Just as I leave home…

Some light on what I felt like when left home...

Leaving behind a lot many desires,
Trying to reach those high aspirations,

Never knew my wings would be so wide,
Had always kept them in my small little stride,

Now I go on to wander through wind and snow,
What's waiting for me I could never know.

With the blessings of all those who care,
And with the luck showered by those who love,

I am sure I'll succeed and endure,
In whatever that needs my attention with 'care'!

-Bhagyesh

Penned this down on the eve of my departure for my masters..

I am sorry..

Hi guys..

I am so sorry.. I just couldnt keep you updated with the devepments here..

I really wished I could re-start blogging in a form like say, a 'Cornell Diary'...
But that hasn't happened.. Primarily because it is quite difficult to be doing everything on your own and yet manage to get some time out for an activity like blogging... :)
There are other more important things to do :p

And secondly because, after a few weeks of blogging I had realized that there are only a handful of visitors to my blog.. and I am 'i touch' with all of them.. so they were getting to read pages of the proposed 'diary' as is...

So never had the drive to write it all down here..

But now i guess i'll try and put up atleast a few things in here... definitely...

So till my next post..

Enjoy

:)

Found It Finally!

Finally I have found the password to my blogger account!

A few days back, I met with a minor accident which damaged the endocrinal cells of the inner lining of the upper cerebrum in the right half of my brain - phew! the most simple way in which I could put down the injury as recorded by my doctors. This leads to a condition popularly known as temporary loss of memory.

While in this condition, apart from forgetting my recent past, I had also lost the power to recollect the important details of my personal identity - including my blogger password. This prevented me from posting anything here for over a month now. Hence in the mean time I had started writing for another blog, by the name Crazy Ramblings of a Dysfunctional Mind.

All this while, I had been trying very hard to recollect the details of my account and even made some futile attempts at finding that maroon colored hard-bound diary which carries all these details. But alas, I could just not remember anything - about the diary or otherwise!

However, after much permutations and combinations and in-depth analysis of my other passwords, using Poisson's Distribution as applied in the case of non-linear Markovian Chains of finite length, I have finally recollected my password. I wouldn't have done it, but I just can't resist myself the temptation of letting you know about this re-discovery. My password at the end of the 4,176,382,905th iteration of the above mentioned statistical method has been found out to be - *******.

Such a simple solution and it took me over a month to decipher it! I wonder how did Dr. Nash decipher all those enigmatic codes in such record times - well that's why I am what I am and he is what he is!!!

Alright, enough crap into this post already and I need to stop. Please don't believe a word of the afore-dumped waste; I mean, if at all you did so! Some academic commitments and prospective developments had kept me busy in the past month and would continue do so in the coming one.

So couldn't find time to write down something constructive, but thought, I write atleast something to keep this page updated. I am extremely obliged for the valuable time that you spent reading the above piece of non-sensical prose, and extend my apologies for keeping you busy over something as stupid as this!

Cheers.

PS: To avoid any implications as those met by Ms. Kavya Vishwananthan, I make it very clear that the name of a blog mentioned above belongs to a friend of mine, and any attempt of plagiarism on my part was totally un-intentional and due only to my photograhic memory! I strongly disclaim any claims in this regard!!!

The Spirit of The Class of 06

Yeh Jo World Hai Naa World,
Isme sirf do hi type ke log hote hai;
Ek Woh,Jo DJ se Electronics Engineering karte hai.
Aur doosre woh,Jo yeh mauka hamesha ke liye kho dete hai!

So this one's for the spirit of being in the "Class of 06" at DJ Electronics.
____________________________________________________________________"Those "Those were the best days of my life,
Back in the Summer of 69",
Just as I listen, to Bryan singing this,
Strike hua mujhe, importance of the lyrics.
Phir aayi yaad, woh Farewell ki notice,
Sunn hua mind aur bandh kiya music.

Whats Up Guys? Its all ending!
Woh roj college aana, in the very morning.
Kisiki morning, maane Sharp Eight-Thirty,
Toh kisike liye, kya Ten aur kya Ten-Thirty!

Phir ZB's ka samosa-paav aur ek bottle Mazaa,
Mithibai ka vadaa aur Amar ka Kulfi Falooda!
Irla ki Frankie toh Chandaben ki idly!
Cooper ka sasta, toh Papillon ka mehanga khaana,
Chaar saal mein maine, baap re, kitna kuch khaaya,
Par sorry, Rishabh ko beat karne ka, chance nahi payaa!

'FE' ke woh din, hai right in my memory,
Erase karne ki koshish, karunga bhi nahi kabhi.
Woh sabhi ke saath intro's, gettin' to know the masses,
And checking out the girls, from the rest of the classes!
Koi 'Chick', Koi 'Babe', Toh koi 'Hot Dame',
Oh forget the rest! They were all the same!

Par dheere dheere yeh sab, laga waste of time,
Jab mile tum saare, the true friends of mine,
Dosti aur yaari apni badhtee hi gayee,
Peeche mud ke dekhne ki, na wajah thi koi.
Already by the time, we came into our 'Second Year',
Lagne lage the sabhi mujhe, very near and dear.

Saagar Vijan's my first friend, at our college,
Usi se hai milee mujhe, kaafi saari knowledge,
Kiska lecture hai cancel, Toh kaun hai absent,
Kab hai apni viva, Aur kab hoga Term-End!

