From here and there and a Chennai trip with mixed feelings....

hmm its been quite some isn't it?? Months I am sure.. So guys, its a long story alert. Ill try to keep it interesting.I was all over the place packing up as I was shifting back to my roots, (ahem ahem) Hyderabad (refer to my previous blog to get a clarity on my ethnicity) I finally got hired at India Vision Institute for the position of a Project Manager. I was filled with mixed feelings surprisingly. It hit as an epiphany that I actually had fallen completely and irrevocably in love with Bangalore. The city, the roads(I truly miss the civic sense of driving), parents, uncles,aunts and the fun of staying with three brothers. But then I had a journey ahead that I was destined which I am hoping would unfold and nurture my passion. Waving my byes to the family I marched towards "our" very own Kachiguda express, which I have boarded for years now that we might as well own some of their stakes. 4 am... I reached Hyderabad all covered in a jacket. I got down drenched in my own sweat!! Ouch Hyderabad was hotter than I expected !! At least at 4 am in October.  I knew I had to endure another extended summer. The 1st set of words I uttered were " Oh My God, its fucking hot!" That was my 1 and a half year old Bangalorean side kicking in. Checking into Hotel Mahavir stirred up a lot of childhood memories. My very first Hyderabad trip, we stayed at the same hotel. We were all over the place, running around in the corridors, playing the "lift game" and getting stuck in the elevator,yelling out to the people at the top of my voice, scaring mom and dad,meeting with an accident on the roads of Charminar and lot more. It was like returning to the scene of crime after 17 years. After a brief breakfast I reached my work place.. And there it was, beyond all my imaginations. A red bricked, elite bunglow. It was a "House" that was remodeled into an office setting. I walk in and there are hardly people. It felt different as it was going to be a very unique experience and totally unlike what I actually had in mind. I spent two days doing absolutely nothing.. trust me it felt like 4 days of simply sitting in a place. I started doubting my decisions on taking up this job.I had this instinct to run away from the place because of the boredom. The consolations were indoor work and youngsters which were the only things I missed in my former job. But, then my inkling and my gut asked me to hold on and take a deep breath. Then came the proposal of travelling to Chennai to meet the BOSS and get tuned. That kind of cheered me up. I have a bunch of cousins and grandparents who live in Chennai. It always was fun to visit Chennai even if it was for a day. The city is always welcoming. Dragging my suitcase I boarded another familiar train "The chennai express." This welcomed a lot of mocking at office. All of them spoke only about Deepika Padukone and SRK and my mind voice was just asking me to calm down. I generally pick a book during travel and this time I was torn between few good books. Out of the blue, I some how wanted to read "the half girlfriend." But the back cover blurb was not very enthralling and sounded like a 2nd grade Bollywood movie. I was somehow allured to Devdutt Pattanaik's works after reading "Sita" and wanted to explore his other books. On not finding any of his books I then asked for crime novels which were my forte and suddenly my hands ran into this book called "Am I a Hindu?" It did sound interesting and so did its back cover blurb. This book was the only thing that kept me awake through out the most boring journey I was about to encounter. It was a well maintained 2 AC bogie and was as neat as a pin. That totally blew me away and I got myself very comfortable tucked under the blanket with this amazing book in hand. It kept me quite occupied for about half hour when this loud mouthed - big ass white dress guy (politician) sat next to me. He was t(y)elling his colleagues about his sudden change of plans over the phone which made me wonder why he had a phone in the first place. He was so damn loud. After a couple of phone calls and a bit of showing off he was pulled out of my bogie and was asked to go back to his original seat in another compartment by the very able TTE. We co passengers breathed a sigh of relief. On reaching Chennai, I was duped into paying 500 bucks to reach my office. Cursing my self and my dwindling abilities and enthusiasm to bargain I got down and faced a beautiful multi -storied building facing the serene and a clean Tiruvanmayur beach.It felt so royal. It was an office cum guest house on the top. It sounds poetic, I get it.. but with a  great beach scenery comes great humidity (ok, grammar nazis, the sentence is reframed for puns)I had hot and humid air blowing across my face and hair constantly. I had to shower multiple times through out the day to stay alive.(I am not being hyperbolic here)Changing 3 different climates in a week completely drained up all my energies. After meeting the BOSS and getting acclimatized with my work I got a hang of what my role was. I was glad that I had something to do once I came back to Hyderabad. Meanwhile I made plans to watch the "conjuring" sequel ANNABELLE with Chan (my cousin). It was a perfect co incidence as we had watched Conjuring together. It was like MEANT TO BE!! Atleast that's what we called it :P All through the movie, there was one thought constantly bothering me, "Who the hell buys such an ugly and a ghastly looking doll and make a set out of it??" On the other hand, its fun watching horror movies in halls, more an irony I must say as all of us ended up laughing our hearts out for every scary scene. After the movie we planned to crash at Chan's house. Who would actually sleep when the 3 most garrulous cousins get together..We spent the whole night chatting away to glory.Starting off with movies then moving on politics and finally the love life.. I was given dating tips for about an hour... I was strictly asked to pretend to like girly conversations and take interest in gooy stuff!! Man that sounds like a lot of work!! I finally realized why I repelled guys.. Well, like Ted says, nothing good comes after 2 am. We finally hit the sack at 4:30 am. This was the one and only interesting incident in my whole Chennai trip.Life has taken so many turns and I realized that I have lost my mojo.This was the major learning from the entire trip. I finally decided that I should get back to my long last hobbies and keep myself busy and bring some spark into my life.. Well, those plans are kick starting from tomorrow..With this I officially end this relatively boring, lengthy and not very happening post here assuring that my next post which is definitely in the offing would be interesting as LIFE IN LIMBO has ended and I have begun a new life with new hopes and courage to face new challenges to bring back spark in my life..
WISH ME LUCK.......... :)

Growing up the Tam Brahm way...

