A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles

Lake District and Isle of Walney

2011-09-14T14:40:00.000+01:00

The winter is now gone and the bright summer is here.
Me and Rajitha were ready to rock the summer.

Drove to Leeds and stayed at Anil's house on Wednesday night ( 27th April 2011 ).
It was University time the next morning, went to the Bradford and submitted the project proposal, Jeff is my mentor for the Project and he was a interesting person.
Jeff is a British who is married to a American and was fun to talk to, he listened to the project proposal and gave his approval to continue my work on the Project ( IT-BPO Challenges )

After the university work was complete, we drove down to the Lake district which was really beautiful, we visited a few lakes in the afternoon and evening, spent some good time at Windermere, we went row boating and on a passenger boat for a ride. Row boats were fun and tiring.

Reached Travellodge in Borrow-in-furness, had a Pizza from the nearby Dominos. I had to login to office to do some work, because the Wi-fi was not free in the hotel, I found out that we can connect using the IPhone 3G, once connected did some work and went to bed.

Next day morning ( 29th April) we got to know of a island "Isle of walney" nearby from the hotel staff. The island was just a couple of miles from the hotel and it was a super surprise. The Island was really beautiful, there were hardly any people there and non commercial. The island was a few miles long and if we walk for 30 mintues, we would reach from the north to the south and if we walk 15 minutes we reach from east to west. We spent a lot of time playing by the beaches and walking along the coast.

we drove back to the lakes again and spent rest of the day there. It was time to go back home but then we thought why not give Blackpool a visit which was very nearby from here and also it was a bank holiday and we would get bored if we go back home that quickly.

We booked a B&B and drove to blackpool. The next day morning we had fun at the blackpool beach and also the rides at "Pelasure beach".

Went back to the Anil's house ( leeds ) and had a wander around the Leeds city centre and then drove back to Bristol on Sunday night.

It was a unique experience as we had gone out alone for the first time ( without friends) and also most of it was totally unplanned, we just decided which places to go the previous evenings and just had fun.

when I saw her

2011-09-14T14:26:00.000+01:00

When I saw her, I did not know whethere she was the right girl for me.
But it was the face that I could just see and forget everything else.

Great deal of confusion

2011-03-13T23:51:00.004Z

It is not the first time this thought has arised in the last few months but the thought starts here and then ends very soon with no right decision. The quicker the decision can be made, the better it is.

So the Big Question - should we be continue to live here in the UK if yes then how long OR should we be heading back home ???? ( I can always add a few more ????? ).

I am sure there are several people who are in the same state of mind as me.
so when it comes to me, I have been here over 4 years now, it was fun and it was an experience much different then the one I have had for 23 years back home. It is very exciting some days, yet a another day at times, makes you feel sad of something you are missing back home at times, makes you feel happy that you are away from things some times. The experience by no means is something of a regret, it has never been. This few years have thought me many lessons many to cherish and very few to forget.

But then all this good things would soon become boring if a decision is not taken on what is to be done at the earliest. It is said that the flowing water is the most pureset of water than the stagnant one.

It is almost decision time. It is not a decision that I have to take overnight, I have a while before I decide but the confusion makes me worry and have a few sleepless nights.

All in all a very confused mind, some day for sure we will back to where we belong but until then lets enjoy every day as it is.

I say this several times theories are controversial, yet another example for that.
They say "Be happy with what you have, have fun everyday" and at the same time
They also say "Dont become too comfortable and too content with what you have and Dont fear to Dream Big..", now you can always ask who is this "They", it can be friends, it can be "theories" from experienced and most of the time It can be my "Inner-self"

....................A Confused Mind

debate sessions

2011-03-13T23:46:00.001Z

I always used to wonder why they have debate sessions in schools / colleges.. it is not which side you choose.. it is how much you can influence the audience and more important judges.
Same theory holds good in life. for ethical reasons, we always use the topic which seems right. There is always an inner self..

few thoughts..

2010-02-22T11:20:00.005Z

Do you know your friends ?

sometimes I feel I dont know anybody any well
even the closest of my friends
I only assume that i know people well,
until one day I am hit by a strom of ignorance.

Be scared only if it is your fault
otherwise you can just laugh on it.

Where are you !

2010-02-11T13:58:00.001Z

mornings feel a little different, I wondered why..
then I knew it was a missing hi and a bye...

I know you are away and that is just for a few days
but doesn't stop me looking for you as I open my eyes with the sun rays
in a hope that just in case miraculously a msg pops and Hi it says

first 12 years of me.. somethings to remember.. somethings to forget

2009-03-13T13:17:00.010Z

March 15, 1983 was a nice and pleasant day or was it ? somewhere in a remote village of Andra Pradesh my parents had their first baby and fortunately or unfortunately that was me, named Nagashankar, some call Nag(a), most of them call Shankar and a handful like to say Shan with Love.

It has been an amazing journey this 26 years, it is not the end or not even half of what it would end up, however I felt I should recap these years before all the memories are burried deep down which cannot be digged out later on.

Not much I can remember of the first 4-5 years but from all that my relatives and parents told me, being the first kid of my family I was always taken good care as a child having more than all the luxuries that a lower-middle class family child can have. Happenings from around the Age of 5 are the ones that I can remember nice and clear.

I loved to play cricket like most of the kids of India, I was around 5 when I had a fight with a group of kids may be 2 or 3 years elder to me because they would not include me in the team, so I went to the play area and told them nice and clear "If you are not going to let me play, I can do the same" and stood in the middle of the field stubborn and one of the kid from the group takes a stone and throws right on my face which just misses the head and hits just below the left eye as I fell unconscious there on the ground and was rushed to a hospital and had a few stiches on the face. My mother says I might have lost about a litre of blood that day. This is something I always want to forget but the Scar on my face that I see everyday in the mirror never lets me forget.