Unity and Equality has always been our mantra,
Doosro ki help karne ka, na gavaaya kabhi mauka,
Ho assignment, Ho experiment, Ya aur bhi kuch likhna,
"Please! De na yaar", Yehi toh kahaan hamne hamesha!
Original documents ki banayee hazaron copies,
Print karne hai kuch, toh le aaye CDs & floppies!

'Mohta ke Ghar Pe', jabhi 'night' maine maari,
Tabhi jaake hui, Meri journals sabhi poori,
Submissions ko gaya main, without any worry,
Phir bhi term-work mein jab aaye, Sixteen and Seventeen,
Ek abuse maara prof ko, But just in my Mind!

Exam time mein toh sabki dosti aur bhi rang laaye,
PL mein toh mera phone bill, straight duguna hi ho jaye,
Yahaan kaise bhul sakta huun, Chitode and Katre!
Inkee Sabhi books, 'As per the Syllabus...' hi toh aaye!
Vidyalankar, Kalpana and Anand Academy,
Inhone hi toh exam mein, apni naiyya paar lagaayi!
Stallings and Schilling's ko toh bahut rarely dekha,
Doston ke bharose hi toh apna kaam maine chalaaya!

Ab Mecha ka hi lelo example tajaa tavaanaa,
Arre, Bode Plot sekhe to gujra hai jamanaa,
Poppa aur Mummy, yeh tumne kya kar diya?
Assignment toh wrong tha hi,
Solution Set bhi galat nikaalaa?

Phir Sabko apna "Ace of Spades" nikaalna hi pada,
Bahut socha - Na samjha, Toh mar hi daalaa ratta!
Aakheer, time-tested method hai, chalega hi chalega!
Kaise aaya? Kyun aaya? Kissi ko pataa bhi nahi chalaa,
Kaise aaya? Kyun aaya? Kissi ko pataa bhi nahi chalaa,
Par sabne apna answer, omega = 4.51 hi nikaalaa!

Teasing karne mein toh, apna aadha time gayaa,
Seed, Rayo aur Gala ko toh humne, almost rulaaya!
Rayo ke woh doubts, kuch achche, kuch f---all,
Unke answers deta hamesha, 'Dipen And All',
Seed, Seed karne mein toh, majaa hi kuch aur hai,
Volle ! Volle-Ball ! ka apna 'War-Cry' toh Best hai!

Chintu, Shyamu and apna 'All Time Favorite' Gala Bhay,
'Smart underscore ushu' ke hai, Three Phase Supply!
Chintan and Chirag ne jab liya Embedded,
Bechara Shyam, toh ho gaya Insulated,
Phir Trip mein usne kardi, kasar saari puri,
Mumbai To Mahabaleshwar - Bande ne seat nahi cchodi!

Shayad socha yeh Kenny ne, Ab 'Digital' ho chale bhai,
Yahoo Group nikaalne ki idea, wahi se toh aayi,
"DjTronics '06" ne pehle raah dikhayee,
May be glamour tha absent, toh gaadi dheere hi chalaayee?
Phir aayi apne Class of, Zero Six ki baari,
Aai shappath saangto,
Isne apni networking ki concept hi badal daali!

Pehle toh sabne sabki 'poll' khol ke maari,
Gala bhay ne apni, 'creativity' bahaar nikaali,
Jesal ne poocha - Kise doge dude, laal gulab ka ek phool?
Par uska yeh "crush" poll nahi hua itna successful,
Paitees prateeshat logone vote kiya "None of the above",
Sharmate hai bandhe apne, kya yeh ho gaya approve?

Jaanbaaz ka ek gaanaa tha, "Har kisiko nahi milta..."
Khush-naseebon ka usme, ek definition tha diya,
In khush-naseebon mein apna number, sabse pehla aata,
What say Parag? Sahil? Jesal? and Vanja?
Dhoond raha huun main bhi kabse, is list mein naam mera -
Hai koi mind mein, par cchadd yaar, ab shayad late ho gaya!!!

So went on our poll culture,
Naik was declared "The Builder",
Miyan banaa 'Best-Dressed Gentleman',
Toh Poppa aur Sathe bane 'Jodi No. 1'
Ab polling hua hai thanda,
Toh Rish aur Punter ne kiya hai posting badaa changa!
TCS ka medical check-up,Ban gaya sabka 'Point of discussion',
Kya likha tha yaar Rishabh ne!
Majaa aaya padhke, woh 'crazy' re-collection!

Saath saath is group ne kiya, hum sabhi ka bhalaa!
Thanks mostly to the uploads by mummy and poppa!
From the assignments of FT,
To the datasheets of PE,
All that you need,
Aapko mil jayega yahin!

'Snaps' mein milenge apne sabhi trips ke woh photo,
Aur haan! Wahin toh hai meri 'neeeend' ka woh video!
And there's where Salot - rules with his 'Malti',
Aur wahi toh hai apna Raja, banaa hua 'Juaari'!
Bol deta huun moderators, inhe kabhi na karna delete,
Aakheer yehi toh hai apni, saari memories itni sweet!

All of us out here, have contributed equally to our wisdom,
And we have turned our class, into our very own kingdom!
Ab jald aa jayega 5th april,
That will bring our "Farewell"! And with it....
The fact that - Ab khatam ho gaye yaar -
Apne sabhi ki life ke yeh sabse sunehre chaar saal!

