karnataka, thanks to Hutch [altho I have a rant prepared in the drafts], else a call to people even outside the state was always there. Not to mention, calls galore from all the people that care for me. Blog posts, when I get bored. Or just call up the tons of people important to me, and life’s back in its full splendor.

Germany is a LOT different. Especially the town/city I am living in, Erlangen is a lot different from Bangalore. It’s a University town. The whole town would probably be the size of Koramangala, well slightly bigger and has one-sixth the population of Koramangala spread out in it. It’s got about a lakh of people. 60% comprise of Siemens employees, 30% of University students, and the remaining 10% form the local population of Erlangen. It’s specially famous for its University and its biology/medical related courses. It’s the home of Spiral CT technology. For the uninitiated, that’s _THE_ ultimate thing that revolutionized the Computed Tomography market. It enabled volumes to be generated easily while scanning the body with X-Ray!

Consequently, it’s got a fair amount of people who are walking around and cycling during the summers for a town of its size. I will be writing a detailed post on Erlangen next. Will detail more on that.

The first thing you notice as soon as you land in Germany are the people or the lack of them. Compared to India, this place is almost desolate. The next thing you notice is how typically European it is. It’s got the typical European architecture with its set of row houses and greenery all around amidst a few hi-rise buildings and apartment complexes.

The other thing that I was shocked inspite of knowing was the WARM welcome. Germany is WARM, HOT even compared to Bangalore. I reached to experience the Hi 30s temperature. It was a shock to experience the Trivandrum like heat after being te cool, comfortable, pleasant Bangalore weather for a year. From the low-mid 20s to the hi30s, my body did take some time, well it is STILL not completely adapted to the dry heat.

I reached Med Apart, a service apartment very close to the Siemens MED SW building, which is headquarters of Siemens Medical Solutions. The house where one of the most popular medical platform was conceived. The service apartment was a disappointment, a single room accomodation. Neat and cute, but still small, even compared to my measly quarters @ Taverekere in Bangalore. Harsha had come to pick me up from Nuremburg, which has one of the cutest airports I have seen in my life btw. I took a taxi – a Merc E class, with an orange haired lady driver. I had read long ago that you are supposed to tip anyone and every1 providing a service here, whether it be a taxi driver or a waitress at any of the cafes. Believe me, it’s TRUE !

Experience @ Med Apart: The ruddy bloody heat - The place I am staying
It took me quite some time to get used to the heat here, at the cost of being redundant. It took me a weeks time to figure out how to work out the shutters in the apartment and until then, I was sweating the nights away coz I just couldn’t go to sleep easily. Believe me, I can go to sleep anywhere and that helped, but still it was TOUGH to go to sleep and I didn’t like it one bit. As I type this, the temperature is much more comfortable, thanks to some clouds and some itsy bitsy rain. It’s almost like Bangalore for that matter… My feet are getting slightly cold sitting so close to the shutter, which acts as my window and the entrace to the balcony…

The other things I took some time to figure out to operate were
-> The Microwave machine, with a twisting knob… Was kinda hard
-> The pressure cooker that Navin gifted me [very very sweet of him btw]. Took me some time to realise that I really shouldn’t use it as a bartan to cook Top Ramen in it ! And then anyway, I realised the place was decked with enough crockery anyway. So, decided to use that. The major test of my culinary skills would be from Wednesday, when I would have shifted into the new apartment and will cook rice in the pressure cooker, probably for the first time! I had a rice cooker, and then a cook to help me out with the rice. And there was always Ro..

NOTE TO PEOPLE COMING TO GERMANY: Please DON’T carry a pressure cooker with you thinking that it’s not available here, as I was made to believe. It’s available allrite! I checked and cross-checked with my own very lens laden eyes. It’s available in one of the marts in Erlangen. !!

The German Public Transportation System: Getting to office
Before coming to Germany, again I was made to believe that Germany owns and is proud of one of the best public transportation systems in the world. [Apparently, it's common in European Union as well]. Well, good to say that it is TRUE! I was amazed at the spinning weaving system. It essentially comprises of 2 systems, from what I have seen, but I was told it’s actually 3 separate systems. The 2 that I have experienced are the Bus Services [including Tram services in bigger cities], and the Train services [Deutsche Bahn]. The third one present in bigger cities, like Nuremburg are the Metro Services.

P.S. It’s raining like crazy and to a person sick of the summer here already, it’s a god given gift. The temperature’s dropped suddenly and my feet are really cold now. I have put some coffee to brew in the percolator [Yeah I managed to work that one very fast and well as well]. Cream and sugar [Zucker in German] is what I pick extra from the coffee shops !!

However, there were shocks even in ze transportation system. This place closes DOWN, and i mean SHUTS DOWN completely by around 7,8. There are buses, but NOT all the routes after 7 or half past 7. That’s for another post. The train services continue tho, till what time I do not know. [NOTE TO SELF: Find that out.. You don't wanna get lost/stuck again]

And yeah they are punctual, in all probability to the minute. The usual bus that I take from where I stay – Doris Ruppenstein Strasse[Strasse = Street] to BahnhofPlatz [Bahnhof is German for Railway Station], reaches Doris Ruppenstein Strasse Bus Stop [Bushaltestelle] at 7:21am. I take it after getting a bite to take away from the Wiehgartner’s Backerie [Bakery] and board it exactly at 21 minutes past 0700 hours. It reaches the Bahnhofplatz and I am supposed to board the train, an RE [Regional Express] to Forccheim [that's the place where I work]. That trip takes about 13 minutes. I catch the bus from Forccheim Bahnhofplatz to And Der Lande Siemens [Industry Land Siemens] at 26 minutes past 8. I reach office about 12 minutes from there, taking a circuitous route. I hope to save some time from all this, once I get my bicycle, as all these buses take quite a circuitous route! With a bicycle, which is used aplenty here, you can just ZIP through the most part. !

The various classification of trains in DB:
Harsha had enlightened me on this – there are 4 classifications of trains in the German Railway System – the RB, RE, IC, and ICE. namely standing for Regional Bahn, Regional Express, Inter City, Inter City Express. Relating it to India, RBs are a lot and are equivalent of the passenger trains. They stop at every station possible. The REs stop only in major towns and stations. The ICs stop only in major cities, and the ICE stop only in the huge major cities and travel across the European Union!!