As a Kid I was never troublesome, I always used to do my homework on time and I always stood 1st in my class right from lower KG ( LKG) till I completed by Secondary School except in two instances after I moved to bangalore later on. I was was never demanding but the problem was I was never at home, running around the streets was one of my favourite hobbies, even as a Kid I used to get back home hours after the sun-set and get beaten up for that as I used to be on the play ground all the time be it a week-day, sunday or a public holiday.

I was 7 when I stood first in the entire school and my Head-master gave a double promotion and promoted me to 3rd Std from 1st as a recognition for my efforts. My teachers asked me to read 3rd Std syllabus but then I had this strange feeling that I have missed out on something by not reading 2nd Std syllabus, I used to borrow books from my previous friends in the leisure time of school to read and catch up just out of interest.

A year later upon my head-master's suggestion, my parents shifted me to a different school which was well known and even in the year 1992 the strength of the school was around few thousands and each class had like 6 sections ( 4th std sec A, B C and so on ). Going to this school was a life time experience for me. The school was not next door to my house as the previous one was, I had to change two buses to get to the school and it was around 10 kms, it was a serious challenge as there were now 100's of kid;s in each year competing. I became a bit more tough during the course of my studies in this school both mentally and physically. Days when school ends by afternoon I used to get lift from two-wheelers at times and walk some odd days, literally 10 kms walk just because I knew I could.

One of the best things to happen during this time was I met two kids Chalapathi and Sridhar who went on to become two of my best friends during school time. But sadly enough I dont know them anymore. I seriously wish I knew all this websites like orkut / facebook at that time so that I would never loose contact with them.

By 9 I was enjoying the time away from school and places away from home a bit more and knew that I need more money to buy things and to be able to roam around a bit more other than just the school and home, so along with my friends we used to bunk classes and submit fake leave letters to my teachers and spend time playing cricket and roaming around places in hyderabad. I used to ocassionaly steal some money from my dad's pockets and sometimes from my mom's purse. I know of one situation when I was caught and beaten up.

Back home I had a friend in Nandini, right from the time I return from school till the time I get to bed I used to play with her all the time, jumping hoping studying, eating, all in all everything with her and at times we used to do some really naughty things which we laugh at today.

There were some ongoing problems in my family and eventually in 1993, my dad had to shift to Bangalore for the purpose of work. It was february and a very odd time to move places as it would affect the schooling to a great extent but my parents could not help but move on.

Luckily for me I got admission to a school in bangalore in Feb, It was a small and normal convent school but the challenge was to complete the entire syllabus of Fifth Standard in 2 months time and to be ready for the exams in April. My parents and I knew I can somehow manage all the subjects expect for one "KANNADA". Until this point in time I never knew that there is one such language called kannada that even existed. Though the script used was not very different from Telugu, I hardly understood the language and more over time pressure. Then came an angel in disguse of a teacher, she was called Sumathi and my class teacher, she gave me all special attention that I needed to understand this new language. I used to go to classes in the morning, go the tutions in the evening and then most of the night taking notes of the past 8-9 months by borrowing books from kids who were kind enough to lend books to me, esp oen called Purushotham and the other Manjunath, luckily I still talk to them and meet up with them even today.

A Month and a bit more somewhere in April 1st week, I had enough confidence to go for the exams. All the efforts were now put to test and believe me I came out with flying colors and got 77% overall and some 60% in Kannada. For the first time I did not stand 1st in the class but it did not matter as that was one of the toughest two month I have had in life so far and I was so happy to get through. I cried in dis-belief, cried in happiness, cried for the relief that I got, my parents and teachers just didn;t know what to say, they were just happy and mom and dad cried and told proudly "I knew you could do it my boy and we are really sorry to put you through this". Those words are still in my ears and I think of it time and time and feel really happy about it.

After the results, the next year onwards I stood first in my class replacing my best enemy in my school - Manimekala, she was one popular girl known for her for walking style and beating up boys all the time. I had real pleasure in edging her out in the academics throughout until the Final exams in 10th. By now I was already very famous in school especially due to the strong academics.

Life was really really cool especially because of the attention I used to get in school and back home but among my friends at home, I was just antoher kid and I used to like that equally well.

That is the recap of the first 10-12 years.... watch this space for the next part of this series. ;-) Thanks for reading..

A Farewell bid to the Legend Anil Kumble

2008-11-04T11:58:00.002Z

ANIL KUMBLE unlike most of the cricketers was never in any sort of controversies. He is calm on the field, answering with a smile to the irritating questions that reporters ask but at the same time aggressive when u give him the ball, it always amazed me how Kumble turned to a Leg spinner from a Fast Bowler, infact even now he just deceives everyone as a Spin bowler, he is the only spinner I can remember who can bowl over 100Km/Hr Speed and who says a Tail-ender cannot bat, he has made a century and also some very important contribution over the last 18 years.

Kumble may not turn the ball as much Warne, Murali, Bajji and other very well known spin bowlers but he is the 3rd Highest Wicket taker in the world and the Most by an Indian. How can we forget the test match against west indies when he came out to bowl with bandage over his head and the jaw, he did take a few wickets including the rock solid Brian Lara making match more interesting more than all that it is his fighting spirit that he is known for.

What a joy it was when kumble took all 10 wickets against pakistan in Feroz-shah kotla, I can never forget Javagal srinath bowling away from the batsman so that only Kumble can get the last wicket, the Bangalore match when Javagal / Kumble together won the QuaterFinals against Pakistan as they scored some 30 odd vital run for the last Wicket.