'Copyriot' mein Pandit, finds his symphony.
A Novel a Day, gives Nidhi good company,
Apne class ki bhaiyya, hai yehi toh novelty,
Sabhi ki hai yahaan, ek apni khaas 'Speciality'!
From Omkar ke gaane,
To Doshi ke taane,
From Kiran ka isolation,
To Jesal ke presentation.
From Baake ke diamonds,
To Parag ke 'Fraudulations'.
From BnB* ka dance, (*Boo N Bijal)
To an air of romance,
From Chintu's confidence,
To Morajkar's diffidence,
From Hemal ke loony-tales,
To Nikhil ke pony-tails,
From Gaja's kicks,
To Sathe's antics,
From Ashay ke 'Points',
To Leslie ki 'Queens'!!...
Guys and girls, we have seen it all here,
And in my mind and heart - it's Crystal Clear!

Deta huun main khud, aapko yeh Guarantee -
Ab UPenn, USC or UC Berkeley,
Ya TCS, L&T or apna Infy,
Ya kyun na ho kisiki thodi 'relaxed' mentality,
Aise hi badhaayenge hum, apni yeh Legacy!'
Don't lose hope' - Is the moral of the story.
"Humne seekha life mein - Kabhi bhi na jhukna,
DJ alumnus ho yaar - Milega ummed se dugna!"

Bass, meri ek hi hai request, tum sabhi yaaron ko,
Ten years down the line, jab milun tum-mein se kisiko,
Aur khush hoke poocho main 'Hi Buddy, How Are you?"
Tab na kehna Please, "I am sorry, but, Who are you?"

Bhagyesh ____________________________________________________________

This is the first time ever in my life that I have written something of this sort.And let me tell you very frankly, it all just flew out of my mind.I know there's a lot to tell about the four best years in our life,for which no mail, no snap or no video can suffice.But the poem's already quite long.Its just what's there in our minds that's gonna stay with us forever.And as Rishabh said in a recent mail, the words might be forgotten,but the content should remain!And I have done just a short recollection of all that i could remember,I hope all you guys relish it!

Sachin is booed at Wankhede.

As unrealistic as it may sound, there happened this very strange thing at the Wankhede on Sunday. By now, you all must have read about it in the news papers and heard about it on TV, so I would just post here a few conversations out of a debate that I sparked off on my class yahoogroup. Firstly, I post here, my initial message which started the debate. Please do give in your opinions as l keep updating the responses from my classmates.

When Sachin got out, very obviously, there was immediate silence. This was immediately followed by the mass exodus of the crowds out of the stadium. But, if you noticed it, there was something more too. People started booing at him and even shouted slogans. Now, that is something that I feel is quite serious.

Never had I thought that a Mumbai audience would boo at Sachin Tendulkar or shout slogans at him. Leave apart the fact that he scored just 1 run today or even that he hasn't scored too many runs of-late. But a Wankhede crowd shouting slogans at Tendulkar was completely unheard of. I have been at Wankhede everytime India has played since 1993 and even to many first class games, and I don't need to say that Sachin is considered GOD here.

And giving him the kind of reaction that he got today has left me thinking about the cricketing interests of our public. Have we come to a point where a cricket match is considered just a day-out with friends (or maybe family, but then surely not at North Stand) ? Or is it just like going to a movie and having some fun?

No matter what, but what happened today is a great mark of dis-respect towards apna Sachin and I am sure that must have hurt him a lot, though I am even more sure, that the kind of nobleman that he is, he wouldn't utter a word about it.

Surely, it was kinda fun! with all the abusing and anti-Monty shouting and all that, but I now feel quite strongly that Mumbai is providing a very wrong example of what a cricketing audience should be like. Something needs to be done before Mumbai loses its honour of being called the Mecca of Indian Cricket.

Maybe shifting venue to Brabourne might help, what with no North stand existing. But, having a decent cricket-loving audience in Mumbai, who enjoys just the Cricket and somewhat cuts down on the abusive fun, seems to be a very remote possibilty to me.

What say?

A Fifty-50 Match!

It was a historic day in International Cricket History. It was a Fifty-50 match, a new format just introduced as a joint venture by Cricket Australia and the South African Cricket Board! The whole world was witness to something aforeseen. The game was much on the lines of the recently successful Twenty-20 format of the game, however it stuck to the old length of 50 overs a side. The first such match was played at the Wanderers, Johanassberg, South Africa.

The rules of the game are simple: Just have a flat pitch, surround it by a small patch of grass, pick up about two dozen die-hard warriors who can wield a cricket bat as hard as a blacksmith would hit a piece of hot iron piece on his anvil and call out, PLAY! Then, just be ready to watch the cricket ball get a hitting of its lifetime. Be it Brett Lee, Jacques Kallis or Roger Telemachus no bowler would ever have seen his efforts proving more futile. If there ever can be any 'highlights' of the match, there have to be 99.5 overs in it, what say? Yet I try here to re-capture a few moments, with some help from Andrew Miller.