And in terms of speed as well, they are in ascending order. Personally tho, I call the RB, the SCREECHER. When it applies its brakes, it emits an unearthly sound, the kind made by the Nazguls in LOTR. ! Another experience, which I hope to capture is one of these hi-speed trains passing by you in the station, or more preferably, open terrain, where in you’d be able to appreciate the speed at which they travel. These include the IC, ICEs and some of the goods trains!!

Btw, you don’t have to pay everytime you enter a bus/train, especially if you use it as your mode of commutation. There’s something called the Mobicard, which you can get b/w 2 cities, having many classifications – in my case – before 9am, from Erlangen to Forccheim, including bus services for a month. That would cost you about 99.90euros [100 quid]. With this you have unlimited travel power, in the city of Erlangen in the buses, any train [RB/RE and NO IC/ICE] from Erlangen to Forccheim, and any bus commutation within Forccheim.

And they keep coming up with various offers to even travel various parts of the European Union. !!

Food: How does this vegetarian survive there?
Yeah, I was given many scary stories before leaving that Germany is the land of non-vegetarians. Even the non-vegetarians claimed that they had bad food there. It’s too bland, and blah! I dunno about the non-vegetarian food, but the food at the Siemens canteen, in Forccheim, speaks of decent continentatl cuisine, and at times, some excellent Italian cuisine as well.

Breakfast: I usually grab a chocolate croissant [Shochkolade Croissant] and a cuppa coffee for breakfast. Somedays, I go for the chocolate, or the blueberry muffin as well. Once, I have shifted to my apartment, I am gonna get to some cereal and cold milk, couple it maybe with some eggs and orange juice as well! Plans, yes, if I have the time and the patience to prepare. I tried the cereal and milk part. I had it for one night and the next day morning breakfast as well. However, the milk curdled that night and since then, well the cereal box is lying like that and the curdled milk carton has long since been dumped !

Lunch: Lunch is as of now at the Siemens Canteen. As I have already mentioned, the food is decent. I ave an option between the vegetarian [Vegetarisch] section, which usually has

Some boiled vegetables – usually corn, peas, carrots
Some potato dish
Some cheesy dish – usually lasagna, pasta with sauce, and some days cheesy potatoes. This is usually considered the main dish
A boiled mix with some form of sauce of vegetables again
Some days – Stuffed Capsicum, Potato/Veggie patties, Rice of some sort
A sauce – Usually tomato based or white sauce

I am planning to pack lunch if I can prepare some extra dinner. Would be nice to cut down on all the cheesy fat that I can spare

There’s also a salad counter, comprising of cold cuts and some veggies – the usual, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a choice of dressing – French and Italian

Dinner: I usually try and skip this part, owing to the extra calories that are going in during lunch. However, eventually I end up with a Subway Veggie Delite Salad. !! I tried cooking one day and the Top Ramen packet that I took also gave me company for 3 days. Else, I usually have a sandwich or a salad. Plans are to cook in full form tho, especially since I have to pass some time now!

As far as the groceries and other needs go, there are some 3-4 supermarkets in Erlangen! There are the Norma and the Aldi series of supermarkets, which you can generally find near you, from where you can buy the provisions, the fruits etc. There is also this supermarket near the Bahnhof, which I oft visit with Harsha, called Kaufland. I have also heard that the rice there is good. Will have to check that out next week.

Miscellaneous:
As far as the minutae in Erlangen is concerned, the chief concern for me is spending time. Shops, which are Goverment regulated, come to a close by 7! Latest by 8. The restaurants and some backeries are open for longer times, but then, there’s not enough transportation for me to check them out yet.

There are 4 Indian restaurants in Erlangen, including a Punjabi Dhaba sorta thingy, which also specialises in the Italian cuisine btw. Loads of Pizzerias, and bakeries are present here.

The coffee is bitter and requires quite an amount of cream and sugar to make it Indianish, but I am slowly beginning to appreciate hardcore, black percolated coffee. It’s costly !

I am making a bit of money collecting recyclable coffee cups in office, which other people drink and now have made it a habit to just dump it my place! I get 5cents per mug. I have about 25 now. Have to recycle them on Monday!

Another interesting thing that I learnt about the German education system is that, people generally complete their education, usually ending up with AT LEAST a Masters, most of them Doctorates, by the end of 28. If they don’t go to the University, they are usually working as an apprentice for some trade by the age of 16.

The beer mugs in the beer garden are HUGE. I realised that when I went for the Anna Fest, which is something like a Summer Fest. The summer fest is held in every office/town/city/state. It’s the time the Germans really do go out and party ! The beer mugs can hold a liter of beer each, and Germans can easily chug down an easy 3-4. !

There are vegetarians amongst the Germans as well. [Shocking].

Candy, especially gummy bears and all, contain gelatin, which could contain animal bones. So beware vegetarians, before you delve into eating some of these.

I am uploading the pics to Flickr! I shall of course, write another article about Erlangen, which should also hopefully be up by Monday. And maybe one on the Anna Fest and the Beer Gardens. But for now, I have to go and watch LOTR – The Two Towers !! Will update more, and maybe modify/add to the same once I get hold of some more details, but my brain is slowing down and my hands have started to ache typing so much.

Filed under Life, Life in Deutschland, News, Opines of mine, Ramblings, Travel

Ohm Beach

May 16, 2006 by RR 11 Comments

The Ohm beach is part of the beach area of the western coast of India. It’s named so [at least according to me] because of the shape of the Sanskrit Ohm. I had been there over the last weekend inspite of some trouble with my darling of a tummy. According to the doctor, I had food infection thanks to the watermelon and vanilla ice-cream combo that I had at a resort. [It was a treat by my team-mates]. Anyhoo, since D-small really wanted me to go there, I decided to! END RESULT: Thank God, I visited that place.

