Binu's Musings

BMTC Bus Guide for HSR Layout

2009-04-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Updates:

Feeder service BC3A (Big Connect 3A) has started operations between CPWD Quarters and St. John's Medical College. Route is: CPWD Quarters, Parangipalya (Sector 2), HSR BDA complex, Silk Board junction, Madivala, St. John's. The frequency is supposed to be one every 20 minutes. I saw one near BDA complex, heading to Silk Board at 8:30 am today. I'll fill in details if I get to use one.

Route G-3 (Big-10 route between M.G Road and Sarjapur) has been renamed to G-2. G-3 now plies between Brigade Road and Electronics City.

I sometimes see a Volvo route 348N (KBS to CPWD quarters) heading to CPWD Quarters via BDA complex at 8:45 in the mornings.

The route timing information on buses from/to HSR sector 2 may not be correct. I rarely use those routes now after switching to BIA-7A and G-3 for my commute to Trinity Circle.

Last updated: June 27, 2011.

Here's a good site that you can use to query routes:

http://www.narasimhadatta.info/bmtc_query.html

This is far better than BMTC's own efforts on www.bmtcinfo.com. All public transport corporations should make their route data available freely and let those with the skills make best use of the data. Another example of this is the train availability calendar on cleartrip.com: http://www.cleartrip.com/trains/calendar. Nothing like it on the official sites of Indian Railways.

Here's a list of all bus routes I know of from within HSR Layout. There are many more bus routes that pass through Agara and along the ring road adjoining HSR Layout. You can use the airport Volvo buses to travel within city limits (up to Hebbal) at normal Volvo fares (sometime Rs 10 more than normal Volvo fares).

Bus Routes
340A/M: From Parangipalya (HSR sector 2), NIFT, CPWD Quarters, 19th main, HSR Depot, Police Station, Agara, Koramangala last stop, St. John's/Forum (Staples side), Dairy Circle/Christ College, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden, ShantiNagar/Double Road, Richmong Circle (below flyover), Corporation, Majestic. Very frequent. One at least every 15 minutes during peak hours.

Update: If you are near Mantri Sarovar or HSR BDA complex, there are many Volvos starting out from HSR depot in the mornings (between 7 and 8) to Majestic. They leave the depot near Mantri Sarovar, head to BDA complex signal via ring road, turn right there and go towards Koramangala last stop and St. John's. These buses return to the depot in the evenings with the Depot-25 sign on them. You may also find them using the "Silk Board (via HSR Layout)" or "Agara" boards.

340F: Same route as 340A/M till double road. Morning trips go to Mysore bank and Vidhan Soudha. Other trips go via Richmond bus stop (near Cash pharmacy on residency road), Ashirvadam junction, SBI, Anil Kumble Circle, ShivajiNagar. Decent frequency.

340C: Same route as 340A/M till Lakkasandra. Goes towards ISRO Layout via Ashoka pillar, Jayanagar. Low frequency. I don't know if this route still exists. Haven't seen it in a while.

340: Goes to K R Market. Same route as 340A/F till Lakkasandra. Goes straight towards K R Market after that. Rarely seen these days. Route 340 terminates at Agara sometimes. Always check if you want to go to sector 2 on this one.

340K: Starts from SomasundaraPalya, comes to Parangipalya and goes to K R Market following the same route as 340. Low frequency. There's one heading to HSR at about 6:50 pm via Agara.

348F: Starts from Agara depot, comes via CPWD Quarters, NIFT to Parangipalya, towards HSR BDA complex, joins ring road at BDA junction, silk board, Madivala and continues on the same route as 340A/M. Sometimes starts from Parangipalya (HSR 2nd sector). Seen every half an hour in the mornings. There's a regular one at 8:20 am from CPWD quarters. Generally faster at getting to Majestic than 340A/M from ParangiPalya. These days I see this plying without a number (just a Vidhan Soudha board).

There are other 348 series routes that start from MangammanaPalya (near Salarpuria apartments in HSR Sector 7). These buses go via HSR 5th Main to ring road, silk board, Hosur road, Madivala, Dairy circle, Lakkasandra and on to Majestic via same route as 340 A/M.

340S: Starts from Parangipalya. Same route as 340A/M till St. Johns. Goes towards Adugodi on Hosur road via Forum (Raheja Arcade side), Adugodi, Langford road junction (Prestige Elgin), Johnson Market, Vellara junction, St. Patrick's Church, SBI, Bowring Institute/St. Mark's Road, Anil Kumble Circle/MG Road, ShivajiNagar. Starts at 7:20 am, 8:20 am and 9:00 am in from Parangipalya. This info is a bit dated. I rarely take buses from Parangipalya now. If you have more recent information, let me know.

141K: CPWD quarters to ShivajiNagar via Agara, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, Sony World Junction, National Games Village, Ejipura junction/VivekNagar, Austin Town, Vellara Junction, ShivajiNagar. Rarely seen. I think there's one trip in the mornings at around 8:30 am and another in the evening.

Volvo 340A: Seen occasionally. Follows the same route as 340A/M.

Volvo BIAS-7: HSR BDA complex, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop (1st block), Madivala Market, Forum/Checkpost (Staples side), Dairy cirle/Christ College, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden, ShantiNagar Bus Station/Double Road, Richmond Bus Stop/Cash Pharmacy, M G Road and on to Bangalore Airport via Hebbal. Hourly service. Usually starts at XX:15 (6:20, 7:20, 8:20 and so on) from HSR.

Volvo BIAS-7A: This is the route I'm using these days to get to my office on Ulsoor road. HSR BDA complex, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop (1st block), right via Wipro to Sony World Junction, right towards Domlur via Koramangala inner ring road, Dell, Embassy Golf Links, Hero Honda, left at Domlur to join old airport road, Command Hospital, Trinity Circle, Taj Hotel, Ulsoor Road, Indian Express/GPO, Palace Grounds and on Bangalore Airport via Hebbal. Hourly service. Usually starts on time at XX:40 or XX:50 (6:40 am, 7:40 am, 8:50 am, 9:50 am and so on) from HSR BDA complex. In the return direction, you can get BIA-7A from Trinity Circle at about 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm. It's hard for them to stick to the schedule though and these buses sometimes get delayed by 15 to 20 minutes on the return trip.

BIAS Volvo typical fares: Rs. 180 to the airport from HSR. Rs. 30 to M G Road from HSR. Rs. 20 to Dell/EGL from HSR.

Depot-25: In the afternoons and evenings you might see some buses with boards displaying "Depot-25" or "Agara Depot". These buses terminate at Agara and go on to the BMTC bus depot near Mantri Sarovar apartments.

Silk Board (Via HSR Layout): Commonly seen in the evenings along ring road (BTM, Jayadeva side). The board is misleading. They don't terminate at Silk Board. These buses terminate at the BMTC depot near Mantri Sarovar.

CPWD Qaurters: There are some services from/to CPWD quarters without route numbers. Usually seen in the mornings and evenings. These go to Vidhan Soudha and roughly follow the route taken by 340F in the mornings.

Other options from Agara and Ring Road

342 series (Market/Majestic/ShivajiNagar to Sarjapur and surroundings), 341 series (Market/Majestic/ShivajiNagar to Bellandur, Haralur and surroundings) touch Agara. These go via Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, Madivala checkpost, Dairy circle/Christ College.

Volvo 500N: Comes from Vijayanagar via Dairy circle, Forum (Staples side), St. John's, Koramangala last stop (1st block), Jakkasandra, Agara and heads to ITPL via ring road.

500 series ply on the ring road and are available from various bus stops adjoining HSR Layout (Silk board, BDA junction, Agara). There are Volvo buses on these routes (500 A and 500 D: Banadshankari/Silk board to Hebbal), 500K, C, L (Vijaynagar, Silk board to ITPL via ring road).

BIAS 8: Electronics City to Bangalore Airport via Silk board, Agara, Marathahalli, K R Puram railway station, Ramamurthy Nagar junction to Hebbal and airport. If you are heading to the airport, BIA-7 and BIA-7A reach faster since the ring road is as congested as the inner city areas these days.

BIAS 8A: terminates at BTM instead of Electronics City.

BIG-10-2 or G-2: There's a BIG-10 route between Sarjapur and Bridade Road/Mayo Hall that passes through Agara. Route details: Sarjapura, Dommasandra, Kaikondanahalli, Spring Fields Apartments, Iblur, Agara, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, right turn towards Sony World signal, straight to Koramangala depot, National Games Village, Passport Office, 80 ft peripheral road, Lower Agaram Road/Vivek Nagar, right turn to Victoria Road, left to Trinity Church road, Trinity Circle, MG Road, Mayo Hall. These buses start from Mayo hall (near ICICI bank) in the reverse direction. This route is pretty good except for the congestion near Sony World. These days, you can find G-2 running late into the night from Mayo hall (I have used it at around 9 pm). There's one that starts at 6:10 pm in the evenings from the temple near Bangalore Central mall near M.G road.

Here's how to get to some locations from HSR
Majestic/Double Road: 340A/M, 348F - direct route. 340F: Go up to double road and change to any Majestic bus. 340/340K/340C: Go up to Lakkasandra and change to any Majestic bus. BIAS 7 from BDA complex (till Double Road). 348 series from sector 6/7.

Market, Lalbaugh, Kalasipalya: 340/340K go direct. Otherwise use any bus to Agara and switch from there. There are [lenty of buses from Bellandur/Sarjapur road (341, 342 series) that go to Market. You can also go up to Lakkasandra and change from there. Don't wait for the direct bus to these places since they are rare.

ShivajiNagar, St. Mark's road, Richmond, Residency Road, MG Road side: 340F/S are the direct routes (morning trip goes via Vidhan Soudha though). Don't wait specifically for these routes if you see a 340 A/M ready to go. Go up to Double Road on 340A/M and change to ShivajiNagar buses (13, 20, 27, 34, 210 etc.) from there. Another option is to switch at Madivala to the Big-10 bus from Electronics city (G-3) that goes to St. Patrick's Church (near Brigade road).

Mayo hall, Manipal Center, Taj hotel/Lido: BIAS 7A goes to Trinity circle and gets there in about half an hour to 45 minutes. Other option is to go towards Double road, change to ShivajiNagar buses (13, 20, 34, 210) to Richmond bus stop (just after the double road flyover) and change to bus numbers between 304 and 319 to get to Lido mall.

Domlur/Inner ring road/Indiranagar side: BIAS-7A goes to Domlur. Another option is to take any 340 series bus to Madivala/Koramangala water tank and change to 201 series from there (some 201 series buses turn left at Sony World, always check). Yet another option is to change to 171 series from Koramangala last stop and change again to 201 series at Sukh Sagar/Sony World.

ITPL/Ring road towards Marathahalli: Get to Agara and change to 500 series buses from there.

Sarjapur road/Wipro corporate office: 342 series/G-2 from Agara.

Electronics-city/Bommanahalli: Get to Agara and use 500 series to get to silk board. Walk on to hosur road and get 356, 360 series from there. BIAS-8 and 505 passing via Agara go directly.

BTM/Jayanagar/Mysore road side: Change to 500 series from Agara. Many of them go up to Banashankari bus station passing through BTM, Jayadeva.

Getting to HSR
When you need to get to HSR layout, the best approach is to first get to major bus stops like St. John's or Agara that have many routes passing through them. This increases your chances of getting a bus that goes all the way to HSR layout. All 340 series buses to HSR pass through St. John's, so it's a good changeover point. Route numbers between 340 and 362 pass through St. John's. All routes from 340 to 342 from St. John's pass through Agara. There are also some buses to Sarjapur that start from St. John's.

