thegnuer

It seems like i was living life of someone else till this month and now feel like "i'm back!" .

Missing Bombay mari jaan !

Eventful and surprising day , was happy to see new people around made new friendz ,
had bhang and lots of fun.
Morning after breakfast , my house was raided by Nikhil's gang , Nikhil , AM , Aligator aka Surjeet and Anand and then soon followed by SAPians Rahul , Lokesh , Spotty and Aditya.
The colours were all over the terrace and of-course on participants. Aditya bought the stuff and Swapnil and Chandu prepared it.
It was nice experience although it took toll on me resulting me over sleeping on Sunday afternoon.

A great start for the Sunday .. As woke up at 6:30 (yeah that's right 6:30 in the morning :-D ), Rushing home ,cutting thought the fog on the intermediate ring road at some decent speed made my hands as chilled as ice candies .

Why? .. was the question for this early start in this cold then there was answer i wanted to attend a Marathi musical program by Salil and Sandeep. This was the Version 2 of their last year's performance.




The crowd was wonderful and when the prg began it was musical treat, hearing the songs and the poems that touched my heart for few moments but impacting every moment of my life. Although me and swap was got the place at one extreme of balcony but we did lots of commentary work and swap did as usual the naming rituals for almost every person he can see. Meet new friends and so some usual faces too. Thanks to Anand who has given me the ticket for the show.







The food was the next question ... but that was solved by Chandu's mom . Since she came in Bangalore my Marathi food problem been solved :D. This was the first time that i was been having food that i like on the festive season. Really i thank chandu and his mom for that.



Upto Tea time i was doing somethings which most of the time i called TP like , ripping cd , sipping tea and watching the DDLJ . Something always happens when more than one enthu person is present at my place :D, so this time also it struck !!



"Go Karting" was on the menu ... so the plans was ready in 15 mins and we were there in hours time ... getting though the Bangalore Traffic to reach RT Nagar. This was the First time i was holding steering of that tiny toy-like vehicle (?). At first sight it look very easy to me .."piece of cake" but it turned more interesting we zoomed thought the lanes "Santosh , Swapnil , Kaustubh , Praveen and Me ". Although I manage to came 2nd place after being start last, byt not before banging 3 cars and smashing a dozens tires on the track . By the time i was looking good on track it was my last lap . As usual every good thing has come to an end this one also .... But it was really awesome experience better than bowling . Now this is on my radar if there is any every personal or professional. The Coffee day along the track was also looking great.


I really need to thank Anand , Chandu & his mom and Santosh for have such wonderful day in my life. But am I missing someone ... there was one person common throughout...yeah mr swap. . :-)

Thank you God , please let everyone have such wonderful day ... and every holiday of mine , be like this much action packed and spaced on track.

It was a planned event by  my roomie Swap , for the kayaking and Bunggy jummping .
Bike on the Mysore road rocks!!! 80 avg speed turns out to be great thing todo except when it rains.
Breakfast at Ramnagar and then sncks at Srirangapattanam . Then went along with the adventure sports guys to pandavakada. And landed on Visweshwarya canal for kayaking. After the 3 hr we moved on to the Mysore University Pavalion grounds for bunngy jumpping . It was awesome , heights still scares me.
Got room booked and went to CCD and then moved to Palace and finially Ramanshree for food.

It was awesome day !


That what i called action packed day :-D

Bangalore Marathon


The experience to be part of the mammoth race is awesome. I was privileged, to be there and I'm proud of it :D.
Of course it was not that easy to get off and run on Sunday morning. Swapnil took lots of effort to get registration done just few hours before the race day.

On the day we had nice juice and went early there. I was surprised to so many people running in half marathon which was 21 km. I didn't even look at the full marathon 42 km. I just preferred and told myself the achievement of my life is 7km Celebration Run! .


The venue was quite full of people , the joy and the energy there was wonderful. Also lots of company used this occasion to brand them self . the firms which mark their presence was : kotak (yessss... give me red), LG soft, Times Group (red cap). Britannia . I really like their idea of bringing the employee to the marathon and making it feel special.