Ohm beach is one of those places, which really hasn’t been explored. Either that or I went in off season. It wasn’t as commercialized as the beaches in Goa or Kerala! It was as if only a few people had ever discovered this place. Anyhoo, we had taken this awesome sleeper bus [altho we weren't allocated sleeping berths] by Vijayanand Road Lines, apparently a very famous travel service in the North of Karnataka, and one of the most prosperous in India. It apparently has well over three thousand buses in its fleet. The bus was absolutely comfortable. Sleep was no problem whatsoever.

The bus was to take us to Karwar. However, we disembarked in a place called Ankola, which is in direction, further from Gokarna, where Ohm beach is situated. After getting down at Ankola, we boarded a local bus that took us from Ankola to Gokarna bus stand. The trip was nothing great. The only thing to notice are the salt fields as you reach towards Gokarna.

The river Sharavati [if I remember rite], that is en route from Ankola to Gokarna

Gokarna bus stand is one of those typical small town bus stands. There was a single restaurant. There was a general store, from where I bought my 3rd tooth brush, tooth paste and a soap over the past month. [Note to self: Next time you go on a trip, better take one of the 3 tooth brushes with you. Better yet, put one in your bag today] We brushed our teeth there. Then we waited until D-small arrived from Honnaver. The bus stand also gave us a brief look into the small town happenings. People there were dressed weird.

Ladies were dressed in a single saree that was worn in a really weird way. One guy – noted by A was wearing only a shirt. According to A, he wore only a konan, which is a very rudimentary form of underwear! None of us decided to further pursue the clothing form. We had breakfast from the lone restaurant. A suggestion – try out the bun there. It’s a sweet form of poori that is a Kannadiga specialty. It tastes really nice, especially if you have just undergone a tiring bus journey.

The Gokarna bus stand [me and Arjun were playing catch with stones]

According to the locals, with whom M conversed in Kannada, it was 3 kms trek through the Western Ghats. However, if you take the road, it’s about 7-8 kms . Anyway, we decided to take the road as people really did not feel like walking thanks to the amount of luggage they were carrying. Anyway, the autos cost us INR 100.00 till the top of the cliff, from where you have to walk it up to the beach. The road is pretty much stark through until you get the first glimpse of the sea. The view is so captivating that you just keep quiet for sometime. That’s when you realise that you _have_ to capture it in celluloid and make poking gestures at the auto driver to stop the auto and rush out to take the snaps.

Suggestion: Drive it up to Ohm beach. The view is breathtaking and it’s an awesome road to travel, esp on your bikes. Beware in the night, there are no street lights. Go with complete protection, as there is practically NO speed limit!

The auto left us at the end of the trail in the Ghats – basically a cliff overlooking the sea, from where you have steps leading you down to the beach. For the first time, we got a glimpse of the Ohm beach. It was also evident as to how it was named, and rightly so. It was a sight to see!

Check out the first pic – the Ohm is pretty evident. There are rock structures all around the place that really add to the pristine ruggedness of the place! From here, we moved on to the beach below to try and find a guesthouse nearby. There was a beautiful cottage resort on the way, all laden with a swimming pool. However, the auto driver warned us that it would cost us about 4.5grand a day for that place and asked us to check at the beach itself for a house that would cost us about INR 100.00 a day. Immediately we started out on the prowl of this place. There is a path very close to the end of Ghat that takes you into a beach resort. It’s a very calm and quiet place and really is worth the money you pay there!

You have rooms ranging right from INR 100.00 to INR 350.00. And beleive me, they are a treat.

The cottages are really nice. The room 103 [having an open bathroom, which is really cool btw] cost us INR 250.00. And the bamboo house [spelt bambu house] cost us INR 300.00 for a day. Personally I think it was the deal of the century. The food in this place is also pretty good. You have all the various cuisines. A lotta foreigners are your co-renters of the place.

From there on, we moved on to the beach. I didn’t get into the beach owing to my contact lens. Was busy taking snaps. But, as I was told, the beach was very clean and nice. The water was just right. Not too cold, not too warm. Personally, I hate salt water [yet another reason as to why I didn't get into the beach]. But the rest of the gang really enjoyed the beach. I was busy walking around the place, trying to figure what we could do there after these guys were done with their “beaching” – Arjun there’s another word

Meanwhile, clicked some snaps of the beachside.

The beach indeed is beautiful. There is a cliff right beside the beach as well. Mentally I had made a note to trek it through the evening. Anyway, after about 3-4 hours of beaching, these guys decided to head back into the cottage and clean up for lunch. Lunch comprised of a variety of sizzlers and desi food by the beachside. It was a beautiful view. [Note to self: Put up the lunch snap]

Lunch was over by about half past four. We proceeded to the cliff trek from there. It was a nice place. The trek was through some jagged rocks – completely harmless and a beautiful sight to see.

The cliff is in the background

The trek was really nice.

We finally found a nice place to sit and wait for the sunset.

The sunset

We walked back all the way to the resort and rested on some rocks after the sunset. Just sitting talking. The place was really comfortable. What I really loved about the place was the serenity, the tranquility. It was so far away from the Bangalore city [which I absolutely adore]. Still, i felt almost home. Nothing to do but lie and rest and enjoy the place. It was really beautiful. We just lay there, everyone, yapping away. Still, each one of us lost in their thoughts. Lost in their private place so far away from the hustle-bustle of the city.

I thought that the inner core gang should take a trip to this place. I am sure each one of them would have really enjoyed the place !

Anyway, after having decided that we’ll stay there and watch the moon set, things took a turn, when people became hungry. So, we trudged back to the resort. Dinner was a really delicious Vegetable Mushroom burger for me. For the first time, I saw Arijit saying “No” to food. Fellow was stuffed. !

I tried to keep everyone awake. Me- the guy who usually sleeps the first during any trip!! After half past one, I had to give up on the losers! I then went and talked to the watchman with whom I shared a smoke. Then I went out to the beach and walked around till about half past 3 in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any camera with me. We were supposed to go to a place called Yana from Ohm beach, a place where you can trek to see some beautiful rock structures.

The beach in the night was b e a utiful. The place was silent, except for surprisingly silent waves! They just came on and on. They came crashing into the shores. They moved back and the next set came and crashed.. With the low tide, there was more beach for me to walk around!

Anyway, at about half past 3, I moved back into the cottage to catch a few winks to get ready for the trip next day to Yana!!