G-3 buses starting from Brigade road touch St. John's. These buses are very frequent in the evenings.

201 series that you get from Domlur or Trinity Circle go through the Koramangala Water tank bus stop from where you can get 340/A/C/F/M/K/S.

If you are in ShivajiNagar bus station and don't see 340F or 340S there don't wait for them. Get on to a route like 362C or 342 to get to St. John's or Agara. If you don't find any routes between 340 and 362 at Shivajinagar, use 13, 20, 34, 37 or 365 series to ShantiNagar/Double road from where you'll get plenty of buses (340 to 360) that will go to St. John's. At St. John's you'll get any of 340/A/C/F/M/K/S to HSR.

Changing multiple buses like this often gets you home faster when compared to waiting for a direct bus (using direction based routes instead of specific destination based routes). Having a daily pass is very convenient if you need to switch between multiple buses. Daily passes cost Rs. 45 (Rs. 40 if you buy a BMTC identity card for Rs. 25) and can be used on any BMTC bus expect the Volvo services. BIG-10 buses also accept daily passes. Volvo buses have a daily pass available for Rs. 90. These passes can be used on all services except the BIA buses. Month pass charges range from about Rs 660 for ordinary buses to Rs. 1300 for Volvo buses.

I'll update this with maps when I find the time.

BIAL Bus Fares Lowered for City Commuters

2008-12-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

BMTC's BIAL services had a flat fare structure (Rs. 100 minimum on the BIAS Volvos), making it unviable for city commuters. I've often seen BIAS-7 (towards Koramangala) pass by empty while I waited on double road in the evenings. BMTC has changed the fare structure today, probably prompted by the 5 lakhs in losses they were accumulating every day on the airport schedules. I wonder why it took them so long to figure this out.

You now pay regular Volvo fares if you are using these buses within the city (up to Hebbal). The higher, flat fare structure only applies to airport commuters.

Here's a link to the BIAS routes: http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/bial.html. I'm looking forward to using BIAS-7 from today.

The Last Lecture

2008-07-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I read the transcripts of a very inspiring speech by Dr. Randy Pausch known as "The Last Lecture" . Inspirational stuff. Definitely watching the lecture video at home this weekend.

32

2008-02-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

A 5 bit counter won't do now and I'm nowhere close to a retired planter's life in Coorg. Sigh ...

LOLCODE

2008-01-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Here's one programming language that you won't find in many resumes: LOLCODE. More on the LOLCODE home page.

Sample code:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
    AWSUM THX
        VISIBLE FILE
    O NOES
        INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

For the non-geeks, there's a project to translate the Bible to lolcat slang. Any guesses on who the Ceiling Cat is? That site has a guide to speaking lolcat. The next time I get one of those e-mails written in txtspeak (E.g. "cn we mt now? rgds, xxxx") I'll reply in lolcat. Srsly!

Zzzz....

2008-01-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

Some interesting links I followed from the LifeHacker blog today:

Lucid dreaming. I'll control the script now. The next time there's a crazy cow after me, I'm going to whip out a bazooka, or grow horns and counter-attack. And no more hiding behind the podium when making a presentation to a packed hall. I'll materialize size 34 pants from thin air :)

Waking up without an alarm clock. This is something I have been doing for a while now. I've got into a rhythm for the working days. What amazes me however is that when I need to wake up much earlier on some days I wake up before alarm rings.

My Best Macro Shots of 2007

2008-01-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a showcase of my best macro shots from last year. Used a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens on an EOS 350D for all of them. I couldn't have got any of these shots without the external flash that I used to light the subject. I had the Tamron lens with me for quite a while before I got satisfying pictures with it. Without the extra light from the flash, I couldn't stop down the lens to f/11 or f/16 to get the depth field required to keep the interesting elements in focus. If you are getting into macro photography (especially moving subjects like insects), you should learn about off camera flash photography. The Strobist Blog is one of the best resources on the net for that.

The biggest difficulty was finding someone to hold the light for me, or in some cases shooting single handed. That involved manual focussing by moving the camera since I would be holding the flash with the other hand. I have since got a flash bracket with a flexible arm to take care of the flash, but my priorities have changed. Now I don't get any time to chase bugs between the nappy changes :)

Online Photo Printing

2007-12-27T02:51:00.000-08:00

I got a couple of albums printed online at G K Vale. At Rs. 3 for a 6" x 4" print it is a sweet deal. I haven't found any studio willing to print below 4.50. Strangely, G K Vale charges Rs. 5 per print if you visit any of their studios.

Also found a couple of nice places for books. There's Blossom Book House on Church Street near Amoeba. Three floors of new and used books at discounted prices. Premier book shop (near Night Watchman at the beginning of Church Street) sells new books at a discount. It's a tiny shop stacked haphazardly but the guys there can locate any book for you in no time. L-Space in DiscWorld must have been inspired by similar bookstores. Landmark, Crossword and Gangarams can kiss my wallet goodbye.

That Warm Feeling

2007-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Papa Kamath on fatherhood:

When I hold him, I get that warm feeling ...
and I know he has done it again.

UN Flag, Flat Earth, Discworld

2007-10-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

What does the United Nations flag have to do with a flat Earth theory? Lots apparently. Take a look at the Flat Earth Society Forum's FAQ. Yes, there are people who hold on to that belief. The UN logo closely resembles the map of the Earth proposed by the society and it is also used as evidence of a conspiracy to cover up the truth.

I stumbled upon the site when I was looking up DiscWorld on the Net. I just finished my first Disworld novel (Thud!) and I'm hooked. Explore the portal on Wikipedia to get a taste of what the books are about.

Worst Headline Pun

2007-09-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

The days of straightforward news headlines are over. The newsrooms seem to be where punsters congregate these days. Just when headlines that cleverly played on Sonia (so near) or Khan (can) seemed tolerable, Bangalore Mirror heralded Dhoni's team's victory over Pak screaming, "Doni-T-20". I want to nominate the reporter/editor behind this front-page atrocity for this year's Punitzer prize.

Bison Wells, Off Kodai

2007-09-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

(This writeup that has been in my drafts folder for close to two years now.)

Located about 30 km from Kodaikanal is one of the best getaways I have been to. I went there on my honeymoon in May 2005. We reached Kodai after a lovely drive from Munnar. After lunch at Kodai, we met George who owns the place. The road to Bison Wells is not motorable unless you have a 4 wheel drive with massive ground clearance. We had to leave our car at a garage that George had arranged. The drive to the cottage in George's '64 vintage Nissan truck was an experience in itself. It took a little more than an hour to reach the place. We were accompanied by our cook for the next two days, Antony. George had planned the menu after taking our preferences in advance. Bison Wells is not the place where you can get any provisions if there are last minute changes.

After we reached the cottage and settled in, George and Antony left us to ourselves till dinner. The cottage is basic, built from mud and wood. It faces a valley in front and it's surrounded by a pine forest. It can accomodate two. There's an attached bath, without running water. Water is filled up in a drum from a well nearby. There'e no television, A/C, fan or lights in the room since there's no electricity either. It's as basic as it can get. And that is the charm of the place. You will be cut off from civilization for your stay at Bison Wells. Thankfully, your cook will be a call away in another hut nearby.

On the first day we took a walk to a lake downhill. Other than a truck that passed by, there was absolutely no one in sight. There was a settlement some distance away from the lake. After spending the evening at the lake-side, we were back for dinner by seven. In a place this basic we didn't carry much expectations about the food. But here came the surprise. It was a candlelight dinner in the cottage. The fried rice and curry was heavenly and so was the red wine.

At the camp, you can sit in the lounge and catch up with your reading. You'll hear no sounds other than bird calls or squeaks of the Malabar squirrel. You can also trek around the place. George can arrange a guide if required. If you are lucky you will spot bisons on the trek. We went for a moderate trek. The views were very good. We didn't spot any bisons though despite George's efforts. The place is safe for short unguided treks as well. After 7 or so in the evening, you have to tuck yourself into bed. It was very cold when we went there in May.

For all this, you will be surprised by the tarrifs. Rs. 1500 per night inclusive of all meals for a couple. The jeep ride to the place is expensive though. A two way trip to Bison Wells from Kodai will set you back by Rs. 1600 at least.

Here's the web-site if you are planning a trip:
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/index.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/thouse.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/tcost.htm

Some photos I clicked during our stay there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/binux/sets/321758/

Project/Issue Tracking with Trac

2007-06-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

I saw Trac being used by some projects recently. Decided to give it a try today for tracking a small prototyping project that I'm working on. It didn't take more than half an hour to get it running and it does its job without getting in the way. If you are looking for a bug tracker that's easy to set up and use, give it a try. It has an integrated wiki and source browsing tools (if you are using svn). I set it up to use SQLite and to run as a standalone server, which is the simplest way to get it running for a small project.

Picture Window Pro

2007-05-31T02:19:00.000-07:00

The post processing I do on my photos is limited to sharpening, saturation and simple contrast adjustments in Picasa. I was looking for software that gave a little more control (curves adjustments and unsharp mask for example). Photoshop is the popular choice, but the pricing (600$) is beyond reach. I used GIMP (on Linux) for a while, but its speed is frustrating. It was then I came across Picture Window Pro. Costs 90$ and the download size is a mere 5MB (300MB for the Photoshop trial). It does almost everything that Photoshop does (at least whatever you'd want for post processing photos). Head to IMAGEs by DEN to see what it's capable of. Check the before and after comparisons by moving the mouse over the images on that page. It not only convinced me about Picture Window Pro but also about the importance of post-processing.

Picture Window Pro runs smoothly in Linux with Wine. I ran the installer with the default Wine settings. I only had to copy gdiplus.dll from my windows partition to my fake windows directory to run it. It's much faster than GIMP and more stable than the Linux version of Picasa. I'll be trying it for a month before deciding whether it's worth buying.

Oh, and do checkout some stunning night photography at Cambridge in Colour.

Happyness

2007-05-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until Preethi pointed it out that The Pursuit of Happyness was based on a true story. Beautiful film. Don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't watched the film already, but if you already have, here's the Wikipedia page on Chris Gardner.. The real Chris Gardner makes a cameo appearance at the end of the movie.

340N - BMTC Volvo Service to HSR and Koramangala - (Route Withdrawn)

2007-03-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Latest information on bus routes connecting HSR Layout is available here: http://binux.blogspot.com/2009/04/bmtc-bus-guide-for-hsr-layout.html

Jan 22, 2008: This route has been withdrawn by BMTC. There were not enough users. Sad.

Apr 16, 2007: Some updates: The BMTC website now lists the timings and route information for 340N: http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/v340n.htm
The buses on this route still run nearly empty most of the time. Fares have been reduced yesterday. Do give it a try before BMTC re-deploys these buses on more lucrative routes (335E often has standing passengers) to cut losses.

BMTC has started a new Volvo bus route from Majestic to HSR Layout (Sector 1 and 2) via Koramangala. That means hassle-free, comfortable rides in air-conditioned comfort if your office falls on this route. BMTC has a web-page that lists all Volvo bus routes, timings and fares at http://bmtcinfo.com/english/volvo.htm. ~~Route 340 N isn't listed yet. But for a brief report in the papers on the day of the launch, there's no information on the exact route or the timings.~~ Consequently, there aren't many users of this service yet. I wish BMTC did better by putting up the details at the bus-stops on this route. Here are the details I've gathered so far from using this service over the last two weeks.

The Route
New: I got a Google Maps API key. Here's my first try at the API. View 340N route on Google Maps. I wonder why Google hasn't come up with simpler ways of marking points and paths on their maps without using an API/javascript.
From HSR Layout: Parangipalya (2nd sector), CDWD Quarters/FoodDays, Agara, Jakkasandra (Koramangala 1st block), Sony World Junction, National Games Village, Koramangala Police Station, Raheja Arcade/Forum, Adugodi, Elgin Prestige, Richmond Road, Corporation, Mysore Bank, Majestic.