The race was painful for sometime and then it went smooth as the time passed . I was totally tired after crossed post #1 but seeing people around and especially physically challenged one i was inspire to run.

I saw uncle , aunty , Parikrma kidz , fat guys than me :-D , running faster than me . but after some (de)moralization i ran upto the finish .

Really its fun .. My heart says ....let do it again .............

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emmmmm ...may be after a year or so ;-)

• Night Travel pleasure and pain
• Morning Sea and Swimming
• TT and Snoocar , brunch
• Temple , Lake View and dinner
• Morning Ragga at breakfast
• Ferry to St Mary's Island
• Living on rocky island
• Washout at Malpe
• wayback ...
• The chilled weather .

SOD

It was our team-building day !!! All of us came gather early in the morning yeah early and all set for Savandurga. We had ball time while traveling out there , AC bus broke down just 12 km away from Bangalore. So our great gurus decides to travel further and not to wait and blame any one. Bangalore Mahanagar Palike's bus.But that was not enough then we had a bone-checker ride in temp , yeah right , we had everyone in tempo , team-building. Somebody cracked a joke " Please do collect your belonging after ride , please do check your bones" :-)).
It was awesome when we landed there , worth pain :-) , The adventure team gave us Caps and water bottle along with food :-), I felt where the heck they good this cook in this jungle, who cooked nice food , better than some place on MGRoad .

Adventure activity was raffting and Rapping , Creative and Team building was , Creating Missile Launcher and Balloon race , and passing rope knot. I like them all even though i did not win some of them. I played Cricket and football during the rest time. After Lunch we headed for the Mountain / Rock climbing . It look ok to climb but stepping down as difficult as it was tiring going up. . We had meditation on the rocks :-D. yeah I was so tired i was almost felt a sleep while it was going on. We came down to had Hi-tea and I had lots of pattice and lots of tea :-).It was pleasant surprise, when got a award for shouting all the time :-D
Return journey was not that enthu at starting , slowly and steady we have build a antashari environment and pulled everybody in it :-D. Some individuals was remarkable in the contest .

All day was like dream come true. I really enjoyed my trip .

EOD

Going South was always fascinating for me . It was my chance to see the places . Thanjavur, formerly known as Tanjore, is a city in Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India.And the ospicious occasion was my colleague's marriage. All though I spent more time in traveling rather relaxing. But I swear i enjoyed travel , and of course the food :) (/me was always stuffed.. equipped).

The evening bus journey on a Friday evening initiated my travel towards the destiny. Was not very sure how it will be so .. prepared my mind for any situations. All night could not get the sleep . I hate valvo running in traffic with much of speed breaker . Some How i managed to have dinner. As soon as bus got its first pit stop i was out and searching for good food . Middle of night , and guess what I got .. Popcorns and Sugar cane juice & thou was satisfied with this feast. It was dawn when landed in Trichy .


The Voyage started early morning , Temple one , Temple two . Both temple was good and was unique in their style. Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu .
Till noon this temple "hopping" lasted. And I was suddenly religious person . (/of course after seeing the prasada). Thanjavur was the destiny for the side seeing .Palace and Art museum and the Watch Tower , Photo gallery. Some how I felt University building was well maintained than the palace ;-). Then visited yet another temple. Evening I was more sleepy than usual & crashed in bed . End of the Holy Day ( holiday :-) )

Palace was huge , its spread across over 100 acres. Art and Photo gallery are treat to eyes. There is small shop for some goodies . I amused to see all the history without the book.

The marriage was every early in the morning. Everything was fine till i got paged and my tour was again horrified by the pager menace . Consolidation was that it was at the end ceremony.
And return travel started.

Yup it was YEP Yahoo Year End Party for 2005. It was so awesome that even rain God and shown its attendance over there .

Songs , dance sequences , Talent Shows , Ratna Awards and DJ Dance Floor along with Sports activities , Beer , and food was awesome . The place and people were phenomenal.