Every child grows up in a pattern which remains common among that generation, for instance the 90s kids. Growing up in a Tam Brahm house also has a pattern and am sure every other Tam Brahm will empathize, sympathize and laugh out loud in agreement.
There are typical Tambrahm instances  for every phase of an individual's life, be it your mother scaring you with "Puchandi mama's name" if you were making a fuss while eating or paatu, dance class etc during your childhood days. Right from childhood kids are put in paatu/dance class(carnatic music class) which is more a mandatory chore for a girl and if it is a boy, then he gets to learn to play an instrument if not interested in vocals. I had the chance of learning carnatic music some 5 different times. As we were on transfers during my childhood, all my teachers insisted that I learn from sarali swaras all the time and this pissed me off. Evalavu tharavu than Sa Re Ga Ma ve padarthu(my mind voice).
Mornings used to begin with MS Subrabatham ,Vishnu Sahasranamam and other songs. There used to be a sigh of relief when we hear Vanamali Gadishangi in Vishnu sahasranamam for 2 different reasons.One,the sloka was coming to an end and two, neiveidyam(prasad) was in nearsight. As kids we attended a lot of weddings and functions at friends' and relative's place as we had loads of kids to play with.Cousins, friends and their friends and we never concentrated on the existing mamis and mamas. Little did we know that they would attend all the family functions when we grow up and ask us, Enna nyabagam irruko??(do you remember me??)It is that awkward moment when you fumble and say "o, neenga andha onnu utta periamma thaane" or some made up relation which is better than confessing that you dint know them.Trust me, this works. I have tried it. The word "onnu utta " always makes me giggle... hhaha.. Another Tam brahm trait is to be excellent at academics which includes science and maths majorly. 10th,11th and 12th stds are night mares for every kid and its even worse in Tam Brahm houses. Every relative who always forgets to wish you on  your birthday never forgets to call up on your result day to find out whether pullaiandar(kid) scored "centum"(100%) in maths or not.
Summer vacation was super fun. Travelling to paati and tatha's house(grand parent's house) where the entire batalion of cousins were present, grandma telling us stories while feeding us vetha kozhambu sadam, rasam sadam with appalam and vadam, playing all through the day and sleeping like hibernating animals till late in the morning was the best part of the year.Menu for the travel always involved puliyansadam/chapathi, tayir sadam(Curd rice) and urlakazhangu curry.(potato curry). Unlike a typical Tam Brahm I was not a perennial tayir saadam eater as I did not like the taste. I ate only during summers to combat the effects of hot sun and it was only then amma made avakai pickle and other mango pickles.

Adolescent and youth phases are the most rebelistic phases. This is when you try to be all cool and oppose to all the practices and customs and get to listen to all the "typical Tambrahm dialogues and curses.Paatis and mothers always come up with the best lines.Try playing MTV during mornings.You will hear this same dialogue in the same tone in every tambrahm house."Kalangarthala anda MTV la aadra paatu thevaya, Podigai vai , perumal kumbhabishekam Kaamikara."( Are those obscene songs playing on MTV necessary early in the morning?? Play Podigai, they are broadcasting some deity's kumbhabishekam.)Girls leaving their hair open just gets on to the elder's nerve. Anda thalaya endi ippidi virundu irrukai.. poi edavudu clip a podavendi thane. I am so sick of listening to this dialogue all through my teens. Now, I have made them got used to it. Tumbler a yechhal pannama kudikardu had become a herculean task. Imagine drinking hot filter kaapi with out yecchal pannifying. Water was ok, but coffee and other drinks are really difficult.Girls getting up late in the morning were always rebuked followed by "ni kalyanum anapprom romba kashta pada porai paathukooo."
When a girl's cooking venture goes hay wire her amma says."Na ponna poranda madri irrukku!!"
Coming to the girl quirks during nombu:
1. Amma, can I please take this manja kayyar off my neck. my friends are making fun of it. Amma's reply,"illa, minimum 3 nalavudu kaatikanom." seri atleast can I wear it around my wrist?? Amma: no!!
2. Atleast innikavudu potta ozhunga vechiko di.. (Why dont you wear a big bindi today atleast.)
3. Kazhuda vayasu achu innum podava katta teriyada??( you are donkey years old and still cannot drape a saree) and many more...

Guy quirks:
1. Guys when compared to girls are not put through or bound by many customs. But, one main task is doing Gayatri Japam. This is the only time of the year they are made to wake up early in the morning, take bath and chant Gayatri mantra 1008 times.And every house hold tatha says,"daily ozhunga sandhya vandanam pannariyo illiyo, innikavudu ozhunga pannu da."
I have seen my brother do this in 3 different stages.
the 1st 300 times - the saint way
the next 300- God Speed
the last 400- Harlem shake.
2. reciting abhivadaye with out shuffling gotrams with sutrams becomes a task.
3. reciting mantrams during one's weddings. I witnessed a cousin who accidently  "kottified" vadhiyar's temples when he was supposed to "kottify" his own temples. That awkward face palm moment for that maplai!!

Attending weddings becomes a scary affair for Gen Y especially the girls as every  mami comes around and drops that bomb to the girl's parents .Those 3 horrified words,"ponnuku jaadagam eduthacha??" or coming upto you and saying, "aduthadu nee thanee??" I get really irked at this comment. I dont go and ask the same paati "aduthadu ni thaane" in a funeral. Another important aspect in a wedding, more supreme than the ritual  is" Kaapi nariya irrukono??"

Now coming to the instances common to both the genders:
1. Starting a day with reading Hindu paper as others are considered kandraavi.
2.stealing semi dried "jevvarisi vadam" from terrace in amma's absence.
3. Discussing the extents of quirks with other tam brahm friends saying, unga aathula yavudu parava illa, enga aathlaaa....
4. you are frowned upon , if you cannot identify atleast 4 songs along with ragams and atleast 5-6 musicians in the Tyagaraja aradhana telecasted  on Podigai every year.
5. Checking out guys/girls during common friend's wedding or temples and hoping they dont belong to the same gothram.

Things your elders do that makes your palms meet your face:
1. Making you collect paal (milk) covers which is washed thoroughly and making them stick on the kitchen wall above the sink.
2. Your paati denying to get rid of an old odanjupona (broken) saaman and quoting,"Vechirru, eppovavudu use agum."( dont discard it, it might come of use some day.)
3.Keeping petti(suitcase) outside the house before raahu kalam starts.
4. Recycling blouse piece during navaratri and varalakshmi poojai.
5. Hearing to them constantly abusing pizza.. Enna kandravi Pissa vo..
6. Making every girl learn atleast "Sri Chakra Radha" and "Bhagyada Lakshmi baramma" as they claimit comes handy for every occasion.
7. Relatives wishing each other after every wedding,"Mapla vandacha... Naatu ponnu vandachaa."
8. All the paatis and mamis striving hard in making Raamar Kovil a Rumor Kovil.
9. amma constantly yelling at you to tilt your tumbler and wash your hands with that drop of water before touching non -pathu items on the table while eating
10.Making you pay exam fees before rahu kaalm starts or crib on why they have reopened school or college on Tuesdays.
11. Grandparents rooting for Ravi Chandran Ashwin and Vishy Anand specifically after Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Sadagopan Ramesh..