From Majestic: It's nearly the same route in reverse except that it comes via Subbiah cirle (beginning of Lalbagh road), crosses Double Road under the flyover, DivyaSree Chambers, Nanjappa circle, Langford Road, Elgin Prestige, Adugodi.

Timings
~~There are two buses on this route. Officially the frequency is one every 45 minutes, but due to the traffic on the route, it's lower than that. This timings aren't stable yet.~~ (Schedule is now available on the BMTC site.) The first bus from HSR starts between 7:45 and 8:00 am on most days. This is the one I use. It drops me at Richmond road by 8:40 am latest. ~~If I'm lucky, I get the return bus in the evening at around 6 pm from the Double Road junction.~~ Check the official schedule. There are changes in the evening schedules.

Fares
Minimum fare is Rs. 15 (Rs. 12 during non peak hours). ~~If you have a Pushpak pass, you can get a concessional fare of Rs. 20 for the full trip. Wait for the fare chart and schedule on bmtcinfo.com.~~ The fares have been reduced from April 15th and the pass holder concessions are gone. That doesn't affect me since the revised fare from HSR to Corporation is Rs. 20 (30 earlier), the same as the concessional fare for Pushpak pass holders. Costs Rs. 15 to Koramangala, 20 to Corporation and 25 to Majestic from HSR now.

Bus Location by SMS
There's an interesting SMS service being tried out with the Volvo buses. These buses have GPS on them and you can get the current location of buses on any route by sending an SMS. The details are available here: http://www.clinf.com/yi/Index.html. ~~The project is in pilot stages now and available on two routes.~~ (Available on almost all Volvo routes.) Simple services like these can go a long way in keeping cars off the roads. Apparently most of the regular BMTC buses too have GPS trackers on them.
Update (23 March 07):The SMS service works for 340 N too. Send "Yi V340N U" to 99456 34666 to know where the bus heading to HSR is. Change the U to D to get the location of the bus towards Majestic. It works fine most of the time. Yesterday, I used it to track the bus in the evening and left office at just the right time.

Palace Estate, Kakkabe, Coorg

2006-11-02T02:34:00.000-08:00

I spent the Diwali weekend at a beatiful home-stay in Kakkabe. Palace Estate, owned by the Apparanda family is located on the route from Virajpet to Kakkabe. Most visitors go there for the trek to Thadiyendamol peak, the highest point in Coorg. We headed there with the same plan.

The trek had to be abandoned within an hour. It had rained and there were leeches on the trail. When Preethi noticed a couple of leeches on her shoes, her shrieks could have woken up the dead. If birdwatchers around Kakkabe had poor sightings that weekend, they now know why. The number of leeches wasn't anywhere close to what we got on our trip to Narasimha Parvatha. Carry a dettol swab, and you can do the two hour trek easily, unless you are mortally scared of leeches. Some other guests did go up to the peak during our stay. Preethi convinced me that the whole point of taking a break was to beat stress and the trek wasn't working for her ("Stress?!?", I can see some at Kodiak snickering when they read this). It was decided that I would try the trek sometime later with the baays (and that could be as soon as this month for our team outing :)

Luckily, the place is enjoyable even if trekking on leech infested trails isn't your idea of fun. The estate has a private waterfall which is a five minute walk through the plantation from the rooms. Don't pack your swimming trunks though as you are not allowed to bathe in it since it's the primary water source. The walks within the coffee estate are refreshing. I could hear many types of bird calls in the mornings (though I'm no good at identifying birds), so birders will have a fun time here. A short walk away from the estate is the Nalnad palace which is more than a century old. There are paddy fields further downhill. The rooms have a vernadah with a beatiful view of the valley. Pick up a book or just relax watching the mist filled valleys below. On clear nights, the lights at Madikeri town are visible.
The hospitality is excellent. Prakash Poovanna, our host made us feel at home on arrival. The food is vegetarian and it is served in the company of Prakash's family in their dining room. I loved the traditional Coorgi dishes that were served. We picked up a couple of recipies from there. The breakfast was the best part- Kapputtu on the first day and Akki Roti on the next. Almost everything is rice-based, so your mileage may vary.

The tariffs are pretty decent. The room came for Rs. 1200 a day (accommodates two). Prakash told me the rates had gone up to 1500 by October. We got the deal since we booked a month in advance in September. Meals cost Rs. 70 per head for breakfast and Rs. 110 per meal for lunch/dinner. The services of a guide for the trek to Thadiyendamol cost Rs. 200. Our total expenses for a two day stay there came to Rs. 3600.

Getting There:
To get there from Bangalore, head to Mysore and take the Srirangapatna bypass before Mysore twowards Hunsur. Stay on the highway near Hunsur. Just after the fork on the left to Hunsur town, the highway will fork again. Take the road on the left that goes to Virajpet and Kannur (Cannanore) (the highway continues to Madikeri). At Virajpet, take the a turn towards Madikeri. After 4 km, there's a cement bridge where you need to take a left towards Kakkabe (follow the Coffee Country signboards from there till Nalnad Palace). There are a couple of bad stretches since the road from Mysore to Hunsur is being widened. Cars can go all the way up to Palace Estate. There are KSRTC buses to Virajpet from Bangalore.

For bookings, contact:
Mr. Prasad Poovanna
Ph: 98804 47702

Here's the trip photo album on flickr.

Cryptic Crosswords, Loos, Archimedes

2006-10-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

I had to find something to keep me occupied during the bus ride to work. On some days you can tune into interesting conversations, but you don't get to sit next to a smart aleck everyday. (Diverging: Sparun the pun-dit was pretty pleased with himself for writing "Smart Elecs" on the Electrical Engineering department's display board once.) Reading in a moving bus strains the eyes. Listening to the radio with earphones will gradually deafen you since you'll have to turn up the volume amidst all the din. Enter cryptic crosswords. Read the clue, think it over, and when the bus halts at a stop or junction, fill in the boxes. Almost every newspaper carries a decent cryptic crossword. I get Deccan Herald at home and it carries one in the Sunday edition. One crossword a week is good enough for a beginner like me. I also picked up a book with 80 crosswords from The Daily Telegraph. That should last me for months. Try this cryptic crossword solving tips page to get a hang of it.

I completed last week's Sunday DH crossword in a day. It was done in five or six sittings on the porcelain throne (I had a terrible stomach upset from a visit to Empire with the baays on Saturday.) Normally I don't even come close to solving one in a week. I think this is conclusive evidence to show that you think better in there. I know others who share this feeling. As further proof, I present the exhibit on the left - "The Thinker". What do you think this suggests? This leads to the question: Was Archimedes really in a bathtub when he had his great idea? I firmly believe King Heiro's PR department fudged the facts. If you are convinced and want to get yourself a really good "think station" now, consider one from Toto.

Growing Up

2006-09-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

After his wedding, our man starts a comic book collection, gets an XBox, goes on volvo bus rides to Majestic, takes a liking for flashy t-shirts and buys rattle snake eggs to irritate everyone around. But when he shows his love for Kannada star Darshan with a car sticker (bought on one of his volvo bus trips to Majestic), his dad pulls him over for some serious talk. The kind of talk that wayward teens half his age get.

Here's to you Kamath:

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. When I became wise, I learned the value of childish things and turned to them once more."

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

Quotes picked up from a discussion thread on Slashdot.

Fishermen, Cherai

2006-09-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

A photo that I particularly liked from my recent trip to Cherai for Onam.

Trip to Chikka Tirupati and John's Terror Alert

2006-08-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

We went on a drive to Chikka Tirupati yesterday. This sleepy little town is 10 km off Sarjapur. It takes about an hour from the Sarjapur ring-road junction. The road (if you can call it that) is very bad for a few kilometres after the Wipro office. It gets much better as you near Sarjapur. The scenery certainly isn't breathtaking, but it is a nice break from the chaos in Bangalore. There are plenty of small villages and farms on the way. The temple at Chikka Tirupati wasn't very crowded in the evening.

On, the way back, we stopped by a small bridge before Sarjapur. While the rest of us were scouting a location on the bridge for a photo, my brother in law, Praveen, was accosted by a man who seemed drunk. Their conversation went on for a while. Later, when Praveen narrated what happened, we had a good laugh. This is how it went:

Drunkard: Yellinda bandirivaru neevu? (Where are you from?)
Praveen: Bengaluru (Bangalore :)
Drunkard: Bengalura?
Praveen: Haudu, Marathahalli inda. (Yes, from Marathahalli.)
Drunkard (eyeing Praveen with suspicion): Marathahalli-alli nimmanna node ilvalla ... (I don't remember seeing you in Marathahalli ...)

Like Marathahalli is a village where everyone knows your name. Praveen didn't have an answer for this one. The next question was more direct.

Drunkard: Baamb haakakke bandideera? (Have you come to bomb this place?)
Praveen: Illanna, naavu yaake bomb haake beku illi? (No, why would we want to bomb this place?)
Drunkard: Alla, paper-nalli itthu, America minister iddaralla, ... Jahn,.. avaru heliddaranthe, bridge-igella baamb haktharanthe. Adukke kelidhe. (Don't mind, but I read in the papers about this American minister,... John, ... saying that people are out to bomb all bridges.)
Drunkard (walking away): Navella vyasaya maduvavaru, namma mele baamb haaku bedi. (We are people making a decent living, don't bomb us.)

Looks like there aren't many unaffected by the terror threat.

Blogspot Blocked

2006-07-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Blogspot is not accessible from most ISPs in India now. The government passed on a list of sites it wanted blocked and the ISPs went ahead and blocked the whole of blogspot. Surely, this will pass since there are too many workarounds to block. I'm using tor to get around this ban.

For the technically inclined, there's an article on Onion Routing at Wikipedia if you want to know how tor works.

Ubuntu Linux

2006-07-11T05:06:00.000-07:00

I received my free Ubuntu Linux CDs from shipit.ubuntu.com today, exactly a month after I ordered. I have been using this release (6.06 aka Dapper Drake) at work for a couple of weeks now, thanks to a colleague who downloaded the DVD images while I was waiting for the CDs. The new release boots up faster than the previous version and feels snappier to use. Like the previous version, it detected all hardware on the laptop including the WiFi card without any tweaking from my side. The CDs are live CDs that boot up Ubuntu Linux and let you get a feel of the system before you install it on the hard disk. This also means that you don't have to sit twiddling your thumbs when the installation is in progress. I could browse while the installation went on.

Order your free CDs from shipit.ubuntu.com or drop me a mail (binu5ue yahoo.com). I might be able to send you a copy sooner.

Thirunelly/Thirunelli and Irpu/Iruppu

2006-05-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

Mohan's wedding this Monday provided us an excuse to make a trip to Thirunelly over the weekend. The place is known for an ancient temple nestled between forest covered hills. The view from the temple is breathtaking. It is relatively unspoilt and nowhere as crowded as some of the other popular pilgrim centres.

The route to Thirunelly via Mysore, Ranganathittu bypass, Hunsur, Nagarahole, Kutta and Tholpetty is as scenic as the destination. On a good day you will be able to cover the 250 km route in 6 hours including a halt at Lokaruchi and a slow drive through Nagarahole. The roads are good but for a 30 km stretch through Nagarahole. Here, you need to roll down the windows and drive slow, looking out for animals on either side of the road.