Filed under I read here..., Life, Ramblings, Travel

Ohm Beach and Yana

May 16, 2006 by RR 4 Comments

I am posting the pics first. I am also working on a travellogue on Ohm Beach and Yana as two separate posts with the scenery involved. Will be posting them next! !

Filed under Babble me more, I read here..., Life, Ramblings, Reviews, Seeing Patterns, Travel

From there to now!

April 6, 2006 by RR 1 Comment

It has been over 2 years now! It all started off with “A Minor Comparison“! My very first blog! December 10th, 2003! Hmmm… It really has been a long time. It has journalized my life through college – exams, vacations, jobs, through the twists and turns of life, through ups and downs, through highs and depressions! Wow, I really can’t beleive it! I haven’t been successful in documenting _every_ part of these two years, but the major ones have been documented! I think I feel proud of myself! There has been a change. I have had changes in the look, presentation and the content! From geeky computer tech blogging, thoughts on life, musings, intro/retro spections, it has now mellowed to affairs that interest me!

Hmmm, I think that’s nice! So, out of all these, I decided to pick some of my favs and make a list! ! Moments and writings that I have enjoyed! I also decided to make 2 pages – Sonorous Musings and Trials with the Quill that contain all my rhymes and sketches. Check it out and of course, feel free to comment ! I will soon post the favorites list !! But, I just wanna take an oath today! I will try and blog as much as possible about life from now on! Of late, I have realised that I have not exactly been bloggin on my life! !!

Filed under Babble me more, Creative lyric, Life, Literary Mutilations, Musings, Opines of mine, Ramblings, Rantings, Rhyme me dead, Seeing Patterns, Travel

Blog Mad!

April 4, 2006 by RR 1 Comment

Hmm… Came across the link of Blog Mad at Vi's blog! I have to agree with her! Blog Mad, has certainly increased the traffic and the hits to my site!

Things that I liked about Blog Mad!

- Deadly UI [esp the login]
- Nice Look and feel [I love the blue thing they have going on in there]
- Decently categorized links

Things they could have done better

- ~~Drop down/Java script based lists for each of the sidebar links [Esp with them using a WordPress sorta UI]~~, my bad!! They did have a cool UI there as well !!
- Better icon man! The icon looks like one from Looney Tunes !
- More number of credits on initial start up!
- Better Credit and blog traffic stats!

Another interesting thing that I came across at Blog Mad – VARB! View A Random Blog, and the rating you can give to the blog! Gives you a pretty good idea of how people actually rate your blog on a scale of 1-10! You can vote for Ramblings of an Eccentric Soul… in VARB, through this link- Vote for me!!

Also, you can just click on this pic!!

Anyhoo, I am back to work now! My phone's working! Things are kinda nice overall, especially with the fact that I may soon be blogging from Forccheim, Germany! !

Filed under Babble me more, Ramblings, Techno Mime, Travel, Wordpress

Thadiyandamol Trek – Travellogue – Part 2

December 16, 2005 by RR 3 Comments

THE ROAD TO THADIYANDAMOL

So, where was I last time, lemme give it a check…. Yup, we all got into the traveller and here we are ready to take the vehicle to the wonderful hill tops of Coorg. There was a sigh of relief from everyone that we were finally on our way – and if I remember right, it sounded “Phew”… [Frankly I don't remember if they even sighed, I remember I did, and this is the sound that I think I am making when I make a sigh].

The van first skirted through the deserted streets of Bangalore! I remember seeing such deserted streets only twice before – once on my return from the Dandiya dance [at Palace Grounds] and the second time on the way to Nandi Hills. So, it is a sight that I can’t relate to too much, but I am sure all of you will agree [or at the very least pretend to], when I say that it feels good to drive @ 30kmph through these roads. It will be a wonderful ride for the snails. I am sure they’d be going… WHHHEEEEEEEE. However, we were too tired and we weren’t snails [please see the order thanks to Bangalore traffic]!

That’s when we decided to take a small nap and I don’t remember what happened until I woke up. But, I do remember that prior to my going to sleep, I was hearing some stuff that Bihari was telling everyone which was plain scary!!! Thankfully, none of it bothered my sleep. I woke up feeling fresh and as usual HUNGRY!!! My cribbing started about stopping for food.

SITUATION WHEN I WOKE UP
-> Baba deep asleep
-> Bihari still going strong about his antics in Patna
-> Arijit not speaking [oooh what a surprise]
-> Ajja laughing @ Bihari’s antics and adding his input
-> GeeZee asleep
-> Khada Limbu asleep
-> Chintiman sleepin uncomfortably and waking up and laughin @ Bihari’s antics
-> Gol Gol – NO IDEA!!
-> Dodda busy talking to the driver and pondering if he has a Hutch n/w following him
-> Kalyani asleep or cribbing about his seat
-> Aadu totally flat after getting stoned the previous night!!
-> Mamu getting up every now and then and giving his input and his laughter catalyst @ Bihari’s antics

We reached Mysore and went to Hotel Siddhartha. This was the very same hotel I had been to in Mysore, when I had gone to drop my bum chums – Sid, Fart and Gautam in Infy. So, got in there and had some dosas. I had a butter masal and some pooris and some Onion dosa. Topped it off with Orange Juice! Yummy.. [smacking my lips]. Continued the journey onward. I was getting ready for my next bout of sleep after losing my seat. Oh that reminds me – I forgot to mention the seat phunda in the bus!!

We were 13 people and there were 13 seats. The arrangement was like this – Single seat on the left side and two seaters on the right [look from the back of the bus]. The rear end was 4 seats together. All the seats except for the rear seats were push back. The single seats were the most comfy! The rear seats were the crappiest especially once the driver turned on the CRAPPY sound system of his with a sadistic level of base setting. Whenever the base blared, it was like a thousand earthquakes happening at your bottom [Please note that I have carefully eliminated the use of the term "vibration" for I know there are enough people out there to make a crappy inference outta it].

So, yeah, I had lost my side seat, which I had stolen from Bihari and was pushed back! But, as usual, wherever Baba, Aadu, Amit and me are there, we will make that place alive. The journey moved onward with us singing and trying to forget the tremors happening underneath us!!