He is one of the most respected if not the the only among his peers, he is quiet but he can truely support his team-mates when need be, remember the Test Match Controversies in Australia, he backed the indian Team.

He accepted Captiancy of Indian Team when the team was left orphaned after Dravid stepped down and Sachin did not want the role ( with all due respect to Sachin, he is much better as a player than a Captian).

A Bow to the legend and a Farewell Bid to the Most Calm Gaint of the Spin bowling.

Felipe Massa just misses and Hamilton gets to his First world Championship.

2008-11-02T19:21:00.003Z

It was a Sunday and I didn't want to go anywhere today but had to go to Argos to return creative speakers that I had got. Soon after that I hurried home to watch the last of the Formula One Races of 2008 and the decisive one for the 2008 championship, boy it lived up-to the expectations of the decisive race. Start of the race and into a few corners David Couthard, the Man who has driven most races in the history of formula1 retired because of Nico Rosberg who hit him on the side, then it was under the safety car for a few laps.

It was a quiet race for Felipe Massa leading from the front, the title too far away from him now as Hamilton was always 4/5 on the track which would fetch with world championship anyway.

10 more laps to go and with prediction of rain, few drivers changed to wet tyres and few laps later there was a bit of rain, so being cautios all drivers changed to wet except for a few one being Timo glock and then on lap 69 it was Toro Rosso new hero who overtook Hamilton for 5th place and put Hamilton out of contention for the World Chhampionship, just less than a lap to go now and Felipe Massa won the race and it was now certain that Felipe Massa would be the winner but just 2 more corners to go for Hamilton, Timo Glock could not keep in on track and then Hamilton crossed the chequered flag in 5th place handing him the World Championship, It was too near yet too far for Massa, my heart goes to Massa. I was just shouting and screaming when Vetel passed Massa but then Seeing Hamilton cross the flag in 5th, I was just in tears and so was Massa, boy what a end to a thrilling race.

Congratulations to Hamilton but nothing to be taken away from Felipe Massa... he drove absolutely superb races but the Lady luck wasn't just there for him.. Lewis being in this situation last year deserves to be victorious. and thoroughly deserves the Championship and Wish Felipe Massa best of Luck in the future races.

bangalore blast july 25

2008-07-26T00:33:00.004+01:00

I got up bit late that day, hurried to office to finish off work, it was Friday, 10 minutes after I reach office I get a message on google from my friend informing me about a serial blasts in bangalore, my mind just stopped functioning for a few minutes and I read that statement 10 times and then opened some online newspapers before realising it was true. My heart started beating a bit more faster and more worried, I called my immediate family members and friends some 7000 kms away to ensure they were all safe.

http://www.deccanherald.com/DeccanHerald.com/Content/Jul262008/scroll2008072681032.asp?section=updatenews

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080058856

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080058674

Bangalore along with Mumbai and other major cities in India are always on the hitlist for terrorism as it seems trying to disrupt the normal life in the cities.

I can imagine what was going on in millions of minds back in bangalore and people who have their loved ones in bangalore, it was so disturbing.

I could not work for the next half of the day, but when speaking to one of my friend this is what he said

"I understand that it is sad but we should not worry a lot about these blasts and by worrying we will only support terrors which we should not"

It immediately stuck my brian that the whole intension behind this terrorism and these terrorists are that people should live in despair and thinking of terror everytime, but this statement that my friend made is a complete defeat to their intensions.

My heart goes to the poeple who are affected in these blasts but I have no doubt the people who are behind all these will pay for the wrong deeds in some form or the other.

But the thing is what I can do to stop these or even reduce it remains a question ?

Arranged marriages

2008-07-17T23:23:00.002+01:00

I came across a blog where a girl trying to defend her arguments about advantages and disadvantages of arranged marriages.

My opinion, I may be stupid but I like to be that way.

One can't everytime think of advantages and disadvantages in everything that one does, most of the time just one thing can drive the entire objective.

When our parents gave us birth, they never thought of pros and con's.:-)

some points I would to mention in support of a arranged marriage are these

The thrill of knowing a new person is life is same as that of in Love marriage.

It is a a phenomena between two families and not just two individuls.

It is a surrender of your Ego(s) in a arranged marriage.

Expectation are too little and whatever you get is a bonus and that helps in building a long term relation.

Happy to listen more comments

Clouds and just clouds

2008-07-15T22:44:00.006+01:00

I have fallen in love with the clouds of late.
I can sit there, watch them for hours together while they move slowly overseeing me from a distance, they are so different from other natural beauties, they are so beautiful and makes me happy with every new glance, they are so pure and mild, they have the magic to float in the sky. Some photos that I have taken when I was in London last week.
http://picasaweb.google.com/nagashankarp/London

Some interesting facts about clouds on wiz kids
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/cloud.htm

Growing confidence as season progresses...

2008-07-07T22:47:00.003+01:00

More and more games I play more and more confidence I get in me as a bowler. I am enjoying week-in week-out playing for Long Ashton though it is the 2nd XI Team.

Few weeks back, I bowled some very tight line for 9 overs and got rewarded, 2 wickets of which one was the best one I have had so far, pitched outside the off curled in to the batsman at waist high, batsman nicks it and straight to the slip.. amazing feeling that as a bowler, I enjoyed every bit of it, Again this week it was same pitched on the middle right into the batsman's body , nicks it straight to the hands of slip fielder, second of the dismissal this week was one pitched on the good length, straight through the defences of the batsman and dislodge the bails and directly into the middle stump.

Wow.. isn't that a wonderful moment.