Accommodation at Thirunelly should be reserved in advance at the Panchatheertham guest house (phone no: 04935-210201). Book a VIP room (Rs. 600 per day) if you want a fan and heater. The basic rooms are much cheaper (Rs. 160 per day). Be prepared for a volley of questions about everything including the purpose of the visit and your marital status when you call them for a booking. There are no other options in Thirunelly other than a forest department guest house on the way. There are stay options at Tholpetty (20 km) and Kutta (25 km) too. The food at the two restaurants in Thirunelly is nothing to write home about. Suffice to say that even Mallus will need to get adjusted to the food here.

The temple is ancient, said to be 3000 years old. According to legend, it was created by Brahma in honour of Vishnu. The older parts of the temple are in ruins. You can see stone pillars around the Eastern part of the temple. There is a also a stone aqueduct that still channels water from the Brahmagiri hills into the temple. The dress code is not as strict as with the other temples in Kerala. Shirts are not allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum. Photography is allowed around the temple if you donate to the temple renovation fund. There is a notice about non-Hindus not being allowed inside the temple.

After a day's stay at Thirunelly, we headed to Mananthavady. The 30 km drive through the forest was good. The roads are excellent on this side with teak forests on either side. After a second breakfast at Mananthavady we decided to head to Kutta instead and try out one of the Coorgi home-stays there. We got a log hut at Ramcaud Estate in Irpu, 7 km from Kutta. The rents are reasonable at Rs. 750 per day. The total for both of us ran to Rs. 1100 including food. We got to try out some Coorgi delicacies here. The main attractions are Irpu falls, walks in the estate and the view of the Brahmagiri hills from the room.

Trip photo set on flickr.

BallalRayanaDurga

2005-12-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

DSC02840
Originally uploaded by binux.

Two weeks ago, we went on a team outing from Kodiak. We stayed at Silent Valley Resorts which is on the route to Kudremukh. The highlight of the trip was the trek to BallalRayanaDurga peak. This is a moderate trek that can be done in about 2 to 3 hours if you know the trail. We took longer than that due to a small misadventure. A cowherd warned us in time that the trail we were attempting initially was dangerous. The views from the top were spectacular. There is a dilapilated fort at the top. It looked like it is a popular camping spot though there wasn't anyone else doing the trek on the day we went. If you are interested, book a cottage at Silent Valley Resorts and ask anyone there to guide you. The trek starts at Horekhan estate which is about 20 km from the resort. The trekking trail continues beyond BallalRayanaDurga to Bandaje falls. We didn't attempt this part since we were already late and the cowherd had warned us about bears and bisons on the trail.

The resort is pretty good. The pool looks inviting in the pictures but it was quite dirty during our stay. We plunged in despite the muck and the frogs and had a good time. Kamath and Ramu couldn't see much without their glasses. I guess I could've enjoyed as much as they did without my 20/20 vision.

The complete photo album is on my flickr page.

Bats 'n Balls... ;)

2005-11-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

Captures from around the rented house that I was staying in recently.

There are plenty of these bats around the place. Always seem to be nibbling on some strange berry like fruit. Their business hours start in the evening. This particular one made the porch light holder its office (no clue where it roosts in the day). Harmless creature, except for the mess it created every night right at the door step. On the day I took this shot, he didn't notice us coming in. Had to set the flash and focus manually. The focus assist lamp would have disturbed the fellow otherwise. There's one visiting our balcony in the new house too.

Had my camera handy when this one passed by one day. When you get opportunities like this, you realize why camera startup times, focus speeds and shutter lag are important.

Uncyclopedia

2005-10-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia on Uncyclopedia
and
Uncyclopedia on Wikipedia

Inkscape

2005-09-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

Quite a number of people reviewing my documents at work ask me about the tool I use for the drawings. I use an SVG editor. Here are some links from WikiPedia, Adobe and W3C on SVG. The editor I use is Inkscape. Check out the Inkscape gallery for the amazing stuff you can do with this tool.

Yes, it's available for Windows too.

Google Chat and SIP

2005-08-24T00:13:00.000-07:00

Google's IM and Voice Chat service was launched today. Their service uses open standards for instant messaging. That means I can pretty much use any client with XMPP/Jabber support to connect. The voice calls are signaled using a proprietary protocol as of now but they do plan to document it and to support SIP later. More about that in the Google Chat Developer's FAQ.

I use gaim for IM and I was able to connect to Google chat with it. Gaim supports multiple protocols like Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and AOL so I don't have to run multiple clients. While Google has released their own client for Windows, they do provide links to other clients like gaim that can be used with their network. Although gaim supports Yahoo and MSN, they had to reverse engineer these protocols. Once in a while these networks change their protocol and the gaim developers have to crack the changes and release updates to let users connect again. While Yahoo and MSN try hard to lock users to their networks and officially released clients, Google allows any client and is also making efforts to let you make voice calls to users on other providers (Earthlink and Gizmo to start with). Trust Google to shake things up when they venture into a new field.

Zzzz....

2005-08-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

malad_west: goo
malad_west: goo
malad_west: d
malad_west: d ka phat gaya
binu5ue: kya?
binu5ue: yeh d kaun hai?
malad_west: D is a key on my keyboard.

Doh!
Happens to sleep deprived individuals especially when chatting with Malad.

Evening Sky

2005-08-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

dsc02578_c
Originally uploaded by binux.

Got this shot from the terrace on Sunday evening. You can see the Moon and Venus in this one. Any idea if the meteor showers on 12th will be visible in India?

Want a Pet?

2005-07-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

If you are to believe some sites, pigs make very good pets. It seems they are easier to train than dogs. Interested? You can pick up your new pet from the ones in the pic. They are in a vacant plot close to my current home.

Lakshadweep HOWTO

2005-07-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

If you maintain a list of things to do before you conk off, add visiting Laksha dweep somewhere at the top. After the disappointment at Karwar where I couldn't go snorkelling due to the weather, I was looking for an opportunity to give it a shot again. In Lakshadweep I got more than what I wished for.

Getting There
There are two options. If sea sickness is not a problem, you can get there by ship from Cochin or Calicut. The journey by ship takes about 22 hours. There are four ships that make the trip to Lakshadweep. One of them has cabins. On the others, you will have to sit through the entire journey. Cabin costs about 1500 rupees, seating is cheaper.

The other option is the Indian Airlines flight from Cochin. It costs 5500 rupees one way per passenger. Don't expect apex fares early bookings. The plane is a 12 seater Dornier. You have to book well in advance since this is the only flight as of now. Air Deccan is planning to operate flights from Cochin to Agatti soon. Expect the fares to be half of what IA charges. The flight duration is about 1.5 hours.

If you have sea sickness, by all means take the flight in both directions. If you want travel by ship to be a part of the holiday experience, do take the flight in one direction so you don't miss the beautiful aerial view of the islands.

Stay Options
Bangaram Islands Resort is apparently the best place to stay in Lakshadweep. The beach is excellent. You can see all shades of blue and green in the lagoons around this island. The tariff is steep. It takes half an hour by boat to reach Bangaram from the airport on Agatti island.

I chose the Agatti Island resort for my honeymoon mainly for the affordability and good reviews from my friend Mayank. This resort is right next to the airport on Agatti island. A 3 nights, 4 days package in April cost me 18,000 rupees for the two of us. This included all meals, a fishing trip, glass bottom boating and a trip to Bangaram island. Add about 2000 rupees for the guided diving and snorkelling off Bangaram island. Unlike Bangaram island, Agatti island has a population of about 7000. The resort's beach is private.

Lakshadweep tourism organizes diving trips to the islands. You will have to stay on board a ship on these trips. The ship will dock near some of the islands during the trip. There is a resort on Kadamat island too. You'll have to enquire about these options since I've only been to Agatti and Bangaram.

Season
The season is from October to April. After April, it gets windy and the sea gets rough. The resorts stay open during the off season too and the tariff is usually half of the season tariff. The best time to be there is in December or January when the temperatures are within limits. By April it does get vey warm there (about 32 degrees).

Things To Do
At Agatti island, you can go for a swim in the sea. The waters off the island are crystal clear due to the coral reefs which break the waves. Even if you can't swim you can pick up a life vest and float about. Kayaking in the calm waters is another option. The resort has bicycles on hire if you are interested in a visit to the inhabited parts of Agatti. You don't have to worry about losing your way there, there is only one road on the island. The resort arranges for a fishing trip in the lagoon and a glass bottom boat trip. The glass bottom boat has glass windows at the bottom. You can catch a glimpse of the colourful aquatic life below when the boat goes over the coral reefs.

The main attraction though is snorkelling and diving. The good part is that you needn't know swimming for these activities. For snorkelling, you can put on a life jacket and float around wearing a glass mask. A tube from the mask stays above water to let you breath. If you can swim, you can can go on your own to the corals that are a few metres away from the beach and enjoy the underwater view. If you can't swim, you can get someone to guide you there. Guided snorkelling will cost you about 500 rupees. This is not part of the package. For the more adventurous, there are introductory guided diving lessons off Bangaram island (need not be a swimmer for this). The corals there are teeming with aquatic life. The multi-coloured tropical fish there seem to be straight from Finding Nemo. You can also dive off a ship wreck near Bangaram islands. If you have sea sickness take some pills along since the boat ride can get rough at places.

Plan well in advance if you are interested in making this trip. Getting the flight tickets to Agatti isn't easy and the resorts have some paperwork to do for the permits to visit the islands. You might get a discount on the regular tariff if you use a reference. I used Mayank's reference to knock off 10% from the tariffs. Feel free to use my reference :)

A Lot Can Happen Over Coffee

2005-07-25T02:30:00.000-07:00

That's the Cafe Coffee Day slogan.

It was a cold rainy evening yesterday, perfect for a hot cup of coffee. Preethi and I went to the new Cafe Coffee Day outlet near our home. We ordered a cafe mocha and a hot chocolate. The waiter asked, "Vanilla or fresh cream?". Both of us chose fresh cream. When we got the bill, things didn't seem to add up. It turned out that the fresh cream toppings were add-ons and cost an additional 30 rupees. Not an amount to complain so much about, but it would have been much better if they had asked something like, "Would you like to add a vanilla or cream topping to that?"

On our way out, I told Preethi, "A loot can happen over coffee."

Ankhein, Ankhen, Aankhen ...

2005-06-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

I've settled into a life without television. Thursday nights are an exception though. Preethi and I spend Thursday nights at my parents' place to catch Ankhen (she's got addicted too.)

The latest happenings involve a kingdom named Jabbar. Kangaroo has taken over the kingdom as General K N Garo. Last week's episode had the Ankhen team in a brainstorming session where an Einstein in the team went from "K N Garo" to "Ka Na Garo" and figured it all out. It was only bettered by a boat chase scene done entirely in the studio with cheap props. The serial is very interestingly poised at the moment with the Colonel having penetrated Kangaro's hideout.

Meanwhile, the fan club is growing. Kamath, Mohan and Subhash are regulars now. Kamath did some research on the web (apparently looking for boxed DVD sets of the first season) and stumbled upon some links. One of the links he found says that the serial has 52 one hour episodes, so the fun should last for an year. Here are the links:

http://www.sagartv.com/profile.asp - End of page has the number of episodes planned.
http://www.sagartv.com/Serials.asp?serialid=10 - The serial's synopsis at the Sagar TV site.
http://www.sagartv.com/team.asp - Profile of the director, Amrit Sagar. Note that Ankhen is the top serial on DD.
http://wartsanddimples.blogspot.com/2005/06/ankhen-sight-for-sore-eyes.html - Another blogger who got hooked.

Excerpt from an interview with Prem Sagar found by Mohan:

Are you surprised with the success of your serial Ankhen on DD National which has been climbing peaks of popularity?