I was On my bike showing off my new jacket , bike and cap and got some reward for that also .. was parallel to the ground while coming back on a sharp turn and my roomie actually driven my bike along with me back :((

It was first time i was visiting Chennai for the campus , was very excited for that. Got up very early in morning, and ready for the flight ,after few calls cab was found near the house. I was there for check-in "in time ".
The biggest mistake i have done it not taken my breakfast .. not even coffee before doing the the security check .. thinking that Bangalore has got the "Coffee Desk" inside the Airport after security check in. This is very pathetic Bangalore Domestic airport *has to* upgrade .. man it is desert .


Thanks good they serve some snacks in the plane , but this was turning to me soon . We got into the plane and packed our self into the cozy seats. I was something that will be served hot and keep me warm , I had my jacket on. What a waste of puff and cake it , was frozen . What i got in my tray was fruity , water , puff (frozen , again i will mention it every time i write that in my blog . /me damn pissed with it).


Was landed in Chennai in 30 mins was very good flight, was amaze by the Chennai airport , it felt me very huge and good international quality (of-course after seeing the Bangalore on any thing is better ). Just helped ourselves in the cab and reached to the Anna University , thanks to Chennai traffic we make in just 1hr late. The Presentation was not starting for some reasons waisted 15 mins . But Shridhar handled the situation very well . I was surprise by the communication skills of him. We had presentation some goodies where thrown and we were all set for the written test. Did that and had lunch at 2:30 and my problem started. I have very strict diet intake timing. Soon I was flat on the table .Some how manage to finish the paper correction . Generally people to to restaurant for having food , i went to 'Sangeetha' and thew up :((. was not able to touch tab 'Paper Dosa' which covered my table and specially ordered lemon tea. What a waist of time , i killed it 2 hr for 'nothing' . Finished entire interview rounds and "pushed off" for hotel , "the Park" , man it rockz . Had food and by the time i went to bed , it clocked 2:30 .

Next day morning started 'this entry' and after assessing the condition outside we took 'wise decision to check out the hotel' . Boy It took us 1 hr to cross 3 kilo meter was i think this was not sufficient .We showed our faces to HR in the campus and rushed to airport which was ~12 km away. It tooked us 3 and half hour to get a glimpse of it. After all negations we were able to board on next flight , by time we grounded in the Bangalore it was 19 hr .

In short most of time in the Quails and on the mobile phone and looking around and praising the Lord , we came back before expected thunder storm on Friday (i.e tomorrow).

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Photo Stream : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sachin1rase/
RSS : http://www.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=53231111@N00&format=rss_200

9 hr at bangkok
Madikeri Photos :)

After long discussion whole week , we finally decided to spend our weekend at a Hill Station called Madikeri (AKA Coorg)

It was dark quiet dawn when i started from the home .Morning start was very good as there was low traffic . Our "kafila" was consisting of a Lancer and my Honda Unicorn. And five of us. I was on bike till CCD . there was some moments where i was behind the car and i chased it. It was whole time same scene like Tom and Jerry Show. We had break at Cafe Coffee Day. After some refreshments and snacks . We started the journey again .

There was bit confusion where to take turn to go to Madikeri from Mysore Road . We took a turn which showed us green L&T campus and Infy big palace like campus. Some how we manage to skip the turn at SriRangapattanam.

We had sandwiches on the way after taking turn . For last 40 km i was relaxing back on bike .hilly region with coffee plantation on both side of road. Tree was looking as if they are welcoming the guest in green grass coat. . Finally we manage to creep in to the Coorg. First it look like small city but it is spread across the hill . In this grand city we were hunting for the hotel after hopping 2-3 hotel we landed at East End Hotel. In 5 mins we were at the lunch table :) After food I did had bath . while rest were catching up some sleep i went on for long walk curious about the life style in Coorg.

