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
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Ankhein
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Public Transport
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Sweet Sixteen
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.
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.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Engaging Week
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
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
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Google Code Jam Update
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.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Google India Code Jam
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.
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.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Bellikal
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.
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.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Tandoor Again
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.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Recycling ...
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
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
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Dandeli Trip and Shetti's Wedding
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.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Karwar Trip
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.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Amazing Weekend Adventure
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."
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Long Weekend
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.
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.
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