AAh, the list is endless. On a little serious note, one can notice that in spite of all these customs and rituals we have our own fun in our own ways and although we( I mean the Gen Y) keep cribbing about these customs, we cannot live with out them either, atleast in some way or the other. For instance, I am so used to pathu and yechhal that I myself frown  upon people and complain to my mom saying , amma, ava aathula yechhal pathu lam pakamata polarku." It runs deep in our blood and is carried forward  to the next generation by every chromosome.
So next time you meet a Tam brahm you will definitely have a lot of jests to hear about.
Also remember, 108 is a magical number and thayir saadam is the secret of our energy.
Abhistoo is the favourite cuss word among the elders, although the Gen Y has many more to add.(would be unparliamentary to mention them here)

P.S. This particular blog is written in a lighter sense and not to hurt any body's sentiment( I mean the periyavaa)I am as proud to be a Tam Brahm as you are..
I could not stop myself from uploading this pic...

My first Vote..

Although I am 26, I never had an opportunity to vote as I was shuttling between Hyderabad, Goa and Bangalore for education and job and did not reside at one place which made it difficult to apply for an ID. After shifting to Bangalore I now finally got my ID made. There was a sudden rush of excitement as the election dates were approaching. Besides the excitement I also faced confusion as to whom to cast my vote for. There was a problem of plenty. Every Tom,"DICK"(pun intended) and Harry had his/her own party. All of a sudden every minister tried  pulling a Vivekananda or a Martin Luther King in their campaigns.I put myself through great stress by listening to some of them so that it would ease my decision.All I saw was mockery of the entire system and one another's party.It made no sense even remotely to make a decision based on this.According to me no party deserved even a bleak chance based on their campaigns.Coming to the advertisement campaigns of these parties. Advertisements on "Ab ki bar Modi sarkar" and "Congress ke karyakartha" and the viral jokes on them on the internet only made it worse. Rahul Gandhi's women empowerment and other blah blah being shown in video format only made me reach for a glass of water.Being new to this state I barely knew about the local candidates and their deeds. All I knew were a couple of candidates as they were "famous" and were, not because of their good deeds. I then googled about how much each of them actually executed from their proclamations, weighed my options and finally arrived at a decision.The decision I made  was merely a compromise as none seemed like a perfect PM candidate to me. So at that particular moment I had to pick the less worse from the bag of horrible.So after a lot of political mumbo jumbo I narrowed down to three options one being "None of the above." some how "None of the above" was ringing loudly in my mind. So I decided Ill let my gut guide me at that moment.I hit the bed with no thoughts in my mind. The next day we decided to hit the booth a little early to avoid the rush.I marched towards the booth with great excitement. I was expecting to see a lengthy line of people holding out their IDs and cursing the long line,wiping their sweat out because of the scorching heat or  rubbing their stomachs because of hunger pangs.But, there was none. There were hardly 4 people.There was this archaic building resting on its final pillar. I sometimes wonder how the government officials manage to find the most archaic building for their jobs.Inside the building were the government officials seated in 2 rows and were pondering over the papers placed in front of them. It still aches to see that the government folks don't master at their work in spite of their reiterative training.Every detail these days are available on our phones as apps and so were our electoral details as a message. As usual they were unaware of the features of these new advancements and did not even bother to learn in spite of us explaining to them. Then, finally a guy came along and made them understand about the new advancements. We were then directed towards the booth to cast our votes. To my surprise there were 5 more independent parties added to my list to elevate my confusion levels in that limited time. I had to act fast.I finally narrowed down to one final decision and pressed the button for the party of my interest. I then went to another department to get my finger inked. We finally came out and did what?? Selfie ofcourse!!...It really was a tough decision and I was not happy the way it opened up. I sincerely feel the local politicians should do a lot of home work to promote their parties and save people from this sort of confusion.It was sad to note that Bangalore this year had a very low turn up of voters. People  here, especially the youth  raised their voices and drew throngs for causes like the Nirbhaya rape case, LGBT rights and for some petty, megre crap like valentine's day celebrations or keeping the bars open till 1 am but just shunned themselves when they had to execute a right. It is because of them we need to endure some idiot whom I fear  might rule us for the next five years.I hope there is some solution to all this. Better systems, better facilities or setting the date that does not coincide with a long weekend etc etc. can make this experience a wonderful and a worthy one.

                                                                                                                   sincerely
                                                                                            a very unsatisfied voter.
                                                                                                                 

Childhood now and then,addiction to tech, magnetic bum and a little gyann :)