In evening after nice coffee we moved towards waterfall called "Abbi Falls" . The name of the falls was written in various possible ways on the road indicators (very few of them ) . It was very good place to visit water dew everywhere :) After wondering the nature and its beauty ..and of course some photography we decided move on. On the way back , we stopped at restaurant for some snacks. Bajji and Dosa with hot soup and coffee was the on the table after good 30 mins after order. It drizzled while we were at restaurant.It was shopping time .. we went to some place which was famous for its spice and local products like Honey , we also bought cards and booze . After all shopping went back to hotel .. Played cards some game which i could not recollect the name. I hit the sleeping bag ..but it was not enough for the day , could manage to sleep half the time and rest half i was rolling for more space and air .

Early in the morning there was hazy hill view , i had atleast 2 coffee .. some how manage to get ready for departure . While on the breakfast table i saw a locale coorgi women in traditional dress . After prolonged breakfast session we had photo session . It was time to say good bye to Madikeri . We had plans to see Nisargadhama and Tibetan colony on the way back .

Nisargadhama was very good place . From all the wild animal we could able to see some monkeys ,rabbits and deers. We climbed on top of bamboo 'machaan', there was mention of Elephant Safari but could not find any . It started raining while we were on the way to Tibetan colony to do some shopping as well as to visit the temple .I rode the bike in 2.6 km of farm standing for corp. It was very beautiful to see and ride the bike on those road. all-though i was wet i could not feel it until i went there. In the Monastery we saw 3 temples and lots of students. we did some shopping of goodies and we headed towards the hotel in search of food on the way back. There was confusion as i somehow crossed the car and went ahead .. so it resulted in the loss of time and food pit stop :( . So we decided to move on to next coming town and have food.

After ridding 20km Hunsur was the place where i refuel my bike and stuffed my mouth with veg puff and banana. After traveling 100 km from coorg , at evening we took food stop at hotel heritage. It was very nice ans specious hotel (i wish i could say same for their service ), it took them 30 min to deliver a second coffee.

On Way back to Bangalore , I took a break at CCD i was feeling like.. will i make it back to Bangalore on bike ? I had no choice but to carry on and some encouragement from friends and seeing other bike roadies I finally made it to Bangalore .yes it was i me myself back to Bangalore . But you what i got Welcome to Bangalore by the rain god.. it was like u have ran enough son .. time to take break .. how about a drizzle or a rain shower :-D .

We came back to office and i left my Unicorn at office for rest . I was in car carrying fish bowl , and then went home.Overall this trip has got many things for me . I think i should be part of such many trip.

Receptions on Sunday was the most remembering thing for me in this quarter . it was awesome . I was wondering how i am landed here.
It all begins with journey towards it,

The
* People
* Place
* Decoration and Environment
* Music
* Imagination &
* Food :-D

Very interesting as soon as we entered the garden it was lighten up with bulbs and the effect of Green trees yellow & red electric tiny little bulbs and the blue sky with black and white cloud with elegant pink color of the evening was too much for me to handle .

The Decoration with Orchid and 2 big video screen the fountain and the reception area from the lush green lawn it was looking like heaven ..or place to be . It red color of lighting in clam blue water , which was disturb by falling drops of water from fountain. it was really awesome or may i say the wonderful evening i ever saw. I was served lemon juice .. it was tested me better wine for me that moment .. (seriously i was missing it :-D ). The DJ was playing nice music it was like open pub / food bar :)


i was really amused and touched by the so many things in little over 45 mins in one single day :)

It was D's Bday .. as decided we started on Mysore early morning and Hunt for Gas Station has decided our destination "ShivanSamudram" .. a waterfall.
Sam drove the car till CCD near by MTR on the way and we had food there some dosa / idlies and then coffee and cake .. and ofcourse along with popcorn. Suprit showed a toy shop near by the same place. so we had 20-30mins break for toy shopping :) there is kid there inside everyone .. sam said.