The roads were beautiful – and the best part was that we had shocks going on underneath us. Bad roads were never a problem now, were they ! The van ambled on until lunch time and were reached a place called – Damn, I forgot!! Lemme give a call to Arijit and ask him. Yeah it was Virajpet. So, there I had meals at an Udupi sorta place.

VIRAJPET!!

What can be said of Virajpet other than it was here that Baba and Bihari wanted to get chicken to be made @ the camp fire. Me being a vegetarian, decided to fill my stomach with food. Oh yeah… Another point that I noted about that li’l town. It probably has the HIGHEST density of bars and wineshops in a city I have seen. Bangalore may have the highest number, but the density of wine shops in that li’l town is underrated. I mean every alternate shop is a wine shop. I wonder if those guys have heard about something called “business competition”!!

Me, Limbu, Ajja, Kalyani, Dodda, Gol Gol, Mamu, had lunch @ the Udupi restaurant. Chintiman and Geezee had lunch @ a bakery. We were wondering what Bhokcho was doing. The guy went and had a healthy hearty meal of Chicken Biriyani somewhere far away and reached in time to board the bus. Baba n Bihari bought chicken and mineral water, washed the chicken with mineral water, and apparently getting stares from all the people around them and reached the bus, laden with some dead chicken and some water and a bottle of Sprite.

Meanwhile, Dodda – the only Kandu with us, managed to communicate with the police there and got a “shortcut” to Tadiandamol. It would save us about 18 kilometers of journey. We were quite excited at the news – I mean who wouldn’t be, when your destination is only about half an hour away from you.. Unfortunately, Murphy’s law played! More on that on the way to Kakkabe!

From there, we proceeded on our way to Kakkabe, in b/w was Tadiandamol!

THE ROAD TO KAKKABE

So, we finally started from Virajpet and proceeded to the supposedly 22km road that will take us to Tadiandamol. But, then again, Murphy’s Law plays so well in our lives! The shortcut turned out to be the longest way possible. For one, the driver didn’t know the road. For two, Dodda didn’t know the place. For 3, we were all guys, and as guys don’t like to ask people direction, the driver didn’t bother to ask fore directions!!

End Result – Continous going up and down some roads, going round and round some other, retracing the paths during some others and well, you are gettin the gist of it ! So as the paths we tread were retreaded, we, rather Dodda noticed there was a sign that said “This way to Tadiandamol peak”. Still not sure, we traced that route till “Coffee County” – a cottage where Dodda and Gol Gol asked a foreigner if this indeed was the place that we wanted to trek. Hehe, I don’t think it would have mattered at that point, which peak we wanted to climb, as we were all rearing to go! We were like an army of ants at sugarland!

WHERE THE ROAD ENDS….

There was an interesting thread of conversation that happened in the bus. We were wondering from where we should start the trek. We had heard that we could take the vehicle till about 2/3rds of the way up. Baba gave his pravachan – “from where the road ends mate”. Well, as luck would have it, with most of Baba’s pravachans, we were told that we should start the trek from where the road ends!!

Thadiyandamol Trek

December 14, 2005 by RR 12 Comments

More snaps are following, ~~with a travellogue~~! ! Check back soon!!Thadiyandamol Trek – Travellogue – Part 1 – Preparations to Picking up people!Wonder la – That is what actually started it all. A group outing to Wonder la and then to some obscure place in Tamil Nadu started the whole thing of a group outing. What ensued was countless emails, phone calls and browsing time on the various places in and around Karnataka we can go.After some initial planning, over a pathetic lunch, we had decided to indeed make it to Thandiyandamol – the highest peak in Coorg [Kodagu] district. Then came Ajish’s mail on Thadiyandamol – mentioning the height of the peak and the presence of “leeches”. Anyhoo, as I can’t find the mails, I will give you the briefer

Tadiandamol is a mountain in Kodagu district of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located on the Western Ghats range, and reaches an elevation of 5729[1750 meters] feet. It is a place of interest for trekkers. The mountain has patches of thick forests with abundant leeches.[Source: http://answers.com/]