After a momentous 434 by Australia, at the halfway mark of the day, South Africa had been reduced to a near laughing stock. Ponting had been the kingpin as he reprised his World Cup-winning innings on this very ground in 2003, but every one of Australia's batsmen had taken their pound of flesh as well. Adam Gilchrist lit the blue touchpaper with an open-shouldered onslaught that realised 55 runs from 44 balls; Simon Katich provided a sheet-anchor with a difference as he creamed nine fours and a six in a 90-ball 79, and Mike Hussey - in theory Ponting's second fiddle in their 158-run stand for the third wicket - hurtled to a 51-ball 81. Australia's dominance seemed so complete that Andrew Symonds, the most notorious one-day wrecker in their ranks, was not even called upon until the scoreboard read a somewhat surreal 374 for 3.

Unsurprisingly, South Africa's bowlers took a universal pounding. The team had squandered a 2-0 series lead and were staring at a 3-2 defeat, and not for the first time this year, Graeme Smith's penchant for speaking his mind was looking like backfiring. With the Test series getting underway in four days' time, the need for a performance of pride had never been more urgent. And so Smith took it upon himself to deliver, responding to his team's indignity with a brutal innings laced with fury. He made light of the early loss of Boeta Dippenaar, whose anchorman approach would not have been suited to the chase at any rate, and instead found the perfect ally in his former opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs. On a pitch that might have been sent from the Gods, the pair launched South Africa's response with a scathing stand of 187 from 121 balls, to send the first frissons of anxiety through the Australian dressing-room. Now it was Gibbs who took centre stage. The man who, memorably, dropped the World Cup at Headingley in that 1999 campaign has redeemed himself a hundred times over in the intervening years. But this was to be his crowning glory.

The dreamrun however did not get over there and it took a blistering intervention from Johan van der Wath to reignite the chase. He drilled Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six and a four in Bracken's eighth, as the requirement dropped from a tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. He perished as he had lived, holing out to extra cover, and Telemachus followed soon afterwards, but not before he had clubbed an invaluable 12 from six balls.

And so it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston all those years ago. Brett Lee had seven runs to defend, and South Africa had two wickets in hand. A blazed four from Andrew Hall seemed to have settled the issue, but in a moment reminiscent of Lance Klusener's famous aberration, he smeared the very next delivery into the hands of Clarke at mid-on. Two runs needed then, and the No. 11, Makhaya Ntini, on strike. Lee's best effort was deflected to third man to tie the scores, and it was left to Boucher to seal the deal with a lofted four over mid-on. The most breathtaking game in cricket history had come to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants to pinch themselves to believe something as unrealistic as this!!

Sorry, I have been away for too long.

It's really been a long time since I last posted. But, couldn't help it. My computer was down with 'viral fever' and had to be 'hospitalised'. I mean, it had been infected by some bug and I had to get the hard-disk formatted. And, as I do not have the adequate knowledge about the nitty-gritty of formatting a hard-disk, I had to send it to an expert. So, believe it or not, but I had to spend about 5 days without my PC. (God knows, why it took him so long to back-up my mere 40GB data and get the disk formatted, but he did it.)

And as fate might have it, around the same time, my cellphone got a "to be hanged till death" punishment for some apparently serious crime. I mean, it also had some software problem and had to be sent to the Nokia Care Centre to get it done alright. I was told I would get it in a day or so. But, the very next day I come to know that the phone has some 'major' fault which they cannot correct themselves and so have to send the piece to their head-office. This immediately meant a wait for about four more days. What! Four Days! Four Days without a cell-phone! Phew!

So here I was, with no computer at my home and no cell-phone in my hand. And don't even mention the truck-load of journal work that seemed to suddenly pop out of no-where. Do these professors conspire to give away all the journal work simultaneously, I don't know! It is so boring to even start writing an assignment when your daily schedule has been so disrupted, so I decide not to write anything and just kill time at college. But, everyone in the class seemed to have some writing work or the other, only, except me. So, all I did for refreshment was play carrom at the college gym. And those who know how good(?) I am at carrom, will tell you how much would I have enjoyed!!! it and how very refreshed!!! would I be after some games of carrom!

Add to this, my very smart professors who thought this would be the right time to get me prepare some seminars. So they call me over and give me some 'interesting' topics like 'LAN' and 'ISDN' to get done with a 'comprehensive' seminar with 'substantial' study material to support it. How ironic? Prepare a seminar on LAN without even a single computer at your end, great coincidence, should I say? And in short, my professors could also finish off with preparing their own notes, by making me prepare some 'study-material' for the class.

If nothing else, these past few days convinced me of the fact that we have become so "used to" having our gadgets and gizmos around us, that such situations in which you have to part ways with some of your best "pals" are really hard to deal with. Seriuosly, believe me on this! And just pray that nothing of this sort happens with you.

God save us, from becoming addicts to some never before known addictions!

President calls for Indo-US tie-up for nano-technology

Just when we are facing the possibility of having a summer loaded with power-cuts, a consideration of non-conventional and novel energy sources is the need of the day. We need to look at sources of energy, that can sustain the demands of the billion+ Indians. Even, our President APJ Abdul Kalam made a similar appeal at a recently held conclave. Here is a news article on that:

"Do not get into soft research in international cooperation. You must go for applied research. Nations should work towards a win-win situation in product development and international marketing," Kalam said while inaugurating a two-day India-US nano-technology conclave.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has organised the meet in the run-up to US President George W. Bush's visit to India beginning March 1, when collaborations in science and technology are expected to be announced, including in nano-technology.

Besides healthcare, agriculture, water purification and engineering, Kalam mooted joining hands with the US for joint research in using nano-technology for renewable sources of energy to replace dependence on expensive imported oil and gas.