After getting the direction from few people we managed to reached the waterfall at 4:30 (3-4 hr drive :) ) On the way we meet few Yahoo people. Aridhaman was on way back with his vehicle towed. and met steve at

we saw rainbow and spent some time at waterfall . also experienced some light showers it helped us to drain down our stain.

was amazing day at evening we friend's was good place for dinner :)

did i wish her happy b'day .. ;)



yes i did :D

Pictures at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/53231111@N00/tags/return


It was time to say good bye to USA . I set all up for leaving USA. there was Limo coming to drop me at airport. It got delayed by 1:30hr . I was pretty much scared, but finally some patience and courage paid off and got the Vehical to SFO . I after reaching to Airport , I have to put the over-weight chocolate handbag to luggage instead of coming with me to Cabin. I was pretty sure that i will get a chocolate syrup at Bangalore airport :( . Thanks to that lady at reception who put a lots of Fragile ticket on my bag.

I did check in in the airport .. security had asked me to remove shoe .. i found it very irritating. While coming from Bangalore they never checked my shoes but while leaving they have .. strange. I make a travel friend at SFO waiting room . I have almost forgot to checkout at customs the ATM like machine was doing the job. Figure prints and passport scan and web cam photo that was done in 2 mins .. and that is it :) .
I was pretty early .. 2 hr to be specific so did slept at waiting room..(thanks to my travel friend)

There was not much to be seen in the airbus except some pretty air hostess so i went ahead to complete my sleep marathon. in that 14 hr voguage i did manage had food twice and snacks many time :D .

We reached HongKong before time and taken snaps and done lots of window shopping as shoppes where closed. There was very nice sceenary nearby HK airport. we checked emails on the HK airport.Again i was waiting for an hr or so without doing anything.

Hong Kong to Bangkok was also good journey had food and sleep and watched movie.After reaching Bangkok I have decided to utilse 7 hr stay , I have decided to go out and visit the city.Added another friend .. taken a transit visa and went out .Currency exchange , Transit visa , Search for Travel agent and then finally landed in the Hotel where we waited for our tour guide Nancy. We told her that we need to get back to Airport before 5:30 so we had planed to visit
* Marble Temple
* Standing Buddha Temple
* Pickup some food from Market
* and finally visit Gem Factories

Marble temple was very good and maintained we clicked many photos , Inside it there were lots of Buddha's Statues. After Marble temple Nancy showed us Royal palace and Parliament from the car itself. We then went to market to pick up some food. I have purchased some jack-fruit like fruit (which was having more fiber and carbon and stink..:( ). I have taken then known stuff cashunuts and some fried chips. Then we visited the standing Buddha temple. It had long statue of budha .After long photo session we went on to see the Gem Factories where we saw a clipping and lots of gem. :D
Bangkok has got an express way which like flyover all over city , and which has some toll charge.

We made it back to airport around 5:00 but it was not that all .. we have to pay 500 barts to get back into the airport as airport tax . Anyways we came was felling very hungry to went to KFC had food and purchase some toblerones and stickers. was very templeted to purchase the booze . After long time spend on airport we decided to move to our gate . But it was not there on ticket and so as on board . we waited something like 1 hr to see whats happing. finnaly i have got some info from the help desk that its' gate-2 . One of my 2 friend went till gate-2 and came back. It was like a kilometer walk . we where at terminal 2 and it was at terminal 1. Search for the great gate on the Airport ended just before the flight time.

Time flew to come to Bangalore . The Bangalore AirPort the mess . Our luggage was not at the belt for an hour and half till some of the passager started in Kannada. It was big fight to get those luggage carrier. My Bag was scanned at customs due to a electronic battery charger. I made lots of call before that.

It was Taxi menia. I was in queue for a while and when i reached "Home Sweet Home " it was 12:00 . i spent 3 hr on blr airport to get home .. hush!
Finally made home was happy :)

Picture

Location : Golden Gate at SanFranciso ,CA

More info :
Golden Gate org
MapWest


Indepndance day egar to see Fire work and that leads me to check San Francisco .
It was my card to visit Golden gate and visit good places in SF city .. but Visiting on bike it was not at all included :D .. But i did ventured and succeed in its own way (tired) , first time ran bike for 16 km most of time bike was ridding on me