The Sagar family was at its peak in Bollywood after giving a row of hits like Arzoo, Ankhen, Geet, Lalkar. It, however, surprised everyone by venturing into the world of television. The decision invited a lot of criticism. Now, the third generation scions of the Sagar family - Amrit and Shakti Sagar - are still keeping the flag aloft with their latest hit serial Ankhen. These young boys have returned from Hollywood after imbibing the latest tools and techniques. When they saw their grandfather (Ramanand Sagar)'s film Ankhen, they expressed a desire to convert it into a TV serial.

Through Ankhen, we have advocated the view that that there is a need to be perceptive; keep our ears and eyes open in these trying times. There is a need to be alert in this age of terrorism wherein there is a constant threat from insiders. We cannot depend on the military and the police alone.

Ankhen, which is airing on the 10 pm slot on Thursdays had a TRP of 10.8 (23 February to 1 March) and 11.5 (2 March to 8 March). The serial has already won awards and has captured the imagination of the people in these troubled times. Good content with a soul always sells irrespective of cricket mania or war-related pre-occupations.

Unrelated stuff:
http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=245347 - Hilarious review of Baba.

Honeymoon Trip

2005-05-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my honeymoon trip. The trip took us to Wayanad, Lakshadweep, Munnar and Bison Wells. From 12 metres below the sea in the coral reefs around Lakshadweep to 7000 ft above sea level, lost in the clouds at Bison Wells, there's a lot to blog about in the coming days. Here are the photos meanwhile:

Agatti Island, Lakshadweep
Bison Wells, Off Kodaikanal
Munnar, Kerala

Ankhein

2005-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sad that you can't get to watch Plan 9 From Outer Space? Relax, there's something on DD National just for you. The "so bad it's good" serial is called Ankhein and it airs on DD National at 10:00 pm every Thursday. It's about a colonel and his team of five commandos called Ankhein who protect the nation from the evil-doers Carlos and Kangaroo (who are always getting drunk next to a pool and laughing out loud).

Describing a full episode with all its flaws will require a dedicated website. I'm sure the serial will attain cult status soon and one will spring up. Here are some interesting sequences from the last two episodes.

All fight scenes in the serial are amazing. In yesterday's episode, two commandos barge into a room with terrorists and disarm them. One of the terrorists kicks a chair towards the commandos. The chair falls well short of the commandos but for some reason they both fall down and the terrorists rush out of the room.

The commandos give them a chase in the hotel. They stop the pursuit to warn the other commandos waiting outside the hotel. Guess how they communicate? Using mobile phones. The terrorists have a good lead by the time the commandos are done calling their team members one at a time on their mobiles. When the two disarmed terrorists come out of the hotel's rear exit, they are confronted by a commando in position to shoot them. Usually even when they have guns and are in a good position to shoot the commandos, the terrorists yell "Aiyeee" and run towards the commandos to give them target practice. But in this scene, the unarmed terrorists throw stones at the commando and bring him down.

Yesterday's episode even had a direct confrontation between the colonel and Carlos. Carlos and Kangaroo hire a guy named Sanjay Patil to eliminate the colonel. The colonel is asked to come down to a playground unarmed and unaccompanied if he wants to meet the terrorist behind the recent attacks. The colonel obliges and comes down to the ground to prove he is no coward (just plain stupid). Patil runs out with a gun and then a long dialogue starts. That gives time for two commandos to spring our and disarm Patil. Carlos and Kangaroo who have come to watch the show, come out of their hideout and ask the commandos to put down their guns. They are not holding anyone hostage and they haven't come from behind. Yet, the commandos immediately say, "OK" and put their guns down (duh?). The dialogues continue, and for some reason Carlos is always urging Patil to stop talking and shoot the colonel (though he can do that himself). Anyway, after many more dialogues and some more characters popping up, Carlos is wounded, all the commandos are safe and Patil (who changes his mind after his girlfriend appears on the scene and pleads with him) is shot while valiantly shielding the colonel. The director and writers must have excellent mind control. It is obvious that they have selectively put that part of the brain which deals with logic and reasoning (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) to sleep when creating this masterpiece. You are expected to suspend these functions too when watching it.

After the shootout, when Ankhein is chasing the wounded Carlos and his gang, you see an animated helicopter. Is this the first television serial in the Who Framed Roger Rabbit genre? No, that's the chopper coming in to rescue Carlos. They couldn't afford a real helicopter and they probably couldn't find stock footage of real helicopters.

There's much more: obviously fake disguises, cheap plastic guns, Ramayan style bullet going through the air shots (the serial is produced by Ramananand Sagar), brightly coloured bombs that will daze their victims if they don't explode, green rubber balls for grenades, crowds that converge when they panic and the all important truth drug. It's very easy viewing despite all this. All characters helpfully talk out loud to make their intentions very clear. The colonel explains his deductions very lucidly, like how he noticed that the pan masala packets with drugs were labelled Khoyeja (get lost) instead of genuine Khayeja (eat on) pan masala. Concepts like the truth drug or even how conference calls work are explained very well (The How Stuff Works site needs to get a clue from these guys). Usually, one of the extras will have the same doubts that you have and the villains will patiently explain everything to them. The only thing unexplained is how they managed to get a slot on national television.

So remember, Thursdays at 10, exclusively on DD National. Even the urea and banian ads during the breaks are enjoyable.

Public Transport

2005-03-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

Taking a cue from Kamath, I'm trying out public transport these days. The experience so far is pretty decent. The commute takes a little longer. It takes about one hour now in either direction, but it's stress free. No more getting bugged with signals that take an eternity to change, two wheelers cutting across dangerously or autos poking their wheels to jam your way.

It did take some time to get used to it. The boards have destinations written in Kannada only. Even though I can read a little bit of Kannada, I still couldn't read the boards fast enough. I have to use context to figure out most words. For example, on the day Veerappan was shot, a Kannada paper's headline read Veerappan something. Context didn't help me get the word since I was told later that the headline was "Veerappan Phinish". Even if I do manage to read the destination I still wouldn't have a clue if the bus to Mangammanpalya, Attibele or Chandapura goes through Sarjapur road. But most passengers are helpful if you ask them. On the first day I waited for about half an hour at the the wrong bus stop till someone finally told me that buses that stop there only go towards ShivajiNagar and Airport. By the third day I had the routes and the stops figured out. I still have to ask when I see unfamiliar numbers.

Most of the time I've been lucky, getting a bus right till the quarters. On some days I have to walk a bit, but that's good. With a daily pass for 25 rupees, you can hop on to any bus. From HSR it takes one hop to the new Shanti Nagar depot and another from there to Richmond road. The bus depot is well organized, with separate lanes for buses on different routes. So I know that all buses in a particular lane will go up to Koramangala, after which I can switch again if required. Kamath tells me that when the roads are badly jammed you can walk across the jammed intersection and hop on to another bus.

On some days the bus ride is pretty entertaining. One day, the opposite seat had a man trying hard to get a few winks of sleep. Next to him was his nemesis, a guy chattering on his mobile. The groggy chap would occasionally raise his eyelids with supreme effort and reply to some of the motormouth's questions on the phone. None of this seemed to affect mobile addict though. Yesterday there was an altercation between two people that went into a tight loop with each one asking the other, "Neenu Yaru?" (Who're YOU?). When one bystander tried to resolve the deadlock, he was in turn asked "Neenu Yaru?" (Who're YOU to intercede?). It all ended with neither of them getting an answer when one of them had to get down at his stop. I wish my phone had an FM tuner for the not so interesting days.

Let's see how long this new found enthusiasm to reduce the traffic density in Bengaluru lasts.

Sweet Sixteen

2005-03-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Google India Code Jam final round was held in Bangalore last Saturday. Among the fifty finalists, there were a good number of contestants who had been flown in from Singapore. Most of the finalist were students. The contest was held in two Reliance Webworlds in Cunningham road and CMH road. This time the problems were tougher than those in the qualifiers, though the time limit was increased to two hours. The first problem was related to web crawling. You are given a list of URLs that the crawler traversed first. The second list contains URLs crawled from the pages in the first list. Each URL would be preceded by an index into the page in the first list. These URLs would be relative to the URLs in the first list (can contain ../). A third list contained URLs found in pages in the second list. The aim was to find the total number of unique pages in the list. This took some time to finish.

The second problem involved finding the path with the shortest number of turns between two points in a 500x500 matrix. All the roads in the matrix were specified by their start and end coordinates. This problem was far too tedious to attempt in the remaining time. One had to find all the intersections of the roads and construct a graph. After determining the edges on which the points lay you had to find all possible paths between the two points and get the one with the minimum turns. In case two paths had the same number of turns, there was a crazy sorting criterion for resolving the order. I wasted some time on this before giving up and moving to the next problem.

The last problem was a battle game. You are given a certain number of armies in your territory. Your opponent has three territories and the number of armies in those territories is also given. When you attack any of your opponent's territories, there are probabilities for 2 to 3 possible outcomes (you lose 2 armies, he loses none, both lose one and so on). If you win a territory, you need to post one of your armies in the territory before attacking the next one. Depending on the sequence of the attack, the probability of winning would change. The aim was to determine probability of the best winning strategy. I coded up a solution with a recursive algorithm to this one, but it was far too buggy. I ran out of time while debugging it. No regrets though since I'm not sure if the algo would have worked even if all the bugs were thrashed out.

Luckily for me, there were hardly any submissions for the second and third problems. Based on the submission time for the first problem, I was at the 16th position. After the contest ended at 1:30, everyone went to the Google office for lunch and technical talks. Lunch was good and the tech talks were interesting. The first talk was about the page rank algorithm. Spammers are always coming up with ways to get the Googlebot to rank them higher and Google is always looking at ways to counter their moves through changes in their page ranking system. The next talk was about the massive Google cluster and their cluster file system. I think they did a good job of convincing everyone that Google is the place to be in if you want to do interesting work in computer science.

The awards ceremony was next. I was relieved to know I had retained the 16th position after the system tests. That means a cheque for 25 K (minus the taxman's share :( ). There was a dinner in the evening at the Taj where I got to chat with some of the other contestants and the hosts.

It was a great experience. Google intends to interview finalists who are interested in a job with them. I have declined the interview for now.

Engaging Week

2005-03-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I got a mail asking me to confirm my participation in the code jam finals. That kept me grinning for a while. But on Wednesday I was grinning from ear to ear all through the day. I think I still am. I'm now formally engaged to be married to Preethi.

The engagement was a family affair at Preethi's home. Her uncle asked everyone present if there were any objections to the match. How could there be? Anyway, I glanced menacingly across the room just to be sure (OK. I'm kidding). After that both our horoscopes were tied into a bundle and presented to my uncle and the date of the wedding was announced. Simple. The wedding is on the morning of April 22nd (9 to 9:15 am) in Bangalore. No more details here. That should get some of you to write to me. You'll see me soon with the invitations.

Engagement snaps here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/binu5ue/album?.dir=f4cd

Google Code Jam Update

2005-03-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

The final results are out. Here's the link. I'm number 51, the guy on the fence. The good news is that if any one among the top 50 cannot confirm his/her participation in the onsite round in Bangalore, I'm in. Since a good number of the finalists are from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, I guess I still have a decent chance of making it.

Google India Code Jam

2005-03-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

I made it into the first round of 500 qualifiers in the Google India Code Jam. That kept me busy for a while. The round to select the top 50 was held today. The results aren't officially out yet, but I'm at number 52 now, missing the top 50 by the narrowest of margins. What makes it really hurt is that I did pretty good today and could have been placed 15th but for a case I hadn't considered in one problem.

There were three programs to be submitted within the alloted time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. The points allotted to any solution depended on how quickly you submitted the solution.