He suggested joining hands with Pennsylvania State University in nano-technology research for improving the efficiency of solar photovoltaic cells and for developing novel hydrogen storage systems based on carbon nano-tube.

Maybe its time, our bureaucrats take time out of their money-minting process and concentrate just a bit towards the needs and demands of the public. With a president of Abdul Kalam's class, we surely have a strong force to lead us towards development! But, as they say, he's just a nominal head of the country, rest all lies in the hands of the governments, so sad, isn't it?

RSS Feeds on my blog

Hello everybody,

Someone of you had suggested that I add RSS Feeds on my blog.

With due attention to the request I have added the feeds on my blog. To receive feeds, click on the
"Subscribe to my feeds" link on the blog itself. You can then add my blog to your own RSS viewer.
I give out my sincere thanks to Sir Kaushal Sheth, for helping me add this feature on my blog, I hope he continues to teach me new things.

Hope you all enjoy reading my posts. I have been writing on a variety of topics which i felt, deserve some attention. I am just an amateur at blogging and i hope to improve. This would require you to give in some healthy comments, pointing out any flaws at times. As Aditya asked me to reduce the length of my blog posts, I think he was right, I will try to shorten my posts. All you readers,Please keep punchin in your comments, they will only help me get better.

Cheers,

Bhagyesh

Google will no longer be that good?

Hi people!

As you might know, we spend a lot of time on the net, doing things that a few years ago, we could not even think of. Why go too far, even spending time on the net was one harrowing experience, what with the dial-up connection giving you "Amazing" surfing speeds of upto 40 kbps! on a 56 kbps modem. But, all that has changed and broadband has changed the way we spend our spare time, isn't it?

Now, all you need for some time-pass is, open your browser, go to google and type in anything that you want info on. And you can get hooked up for hours toghether, without having to worry about the net connection and the phone getting engaged.

Recently, I came across an interesting post by someone named Rajesh Jain. It was about google. Read on about it:

"Vertical Search"

Business Week writes about the new search engines: "The result is likely to be a move away from a single ubiquitous search box, away from the reflexive hop to Google to find info on the Net. Instead, people may use several different search engines, each tailored to a specific task. One might specialize in blog postings, another in video clips, and a third in general information. The shift may look like the evolution of TV, from a world dominated by the Big Three networks to one in which hundreds of cable channels specialize in topics from cooking to history."

What do you think about this? I feel it might really be the case to some extent, but google would continue to rule the roost, purely because of the lack of awareness about alternative developments of such technologies. And it is anyways very easy and of course now a well developed habit to just go to google and try out new things, isn't it? What say?

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and the LIC Golden Jubilee Exhibition.

LIC is celebrating its Golden Anniversary this entire year, and has planned an elborate annual schedule for the world to sit up and take notice. As part of this, an exhibition has been organised at NCPA wherein the development of LIC as the leading insurer in India has been highlighted. It also involves a LASER show depicting the expanse of LIC all over the world. The display has images of the LIC policy held by Mahatma Gandhi, witnessed by C Rajagopalachari and Sri Pyarelal. Also the current standing of LIC in the Insurance market is well brought up. The exhibition is worth a dekko and if you are lucky, you may also stand a chance to win some prizes by participating in a quiz about LIC. College students can flash their IDs and win chocolate hampers. I have already been there yesterday, when I went to visit the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai.

Yes, finally Ninad can rest now. I have commented enough on his views of the various festivals that Mumbai is enjoying, and now I express my own here. As we all know by now, The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is now on at 'some' places in Mumbai. (If you don't know it, well its your fault, dear Mumbaikar). Ninad strongly feels that the festival is just another chance for the 'celebrities' to party. But, one visit to the festival and you realize that these views are, well, baseless to say the least. Though I completely agree that a large proportion of the crowd was 'elitist' (which I am sure, Ninad took for granted), the presentation and the look of the Festival was not at all intended to be so. And you could find many middle-class families and loads of collegians too. So the first thing is, the festival is not organised from the point of view of catering to the interests of only a section of the society, it is open for all who care to be a part of it.

This is no place to critique a festival, but since I have started, I will elaborate a bit. The artifacts on display were worth a look. And whats more, they weren't too heavy on the pocket too. Mugs, Plates, Wall-hangings and books, all encompassing the spirit of Mumbai. The Bambaiyya lingo was everywhere: Bole Toh, Jhakkas, Bhidu and the other cliched entrants into the spoken language of a typical Mumbaikar. There were kids all over the place. A group of kids from a children's home had also come. The place was all fun and high-spirited, which only stresses on the fact that Mumbai needs festivals like these to keep up its reputation as a melting pot of different cultures and people. Although you cannot expect the 'Kala Ghoda' Festival to be held at any place, but Kala Ghoda itself, you can hope that atleast the Mumbai Festival covers a larger part of Mumbai.