First Win with Long Ashton CC

2008-05-22T09:32:00.001+01:00

This week was for the Cricket Kit shopping, after a bit of search I managed to finalise on www.cricketsupplies.com and ordered my Cricket Kit.

Time for another match, at home this time.
After loosing 2 matches in a row this season, we were determined to win this match.

We won the toss and elected to Bat, it was a very slow start initially and later runs started flowing with the opposition bowler contributing more than half of the score at one point, later Ben and James scored heavily and we reached 268 in 45 overs.
I had padded up with my new Cricket kit but didn;t get a chance to bat as we were for the first time this season not All-out.

We had a good score to defend and started off very well with Me and Sam keeping things very tight, there were ocasional boundaries especially few down the third man but we kept going, Sam got 2 wickets and I was very unlucky not to get any, there were as many as 3 catches dropped of my bowling, 2 of them by the Keeper and one in the slips.

I tried hard but luck was not on my side.

As the pressure was building, the visiting team made mistakes especially to the bowling of Milne ( Spin bowler ) and he got as many as 4 wickets and a few more to Lambert and we Won by a Big margin and a win on the board is encouraging for the rest of the season to come by.

Mirror

2008-05-09T11:46:00.003+01:00

Have you ever thought of different kinds of Mirrors, I didn;t mean the shape and size of it, the distinction is based on what it reflects, I know I know you would say that it is all about where the mirror is placed and lighting etc, but forget about all that for now.

I can think of 3 different kinds.

First of them are Mirrors those says you are handsome, wonderful beautiful and so on, these are mirrors which are amazing and you would like you see yourself again and again, however horrible you look, it says that you are really good and wonderful. I have one such mirror in my house.

The second kind which just reflects the exact image, the reality and the third kind which is the worst of the mirrors, however wonderful one is, it still says you are horrible, pathectic.

going a step ahead, it is exactly the same way we all have different prespectives about anything for that matter, upto you to decide what you what to really see and what you really want to reflect.
By saying that someone is good whether be at heart or in the physical appearance we could be creating more and more confidence in the person to be better and on contrast by saying you are horrible we make him/her even more horrible.

Cricket Season start with Long Ashton Cricket Club

2008-05-03T22:00:00.002+01:00

Itz summer time and you can't miss out on any bright days here in UK. This summer as you all know I am in Bristol and within a week I managed to find a Cricket club to play for this summer itz called Long Ashton Cricket Club.
http://longashton.play-cricket.com

I was very eager to play cricket the english way after having enjoyed the flavour of it last season, once I got to know that there is a place from the ORANGE internal website, I called the guy who advertised the position the next minute.

It was saturday and off I go to the Cricket ground in Long Ashton.

We lost the toss and were put into bat, I wasn;t much interested in batting but more interested to bowl but I had to wait for my turn, when I told this to the captian, he asked me to bat at No 10 :-). The pitch was a bit wet and so there was very less bounce in the wicket and the opposition took good advantage of this by bowling some very tidy overs and eventually getting rewarded with wickets on regular intervals.

On the other end I was so restless holding the ball waiting for my turn to bowl but it was soon time for me to bat as were already 8 down and I went into bat and got too tempted by the slower one the spin bowler bowled and threw my wicket away, I should have done better than that.

We were All-out for 68 in 33 overs. With not many runs on the board to bowl we wanted to give a decent fight.

We started off well by getting a wicket in the first over that Adi bowled and I bowled some very tight overs as well but because of the target which was a mere 69, the opposition eventually achieved it in 26 overs, I ended up with the figures
4-1-11-0 ( four overs , one maiden and 11 runs given away).

It was sad that we lost but It was a good first experience and I would play some more matches this summer and hope to do better than this..

Until the next match.. bye. and wish me luck :-)

A new start to a colorful World

2008-04-25T14:22:00.004+01:00

ORANGE! what all can one think of

a color,
a fruit,
a river ( remember one in Africa )
and just one more
it is the name of the Company that I work for now.

It is a very colorful company as they are so many people in this office and it looks very lively as well unlike the one which i worked for before. it reminds me of the bangalore office.

I wish on this day that the days to come by flow like the river and not be stagent like a puddle.

I have managed to find an accomdation just around the corner about 8-10 minutes.
The accomdation is very spacious, neat and has a french window to the garden and I am not alone at home, it is a shared accomdation with 5 people and guess what all are from ORANGE.. this place looks more like a ORANGE city. :-)

I had to sign the accomdation agreement with the land lady.
other than the general terms and conditions there were loads of other terms like

1. if you loose the house key and call us for help, we charge you £20 and if you call us during night we charge £50 excluding the key making charges. :-))

2. If you dont allow the workers to enter the accomdation you would be charged £30

Just started cooking in the place now, I am somehow started to like cooking so I am not finding it as a burden rather enjoying it which is a gud sign.

have joined a club next 5 minutes walk from my house, it is called "Living well" so will get to spend some time, also have joined a cricket club and the first match is this saturday.. wow isn;t that gud.. with loads of positive energy flowing..

I am liking it.. or should I say the Mc Donalds way I m loving it. :-)

A story of one of the several peaceful souls on the planet Earth

2008-04-10T11:09:00.000+01:00

There was this guy who wondered more often that why was he on Earth and what was he doing here, has he been sent over by the Lord by mistake to a wrong place or was it a gift for his doing in his last life, his present life was so easy going, this is how his daily routine was...

Sleep was his best friend, some call it lazziness but he used to enjoy every extra moment of sleep he can get. Although he never was out of his bed when the alarm rings, he still insists on keeping the alarm hoping to get up to the alarm bell one fine day.