Well, Thadiyadamol was perfect for our trekking requirements.-> It involved proper trekking through patches of forests and through three hills.-> Required a little amount of adventure, what with the leeches and Bihari’s mail-> Required some strain on our part to carry the tents and bags and food items and the heaviest of ‘em all – WATER!!!-> Get dirty and down to earth atop the peak by pitching camp and cooking food with a campfire.I honestly think that this was more than enough to get each and every one of us totally excited about the whole trip. So, then came the process of getting all the people in. We got a healthy list of people interested and as usual some of the buggers backed off, but as someone sometime said [I don't remember the name as I don't think it was that important to give that guy credit]. Great now I forgot what I wanted to say there. [See I told you what he said wasn't that important, but it would have given a cool effect to what I wanted to say]So, where were we? Oh yeah, it was finally 13 people. It would have been 14, but poor Arun couldn’t make it as his manager declared that they would be working on the Saturday and the Sunday !. Anyhoo, tough luck chum, next time. So, 13 people decided to make the trek up to Thadiyandamol. ! We called ourselves “Tera Terah” under the guidance of “Baba” alias “Captain”. Lemme just jot down the names [actual and nick] so that you can relate who I am talking about from now on.Actual Name Nick Name—————– —————-Ajish AjjaAmresh BabaArijit BhokchoKalyan Kalyani aka GM2 [pronounced GEE EMM Squared]Nitiman ChintimanSantosh DoddaKapil AaaduSachin MamuVikas GZ [pronounced GEE ZEE]Amit Khada LimbuShishir Gol GolMoi PanguSo, there we were. Endless planning followed at the end of which this was the ItineraryDate, Time Action——————————– —————————–Saturday, 0300 hrs Start from BangaloreSaturday, 1000 hrs Reach ThadiyandamolSaturday, 1200 hrs Start on the trek after packing and loading everything on our backs !Saturday, 1700 hrs Reach the peak and pitch campSaturday Night Start the camp fire and start prep for cooking and night masti !Sunday morning Start the trek backSunday, 0900 hrs Start for Abbi fallsSunday, 1200 hrs Start back for Bangalore!Well, as always, anything planned will have a slippage, only thing was in our case, it was more than a slippage, it was a complete disaster ! hehehe! Anyhoo, came the D-day! Saturday morning. The previous night I had gone out with Arijit to meet his friend and friend’s friend, and had left Brigade Road at about 09:30pm. So, by the time Arijit and me reached home, it was about 10:30pm. I went off to sleep by about 11pm! Arijit as usual took his night [well only] bath and plonked as well. I got up at about 02:00am to get ready. Well, not exactly @ 02:00 am, I stayed on the bed till about 02:40 and finally managed to somehow pull myself up my bed !. I woke up for the simple reason that Baba had told me that the bus [Tempo Traveller] would reach BTM @ 03:00am. So, afraid that I will screw the plans, I woke up and managed to take a bath and get fresh. Then the wait began for the stupid bus. I think Arijit and I got another dose of sleep after dressing up as well, since the bus finally reached Taverkere about half past four.!!The guys told me that the reason for the “slippage” was that they had underestimated how much time it would take to pack the tents and the sleeping bags. [The sleeping bags and tents were collected by GeeZee and Bihari the previous night and hoarded at their lodgings]. Anyhoo, when the bus came, it had Baba, Bihari, Geezee, Dodda, Ajja, Chintiman and Khada Limbu! We still had to go and pick up Kalyani [GM2], Aadu and Gol Gol! So then we decided to go to Koramangla and pick up Kalyani!!SHIVA TALKIES and Kalyani!!So we started from Taverkere, where Arijit and me got into the bus. The bus proceeded to K’mangla and Dodda called up Kalyani to find out where he had to be picked up from. Kalyani was bringing the gas stove that we needed to cook there and light the Petromax light for the night atop the peak. Well, Kalyani had spent the night over at his friend’s place in K’mangla. And his instructions were SIMPLE – Come to Shiva talkies and I will be standing next to it. We all started in the quest of “Shiva talkies”. Kalyani was describing the place as if it were the next Inox or Innovative or PVR! I mean, who the hell has heard of Shiva talkies?? We finally got the place after entering K’mangla village and by sheer luck. It turned out to be a place where they run B-grade movies. [Think pondi :-d]! From then on, the jab on Kalyani had started. [For the entire remaining part of the trip, Kalyani had turned to be at the butt end of all our jokes]! !SHANTI SAGAR and Aadu!!Then we moved on from “Shiva talkies” and on our way to pick up Aadu! Aadu had asked us to come in fronta Shanti Sagar and he came after we waited for about 5 mins. Note the time now. We had planned to leave Bangalore fully packed by 0300hrs. Already we were an hour and a half late.K’mangla LAST stop and Gol Gol!So, all were into the bus, save for Gol gol! Gol gol was standing at Jhakkasandra – aka K’mangla last stop. We travelled through the “best road of Bangalore” the 80 ft road and finally reached Jakkasandra without any major injuries inflicted to us or the bus. ! At last after an hour and fifty minutes behind schedule, the gang was finally complete and we began our trip to Thadiandamol!!————————————End of Part 1————————————

Filed under Life, Ramblings, Seeing Patterns, Travel

Mail from B’lore!

July 7, 2005 by RR Leave a Comment

As I am in a net cafe, and the computer sucks, I am just copying a mail that i wrote. Well, shall write in detail soon, when i get a better computer. God this keyboard and the mouse and the whole damn thing SUCKS!!!!!

Hey there!

I have reached Bangalore and what a wonderful place this is. Altho it’s slightly costly, the place reeks of beautiful parks, greenery all around [all pun intended]. Am rite now staying at a guest house in Koramangala about 15 minutes walking distance from The Forum.

The guest house is beautiful with 3 tiers within the same house, rooms, hall and the dining hall. Behind the house, there is this humongous lawn. The only thig that sucks is that I gotta take leave of this place so soon.

On the lookout for a place to reside in here. The rents are generally off the roof, and hoping that I will manage to get a good place at a decent enough rent.

The best part of the whole thing is the free messagin, [local] 100 free smss a day @ just Re 1 rental per day. Amazing rite. this offer is there throughout Bangalore in most of the GSM moiles. And to think that I was appreensive about my mobile bills.

Mite go for a BSNL postpaid, not yet decded oR applied.

The computer that I am typing from SUCKS. It behaves like my mobile. I ave to actually wait for about 4 secnds, before the TEXT that I typed gets updated on to the screen. God, I miss my computer. Joining Siemens on the 11th. Apparently it’s a week of the facilites being introduced t you and all. so should be pretty interesting. !

well, Enjoy. C ya soon. Shall mail soon.
–
As Always
Guru Panguji
~~http://members.lycos.co.uk/gurupanguji/~~
http://gurupanguji/.wordpress.com/

Yawn… and I’m bored now.. !

Filed under Life, Ramblings, Travel

Chennai and Back

June 14, 2005 by RR Leave a Comment

Once, I cleared my system of the lab exams and the final academic ties with the college, I scrammed to Chennai in hope of some shopping and some quality time with amma, ro and appa b4 I left for Bangalore. It was good – the shopping, although I realised that I am best served with custom tailored dresses ! [Don't mean to sound snobby, but my waist size is 33 and they have 32 and 34 waist sizes, so either I will have to shrink or grow into the 34, for which I chose the former].

Shirt sizes start from 39, and I need a 38. Yeah yeah. Hehe… Well, it was fun. I am now back in good ol’ Trivandrum, listening to some songs and getting back into the mood for jogging and swimming and getting into shape.

Well, as luck may have it, swimming is closed until 21st. So, I am now stuck to jogging and minor weight training at home. I _have_ to drop another inch on the waist, and hardening some of those wings !

Aaaah.. the tryst with working your body keeping in mind those model bods that u wanna have. Weird i know, but hey those are the things that a guy blessed with some horizontal component has to consider!

Filed under Life, Ramblings, Rantings, Travel

Jobfair an Unfair Experience – by Venu!