I noticed one thing though, that would please Ninad and hurt him as well. A recently launched book on display, 'Above Bombay', depicting aerial views of Mumbai by Jehangir Sorabjee is the point of contention. First of all, I do not percieve a rationally strong reason for some one publishing a book on current Mumbai, to name it 'Above Bombay' and not 'Above Mumbai'. Secondly, I noticed something that I always discuss with Ninad. As I finished looking at the pictures, there was a text which went something like, 'And the city ends here...'. You know what the last part of the city is, supposedly some place by the name 'Versova' . Disturbing isn't it? Yes it is. Do they not consider the farther suburbs as being part of Mumbai? Isn't Gorai Beach comparable or rather, more serene than the Juhu Chowpatty. Isn't the National Park in Mumbai? Many questions crossed my mind and I couldn't read further, as someone standing near me took the book from my hand and starting gazing at Rajabai Tower, Churchgate station, Chowpatty and other locales of Mumbai. I left, wondering who the photographer really is and did I mis-read any of text that appeared. Anyone with more information, please correct me if I am wrong.

Then after roaming around the Jehangir Art Gallery, David Sassoon Library, Westside and Globus I again visited some stalls that were a part of the Festival. Again I felt the same, this is not for the elitists only, it is just that we tend to think this way and look at such efforts as money spinners for the organisers that we do not feel like going to these places by travelling cross city in heavy rush. However,I definitely hope that the Mumbai Festival organising committee takes notice of dissatisfied souls as Ninad's and furthers the expanse of the Festival to truly cover the ends of Mumbai - The City and The Suburbs alike!

Crazy ramblings of a dysfunctional mind - TCS Med Checkup

Goodness me. When I read this next piece of humour, I couldn't help laugh my lungs out (or whatever the phrase is). All of you "lucky" ones who have been 'placed' in the Indian IT bigwig, TCS, must by now be aware that you have to undergo one medical check-up probably at some uninhabited place in SEEPZ. One of my friends has already had the privelege of taking the test and has provided an absolutely comprehensive account of the entire episode.

You might not know the characters in the tale, (which you can accept as a great piece of fiction, if you so desire) so here is some introduction. All characters mentioned are to-be engineers from a prestigious engineering college from Mumbai and are all hiers to their families' bigshot business houses, yet are trying their hand at other 'lucrative jobs'. The author, you can call him Rish, is a witty but laid back individual having interests in Tennis, food, ... I think the list ends here. Parag, drives to college in a Skoda and plays an important role in the story. Vanja, already having secured an admit to a top US University is least bothered about a job paying him just 2lac per annum and is at the check-up just because he has nothing else to do, I think so! Chiru has decided he is gonna join TCS, so probably must be seriuos about the check-up. Also, he is anyways famous for his stares and cold looks, if you trouble him even just a tad too much. Harshil plays a cameo in the tale, as Rish's Tennis opponent who has just lost 6-3 to him. And, there's Mallika Sherawat doing a guest appearance too. So enjoy this non-fictional (yes!) , humourous and absolute funny first-hand account of the ordeal.

Crazy ramblings of a dysfunctional mind:

This account relives the traumatic experience which we underwent on the 21st wen we went for the TCS medical check up.Its content is
authentic and veracious(mostly.....)though certain liberties may have been taken in terms of interpretation.

We had our medical test on the 21st.Other innocent victims will be tackled on 28th,4th and whatever other dates in hell.Below is the exact account of what could happened to us and cud happen to you on ur med test day.

So on 21st morning ,at around 8:45 parag gandhi calls up and informs u tht there is this med test thingie at 8:30 today at cdc,seepz.So u quickly get ready,curse him,have ur Breakfast,curse him,take the car keys,curse him and leave as soon as u can,still doing full justice to the job of cursing him for informing u so late about something which u,by all accounts,should have known urself.Then wen u re about to turn the car key,u realize u have no clue in hell,where seepz is.So u call him again,take directions,get urself in some crazy,narrow,hidden lanes,uninhabited by man or beast,ask rickshawallahs for further directions,get ur ass stuck in deadends,curse the rickshawallahs and finally reach the damn place a good 70 minutes late.

U enter and inform the receptionist with a suave smile,tht u re here for the tcs medical check up.He doesnt care to look up,passes on a form and asks u for the acceptance letter of tcs.Obviously u dont have it on ur person.he probably curses u under his breath,but takes ur word ,and ushers u in to this small room and hands u a pen,he then thrusts 2 lenghty sheets in front of u.These are the preliminary forms .Their purpose is to discover if u,ur mother,or father,or aunt,or cousin or neighbour,or his cousin happen to be suffering from AIDS,tuberculosis,meningitis,malaria,eye infection,skin infection,hair infection,any bizzare,unheard of STD,fractures,ligament tears,heart attacks,all of it ,any of it.U know,basically gives u this nice,rosy picture of whats in store. Neways,next u enter this main hall where around 4 thousand of us are offered to make ourselves comfortable in about two and a half chairs.Upside,u notice,is tht there is a tv in the room showing pakistan walloping india s bowling "attack".

Neways,u get to the back row where parag,vanja,chiru and the others are gravely discussing some earth shattering issue of national importance.3 minutes into it,u realize that,true to form, they re all talking shit,and none of them really gives a damn about what nonsense the other is saying.So u cheerfully join in giving ur nonsense views on a matter,of which u have absolutely no idea.But a couple of minutes of such senseless talk is enuff to bore even us.So gradually,u remember ure here for a purpose.U look around.Labels proclaiming Opthalmology,Sonography,X ray,ECG,Blood collection,General check up remind u tht enlightening tho it may be,this conv with gandhi and vanja,the main purpose of ur being here is the medical checkup.Sure enuff,there r nurses n docs scurrying around to confirm the above view,if any doubt lingered.then u lean over and ask ur good neighbour tht y dont they start the medical checkup if thts wat we re here for.Ure neighbour is vanja.so,using all 4 limbs, several fingers,3 languages(and some scrambled gibberish) he manages to say "i dunno either".After tht terrific effort,he gets back to gazing at the pullout pics of mallika sherawat in the latest issue of startdust.
So u wait.
And wait.
Some 13 weeks later,wen u wanna go out to shave this long beard uve developed,there is suddenly some faint activity.Apparently,things have finally begun.One by one names are called out and the lucky ones get to go in for some checkups.