The first problem for 250 points was very simple. There's a mechanical display that displays binary number numbers up to 32767 from a counter. The display gears that wear out for each binary digit flip. Given any two numbers, you had to calculate the wear in the display when counting between them. Pretty simple. Got a pretty good score on this one.

The second problem for 700 points had a 11x11 chessboard. You are given the position of rooks and bishops on the board in a format like "2 5 Rook", "4 8 Bishop". Up to 50 pieces can be given. You have to return the number of squares on the board that are controlled by the pieces. If a bishop or rook come in path of each other, the number of squares controlled comes down since the line of attack is blocked. Scored well on this one too. Doesn't require much thinking to code up a solution to this one.

In the last problem for 900 points you are given a sequence of integers. You need to determine the minimum number of changes required in the series to make the it an arithmetic progression. For example if you are given a sequence like
"100 -90 130 175 800 225 -10 275 30", the sequence you can make with minimum changes is "100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300" changing numbers at positions 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9. So the result is 5 changes. This was my waterloo. I coded up a solution that would work fine with series like this one. When I submitted the solution, I had totalled 1386 points with 30 minutes to spare (45 minutes for three programs).

At the end of the coding round, I was placed 15th, making it comfortably in the top 50. Next it was the challenge round for another 15 minutes. In this phase you can view the source code of the nine other contestants in your room and challenge them. If you provide a test case that fails, you gain 50 points, else you lose 25. I did find a valid challenge but couldn't get the 50 points since another guy challeged the same code successfully just before I did.

The system tests began next and went on for an hour. My solution for the third problem failed for a case like this "999 2 998 4 997 6 996 7 -999 9 10". This could be made into a series like "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11" with 8 changes which is the minimum required. My solution however considered a transformation to "999 998.5 998 997.5 997 996.5 996 995.5 995 994.5 994" and returned 7 instead. If only I had ignored progressions with non integer increments I would be beaming right now. The thing with the code jam is that even if your solution fails one case, you lose all points for the submission. This mistake cost me 650 points and I slipped to the 52nd position. I missed the top 50 by 6 points. Could have made it with the 50 points from the challenge. The only hope now is if at least two contestants from the top 50 cannot confirm their participation in the final round in Bangalore.

Shit happens.

Bellikal

2005-01-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

Anil organized a trip to Bellikal this weekend. There were five of us
in the group: Anil and Poornima, Mandya muscleman Mohan, ace
photographer and PVR Gold Class patron Manjula and me of course. Before
I ramble on, here are the photos from the trip:

My album on flickr

Manjula's photos on webshots

The Silver Stone Estate

Bellikal (belli = silver, kal = stone in Kannada) is a tea estate off
the steep Kalhatti ghat road to Ooty from Bandipur. The place is
unspoilt and not frequented by tourists. No one stays at the estate
full time. The estate owner, Mr. Pannalal comes down to host the
occasional visitors. Panna is a nature lover and seeing Anil's
unbounded enthusiasm for nature and wildlife, agreed to come over this
weekend to host the five of us.

Accommodation was in a portion of an ancient estate house built by the
Britishers. The place has no tarred roads, electricity or telephone
lines. The estate adjoins the Mudumalai and Bandipur forests. The lake
in the estate is a major water source for the surrounding areas and
attracts wild animals in the evenings. The tea plantation covers only a
part of the estate lands. The rest of the land has been forested and it
is frequented by bears, bisons and even elephants.

Day 1

On the first day the travel weary gang had a nap on the rocks at a view
point in the estate. After the refreshing nap we went bird watching.
Manjula got some great shots of the birds around the estate. Birds seen
in the estate included the shrike, wood peckers, bulbuls, drongo,
morning dove and the crow pheasant. After the bird watching session we
went to a view point overlooking the Moyar plateau. While returning we
spotted a bison at a distance. The first day's experience was pretty
good, marred only by some Jiddu-babble from Anil. The beautiful
environs inspired Anil to give his unwilling audience a spontaneous
discourse on the universal mind and the self. The night was very cold.
So cold that Mohan couldn't do a Salman on this trip.

Day 2

The next day, the water was freezing. Anil and I entered into a pact to
not bathe over the next two days. Manjula walked off alone to the lake
early in the morning to get some great shots of the lake at dawn. At
this time no one realized the dangers of wandering about alone near the
lake. Though Panna had warned us about the bears and bisons that roam
the estate, we thought he was being overcautious. After breakfast, we
trekked along the estate boundaries to the adjoining hills. Panna
showed us the droppings of many animals including that of a tiger. The
path also had bushes trampled by elephants. At one point we could hear
a barking deer nearby but we couldn't spot it.

Wild Things

In the evening, we set out again to the sunset point. A little
downhill, we spotted a bear near a farm. Though it was at a good
distance away, the thrill of spotting an animal in the wild cannot be
matched by watching the same creature at close quarters in an
enclosure. Anil missed this sight since he had wandered off to the
lake. At this point we realized the dangers of venturing out alone. It
was very close to one of the trails to the sunset point. We hurried to
the lake since the bear was climbing as it foraged and it would soon be
near the path that we took. As we were returning, Chandru, our driver,
noticed some movement in the pine forest near the lake. A little later
Manjula noticed the pine tree tops swaying deep in the forest. This was
an amazing moment. Only an elephant coming towards the lake could push
the trees around like that. Mohan borrowed a jacket in panic to cover
his white t-shirt (elephants don't like white). As we waited, hiding at
the opposite end of the lake, we saw not one, but five elephants come
out and drink from the lake. It was quite dark and we couldn't
photograph them. This was the high point of the trip. After we
returned, all plans for a star gazing session from the viewpoint were
scrapped. Our star gazing guide Mohan was too shaken anyway.

Return

The next day we started our tiring trip back to Bangalore. This was
another adventure. The driver was speeding like a maniac to be on time
for another trip in the evening. We stopped at Mysore for lunch. Mysore
is beautiful and calm. I think I'll join the gang at Kodiak that is
planning to settle in Mysore.

Tandoor Again

2005-01-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

Go to Yahoo! search and type "Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor". Check out the first result. Neat eh? I just hope I don't get to hear from anyone's lawyers.
Before you ask, I didn't go around typing keywords on search engines to find out. Vanity has its limits. I just happened to notice that one of the visitors to my blog came from from Yahoo. Yep, I track visitors with statscounter. A little vanity is allowed :)
Strangely, google hasn't indexed my blog, and google owns blogspot.

Recycling ...

2005-01-03T02:08:00.000-08:00

If I should die before I wake
All my bone and sinew take
Put me in the compost pile
To decompose me for a while

Worms, water, sun will have their way,
Returning me to common clay
All that I am will feed the trees
The plants, the fishes in the seas

When radishes and corn you munch
You'll be having me for lunch
And then excrete me with a grin
Chortling "There goes Lee again!"

--Lee Hayes

Dandeli Trip and Shetti's Wedding

2004-12-30T23:08:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we set out to attend Shetti's wedding in Hubli. Since the wedding was on Sunday, we decided to spend Saturday visiting places around Dandeli (North Karnataka, 70 km from Hubli).
The Night Long Vigil
The Rajahamsa bus to Dandeli looked like it was on its last trip before being decommissioned. We had the last seats in the bus to add to the fun. After the bus is decommisioned, I guess it will be used to give budding astronauts a feel of the G-forces in space flight. The seats had a very unique feature. When pushed back, the back and head rest would tilt towards the adjacent seat. Great for couples heading to Dandeli for their honeymoon. But for the five of us, it meant an all night vigil guarding against involuntary lip locks. After Hubli, we finally managed to find better seats and get some sleep.
Unche Log Unchi Pasand
When we got down at Dandeli, we found that State Guest House, which is the only known decent place to stay in Dandeli town, was completely booked for a wedding. We tried a shady lodge next with dark corridors. No rooms there either. Finally we had to try the only other lodge in town, Prakash Lodge. The hotel manager told us that the place was almost completely booked for the holiday season. There was one room available though. The room was well appointed, with a study table and a thoughtfully placed recess in the wall, next to one of the beds. From the colour of the recess we figured it was for the unche log with unchi pasand to conveniently spit out pan or gutkha without getting up from bed. We checked out at 12 after checking with Shetti if he could book us rooms in Hubli. We arranged a taxi to go around Dandeli.
Kali River, Cyntheri Rocks and Syke's Point
The first spot was on the banks of Kali river. Good picnic spot. The water was clear and inviting, but due to the undercurrents and the sharp rocks, taking a dip was inadvisable. The forest department had a board with the writing "Number of deaths since ...:". No number was written to suggest that it needed very frequent updates. Next stop was Cyntheri rocks. The route to this place was picturesque. We had a flat tyre midway to let us enjoy the scenery. The rocks are magnificent. There's water flowing at the bottom. Again, no possibility of a dip. We finished our packed lunches here. After Cintheri, we headed to Syces point. Kamath had warned us that the locals pronounce Syces in a peculiar way. Since this blog is no adult site, I can't mention the word "sex" here. Let's just say the locals called it X-point. When we asked the driver what we'd get to see at X-point, he told us "X-point mein apko sin dekhne ko milega." For a moment we wondered what the place was about and then realized he meant scene. The spot was beautiful indeed. It looks into a valley with the Kali river meandering through it. There is a hydel power station at the base and photography is not allowed at the spot.
Sirsi
After Syke's point we headed back to Dandeli and then to Sirsi without realizing how far it was. We saw a fox and a hare on the route. This leg was disappointing. The driver was just taking us around to add up the miles. We traveled nearly 100 km to see two temples which weren't remarkable. After another 100 km we reached Hubli at midnight where Shetti-san was waiting for us on his wedding eve. Shetti arranged a good dinner for us at a nearby bar. At the bar, the waiter seemed confused when we ordered peas pulao and curd rice. He asked if we wanted chicken or mutton pieces in the "piece" pulao. Shetti had also arranged hotel rooms and return tickets for us at a short notice. (Thanks Shetti!)
The Wedding
At the wedding, Shetti was blushing all the time. We saw him first in a Gandhi topi. Lalith joked that we should get Gandhi Topis too. I didn't get the joke, so I went out with Don and asked an auto driver to take us to the nearest place where we could get Gandhi Topis. After getting some queer looks from the auto driver and the people at the shop we returned in time for the photo sessions. The five of us pulled out our topis on stage and surprised Shetti. The wedding feast was sumptuous. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I should add a special mention for Snu who did a good job of settling the accounts and then bullied us into thanking him for it.

Karwar Trip

2004-12-24T04:35:00.000-08:00

Photos from the trip to Karwar last weekend are on yahoo now:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/binu5ue/my_photos

We spent Saturday at the Great Outdoors resort. The resort is on a private island named Kurumgad, 5 km into the Arabian Sea off Karwar. The island has a good private beach. You can indulge in water sports like kayaking and water skating. If the waters are clear, you can also try snorkeling there. Sadly for us, the water wasn't all that clear and a large group from Mudra tried all the water sports and the speed boat ran out of fuel. If you ever plan to go, make sure the resort isn't fully booked. We spent spent the morning swimming in the sea and tried kayaking.

After a quick nap in the afternoon, we set off to the beach again. Vijay and Mohan tried beach volleyball for a while. The sunset with a distant lighthouse in view was spectacular. Then Mohan's creative juices started flowing. His ideas for some creative shots around the setting sun had us wondering if he had chosen the right profession. Most of us who heard him have been scarred for life. I wonder if we can ever watch a sunset again without the disturbing imagery of Mohan's ideas. At dusk, there was more to come. We had a barbecue in the moonlight. A little beer and Seshu started off on yet another chapter from his dukhbhari dastaan. This time there was an unusual twist to the story. Mohan and I realized that counseling under influence is fun. Since this is a PG rated blog, I can't get into the details about Mohan's sunset ideas or Seshu's story here.