Its nice to get back to writing after a month.This one is mostly a filler as a good one is in the offing. Actually, I wanted to write couple of days ago but my 5 and a half year old  laptop decided to give me trouble. Well, I wont blame it. I have literally abused it all these five odd years.Poor thing it needed to go for a service.It was then I realized how much I have been addicted to it.But, glad am not incorrigible.It took almost a week and I can proudly say that I survived that week with no side effects. Of course, I relied on my smart phone. Yet, it was'nt the same.It was then I had a sudden epiphany about the new age addiction to technology.I myself am addicted to my laptop, phone and internet and did not even realize the extent until I gave my laptop for a service.Be it necessary things like checking mails, face book and twitter(Ya, they are necessary) or checking the daily temperature, random search on google,catch up on the latest episodes of Castle, Melissa and Joey etc etc or participate in counting down the number of days for Game of thrones season 4. I have made my world  revolve around the computer and internet for everything. I recently attended classes for learning MATLAB to which my brother said," hey why are you spending on classes when you can get to watch sessions on Youtube?"Though its true, I am old school when it comes to hands on training as I believe we learn better when we interact personally and not virtually. I do not deny on how useful you tube is when we do not have other opportunities. There are few things you learn better when you attend classes. This particular incident reminds me of Sheldon where he tells Howard that he learnt swimming on Youtube. It might not be the same but it did in my head.So, its alarming to notice how we have made our lives revolve around these gadgets, be it the kids or the elders. I no longer see kids going out to play or ride on their bikes gallivanting. they are allured in this whirlpool of online gaming. I still remember those days of my childhood where a gang of 20 kids played every game possible at Pradeep apartments,Hyderabad. Kids from all ages participated.We devoted 2 hours of our daily time to playing even during our annual examinations. Although we never had a fancy play area, we never thought it to be a constraint. We designed games based on the area we had to play, for eg. car parks were the best to play hide and seek especially during late evenings as it had stingy spaces to hide and would be less visible due to lack of light. If our luck favored us, some of the car doors would have been left unlocked and that would be the best spot to hide.Our other specialty was Dog and the bone. We would split ourselves in to 2 groups with equal distribution of good and mediocre players along with kids who would be considered "joker"(ha ha we loved that term) and would fight for the bone. This particular game would attract visitors. Our shouts and over the roof enthusiasm would draw our parents to their respective balconies and watch us play. It always happens that my best and a very good friend Mitra and me used to get  picked for opposite teams and most of the times end up facing each other on ground. As both of us were good in this game it used to be difficult to judge who would get the bone and so we used to end up circling the bone for really long periods of time pissing off the other players.Chain cut and Taal were other games we loved playing. It was one of the few games we invented. Dragging a chain of people around to catch the others was as insane as it sounds.It was hilarious to watch those strong boys dragging kids and girls and yelling,"Common, we need to catch them ." Mitra and me were one of those girls who played almost all the games including cricket and 7 stones with guys.We gained an easy access because of my brother, Balaji.From a very young age he was a cricket enthusiast and all my colony annas(term used to address the elderly guys) loved to include him in their teams and that is how even we managed to weasel our way in. After finishing with the games downstairs, we played another round on our respective floors. We invented our very own floor game called "MAT TOUCH." Although, I was not a part of its inception, I have helped them improvise by laying rules.The denner(the person who is supposed to make others out) uses the foot mat and slips it using his foot and whose ever foot gets touched by the mat becomes the next denner. This was a perfect game to be played on those small floors.So, back to the point hitherto, we have played a lot of physical games to the point that we ended up with sun strokes during summers.I hardly find kids these days doing that. Conditions are better now. Every apartment has its own play area and there are a lot more new games that have come up. I would encourage all the parents to tell their children to go out and play rather than being a couch potato and falling for PSPs and Xboxes which of course can be played at other times. Speaking of the Youth and me being one, would totally agree that we too have fallen deeply for the techy stuff. We have developed a magnetic bum that gets attracted to the  internet. Every thing we do is on the internet.Right from shopping(when we are actually purchasing),talking(when the person is actually next door) etc. Technology should only help us in connecting people but not take over and replace us.It is both a boon and a bane. Technology has definitely brought a lot of  advancements like looking up and finding a long lost friend and getting back in touch, spreading of information, news and alerts and inventing new ways for helping people keep in touch. But, it has gone to an extent that parents and kids have to write on each other's Facebook walls asking them to come over for dinner or getting some megre work done. Even the novels these days are read online.Well, it is cheaper on the pocket, I agree, but how long can one sit and saccade to read it on a computer or a kindle?I did try reading books online a few times but found that I could never finish the books, as I enjoyed reading my books in various positions such as sitting, leaning, laying down etc. etc.I understood that some pleasures cannot be replaced by the upcoming technologies and can be enjoyed better only the traditional way.People have replaced their former hobbies with browsing to an extent that they list surfing(ahem ahem surfing,more like living) the internet as their hobby on their resumes too. I am very much a lover of these shiny new gadgets and apps but I am also aware of what the pleasure is to go out and have an actual chat with a friend face to face when they in town or go watch a movie with family and friends or stroll around aimlessly in malls window shopping or at Tank bund eating pani puris, maize cobs and other road side delicacies.Twenty years down the lane when we look back it is only these memories that will bring a smile on your face and not the time spent on PSPs or internet chatting.

So for all the people out there, go get a life outside the i or the e world some times before you get a TKO(duh, Technical Knock Out). It definitely is relaxing. Ok, looks like I spent an hour writing this.Wonder if there is a new tweet or comment for me on my wall..Lemme go check it :) giggles..

Our trip to the North-2

Contd...
The next day we took a tour to the local temples. We were to visit Pehelgham but because of the snowfall, all the roads were blocked towards Srinagar and we had to stay back another day at Katra. We visited few temples like Naudeviyon ka mandir and Shiv Khori caves which was around 80 kms away from Katra. It took the entire day because of the distance and the Ghat section. The next day was the beginning of the journey to the most enthralling place called Gulamrg. Its probably the most exciting place I have ever been to so far. This place is around 300 kms from Jammu. The en route to this place is equally breathtaking. We witnessed snow capped mountains and valleys shooting down from them.

On gradually nearing Srinagar we witnessed snow on either sides of the road neatly shoveled by the Border Security Force. It paves a beautiful way. Although the snow fall was minimum in comparison to what we saw at Gulmarg, we were thrilled as it was the first time we saw snow. It looked like a scene out of a postcard.

Isnt it breathtaking? In places like this the traffic is slow moving (more like snail's pace) and it took us the whole day to reach Gulmarg. We reached a place called Tangmarg  at 2am. It was freezing outside. The temperature had dropped to minus officially now. We woke up from our disturbed slumber and exerted all our guts to get out of our car. The chillness rained down our body. Our toes and fingers almost froze inspite of our heavy clothing. Thanks to our driver's friend who owned a coat and boots rental place there, we found ourselves our fur coats and rubber boots. We then took another car whose wheels were chains with spikes so that it would not skid during the journey. We then drove for another 16km at 2:15 am to reach Gulmarg. Although we were freezing our asses off we could not stop but enjoy the beauty of mother nature in the moon light.. well, who am I kidding.. the street light. It was splendid. I am at loss of adjectives to describe the beauty. The snow here was a lot more fresh and heavy. Have a look, this was the view.