It is in times like these that u realize how many names human beings can have.U hear just about every guju twist to the suffix
"-esh"(nilesh,hiresh,swapnesh.......)being called for his turn and conclude ur turn must now definitely be around the corner.Yet defying all known laws of permutation,combination and imagination there are more (dharmesh,ritesh,prathamesh.........).Yours apparently is the one name they forgot.Finallllly,some bloke calls u to the blood collection centre.Ur mates congratulate u on ur good fortune,give u hi5s and bear hugs.Ur a rejuvenated man as u walk towards the aforementioned unit.

Thts wen ritesh walks out of it with a hideous grimace,clutching his hand as though its been torpedoed.Now,uve taken injections before,its no big deal but all of a sudden,there is an urge to call up ur mom n dad for one last time ,and call up harshil to remind him of ur previous set score one last time(i beat him 6-3.....again).Naah,u shake off the irrational fear and go in n take a seat.Thts wen this kindly looking nurse beams this beatific smile at u and makes small talk about the weather.God,then,is in his heaven n all is well in earth,u conclude.Then she rubs some antiseptic on ur forearm ,injects u and collects 3 test tubes of blood.Its all pretty normal and painless.U conclude tht ritesh is probably a blood relative of parag and hence an awful ham.

One by one the other tests are performed .In our own ways,we all try to go n talk with the chief co-ordinator to expedite
things.i give this crappy excuse about having to attend some brothers wedding which she d probly heard 700 times before,parag creates this awful scene by going n fighting n arguing and then being screamt at n sent back,vanja hems n haws,then dodders,then walks up to the co-ordinators,chews 3 nails n returns without uttering a word,chiru goes up n glares......all to no avail.But gradually,things move on.U get to hear some expected things (1.Opthalmologist:"Ur watch too much tv,ur messin ur eyes".....,2.General Physician:"Ur an overweight slob"....,3.Refreshments Co-ordinator:"No ,u may not have any more helpings"....."yes,they are complementary,but ure not the only one we re feeding,though u may become so if we give u any more helpings"......,4.crappy jokes from vanja) and some unexpected things(1.Vanja cracking a good joke,which pretty much means he s done with his share for 2006....2.Parag:"my neice likes
me"{for the uninformed,parags sis recently delivered a v.cute baby girl}.......3.Parag:" i think....."{an obvious lie}) .but by 2:30.....around 5 odd hours after u had entered ur finally thru.

And thus,we have all served our sentence.No shortcuts taken,jus pure ol grit.Sure we ve greyed a bit and lost some
hair n teeth n memory in the process,n we all limp n use walking aids now but imp thing is we lived to talk bout it.And tht also sums up this crappy account,in case ur still reading.


[PS:No offence intended ppl,was jus really bored and felt like writing a lotta shit....which i did.]
-RISH


Enjoyed the rhapsody, didn't you? Wonder what it would be like to be there at TCS, if the appetizers were so interesting. Something to ponder about, but I hope the main course would definitely be better. So, until someone comes up with a hands-on account of that, savour this tale.
Bye.

The Indian tail wags.

Consider this, at the Indian first innings in the second Test against Pakistan, 286 runs were scored by Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Yuvraj, Tendulkar and the extras put together, while the tail added 317 runs. This is something not too common in Indian cricket. Indians are famous for their batting debacles, something which Navjot Singh Siddhu has often described as a number of cycles collapsing at the cycle stand. But, the scene is fast changing, and changing for good. The Indian Tail is wagging, showing grit and determination. The dum (duum - tail in 'hindi') is showing its dum (dum - strength in 'hindi').

Who is to be blamed or rather praised for this? I think it is our coach, Mr. Greg Chappell. We have seen enough footage of the Indian team's nets to confirm this. Never before were Pathan and Harbhajan seen practising on adjacent practice pitches, at a training camp (I forgot where I saw this snap, but it was good to see such a thing). But, it is helping us. How else could you reason the brilliant effort put on by the Indian lower order, especially Dhoni and Pathan at the second Test?

Critics and 'experts' did not seem to support the idea of experimenting with the batting order, especially when the Indians left the Sri Lankans guessing about the one-down position during the recent home series. Kapil Dev and the likes even called the Indian cricket team, Chappell's Laboratory. But, Greg seemed unaffected. He carried on with his strategies and plans and they sure seem to be working. The 'fights' with Dada did more harm to Dada himself, than to the coach and Ganguly had to sit out of the second test at Faisalabad.

Although, Greg Chappell needs to pay a lot more attention at the Indian bowling department, especially to tackle gutsy players like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and the likes. Special attention needs to be paid to Harbhajan Singh who does not seem dangerous at all. Imran Khan has commented that, Pathan's lack of pace is due to a faulty grip; the validity of his comments need to be comfirmed and immediate action initiated if required. Also the support staff should look into the fitness of the fast bowlers who have a notorious reputation of suffering from injuries, Agarkar had to be dropped due to a pulled hamstring.