The next morning we set off to Gokarna. As we were leaving the island, we finally saw two dolphins near the boat jetty. The weather at Gokarna was sultry and there wasn't much to do there. The town was pretty interesting though. The hippies outnumber the locals there. The little town is lined with jims, restaurents (sic) serving peanut butter, cyber cafes and even advanced computer technology centers. We couldn't figure out what attracts the hippies in hordes to this place. Apparently, Om beach, which is at a distance, is spectacular. We just went to the main beach (quite ordinary) since we had the return bus at 7. Probably will plan another trip to this place.

Pretty good trip. Could've been better if we had done some water skating and snorkeling.

Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor

2004-11-29T04:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was mostly indoors and in front of the tube. The pick of
weekend television was an ad (or should I say infomercial) about a tandoor grill so revolutionary that Sanjeev Kapoor chose to lend it his name, calling it the Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor. This revolutionary tandoor has a sloping plate with ridges to let the oil flow out into a tray. The tray is of course thoughtfully included with the product. The ad featured Mr. Kapoor himself giving a demo to a soap opera queen and a live audience of about fifty people who had come to witness the miracle first hand.

When I tuned in, a 32 year old software engineer was telling the audience about how he had considered buying a treadmill due to growing fitness concerns. Luckily for him, someone recommended the Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor instead. So now, instead of working out on an expensive
treadmill, he keeps fit by having his fill of lip smacking oil-free delicacies grilled in the Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor. Wow! Fitness equipment manufacturers are doomed.

The demo continued with oil being squeezed out of various grilled items in the tandoor. The soap queen displays the glass of extracted oil to the audience. A horrified mother, clutches her son and asks the opera queen if her son was actually ingesting all that oil. The opera queen
grimly answers in the affirmative but quickly reassures the petrified mother that the horror has come to an end. The twit she was clutching on to adds, "Didn't I tell you that oil is bad, mom?". For some reason the audience laughs out loud at this.

Next, Mr. Kapoor offers some aloo tikki grilled on the tandoor to the soap opera queen. She nibbles and says "Yeh achha *nahi* hai ....". This my friends is one of the most delicate moments of suspense witnessed on television. The lively audience suddenly goes "Huhhhh!?!" and there are puzzled looks all round the studio. People shrug their shoulders and stare into each other open mouthed, seeking an explanation. My heart too skipped a beat as she continued "... yeh to *bahut* achha hai." The audience let out a collective sigh of relief and broke into spontaneous applause. From the looks of the audience during these vital seconds, I suspect the woman would have been lynched if she had prolonged the suspense. It would have been a sad end to Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Whatever Thi. I shudder at the thought of a parallel universe where the lynching would actually have taken place.

After everything was back in control, Mr. Kapoor roasted a chicken leg and showed yet another cup of oil to the audience. He picked a sardar from the audience to taste his masterpiece. One bite and the sardar was overcome with emotion. He joyously declared that he hadn't tasted stuff like that since he left Ludhiana. At this point I couldn't take the emotional stress any more. Wiping my tears I switched to Cartoon Network where the Powerpuff girls were saving Townsville from Mojo Jojo.

Amazing Weekend Adventure

2004-11-23T02:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Ramu, Kamath, Mohan and I set out on the popular trek on the abandoned railway line from Sakleshpur to Subrahmanya along the Ghats. This trail passes through one of the most scenic railway lines cutting through the ghats with umpteen tunnels and tall bridges over waterfalls and gorges. Trains have been stopped on this route for quite some time now since the tracks are being converted to broad gauge. We initially thought this would be an easy trek. The plan was finish it by noon and reach Mangalore in the evening. Little did we know about the adventure that awaited us. Before I ramble on, here's the link to the photo album: http://photos.yahoo.com/binu5ue.

A Bad Start
We reached Sakleshpura at around 3:00 am. Kamath made one attempt to get some sleep at the bus-shelter but a grasshopper that took shelter in his pants foiled his plans. The 5:15 bus from Sakleshpur dropped us at least 4 km before the trail. From this point, we split into two groups and hitched rides to the start of the trail. We were dropped off 2 km apart and with no mobile coverage, it was 7:30 when we finally traced each other and started the hike from Donigal station.

The First Bridge
The first bridge arrived soon. It was the scariest sight. In the pictures these bridges look all right. If a train can go across these why can't we? Well, there is no protection on the sides. The gap between the sleepers is wider than you think and the sight of water gushing a hundred feet below isn't pretty. I couldn't estimate if the gap between the sleepers was wide enough for me to slip through. One of the rare occasions when a beer belly can be useful. There are metal sheets laid along the centre of the track for people to walk across, but often they aren't secured to the sleepers properly and most of them look like they are from the beginning of the iron age. On the sides of the bridge there is a continuous girder below the sleepers and the gaps, but walking along that is not a good idea since a slip sideways and you'll be up in the clouds twiddling strings on a harp. The bridge must've been a 100 ft tall. We thought reasoning might dispel some fears. A height of 20 ft or 200 ft is really the same. A fall from either will send you back to your maker in quick time. A 200 ft bridge would afford you a little more time to come up with a good wisecrack for your last words. But then, there won't be anyone around you to record it and etch it on your tombstone. So heights beyond a certain limit don't really matter. Another comforting logic was that the backpacks would hold on even if we slipped into the gaps. Kamath and Ramu crossed first followed by Mohan and I. Kamath and Ramu had the pleasure of watching Mohan patting his thighs and prodding himself at each step.

More Bridges and Tunnels
As we moved along there were more bridges and tunnels. After the first few bridges we got the knack of crossing them. One should never look below through the gaps. On long ones, one should avoid looking up to see how much more there is to go. At one bridge there was sand on the sleepers. At another there was a trolley right in the middle and we had to walk around it along the edge of the bridge. The scariest one however was a very tall and long one with some sleepers missing. We had to carefully get down to the girder on the side where the sleepers were missing and get back on to the sleepers. After doing this part I thought I'd conquered all fear and even took my camera out while standing on the bridge. But as I focused on the stream below, I got the shivers. I quickly snapped a few shots without looking into the viewfinder and carried on. The tunnels were not scary at all. The longest one was about half a kilometre long. They are totally dark and the long ones are full of bats. The bats didn't bother us much but they do raise a stink.

Destination Yedukumeri?
We reached Yedukumeri at 1:30 pm, covering 18 km in 6 hours. After a quick lunch, we started off at 2:00 pm to the highway. Two guys at the station said we could go with them. Apparently there was a truck going to the highway soon. We were soon busy planning the rest of the day in Mangalore. After we followed them on the track and crossed two scary bridges, we asked them where the truck was. Just 5 km away they said and we'd have to cross a few bridges and tunnels to get there.

The Long Trek to Gundya
The 18 km trek to Yedukumeri had exhausted us and after assuming that the trek was over, we weren't prepared to cross bridges again. This stretch was a nightmare. We had to find our way through tall elephant grass and bridges were more numerous, rickety and some had creaking, rotten sleepers. The guys leading us were very fast and it was hard to keep up with them. After a while we were crossing bridges fast without worrying too much. The stretch also had some flooded tunnels and we had to take a few detours. The guys leading us surprisingly didn't need torches in the dark tunnels. Mohan and the guys also spotted a snake along the way. Luckily it was in a clearing and was spotted easily. At 4:30 pm we reached a site about 7 km from Yedukumeri where gauge conversion was on. Mohan had counted 50 bridges in all (from Donigal).

Stranded
When we finally reached the work site at Gundya, we lost sight of the two guys and the truck left without us. All our hopes of going down to Mangalore for a well deserved rest were dashed. At the camp we were told that there were two options to reach Gundya. A decent road that the lorries took was 10 km long. There was a 3 km shortcut trail through dense woods that was very steep. This trail also had a stream towards the end that would be neck deep in water when dam upstream opened its gates. We were too tired to walk any further and we were told that elephants roam the jungles along both routes. We thought we'd take shelter in one of the tunnels for the night. We didn't have any bed sheets or warm clothing for the night. Luckily for us, the railway contractor, one Mr. Ankaiah Naidu was a benevolent man. He arranged a good dinner for us and put us up in a thatched hut with very comfortable beds. Workers told us that he does this often for stranded trekkers. May his tribe increase! We slept well that night.

The Highway, Finally
The next morning, we thanked Mr. Naidu and took ride on one of his tipper lorries that was going down to Gundya. It was a bumpy ride along the newly cut out road though the forest. After about 5 km, a tree that had fallen blocked the path. Attempts to pull the trunk out of the way using the truck failed. Luckily a jeep had come from the other direction. Both vehicles turned back after exchanging passengers. We reached Gundya at 11:00 am and finally got bus that got us to Bangalore by 5:30 pm.

An enjoyable hike, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with a fear of heights. I don't think I'll walk across railway bridges again.

A conversation between Mr. Naidu and another man that Ramu overheard:
"Where are these guys from?"
"Bangalore"
"Did they come here all the way to walk on the tracks??"
"Yeah. They like the scenery here."
"Oh. When the tracks are ready they can just take the train and avoid the walk."

Long Weekend

2004-10-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

I had fun this weekend writing an app to sync my phone from Linux. (Sound of people typing in "fun" at www.dictionary.com). LG doesn't provide syncing software for Linux and it doesn't publish the protocol used either. So I had to do a bit of reverse engineering to figure out how to do it. With a serial port sniffer, I found that the sync software wasn't doing any voodoo but simply using AT commands (though they weren't standard commands you'd find in the GSM AT specification). After that I learn a bit of serial programming from an good online guide and found a python module for serial programming. So far I've managed to extract the schedule from the phone. The next step is to create a good front end for it and maybe share it on the web. There is a project already for Nokia handsets called gnokii.
Other than that, after yet another failed attempt to rent out The Usual Suspects I ended up watching Toy Story and North by Northwest. And there was a trip to the perpetual mela called Forum with Danny. This week's amusement was watching the suckers who had queued up to get inside McDonalds. Danny has become interested in Krishnamurthi's books. Both of us bought The Ending of Time which contains conversations between Krishnamurthi and David Bohm. Yet to start reading it.
Anyone interested in a hike on the abandoned railway track from Donigal that Snu went on last weekend? Here's a friend's travelogue on this hike.

The SEP Field

2004-10-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

The SEP field is an amazing technology introduced in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy". It is a cheaper alternative to the invisibility field and serves the same purpose. So how does it work? Well, SEP stands for "Somebody Else's Problem". The SEP field relies on the human observer's tendency to subconsciously ignore the existence of things that look like somebody else's problem. Read on here for a funnier description.
If you're wondering why I posted this today: Mohan and I were going out for breakfast a while ago when the lift stopped at the third floor. When the door opened, there was this guy briskly sweeping a pile of dust into the lift. He probably was a bit late in seeing the lift occupied and then changed the direction of the sweep a bit. Neat idea though. If you can't sweep it under a carpet, just use the lift and make it somebody else's problem.
Coming back to Hitchhiker's, there are other articles in Wikipedia on The Total Perspective Vortex, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and Vogon Poetry. If this whets you appetite for the book, you could borrow the "trilogy" from me.

Dreams...