March 1, 2005 by RR Leave a Comment

This is all about a good read. This is one of the most interesting reads I have had for ages. I love his travelogues as he calls it. And, hell yeah, I enjoy his guitaring… None other than Desp Satriani – the one and only Govindan Potti. He’s the lead guitarist of Transmigration, and one of the closest pals I have. =) There is this spark of a writing genius inside him. I am trying to get the first travelogue that he had written and will put it asap. Till then, enjoy this piece of writing

=============================================

Hi everybody…

This is my second travelogue (if u r kind enuf to call it so!!!). This time its not SSB but a jobfair. Anyway this time also it has an employment rapport.

A lot of jobless fellows in campus were excited to see the ad of Jobfair that will be conducted by CTS and ‘The Hindu- Opportunities’ on 26th and 27th in Coimbatore.It clearly specified ‘final year’ students can also apply.All of us started preparing for the tests too.We bought ‘Cambridge’ trousers and ‘DH’ shirts for the interviews.

All of us were shocked to see last thursday’s (24-02-05) ‘The Hindu’ supplements.Thirty plus companies had given their ads in which they specified the requirements and qualifications they were looking forward to.It broke our hearts into several pieces.Most of the firms wanted only experienced candidates and those who wanted final years just needed a candidate from any discipline and even +2-undergraduates.

“Tell a man there’re 300 billion stars in the universe and he’ll believe it. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he’ll have to touch to be sure.�?

GODSPEED…..

It is true.We were not driven back by those ads.We wanted to make it sure and boarded the train ‘Sabari Xpress’ on 25th morning(7 am).It was really an arid journey.’Puzzles to puzzle you’ by Sakuntala Devi found itself resting in peace even before the train reached Mavelikkara.The heat evoked the journey via Andhra Pradesh while returning from Bhopal (ref:last travelogue).Sweat exuded out and succumbed to the heat.To cap it all, innumerable cockroaches infested through out the coach.(Next time on “Sabari” i’ll surely take with me, one or two of big spiders from my bathroom which devour cockroaches,to maintain a balance in the train environment).I wonder why the TTRs are not eager to fine them all, albeit more than two have gone through our tickets.

Finally the train reached Coimbatore at 4.45Pm. The station is not as big as Chennai Central.Our friends in Coimbatore came,picked us and took us to their place.Time was 5.00 pm and it meant congested roads.

“Why they call it rush hour when nothing moves?”

We were taken to their house at a place called Lion’s stop near Hopes junction, where we could see ‘Medical College’ and some other famous educational institutions ( unfortunately i didnt take down the names and i dont remember them now).It was a nice location distant from every city affairs.Lot of pea-cocks trudged around their house casting amorous glances on their female counter parts.Our friends informed us that, the place we were standing was once an untouched bush region and those peacocks were there from the get go and it seemed they are not ready to devolve their arena to anybody.The local people there do respect them and never harm those innocent and innocuous birds.

That night we went out and roamed the city.We went to ‘Gandhipuram’, a nice little town were we had our dinner. Then we went back home and after wasting some time watching television we went to bed.

D-Day has arrived (26-02-05).Everybody had bath and got dressed in formals.We went to Hopes and had our breakfast.All the busses en-route to Codissia were inundated with candidates.After waiting for sometime we found it was a Herculian task to get ourselves into any of those vehicles. So we hired a taxi-cab and headed to Codissia complex. Two kilometers from Hopes we found ourselves drifting between a multitude of cars and autos.The driver confessed his inablity to move the car any further.So we got out and started walking.We were shocked by the 1 to 1.5 km long queue that appeared to be longer than the queue in SabariMala.Without hesitation we joined that human chain.It started moving very slowly like a python with a heavy prey in its belly.After one hour in the queue we could see, at a distance, the great Codissia Complex.It seemed to be a huge monster opened its mouth to imbibe everybody who got there.There was an initial registration and then we got inside the complex.

The story changed inside the building.About twenty to thirty stalls were there but surrounded and blinde by thousands of unemployed youth.Literally, there was not enough space for sand, if dropped, to reach the floor.Should the heat be mentioned, With tucked in formals and shoes? Outside the hall,in the queue which led to the complex we were praising the organizers for managing this much candidates thronged the place.Once inside we found ‘all that glitters are not gold’.We really thought we will soon reach Almighty’s sanctum and we bagan envisaging our funerals.

Somehow we managed to deposit our resume on HSBC stall.Then a ‘human tsunami’ hit and washed away all of us into different corners.As we got drowned in that human sea submitting resume seemed a pipe dream.But fortuitously we could submit our resumes in most of the stalls.Albeit they didnt want any final years, they took our resumes as if to console and to express genuflection for our great adventure.We submitted our resumes on Nipuna( A Satyam co),Wipro BPO,Office Tiger,Getit,CTS… other than our debut stall HSBC.

At around 2.30 pm we extricated ourselves from that pandemonium.As we had with us mobile phones we could meet at in front of the complex, though with much difficulty.Then we waved bye to Codissia,went to Hopes, had our lunch and returned to our sojourn.

We started our return journey at 5.30 pm.First of all we went to Ukkadam where we could find lot of second sale books for promising prices.Some of us spend lot of money there and boarded a bus to Palakkad at 7.30.At around 9.00 pm we reached Palakkad and felt releaved to land great God’s own country.At 10.30 our return journey started in Amrita express.

I started reading one of those books from Ukkadam – the controversial ‘The DA VINCI CODE’.I dont remember how many pages i could go through.When i got up it was 5.00 am in the morning and we had reached ‘Quilon’.The book was still open and i could see the heading ‘chapter two’ staring at me.

For any Jobfair- “think twice before you leap”

— Govindan potti

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Herez a recent snap of Potti

Filed under Creative lyric, Life, Musings, Ramblings, Rantings, Travel

Dump!

December 13, 2004 by RR Leave a Comment

This is a dump of whatever I had written up until 13th December, 2004! Not finding time to actually sort, it’s a dump!!!

Well, I just tried out the Blogger Web App, and i must say, what a seamless integration into my site! It works well for a change in my blog template. So, i am gonna stick with it for sometime until, I am done with my CMS

So check out here for my blogs until I say come back ova here

Yup! I did it! The new layout is done, and work on the CMS is on the way. As of now, this is the new interface to my site =). Well, don’t ya worry, I am working on converting the previous data (my blogs and musings and documents and the rest) to come into this site. Also, have to work on the CMS . I now have finally implemented MySQL into the site, and wow, itz just WOW! =) the work is so much simpler with a database.