My brother and cousin decided to get their pictures clicked at 3 am in that heavy snow.We then managed to pull our luggage all together and tried to walk on the snow to reach our cottages. Some of us slipped quite a few yards. ahahha it was funny to them fall. As we were 11 people we hired a 8 bedded cottage and a fancy 1 BHK cottage. The 8 bedded cottage looked something like this.

Doesnt it remind us of Snow White and seven dwarf's hide out??? It had 8 beds with electric blankets which gave the warmth. One can get information regarding the bookings and other information from this site.

http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g317095-d3185017-Reviews-JKTDC_Hut_Gulmarg-Gulmarg_Kashmir_Jammu_and_Kashmir.html

it has details  of other accommodation too.There was a primitive boiler which kept the room warm by burning firewood which had to be filled once in every 3-4 hrs.It did work well. we dried out our coats and socks and gathered around like a bonfire. Surprisingly, we dint feel like sleepy at all. We then forced ourselves to sleep as we had an amazing day to enjoy. we woke up at 8 am and were welcomed with steaming hot ginger tea by the care takers. The hospitality was really great (that was because we were the only guests at the cottage) The chief, yes thats what we called him as he liked to deliver long lectures like that of a college orientation.He then explained to us about how things operated there. we then freshened up and changed. What!! you expect us to bathe in that shitting cool temperature?? No ways!! We then put on our overly sized, humongous coats and rubber boots and set out for the local activities. every place, every object was worth clicking a picture.Me being a photography enthusiast could not hold myself from clicking multiple clicks. Although I would love to post all of the pictures, I am restricting my self to post a few here...

We walked down a few furlongs to reach Gondola, where we get to ride the cable cars to reach the higher altitudes. While the tickets were being purchased, we decided to click a few (more like 100s) of pictures.As it was not snowing, we threw snow at each other and clicked pictures. It was like we were reliving our childhood again. even the elders joined us in snow bowling. Then we took to the cable cars. These cars were French made and were introduced in 2005. There were two halts, Phase 1 and Phase 2. The elders made it only to Phase 1 and we kids (ahem ahem) went on to Phase 2. The en route again was just mind blowing. The ground was covered with at least 2 feet snow. As we gradually went saw that the huts, wells were all covered up with snow. It is been told that this forms a natural track for skiing.Our guide apparently felt that Apls was just a jest in comparison to this.well, in his defense he was right. We finally reached the Pase 1 which was about 10000 ft from the ground. 

The kids, thats us, went on further to Phase 2 which was at a height of 13500 feet from the ground.This was truly a bliss.It was after this we realized why the Pakis are bent upon capturing Kashmir. Virgin white snow, clear blue sky, I felt like I was on a shooting set up. This was the view that caught our sight when we reached Phase 2.

The clouds were below our eye level. It felt heaven. The shadows also were blue because of the reflection from the snow.it took us few minutes to actually understand that we were indeed on earth. Although, the entire place wore a blanket of snow, the sunlight at that altitude provided us great warmth. It a perfect marriage of chillness with warmth. We were basking there for hours together. Our guide was a man with great enthusiasm. He volunteered to click our pictures and was quite good at it too. We clicked hundreds of pictures again.We borrowed the poses from various Hindi movies .. here are a few:

We were told that the LOC was around 15-20 kms from here. With great regret that we had to go back, we mounted the cable cars to come down. By then, the chillness started setting in. By 4 pm it started getting dark and cold. We then decided to have decent lunch and walked 2 km to find a mediocre place. We then started placing orders like crazy as we were totally drained out from the walk and the other activities at Phase 1 and 2. We gulped down food even before he could turn around or finish serving the rest.we hogged to our capacity and took a cab ride back to the room. We then enjoyed the warmth by the fire wood back at our room.The elders decided to catch up on the serials they had missed all these days on the TV at our room. After hours and hours of talking, eating, photo sessions we finally took to rest.The next day we had to get back to Jammu to board our train back to Delhi. We all left the place with great memories and were eagerly waiting to watch the photos to relive the moment. We reached Jammu again at 2am (courtesy the snow fall) and hit the sack!! rushing to the station next day we boarded the train to Delhi. 

I personally loved Delhi. The roads were wider, the traffic was under control and the pollution was reduced to almost zilch.I was allured by the means of their transport; buses, autos running on LPGs, battery operated rickshaws and metro trains.We were very eager to take the metro trains. We then went sight seeing the next day. Inspite of the limited time we rushed to Qutub minar and went shopping at Palika bazar. I personally loved the metro train rides. The icing on the cake was the food we had.We tasted almost all the delicacies of the road side food; pani puri, paneer sandwich, vada paav etc etc. Then we rushed to "haldiraams" the official noruku theeni maker. We hogged down plates of dhoklas, khandvis, gajar halwa, jelebis, samosas, another round of pani puri, masal chat and pedas. the entire platter disappeared with in minutes.

We then finally reached the station to board "the rajdhaani express" that took us back home. All  we did (atleast balu, arvind and me) through the journey was sleep. We were sleep deprived for almost a week and hence we slept through the entire journey.Realizing this, the railway pantry attenders woke us up while serving food every time and even offered to pick up our plates from our berths. It was a total bliss. 

After 28 hours of travel we reached Bangalore safe and sound and all excited to share our experiences with others.

This so far has been the best family tour I have ever taken. With a lot of wonderful and unforgettable memories I now officially sign off.

Cheers

CASTLE- The Television series

There are two kinds of folks who sit around and think of how to kill people. Psychopaths and Mystery writers. He is the one who is paid better.... Yes you are right. It is Richard Castle.
Castle is one such show which has absolutely gotten me smitten. I found the first two seasons of this show on one of my cousin's flash drive and thought let me have a look at it. Ever since I have fallen in love with this show. I have never missed a single episode since then.What makes this such a good show? Is it the characters or the stupendous script or the direction? Well, if you ask me it is a marvellous amalgam of all the three.I am an ardent fan of crime and mystery novels.So this show is my obvious favorite.
The story revolves around the following characters in NewYork.

1. Richard Castle: He is a famous crime novelist who has killed his main character called Derek Storm in one of his world famous "Storm series." Derek was his golden goose but Richard felt that the character became too predictable so he put a bullet through his head.He meets detective Kate Beckett when he is asked to (more like cajoling the Mayor and the Captain) to help them out in a case where the killer mimics the murders from one of his books. He is smitten by Beckett's work, her style and her charm and decides to make her his muse for the next set of crime novels. He lives with his mom Martha Rogers and his daughter Alexis.