Dragging himself out of the bed after a few motivational words from his soul, he gets up and gets ready, ready to spend the rest of the day also in peace.

walks to office as though he is walking in the garden.. or like a walk on the beachside, after half an hour of pleasant walk he reaches office.

after spending almost 8 hours in the office watching some video clips listening to music, chatting most the time and surprise surprise some or say little work when he gets bored of entertainment, he returns back home in the same fashion as the morning walk.

Back home time to decide which movie to watch or whatz on the sportz calender, spend the rest of the time with the laptop and go to sleep as early as 10PM.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

last few weeks at Basildon

2008-04-01T17:55:00.001+01:00

Another 15 days to go ! ! !

The time is nearing to bid a farewell to Basildon, the last 1 and 1/2 year I have spent was of a mixed feelings. Many happy days, some boring days, some days to cherish some to forget, whatever be it these memories are here to remain forever.

I wasn't expecting it to be the way it has been, Overall itz been a pleasant stay mainly due to Office environment which gave me enough freedom ( although there wasn;t a great deal to do from work point of view ) and also staying with Chagari made my life easier at home and not to forget the Vivid bharathi group, it made it memorable.

A new place waiting for me and a new experience to savour, hope to do something new, hope it has something new for me and something interesting.

Silence kills

2008-03-20T10:25:00.001Z

Silence...........shhhhh quiet zone.

"Silence talks more than words".. A silent mind, freed from the onslaught of thoughts and thought patterns, is both a goal and an important step in spiritual development. Inner silence is understood to bring one in contact with the divine or the ultimate reality of this moment. All religious traditions imply the importance of being quiet and still in mind and spirit for transformative and integral spiritual growth to occur.

Having said all that, is being silent the best way ? does this not make the already present gap between people even wider, does this not make life more boring, more self centric, more dangerous, more non-social behaviour kind ?

Silence for me is the most scary thing that can happen especially because you feel lonely even with people around you.

Bangalore progressing, has the Airport ready now :-)

2008-02-26T11:51:00.000Z

" The first commercial flight from the much-awaited Bengaluru International Airport is all set to take off on March 30." reports the Financial Express on 21st Feb.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/First-flight-from-Bengaluru-Airport-to-take-off-on-March-30/275620/

It was so pleasing to hear, that atlast Bengaluru will have its own International Airport, I was seeing the news the other day on NDTV and they showed some glimpses of the International Airport, it was looking great. I can now proudly say that Bangalore's Airport is one of the World Class Airports.

After Some initial delays, BIAL ( Bengaluru International Airport ) began construction of the new Bangalore International Airport on July 02 2005.

I congragulate the Authorities for finally having made this Dream a reality.

The official Website has lot of details which you might be interested in.
http://www.bialairport.com/

The only concern for now I can think is the distance from the city but that would be taken care by the Fast Train, not sure though when it would be running though.

There is a plan for connecting NH7 and Airport with separate 2 Lane to make it easier. I hope these things come up soon to make it a good experience to get back home from the Airport.

I am now starting to dream about the METRO as well, how the load on the roads would be reduced when METRO becomes a reality, may be 3-4 years down the line.

http://www.bmrc.co.in has some useful info on the progress of Bangalore Metro.

Are we going away from our languague...

2008-02-25T14:53:00.000Z

As I last remember I was made to study Kannada / Telugu probably when I was kid about a decade ago. I never had a need to keep the learning clock ticking as day to day college life and then the career none of them really needed any of our native languague, they were never made mandate and they are not now either, survival could happen without it and with just the English language and for guys like me who are abroad now, there is hardly a need. I do understand it is not just the need that drives. I did try to read kannada newspapers online but the quality isn;t great, there are not many resources online. I wouldn;t bother continuing without it being made mandate on me. I know this is the case with many of us.

Thank god I atleast use Kannada / Telugu / Hindi for all my personal conversational purpose, but wait think few years down the line, when I have almost forgotten how to read these languages. If this is case with me what would happen to our Languagues, will they just exist for the sake of existense or is there a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel.

Next question that obvious arises is can I do something for the betterment of this ?
Do I or we have time for this or are you too busy or ignorant and just continue the way it is ? time will tell.

Meri Man ki baath..

2008-02-20T23:04:00.000Z

Mehbooba ke naam

O Janeman..
Kehna chatha hu tumse Baar Baar
Ki mein tumse karta hu Pyaar
Ise tu nah abhi kar inkar
maan le ek baar meri yaar
ab hojaye ikraar

Mutiny.in

2008-02-19T13:45:00.000Z

When I initially started my own blog... I always thought that blog can only be used to jolt down your own world or just little experiences but mutiny.in has a given a different dimension to the blog world, may be there are already many such blogspots but this one is very special. For me it is more of a daily newspaper, atleast i dont get to see only Cricket news / Stardum unlike regular newspapers. Mutiny.in is a group of Mutineers and their about pages tells you why is this a special one.

"The Mutiny is an Indian thought terminus. A platform to discuss ideas, share experiences, and debate issues."

This blog is a discussion forum and is wonderful to go through it everyday, hope you find it interesting.

Poor Show of Cricket

2008-02-19T09:45:00.000Z

Ever wondered of a weirdest cricket match where just one of the entire 11 players get of the mark and even that one player takes more than 45 odd balls for the single.
and allow the opposition to Win in the first over of the match without the players having to change ends. Unbelivable isn't it but it is true. this is from one of the Women's cricket between Bermuda and South Africa, very poor cricket and way too one-sided.