2004-10-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to write on the "I want to save the planet" or "I want to soar like and eagle" or "I want to give Schwarzenegger a wedgie" kind of dreams here. It's about the more interesting ones I wake up to on some days.
Just yesterday there was this guy from college (barely knew him) who suddenly turned psychotic and started chasing Kamath, Sito and me with a bazooka in hand. After a long chase we managed to give him the slip and end up in a lake bed. Just when it looked like a safe place to hide, we see pug marks. A little away we see granite sculptures of some animals. As we move closer, one of them roars. It turns out they are tigers covered in foam. I didn't know tigers also had foam parties. I tell others about a report and photo in The Times about foam formation in Bellandur lake due to effluents from textile units. Kamath helpfully adds, "Know what? We are in Bellandur." Satisfied with the explanation we let the tigers continue their party and move on. We soon find other victims hiding there and get into a meeting to figure out why the psycho is after us and where he got that frikkin bazooka from. Don't remember much after that.
I've spent most of my conscious hours today trying to figure out how the subconscious comes up with such interesting stuff. The foam from the lake can be attributed to the photo in The Times yesterday, but where the heck did those party animals come from? I haven't been watching any NGC, Discovery, Animal Planet or AXN this weekend. Also couldn't figure out why that sidey from college was after us either. Even if I'd inadvertently done some harm to him in college, why was he after Sito and Kamath? Anyone who does dream analysis out there? Dirty Freudians can stay out of this exercise!

Plan 9 From Outer Space

2004-10-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Plan 9, the OS from Bell Labs is named after the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space? It's one of those movies that is so bad that it is actually a good watch. Here's a site on Plan 9 flubs. This reminded me of masochists in college who liked suffering first day first shows of Mithun Da's B grade movies. If you are a bad movie aficionado, here are some links that you can use to populate your TO DO lists -
Bad movie reviews (Turkey ratings)
Worst movie list on Wikipedia
The Golden Raspberry Awards
The IMDB bottom 100 list
There is also the IMDB top 250 list if you are looking for good films.

Quote of the week: Tau at dinner last Friday - "Whenever I have a difficult choice to make in life, I always consult my dad. I know for sure I have to make the opposite choice."

Narasimha Parvatha

2004-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

I was down with viral fever for the last four days. The stud that I am, it is unlikely that this had anything to do with last weekend's trek to Narasimha Parvatha. The 7 km trek up to the top was fun. This was the popular trail and not difficult at all. Rains and fog spoiled some of the fun of camping at the top. The next day, for the trek back, some of the more adventurous members suggested we take an 18 km trail that would take us through dense forests. Reasoning was that since it was downhill, it shouldn't be difficult. Well, it did turn out to be downhill from there on (figuratively not literally).
For one, the trail went steeply downhill and then it was mostly uphill. The next problem lay in the jungles. The guy who thought of the phrase "jungle mein mangal" probably wasn't in his right mind (or in his left one for that matter). The only things that seemed to be doing any "mangal" there were the gazillion leeches that had come out in the previous night's rain. Getz you here, getz you there could well be the theme song for our trek through the jungle. It's hard to describe leeches satisfactorily without resorting to profanity. Suffice to say that you would be happier letting Dracula coochie-coo with you than having one of these slimy blood suckers in your shoes. The trek back started at 7 am and ended at 3 in the afternoon with two stops in between for "de-leeching". One of the stops was at Barkhana falls where I discovered that these slimy @#&*er$ don't drown. At the next stop I learnt that stomping hard on these slimy @#&*er$ only damages your knees.
I've posted selected photos from my camera here. There are more photos by Manjula and Prabhu here.

Google Code Jam

2004-09-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Warning: Geeky Content.
I participated in the Google Code Jam challenge phase today. You are given two problems to solve in one hour. On problem is for 1000 points and another easier one is for 400 points. The solution can be submitted in C/C++, C#, Java or VB.NET (Python not allowed :( ).
I worked on the 400 pointer first. You are given a list of strings like {"...Y...T..",".......T..",..} where Y denotes your position and T denotes an enemy. You are to return distances to each enemy. Pretty straightforward (piddlu in IIT lingo). I guess the only factor here is how fast you can code up the solution. Passed the test cases in the first attempt. That left me about 45 minutes for the 1000 pointer.
For the 1000 pointer you are given the weight, coordinates and time of a rock falling into a pool. With each passing second, a ripple moves around the rock with the initial amplitude equal to the rock's weight. The amplitude falls with time as the ripple moves out. The ripple is square shaped. Ripples from different rocks add up. You are given a list of strings of the form "weight time x y". The function should return the highest amplitude at any point of time in the pool. Took about 40 minutes to code it up slow and steady. There were two errors which I couldn't fix in the 5 minutes that remained for testing. The sad thing was that one of the errors was was a stupid optimization that I shouldn't have added before testing (premature optimization - BAD). The other was my old nemesis - a boundary problem (< instead of <=) that resulted in one edge of the ripple not containing all points. I submitted the code anyway. In another 10 minutes after the deadline I was able to fix the errors with a couple of debug prints of the pool matrix. I wish I'd added the debug prints initially. I guess I should have attempted the 1000 pointer first (I have solid 20/20 hindsight) but the 1000 pointer in the practice rounds had given me the heebie-jeebies.
The 1000 pointer in the practice round had a graph where all nodes are connected to each other. A pseudo random generator gave the weights of the edges initially (note initially). You are given two nodes and the shortest path between them has to be determined. Looks like a simple application of Dijkstra's algorithm so far. But, the weights of the edges change while you are traversing the graph. If you travel along an edge of length 3, you need to recompute the weights three times (the new weights are pseudo-random). You have the option of looping at the same node. A self-loop has a weight of one. Solutions to most problems involve looping at a node multiple times till the weights are favourable. I coded up a brute force algo that worked for two of the three test cases they'd given. I didn't know Dijkstra's algo then. The program couldn't complete within the 8 second limit for the larger graph. I found another guy's solution later. It took me four hours just to figure out how that worked. That scared me off the 1000 pointer problems.
If you're interested in the problem statements and the solutions, drop me a mail (binu#removehashes#k#s at gmail com).
All in all a good experience (I now believe firmly that participating is much more important than qualifying :) ). There are other contests on TopCoder which is hosting the Google contest. Some nice links I found during all this:
Graph algorithms on Wikipedia
An online book on algorithms
A quick STL tutorial

The Free Taxi

2004-09-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

I pulled off a nice surprise on Rupa (classmate at IIT-B) who came over
from Bombay this weekend. Rups had given me the flight details but he
wasn't expecting me to pick him up from the airport. As I saw him coming
into the arrival lounge, I hid behind a pillar.
A taxi driver swoops down on Rupa: "Sir, Taxi?"
Rupa (busy punching some number on his mobile): "Nahi"
I move in from behind: "Sir, Taxi chahiye kya?"
Rupa (again without looking up): "Nahi. Katao."
Me (expecting Rupa to look up this time): "Sir free taxi hai."
Rupa (yet again doesn't look to see who is offering a free ride): "Nahi
chahiye."
Me (sure he'll look this time): "Sir apko Binu se milna jana hai na?"
Rupa (finally looks up bewildered): "Abbe!?"

The Life, the Universe and Everything

2004-09-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Try this query on google:
answer to life, the universe and everything

Vacation Snaps

2004-08-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

Snaps from my recent trip to Wayanad and Cochin. This time I took the more scenic route through Mysore, Gundulpet, Kalpetta (Wayanad) and Kozhikode to Cochin. It takes much longer to get to Cochin this way compared to the Salem, Coimbatore route but the terrain is far more interesting. Spent a day in Wayanad to see Edakkal caves and Pookode lake. There's lot's more to see if you are willing to trek and camp. The best time to go is between Jan and March. It was a 6 hour drive from Bangalore. Got to try the route through Nagarhole and Mananthavady next time.
I also found a secluded unspoilt stretch on Cherai beach to laze around. The more developed stretch has gained too much publicity of late and gets jam packed in the holiday season.

The Onion

2004-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, people just don't get satire. It can get very comical at times, like when a Chinese daily printed a translation of an article from The Onion assuming it to be a credible news source. Another instance (though not exactly satire this time) was when the information on a website on di-hydrogen-monoxide was used by a city council to almost ban the use of this chemical in producing styrofoam cups.

The Personal Space Concept

2004-08-09T00:37:00.000-07:00

Remember the MTV lift-man - the guy with the bald pate and missing teeth who would rant about the new generation and the stuff shown on MTV? A series of close encounters with the young college going crowd has made him my hero. Pity I couldn't find the guy's pic on the net.
My pet peeve so far had been about dull conversations being shoutcasted to all unwilling listeners at restaurants. But my experience at a dance fest yesterday makes this chitter chatter tolerable.
It happened at a dance fest called Prayog at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall yesterday. I had taken a seat right next to the aisle. There isn't much of a gap between rows of seats at this hall. This young thing comes in to take a seat somewhere in the middle of my row and I withdraw as much as possible to make way. Then she spots a friend in the the aisle. A long exchange of pleasantries begins. The nubile thing stands facing me. If I had a navel fetish I wouldn't be complaining (but I'm a pretty normal guy you see). For a minute or so I tried to act cool about it, fixing my gaze on random things on either side. When the giggle fest didn't show any signs of ending I decided to reclaim my rightful personal space. I finally looked up and asked her politely to either move in or out. The encroacher moved out with a sheepish grin.
Note to Kamath: The girl didn't say "Excuse me uncle" at any time during this incident - I was genuinely aggrieved. And I eagerly await your blog's launch.

Urban Legends

2004-08-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Can Coke dissolve nails? Should mobile phones be switched off near petrol pumps? Check out urban legends at snopes.com.

Smashing the Stack

2004-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

A classic article on how to get a shell from an application with a buffer overrun: http://www.insecure.org/stf/smashstack.txt
Read the jargon file if you are interested in hacker slang, writing style and culture. Hacking need not anything to do with computers. The MIT Hack Gallery contains some interesting hacks.

Kibology

2004-07-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hilarious! The Kibology FAQ. If you really want to know about Kibology check out the Wikipedia entry.

Reflections on Trusting Trust

2004-07-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

An article by Ken Thompson on the cutest program he ever wrote: http://www.acm.org/classics/sep95/.

Moo

2004-06-30T01:33:00.000-07:00

The cow is of the bovine ilk; One end is moo, the other, milk.

-Ogden Nash

More quotes ...

Lactose Intolerance

2004-06-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

I often find myself in awkward situations when visiting friends or relatives. The standard beverages offered are tea, coffee or milk and I end up looking like a fussy character when I refuse all the "options". Not everyone has the enzymes to digest lactose in milk yet few people know about lactose intolerance. I can have curds though since the lactose is already broken down. Ice creams are OK too since contrary to popular belief, there is little or no milk in most ice creams. Many ice cream brands sold are made using vegetable oil unless they specifically claim to be selling dairy ice cream.

Power Napping

2004-06-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you feel drowsy after lunch at work?
Try power napping. It works very well for me and some others I know at work. Fifteen minutes to half an hour suits me fine.
Sleep study seems to be serious business looking at the number of sites dedicated to everything about sleep.

Chacha Choudhary and Spiderman

2004-06-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our Chacha Choudhary has a website too. Check it out. Who says you need to wear tights to be superhero? Spiderman is switching to dhoti too.

HitchHiker's quote

2004-06-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

"You know, it's at times like this when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young!" "Why, what did she tell you?" "I don't know, I didn't listen."

E-mail disclaimers

2004-06-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why your employer adds those stupid e-mail disclaimers that begin with "If you are not the intended recipient ..."? Well here's a site that collects stupid disclaimers.
Some funny parodies that you can use in your mails.

Wikipedia

2004-06-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia is an excellent online encyclopedia. Check it out here.

2004-05-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

meee.
Test post to get the pic into the blog.

2004-05-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

So Sito has got a shiny new GMail account now. Wonder how many posts I need in my blog to get mine? Sigh ....

2004-02-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

Testing
allo allo