2. Detective Kate Beckett: She is savvy and a highly qualified(over qualified for a detective)  detective working for the NYPD. She is a highly driven cop by passion and hence has the highest closure rates of cases in her Precinct. Though she graduated from Stanford with a degree in Law she took up a job as cop. The obsession behind this was her mother's murder.Her mother who was an attorney was killed by  anonymous mobsters/gangsters in her alley.This pushed  Kate to take up a job as a cop at NYPD and hunt down the guy responsible for her mother's murder. Also, she is a huge fan of Castle's work and has read every book.(although she does not disclose this to him directly.)

3.Detective Kevin Ryan: Irish by origin, Ryan works with Beckett's team along with Detective Esposito and is a valuable asset to the team.He is the "records" of the team. Though he portrays a softie look, he is pretty strong mentally and physically. This becomes very evident in the episode where every one comes to know that he lived as an underground mafia for seven years and was a valuable source of information to the cops.
He is more of a thinker.When Beckett and Espo got suspended he remained the inside source for them and helped them catch Beckett's mom's murderer.He has a wife who is played his real life wife Juliana and now has a daughter in the show.

4. Detective Javier Esposito: Spanish by origin, Espo is also a part of Beckett's team. Ryan and Espo are partners in crime and nagging Beckett and Castle. They have this wonderful yet funny "bromance" going on.They try their best to remain updated about Beckett's love life and claim that they are looking out for her. Well, they do. Espo is  former military and has joined NYPD. So he is  the rugged macho in the team which he often boasts of in the precinct and while hitting on girls. He plays a vital role in helping Beckett overcome her PTSD after her bullet shot injury and also in catching her mom's murderer.

Ok, now enough with the character background. I feel like WIKIPEDIA.
Coming to the reasons on why I love this show. The cast seem to blend into their respective roles so well that the viewers fail to differentiate them from their real life. I personally love the way Stana(Kate) is depicted.She is a strong, brilliant, brave yet a mysterious detective who believes in bringing justice to the victim. She is one of the very few detectives who connects with the victim and the family and helps bring them justice as promised. The way she breaks the news to the victim's family, the empathy she expresses is often talked about in the show and it is this trait that makes her an excellent detective and of course drove Castle fall in madly in love with her. Her interrogations with the suspects are also so savvy that even the notorious of the murderers fall prey to her questions and confess to their crime.Castle calls her a "Fox in the box" when she enters the interrogation room. Besides this, she is full of grace, charm and respect. The trait I like in her the most is she does not behave like a Twinkie. She has her own priorities and does not let anything or any one compromise with it.Though she is daring and dashing she does not manifest the feelings she has for Castle out loud although Ryan and Espo clearly notice it and keeps nagging her. She plays hard to get.Being the only female detective in the precinct she needs to flaunt this attitude and charm to gain  respect and status and Stana has done complete justice to the role. Her perseverance pays off when she finally catches her mother's murderer with her team's help only to find out that he is the Senator of New York. She lets him go then as she does not have enough evidence to prove to the DA.(District attorney) and challenges that one day she will drag him and put him behind the bars. The scenes where she gets affected by her gun shot and her coping with PTSD are really breath taking.It has been portrayed so beautifully.I personally see a lot of myself in Beckett's character especially the "holding on and striving until you get/make it" trait.
The episodes are of a huge varieties. The cases  range from music, fashion, reality shows to kidnapping,mafias and serial killers.The romance between Kate and Castle is kept very subtle and does not get very mushy. This avoids the story getting sidetracked.Also, the hate, wrath and sarcasm Castle gets from the new captain is hilarious.One can pick up cool words like APB, burner phone, Vic, MO etc.Burner phone is my personal favorite.
So with  a good blend of thriller,crime,comedy, romance, bromance and fun, Castle is really the first on my list of shows (infact this website is first on my bookmarks for online viewing too)and of course "People's choice" too. (pun intended)

Tamil, Tamizh, Taamil(in peter) தமிழ்

Fear not, I am not rendering any DMK speech here.Though all the above names mean the same they are different. I am a Tamilian, TamBrahm to be more specific who grew up in many states(but luckily with a sane mental state) other than Tamil Nadu. When someone asks me where I belong, I literally think about the order before I start blabbering about my origin. You see, I am an Iyer whose roots originated from Tanjore or so I am told.Though I never got a chance to visit, I am told that the only way to reach the kukgramam is exactly similar to the mode  Madhavan describes in the movie NalanDhamayanthi .My Grandfather moved out  and got situated at different places because of work and finally settled in Bangalore(thankfully).Hence I claim Bangalore to be my native although I have never stayed here.I grew up in Vijayawada, Bellary, Hyderabad and now am finally settled here at Bangalore. Enough with the history.Now you get why I fumble when you ask me this question.Of late I have started saying that I am a perfect Indian considering the different places I have lived in.
The primary intention of giving my introduction is to give you all a glimpse of how how many different Tamil slangs I am exposed to(I know you guys are looking for Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli slang. But there are others besides these.)
As a Tambrahm I mastered the aathu baashai (vaango,pongo,aathu,solrel etc. etc.) and thought that was the only Tamil slang that existed, as the only few Tamil friends I had were brahmins too and  had the same slang.Also we were not exposed to Tamil channels because only DD ruled then and our local channels were either Telugu or Kannada. And when we visited our cousins in Madurai they spoke to us in our aathu baashai and hence I remained ignorant about these other slangs. There were times even our aathu bashai was a mixture of Hindi, English,a bit of Telugu &Tamil.Here are some of the sentences composed by my brother and me:
1. Samay kuda ennoda ishara la nachardu.(Time also dances to my tunes)
2.But ana (this im guessing every one utters)
3.O andha movie  romba onnum Khas a illa. Lite eduthuku, pakaada.( That movie is not even a mediocre one so avoid it. Khas meaning (great), Lite eduthuko(combination of Telugu and tamil)
4. Mom's friend had come home one day when she was not around. This is what was told to her:
Aunty amma velila kacheri ku peirka.. ana beech la ezhundundu vanduduva innum koncham time la.(Mom has gone out for a kacheri but will leave half way as she it might get late.) Aunty was baffled as there is no beach in Hyderabad.
5.Inda galli la left edunthunda oru chourastha varum.(if you cut a left here you shall get a four 4 way route).As hilarious as it sounds, we did talk that way for a few years while getting acclimatized to  new places.