Read cricinfo for more news.

http://www.cricbuzz.com/component/latest_cricket_news/Story/2619/south-african-women-need-four-balls-to-beat-bermuda/

I wonder why is this team allowed to play at the international level.

www.airtel.com opens Vodafone site :-)

2008-01-31T12:06:00.000Z

This morning when I was trying to view my Airtel bill, I managed to open www.airtel.com but to my surprise, I saw that it was redirected to vodafone site. For a second I thought has Airtel been brought over by Vodafone ?

but the truth was it was a DNS ( Domain Naming System) entry that points

www.airtel.com --- > http://www.vodafone.es/particulares/.
I did some googling to find if I was the only one but I saw few guys did notice this. The actual website of Airtel being www.airtel.in.

I brought this to the notice of Airtel Customer Care, I only hope they will take some action.

Super lyrics by Yograj bhat - Gaalipata

2008-01-29T11:51:00.000Z

This is one of the few songs which I have listened to 100's of times..
Awesome lyrics... and the music is amazing.. this one is from Gaalipata..

you can listen to the songs here
http://majamaadi.com/gaalipata.html ( Lyrics in kannada are also available in the same website so i dont want to duplicate.)

This is how the lyrics goes.

minchagi neenu baralu nintalleee malegaala
becchage nee jotegiralu kutallieee chaligaala
virahada bege sudalu yedeyalli besige gala inelli nanage uligaala !

minchagi neenu baralu nintalleee malegaala
becchage nee jotegiralu kutallieee chaligaala

naa ninna kanasige chandadaranu chandabaaki needalu bandebaruvenu :-P
naa nera hrudayada varadigaranu ninna kanda kshenadali maate marivenu :-)

kshmesinu nee kinnari nudisale nudisale ninnanu heli keli modale churu paapi naanu :)

minchagi neenu baralu nintalleee malegala
becchage nee jotegiralu kutallieee chaligaala

ninna manada kavite saala padeda naanu saalagara
kanna toradu dochikondaa nenupugalige palugara
nanade eee vedane ninage na nedanu heli keli modale churu kalla naanu :-)

minchagi neenu baralu nintalleee malegala
becchage nee jotegiralu kutallieee chaligaala
virahada bege sudalu yedeyalli besige gala inelli nanage uligaala !

The next song goes like this.

onde samane nee usiru pisuguduva tirada mauna!
tumbi tuluko kangalali karagutide kanisa banna!

yadaya jopadiya olage kaalidade kulutide olavu!
manada karmugilina tudige malebillinante novu !
koneirada ekantave olavu.

onde samane nee usiru pisuguduva tirada mauna!
tumbi tuluko kangalali karagutide kanisa banna !

jeeva kaleva amrutake olavendu hesarida bahude ?
prana ulisuoo kailige preeti endu enna bahudu ?

hongasana chadaradalli mullina hasige ali maligi
yatanege mugulnage baralu kanna hani summane holagi
avalanne japisuvude olavu.

jeeva kaleva amrutake olavendu hesarida bahude ?
prana ulisuva kailige preeti endu enna bahude ?

nalku padadagideyali miditagala banisa bahude ?
murru swarada haadinali hrudayavanu haridida bahude.

ukki baruva kanta dalli naralutide nalume gaana.
bikkalisuvaedaolage nagutalide madidha kavana !

ontitanada guruve olave.

Itz better to be doing some crap than being idle

2008-01-21T14:50:00.000Z

Here I come after almost month and half.. lost in the midst of a small journey which is never wanting to end. To wait is the most worst thing that I can think of in life but several times we can't really help and waiting is the only way out. Here I wait for my VISA to fly back to UK.

I have had a wonderful Tour of India starting from my Sister's marriage back in November, followed by Pondicherry bash with Engg classmate. The pondicherry blog can be found here journey-with-oceans.blogspot.com .
From there to Ranebennur for Vijay marriage and then visiting Hampi was a pleasure with my good old friend Raghu, my Guru for the journey of life so far. It was very relaxing and I also felt very proud of the Vijayanagara Samraja (Empire). Hampi trip especially came as a big relief as I was stressed out a bit trying to co-ordinate with my Manager and the travel department with no real results.

It didn't stop there, more events followed one of the most memorable event was meeting with school friends it was as long as 10 years that I got to see each one of them, also had a chance to meet up with Diploma mates the same week.

To follow it was a totally unplanned trip when we drove to Mysore but then landed in Ooty that very night and then enjoyed the train to Coonor and the Tea Estates and Madhumalai Safari.

It was a nice end to the new year 2007 when I went out with my parents to a movie followed by a dinner, for a change I spent this New year with my family.

As New year started it was a mixed expression, I was supposed to return to UK on 2nd of JAN 2008 but couldn't keep up my word to the customer as my VISA was still under processing but was happy to spend more time with family with the extended holidays and also lakshmi was to travel to India that very week which made it even more happier it would have been nice if pradeep also could have made it.

Time just passed by thick and fast and continues to do so for now..

Autumn

2007-11-20T09:57:00.000Z

Autumn

I was trying to find the meaning of autumn and itz origin..

The word 'autumn' is derived from the French word "automne".

Everyone must have heard about Autumn, I had never seen Autumn back home in Bangalore.

Autumn is a transition in the season from Summer to Winter and the beauty of the transition is very enjoyable. During this time, trees shed their leaves, with the leaves changing to a reddish or yellowish hue before falling off. The transition period is wonderful to watch, especially because here in the UK, it is full of Gardens and Trees all around.

Even the nights become more colder and Days become shorter, the Days start around 8AM and end by 4PM in here around this time.

Most of the trees would be without leaves by end of Autumn and sit there waiting for the next summer to arrive when they can really enjoy with the greener leaves again but before that could happen, they have to survive the chillness and the snow. We might enjoy the snow and cold weather but may be these trees wouldn't, they have sacrificed their leaves for the sake of the winter. :-)

- Infinite

Dream come true

2007-11-06T15:35:00.000Z

Small Dreams but when realised make you feel happier.