Well, what else? Things might be slow for the next two days, as I will also have to manage studying DBMS (Database Management System) coz I got my exam on 16th. That would be the end of the exams, and I should then devote my full time to the CMS for my site.

Things to look out for

1.) Comments facility for each blog
2.) Links management
3.) Hopefully choosing your stylesheet, I am coming up with a logic for that =D
4.) Loads more..

Rite now, am pretty excited that i got the work done this much, coding from scratch in notepad in less that 4 hours.Well, yeah I know, I am too good hehe…. =p! So, catchya guys later…. Thisz FUN!

Well, there are some problems that i am facing with this layour, first being that it caused a problem for the 800*600 guys. =D.

They had a div align problem. well, I finally sorted it out, and then now, itz too thin for the 1024*768 guys. Now, is there someway, by which I can change the settings, based on the resolution of the incoming person…. I need time to figure it out. Planning to somehow come outta this problem… Hmmm =?!!!

The ex Pantera guitarist and heavy metal God, Dimebag Darrell was shot y’day while performing with his new band called Damageplan,. A real loss for the heavy metal world. I too mourn his death.

Those sexy leads and riffs of the hardcore Pantera would forever be indebted to his talent, and skill and creativity with the electric guitar in overdrive. May his soul RIP!

Dimebag Darrel 1966-2004………..

Well, the div alignment problem is solved. And, i can’t get the XHTML certification anyway, coz the Lycos ad bar is full of crappy mistakes. So, that solves one major issue. Now, to tackle the comments! Hmm, got a database working and now need to align comments with blogs. Thinking of using some DBMS that i studied this sem (or did not study =D). Well, anyway… off for the day. Planning to get some rest and then maybe do a bit of studying… Till then, adios. Thanks for visiting.. whoever has visited so far…

The conversion of the other data is still going on…. I will upload my previous ramblings and rantings. =). Btw, finished a book called “The Last Juror” by John Grisham. Well, it wasn’t much of a read, and I knew the story of what was gonna happen half way through. Kinda waiting for an e- version of “The Butterfly Effect” and “Da Vinci Code” to spend some quality time with books. =D. Well, so long now…

Yay!!!! The comments facility is ready and running. =) Took about two hours to figure out the logic and code, but then, the effect is good. I liked it a lot. Any comments???? =p

Now, planning on a links management app. And a calendar app so that you can directly view dates. This is finally coming up and, itz much more manageable than my previous file based CMS. I am enjoying this, more than I want to =D!

So, I was waiting and waiting for this to happen… and yes, it does happen! I was wondering, why Google had not yet come up with a local running app notification of their web-based Gmail service. Well, they finally released the Beta version of GMail Notifier. Itz a nifty utility esp for the GMail dependent and GMail checking people like me. Now, instead of me actually logging into the account everytime to check my mail, I get notification right at desktop through a system tray icon.

It will let you know about any new mail that might have reached your GMail account. Only one prob tho, you can check only one such account from your desktop =(. Well, I am yet to check its multiple user running capability… Will update this blog once I try that up! But, until then, i would make it a rather good download choice. =) …

Now, all google misses is a FAST Instant Messenger as well. =-”.. any takers people???

Filed under Creative lyric, Life, Musings, Ramblings, Rantings, Rhyme me dead, Seeing Patterns, Techno Mime, Travel

I am Back!

December 30, 2003 by RR Leave a Comment

Back from the pilgrimage that I took, life is taking a break as a new semester unfolds onto me. But, the exams have also shown their ugly butts and come back in the form of Lab exams. Have to start dusting my lab records [most probably give it a vacuum, to clean it off the inch thick dust that it would have already collected], and rehearsing answers for a few of the ever asked questions for the lab exams of COBOL and OOP Lab! But, then again, life was kinda getting boring neways… ;]

Coming to some topics of the tour that I took, I came up with some qualifiers for it.. . Bear them
=> Eye opener
=> Interesting
=> Relaxing
=> Comforting
=> Religious

I can go on… but lemme stop. Went to the Mookambika temple, and had a darshan of the famous Devi. It is the all in one form of Lakshmi, Parvathy and Saraswathy. She is supposed to be the deity for evergreen prosperity. Prosperity and deities apart, the place itself is really cool, with lush green pastures everywhere, and a mere 42 kms below from the place where Adi Shankaracharya ever made his debut [:D]. The place is filled with disciples and being the Christmas/festive season of Sabarimala, the place was really crowded.

I was staying at a place called Bhageerathi lodge, managed by an Adiga [a temple priest] of the temple. The food was lovely, and the quarters itself cozy, although my parents thought otherwise.. ;].Coming to the topic of Adigas, they are some serious money makers. They arrange these poojas in the temple, and add service tax, god tax, special concession taxes and what not, and while you can do the same thing with some waiting yourself, these guys, allow you to enter w/o a wait, but charge you extra even for that.

Being a temple famous for its vidya pooja, I registered myself and my sis for a Vidya Pooja, my parents for a Career Pooja and my grandparents for a Arogya Pooja [;]]. This was for an evening archana, and we spent the entire evening plus a major portion of the nite in the temple. If I remember rite, from around evening 5 till around late 9:30, during which we had our dinner [simple, but really tasty food]. After that, we collected the prasaadams and thenaivedyams and returned to the room, where we slept late into the next morning.

I have to say something here about the power of belief/faith in GOD. If I remember rite, there are totally 5 instances in my life, where I have pleaded to God, for something to happen, and only when I least expected it, the clichéd ray of light has been there for me. I am NOT a religious person, and in the old ages, I would be a disgrace to the mere classification of a Brahmin. Yet, I do have faith in GOD, as an amorphous form. I don’t associate GOD, to a specific form/shape, although the existence of deities are helpful. I prefer GOD to be a super power that is beyond comprehension kinda the SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR with system = everything in existence. .

Onto other things, college has started and s6 beginning with a real slow pace, although traces of s5 are still remaining in the form of lab exams. Wish me the BEST and hope that I ace the xams.