 Finally the day came when we got our  cable connection. We had been listening to the cool kids at school bragging about all the new cartoons,shows and movies they had been watching on their cable channels.We on the other hand were watching latest movies(movies that released some 10 years ago were played on DD as the putham pudiya thirai padam) on our DD channel.
We started watching Sun TV in tamil malai, Raj, Jaya etc... We then gradually picked up the Madras bashai inspite of amma and appa t(y)elling us not to follow that language. But, common it was fun. Kaida, kasmalum, poramboku etc. etc etc. Gosh, what all we picked up.Also, it was then I keenly noted the different dilects. I started meeting different people who spoke in different slangs of Tamil. For instance my athimber(brother in law) is from Tirunelveli. All I could picture when he spoke were dialogues from the movie Dum Dum Dum. Yela, ennatha cholluda ni (What are you saying)...(giggles) Then the Madura bashai. Mom belonged to Madurai and all my maternal cousins had a bit of this slang.(Although, it was only now I noticed it)Thanks to our endless viewing of Vadivel's comedy scenes I picked up some of Madura basha too, for instance, angitu ingitu (here and there), vlatuthanam(playfulness) and so on.
People at my work place also made fun of my aathu bashai (even though they belonged to the same clan as mine) I slowly picked up the way in which they spoke as in vanga, ponga, vandirchu.Well, I donot know if this helped me at work but it definitely helped me during my conversations(fights) with the auto guys when I visited Chennai. The auto guy almost all the times guessed I was from a different place because of my slang(aathu bashai) even when I told him the routes correctly.Enna ooru ma neenga, Bombay ya, Delhi yaa But, now naaah.I am actually proud of it.(patting my back).
Now coming to the confusions created in these different slangs especially the relatives' addressing.We Tamilians are very fond or perhaps obsessed with the relation MAMA. I notice that others call their sister's husband- mama, aunt's husband- mama and uncle(mother's brother) also mama and they make fun of me when I say athimber .Hey, common we atleast have different names for different relatives. Of course any unknown elderly person who comes home is also addressed Mama by us. Ambi mama, Subramanian mama, Venkatachari mama etc etc.Also, the police officers are nicknamed mama too.(beware,donot call them mama right to their face. Apprently they dont like it)
For those Northies, who think every South Indian is a madrasi, hear me out... NO!!! Here is an article which has already highlighted the important facts which I wanted to say too.

http://junktechie.com/2014/01/31/madrasis-south-india

I as a Tamilian got intimidated very easily by other groupies during a young age.There were times when I wondered why I was born a Tamilian?I found nothing cool to boast about. I did not meet the right people then. But now things have changed. I really am proud to be a Tamilian.Tamil was, is and will be the coolest language.We do have the coolest set of slangs and accents.I now see people(who are not Tamilians) call each other Macha and Machi as they sound cool and fun. Even the Bollywood seems to be obsessed with the Tamil film Industry. We have made a mark for ourselves in every field.(I would hate to mention or talk about the movie Chennai express as it was a lame, sick potrait of Tamilians and as claimed it was not stereotypical at all)
So Keep Calm and be proud to call yourself a Tamilian. Also Talavair(Rajinikanth) Rocksss and you know it!! GOD BLESS THE CABLE TV !!
Vokey machi, now slightaaa open the bottle I say!!

Our Trip to the North -1

As avid travelers, my brother and I decided we should take a trip to the North with our family as a trip had been pending for quite a few years. On consulting with my cousins we decided to plan a trip to VaishnoDevi, Katra, Pehelgham,Gulmarg,Jammu, Kashmir,Agra and Delhi.We are a family of 11 and planning a trip this long and for all the 11 members was really a Herculean task.But, the joy that we were all travelling together for the first time and to the most exciting places during the winters made us forget all the wrath of bookings and planning.

As usual a lot of people suggested that visiting these places during the month of December was not a good idea and was not safe.Well,having been brought up in places like Vijayawada, Bellary and Hyderabad where the only climates we experienced were "hot, hotter and hottest" we desperately wanted to witness snowfall and what better season to pick other than the December winter? We laid out a plan according to the train availability and connectivity. As we planned our trip one month in advance, the IRCTC website did not give us much trouble in booking tickets.(Ufff, I still cannot forget my tatkal booking days where I spent 1 hr in front of my laptop banging on the refresh button)We took the Rajdhani express to reach Delhi from where our trip began.as most of us were used to only overnight travels, a journey of almost 25 hours was a pain in the ass. But the entertainment kept us alive. The train route was well  planned connecting us to  almost every state starting from South to North. we passed through Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh,Agra and finally reaching Delhi. Some of us had not visited Taj Mahal so we got down at Agra to go see our national heritage and one of the seven wonders.The weather was pretty rough because of the chill and thick fog and hence delaying our travel time.We reached Agra at about 10:00am(which should have been 8 am)It had been 2 days we had taken a bath. I never imagined in my life that I would miss bathing. so folks, if you are planning a north tour during the winter you need to be less obsessed about personal sanity.We refreshed ourselves(again not bathe), had some yummy Sandwiches, Samosas and Poha at the station.If you are a south Indian, you definitely will be struck by this question, How can people have kachoris, jelabis and samosas for break fast? Well, the answer is due to the cold weather a lot of calories gets burned for performing simple tasks and this hefty breakfast helps them through out the day.The very sight of them eating all this at 10 am filled my stomach and I just stuck to my veg sandwich which was delicious by the way.After our pethpooja we decided to start our trip to Taj Mahal. Coming to the mode of travel, there are a lot taxis available just outside the station with pre- paid meters which shuttle between Taj Mahal and the railway station. This is the best mode of transport. We had very limited time and hence visited only the Taj. Taj is only 8 kms away from the station.Agra is a small city and we could actually see other structures on our way( ofcourse, at a distance) Dad lived in Agra for a few years before his marriage and  shared with us some of the anecdotes and incidents that had taken place during his time. Apparently, every household had a facility to avail a licensed gun for self defense when they were invaded by bandits.How cool is that? I immediately sprang and asked why my Dad dint avail it. I mean wouldnt it be cool to flaunt a gun and that too a vintage one?It reminded me of the dakus(bandits) from Sholay and Gabbar's dialogue,"Kitney Aadmi the re Kalia?"Of course, there is no such facility now. Tsch. Moving on, we reached The Taj in about 15 mins.All I could witness was this when I first stepped out of the taxi.