To watch a football match in the Stadium was a dream and it was realised in style when we ( Manju and me ) had been to watch a Barclays Premier League Match between West Ham United and Boltan Wandarers at the Upton Park.

We were very excited as this was the first time we would see a Premier League match live in the stadium, we managed to reach early so that we wouldn't loose a single minute. It wasn't hard to find the place as there were thousands of people heading towards the stadium.

People in here love the game to a large extent. The stadium has a total capacity of about 35,000. Although this match was a Category B match, all the tickets were sold out, atleast that is what we were told.

As we entered the stadium, it was wonderful, lush green outfield, a thick bed of grass layed in the middle, we wished we could go there and jump on it for a while.

it was just 15 minutes for the kick off, Manju and me were wondering if all tickets were not sold out and may be they were bluffing but ten minutes later all the seats were occupied and then the fun started.

It was a buzzing atmosphere when the players came onto the field, followed by the Club anthem. We didn't know the club anthem, we only managed to move our lips and singing our own anthem.

It was time for kick off and all eyes on the players moving quickly Left and Right to and fro to the goal post.
There were a few guys sitting on my left side, I thought they should be coaching the team coz every time someone looses posession he would yell and say on what they should have done instead, I wonder if he had every played football.

Back to the match, we were just praying atleast we get to see a Goal and then came the moment when a flying right-foot volley from George McCartney of West Ham opened the scoring. It came after sustained pressure from the hosts that saw a clearance off the line from the Bolton Defenders.

The Crowd went wild... screaming enjoying appreciating applauding and we joined the party, a few minutes later it was half time.

As we didn't get tickets next to each other we swaped seats in the second half so that we could have a different view of the match.

The second half was more of a dismay for West ham and luck didn't favour the hosts as there were several goals on target saved and several shots off the target and many a times lost the posession when it mattered. Bolton tried very hard but couldn't manage a goal so far, however they did manage to hit the Bar once.

5 minutes to the Full- time it was still 1-0 and West ham had a upper hand and from no where there was one more Bolton attack and this time to the horror of the crowd it was Nolan ( bolton ) who equalises with a neat finish from close range after the ball was lofted into the area and flicked on by Michalik ( Bolton ) . There was nothing that Robert Green ( West ham ;s Goal Keeper ) could do about it.

Crowd went quiet and there was silence all around the park, some left the stadium after the misery Goal which otherwise would hv fetched Westham their all important 3 points but now they just have 1 point from the Draw.

But we were very pleased as we did see couple of Goals and I forgot to mention there were also couple of yellow cards during the match as well so in all we did manage to see everything except for a penalty kick.

It was a satisfying evening as our Dream came true of watching a Football match.

and in the end let me thank Manju coz without his persuasion and efforts I wouldn't have had made it to the Boleyn Ground.. thatz the name of the Stadium..

there is more coming until next time, itz me signing off..

The Maestro of Melody

2007-11-02T12:04:00.000Z

This month's blog is dedicated to the one of the most versatile singer of South India who holds a Guinness record for singing the most number of songs, dont just see the Quantity, see the Quality of the songs, he is known for his incredible vocal range, deep rich voice, and mastery of style.

He has done playback singing for various genres of Indian music, and he has been highly sought after by many of India's film music composers. He makes his listeners understand the full meaning of the songs that he sings even thought it is peotic, he is none other than S.P Balasubrahmanyam also known as Balu in Telugu industry and SPB, he has been singing for many different languagues Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam Oriya and the list keep going.

He has won several awards in the journey and some noticable ones are Padmashree and Doctorate and about 5-6 National awards, too little for the singer he is.

Anything said about this great Singer is very less, he is one of the Greatest Singer ever in the Indian Industry and will remain for the generation to come by.

It isn't easy to pick the best of SPB's collection, you may end up with 1000's of pages trying to pick the best ones..

Some more sources for you to enjoy SPB's collection

http://spbindia.blogspot.com/2007/09/naguva-nayana-pallavi-anu-pallavi.html
http://covairavee.blogspot.com/2006/06/spb-telugu-songs-2.html
http://www.tamilsongs.net/page/build/singer/S.P.B
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/telugu/m/singer.8752

These are just a few of Hundreds that I like of SPB

Kannada
========
Aaduvenu Nimagagi Kunidaaduvenu - Krishna Nee Kunidaaga
Aakaashadinda - Chandanada Gombe
Aakaasa Deepavu Neenu - Pawana Ganga
Aalaya Mrugaalaya - Mrugaalaya
Ago Ago Kogile - Prema
Aleyo Ale - Ravimaama
Ambaraveri Ambaraveri - Rasika
Arambha Premadarambha - Mane Devru
Ba Araginiye Ba - Digvijaya
Baare Santhege Hogana Ba - Ninunakkare Haalu Sakkare
Bandeya Baalina - Avala Hejje
Belli Rathadali Soorya Thanda - Indrajit
Bisiladarenu Maleyadarenu - Benkiya Bale
Bramhange Thale Kettu - Maari Kannu Hori Myage
Neera bittu nelada mele doni sagadu - Hombisilu
noorondu nenapu edeyaaladinda - Bandhana
kanasaloo neene manasaloo neene - Bayalu Daari
Nanna jeeva neenu - Geetha
Jotheyali - Geetha
neene saakida gini - Manasa Sarovara
Bale bale chandada chedulli hennu - Amruthavarshini
Cheluve Baanallu Neene - Banallu Neene Buviyallu Neene
elliruve manava kaaduva roopasiye - bayalu daari
snehada kadalalli nenapina doniyali - shubhamangala