This monument is a replica of the Taj and is situated near the ticket counter.It was about 12:30pm in the afternoon but the weather dint seem so. It was cold and foggy.We had to wait for almost an hour to actually enter the path that lead us to the Taj. There were separate lines of men,women and foreigners.After going through strict checks and frisks we finally entered the path that led us to the Taj. Its a 2 km walk but for people who dont prefer walking or for the elderly and physically impaired there were horse carts, camel carts and battery operated autos. We walked the stretch and finally reached the entrance. Lo and behold we could not spot the monument because of the thick fog.It took about 20 mins for the fog to clear & reveal the mangnificent beauty it was hiding .I was at loss of words. It really was beautiful. I could not hold myself from clicking multiple photographs.Here are a few.

These are some of the  best shots I could get despite the thick fog.We spent around 2 hours clicking family pictures with this splendid backdrop.We then visited the grave of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. Another good view was the banks of river Yamuna. The still waters looked beautiful adjacent to this. We then hurried to have our lunch as we were already late for our train. We dined at this beautiful vegetarian restaurant called Swad somewhere close to the station. It was only then we found that our train was running late by three hours.we took our own sweet time and had a hefty meal as we had been eating the same old boring Rajdhani food. We officially started our parata and roti platter from that day. On reaching the station we learnt that our train was running late by 6 hours. We had to reach Delhi that night as the next train to Jammu was early in the morning next day.We were asked to board Punjab mail so that we could reach Delhi by atleast 9:00pm. This was one of the unforgettable journeys we ever had. We booked open tickets for all of us and entered the train which looked more like passenger. The train was already filled to capacity even before we boarded. We boarded the train with all our luggage and hoped to find seats to sit. Surprisingly with in 15-20 mins all of us got situated safely with our luggage. All my prayers were answered.After three hours of travelling in that completely full compartment we squeezed to get out of the cabin on reaching Delhi.We reached Delhi at 9:30 pm.It was shivering cold.It was then we got the actual feel of winter.All of us were adorning atleast 2 layers of woolen clothing, a scarf, woolen socks and shoes. We stayed over at the Railway dorm for that night as we had an early train next day.We had a good night's sleep in spite of the shivering weather outside.Again, we skipped bathing the next day because of the not so clean bathrooms(it was 3 days in a row now)and figured we would reach Katra,Jammu and bathe in peace.Again, our train was delayed by and hour and a half and we finally boarded the train. Again, if you are a frequent South Indian railway passenger you will definitely loath the North railways for their lack of sanity and passenger etiquette.One does not simply get off your so called reserved seat unless you yell at them or shoo them away. Yet, they manage to butter you up and get a small but a significant part of your berth to sit.Strategies you see. We passed through Punjab, witnessed its fields, Singh sahebs driving their tractors, dried up rivers of Jhelum,Beas and Chenab. We also tasted the famous Channe Bature and roti wo bhi makhan maarke at the Ludhiana station. The chillness gradually set in when we were approaching Jammu. There is another strange thing that happens when you enter the Jammu border. All your prepaid cellphone connections gets disconnected( I am guessing because of security reasons) So we had no phone access in our whole one week journey in and across J&K. Thanks to this we had an undisturbed and a proper vacation.On reaching Jammu we booked two taxis that took us to Katra(which is about 50 kms from jammu) for the halt. On the way we had our dinner in one of the dhabas which served the best Rajma Chawal.It really was finger licking good.On our way to the hotel we had a beautiful of Vaishno Devi hill with its well lit pathway.It was a spectacular view.We finally reached our Hotel. It was a good hotel with clean and well furnished rooms at economic rates.
http://hotel.yatra.com/hotels-india/hotel/details.htm?hotelID=TGR-00005237&ci=GYTHotel&gclid=CMyrsrzyqLwCFSQ44godFBMAbQ
While all of them were busy resting, I ran to take my bath. It had already been three days and it felt yucky!!
I ran a hot bath which brought  my joints back to life.We started early to ascend the hill to Mata Vaishno Devi's Shrine.It was a 12.50km stretch up the hill. There are various ways one can use to reach the top.
Most of them prefer walking, but there horses, ponies, palanquins and helicopters. All the information regarding booking and other details can be found on this website.
https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/
We started our walk after having hot adrak(ginger)chai. We started at around 10 am. It was pretty cold at the foot of the hill. We figured we would wear our jackets and wool wear as rain was expected(we checked the weather info of every place we were travelling on www.accuweatherinfo.com) As we were gradually walking the sun was up and we started to sweat and off went the jackets, gloves and scarves back into the bag. It was a pleasant walk. There were shops all over the hill selling water, juices, food,vegetable salds and other confectioneries.also for every stretch there were benches if one wanted to rest.

  This is the view of the path from mid way. we took a few breaks, had a few cold drinks to quench our thirst and finally reached the shrine at 3:00pm. We had to deposit our shoes at the deposit box. Man, did our feet freeze. The next one and a half hour stretch was the most difficult one, not because of the path but because of our frozen feet. all of us walked chanting the name of Mata Vaishno so that we could distract ourselves from the cold weather. The earlier cave path is now closed and a new entrance is made so that people could walk straight with out banging their heads against anything. There was another round of frisking and security check and we finally entered in to the shrine.Though it was pushy, we had a good dharshan of Mata. Unlike our idols this was quite different in appearance. It was cast in a stone with no significant feature except for the decorations.After a good dharshan we had our lunch at one of the dhabas and started to walk our way back. We started to get the pinch of tiredness and pain. It took us almost seven hours to descend the hill. The whole journey takes about 12 hours. We somehow managed to reach our hotel in single piece.All I remember was hitting my bed. The rest was blurred... 

TO BE CONTINUED...........................

Travel photographs