Tamil
========
Kannal Pesum - Mozhi
Aagaayam - Something Something Unakkum Enakkum
Megangal Ennai - Amarkalam
Sanththam Illathathani - Amarkalam

Telugu
========
Naaloo Nuvvundali
Allibilli Kathala Raave - Chettukinda Pleader
Anando Brahma - Shiva
Botany Klas Undi - Shiva
Chinnari Ponnari - Swathi Muthyam
Ghal Ghal Ghal Ghal - Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana
Andaalalo - Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari
Gaama Gaama - Naa Autograph
Priyatamaa - Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari
Subhalekha - Kondaveeti Donga
Yamaho - Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari
Chinnanaati Chelikade - Yagnam
Bandhrachalam Kondalki - Gangleader
Pani Sa Sa Sa - Gangleader
Vana Vana - Gangleader
Prema Mantram - Sreenu C/O Anu

Perfect Weekend for the Reds....

2007-10-22T09:42:00.001+01:00

Itz been fantastic for the Reds this weekends, For Man-United in Football, For Kimi & Ferrari in F1, For India in 20 - 20, So was it for me.

Man-Utd having started the season in a timid fashion winning 1-0 earlier in the season, broke the shackles to come victorious in their Away match against Aston Villa 4-1. Wayne Rooney took his goal tally to six in the last five matches, Rooney recently scroed his first Goal for England in the last 3 years, awful lot of time for the striker. It wasn't easy coming back 0-1 as Man-U conceeded their first goal in 600+ minutes on the field to Aston Villa.

It was another day of Drama, unexpected things on the Brasilian Formula one Circuit. Kimi has a bleek chance of winning the Championship as it was not just that he had to Win the Race but also Alonso and Hamilton had to loose in a big way, but belive me it happened, with Hamilton's luck running out and Alonso unable to keep up the pace with the ferrari, finally Kimi Raikonnen, also called as the Ice-man won the World Championship for 2007 after coming close twice in the last 4-5 seasons, It is the Dream come true for Kimi and his Fans, like me :-)

It was unbelievable for a moment, I was screaming shouting and enjoying at home.

In Cricket it was time for Young Indian team to show their worth against the mightly Australians especially after the T-20 World cup victory. They stood the kind of expectations and did it again, some sort of respite after losing the one day series.

Change.. sometimes not so good

2007-10-10T16:11:00.000+01:00

As I sit at my desk in office peeping outside the window, I realise that itz been one long year now since I am in UK.

Turning towards the window from my desk, I see a clear sky, may be the sky just read my mind and trying to immitate me, all the trees have gone quiet which normally keep speaking to me from a distance, things have changed quiet a lot in the last one year.. big noticable changes

The window in bangalore office would reveal vehicles buzzing all around, people running around, If I wasn't busy at work, I would rather go out with my friends to have a drink or to have some evening snacks and table tennis at office which I used to enjoy.

But in here, the window doesn't say anything, silence all around, nobody on the roads only CARs all around, if I were to go out probably have to drive a few miles and eat what "a burger or finger chips.. ", not of my choice really.

From the guy who used to work hard enough and hardly had time to think of something new To somebody trying to find new ways to pass time, trying to search for new interesting things to keep himself busy.

I dont know if I can call it a progress or a regress, a conform or a deviate from the target, whatever it is it is not very satisfying for now. Hope to have better days hope to have more cheerful days.

Hanningfield Resorvoir

2007-10-10T14:15:00.000+01:00

It was another weekend, I just couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning so must be the case with everyone, but we ended up in Hanningfield Reservoir an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve with our big gang.. Our “Vivid Bharathi Gang”

8-10 Miles from Basildon, near Stock, this 200 acre reserve offers woodland walks, four bird hides, The Reservoir is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its wildfowl population of coot, pochard and tufted duck as we heard about it.

We stopped by causeway, expecting the usual collection of ducks and gulls but to our surprise we couldn’t really find many of them, although we found a few on the way through the walk but the babies ( moon / yadu ) had already slept so didn’t bother much about it.

It was a bright day as we started to walk in the woods .. a very relaxing one after a heavy meal for all of us, we had already made small groups not intentionally but as we walked, with men leading the way and the women lost in their own world walking slowly but steadily and as always.. it was Ramu who was trying to capture the scenic beauty and us, occasionally we stopped by to check if the women were still following us or lost in the nature.. no offences please..

As we were half way through, there was a “bird hide” , we went in to see ducks but we did not carry a binoculars to really enjoy it, luckily the babies got up by then and were happy to see some ducks… and then the enthusiasm came alive as both Bhavya and yadu started jumping hoping and running..

The clock was ticking towards 5 as we remembered that the gate would close very soon, we stopped by the canteen to pick up some ice-creams and decided that Ramu / Manju / Srinivasji would get the CAR to here so that remaining of us don’t have to walk back.

As they went to pick the CAR some of us started playing cards to pass time until then, I am sure Manju didn’t like the idea J

And at around 6, we drove back to Basildon to call it end of the day.

Thanks to Ramu for organising.

As I sat to write one fine day

2007-10-10T13:31:00.000+01:00

At last I made up my mind to write first of the many blogs to come by, sitting at my office desk having a hundred thoughts with no clear answers. Many of these thoughts were all like HOW, WHEN, WHY, WHAT, doesnt mean I am not satisfied but only trying to find what else can be done, am I doing too little or am I going behind instead of going ahead.

although so many questions were arising, there is a sound deep within trying to say that I was in the right direction and more good things to come by.. more happiness to surrond...