In all, I think it is a very bright sign that the Indian tail is wagging, but the only hope is that it should do this more consistently and more importantly, should not fail at its primary responsibilities, that are bowling well and taking wickets. If it does so, Indian Cricket is sure to rise back to a much higher pedestal. Let's have "Aashayein ..." on this team, what with the Faisalabad ground being called the Iqbal Stadium!!!

Niagara.zip

Remember, my blog on Pachmarhi? Well, some of my friends liked it very much, to extent that they called it a travellouge. I don't know about you, but to proceed from where I left that blog, I am writing here about the awesome Bedhaghat Falls and about the city of Jabalpur.

As the title of this blog suggests, the Bedhaghat Falls are nothing but the Niagara Falls, zipped. The Fall isn't too high nor is too majestic, as the Canadian (or American?) natural wonder. Yet, there is something about the Falls that holds your attention and your fantasy for quite long. You need to be there, to understand what I mean to say. The Falls have originated as the river Narmada flows ferociously through the natural beauites of Badhghat. The river is absolutely pure, mark my words, absolutely pure: to an extent that, we filled up a bottle of the flowing water and it had no visible suspensions in it. And the taste of that water was also very sweet and fulfilling.

There is something in the fall that leaves you dumbfounded..., spellbound... and... what not. Just concentrate at the point where the most pacy of the water hits the rocks underneath; goodness me, you would not take your eyes off it for a long long time. I have never been to the Niagara, but I bet it would leave a similar impact on you and your senses. Have a look at the snaps here, and savour them.


Whadya have to say about the Falls, brilliant, aren't they? I am sure, you agree.


Moving slightly away from this wonderful place, let me tell you about one more interesting place near the Falls - The Marble Rocks Nauka Vihar or the Boat Ride. If you are fascinated enough by the beauty of white marble or any marble for that matter, do not miss this hour long boat ride that you can take in rowing boats. A cheap means of satisfying your hunger for natural scenic beauty is taking this boat ride in the picturesque Narmada. It has loads of scenes that would leave you wanting for more. I cannot say anything more, just that please visit this place atleast once to enjoy a "never before" experience in India. Albiet, do it soon before it is hounded by irresponsible tourists and greedy tour-operators. A bit of trivia, remember the song 'Raat Ka Nasha Abhi, ...' from the forgettable(?) Shahrukh Khan film Asoka? Well, Kareena Kapoor danced to this song, at this very place. Enjoy!

"India's Big Cats" - "Amm, who?"

"India's Big Cats" - "Amm, who?"

Well, do not be disturbed, if you hear such a conversation sometime in the future. What's bad is, you could hear this, much sooner than you would expect. Yes, that is as much a startling fact as is the 'almost' record-breaking feat of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag at Lahore. Sadly enough, India' big cats are fast becoming a thing of the past. It is not too far when someone would ask you, "What does a lion look like?" Then again, what's worse is that there is no guarantee that you could reply, "Let's go to the Gir Lion Sanctuary in Gujarat, and I will show you some lions." because, as CNN-IBN points out in a recent series dedicated to lions, even Gir lions are facing a serious danger of extinction.

If you noticed it, the report focused on lions, as against the media favorite - Tiger. This can be justified by comparing the populations of the two big cat families - around 3000 tigers, while only around 300 lions. Add to it the fact that tigers are found all over India, while its wild cousin, the lion, is concentrated only in the Gir Sanctuary. So, one epidemic breaks out at Gir, and the entire lion community is extinct. If this isn't sad, then what is?

Returning to my previous statement, " ... tigers are found all over India ... ", did it amuse you? I am sure it would have, because we are so used to hearing that the tiger is almost extinct and is found only in certain parts of the country and such other 'facts'. So to confirm whether the national animal - tiger - is actually found all over the country, I decided to check out a few websites on tiger conservation, Indian Government's Wildlife protection acts, and such other reliable sources. And interestingly enough I found the following results;

webindia123.com:

...NATIONAL ANIMAL- TIGER

The magnificent Tiger ,Panthera Tigris (Linnaeus), is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes. The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of the species known, The Indian race, the Royal Bengal Tiger , is found throughout the country except in the north -western region and also in the neighboring countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh...

ibnlive.com:

...Outside Africa, India is the only place where lions exist today. Its wild cousin, the tiger, on the other hand is found almost throughout the country, numbering around 3000-5000...

indiantiger.org:

...People have started moving towards these national parks as the ultimate tourist destinations. Besides this, the wildlife in these nature parks is blooming...

So, is this an irony or what? On one hand, we are compelled into believing that the tiger is fast reducing in number, while on the other, we are given an impression that the tiger family inhabitates almost the entire country. This is both, an irony as also a lament. To put it in simple words, the tiger, even today, is actually found almost all over India and the whole sad story is that we are not protecting it.

Then what can we do to protect it?

The Media (people's favorite scapegoat), on its part, can do much better than publish front page NEWS about celebrities' dogs being lost-and-found. It can do much better than focus on limited facts or still worse, misquote facts or let people misconstrue them. True journalism is the need of the day, should I dare say this? I don't suggest you bore people by telling sad tales about the endangered species, but please let people see hope in their protection programmes. Do not predict the year when we will have no tigers or lions, project a possible increase in their population and show some means of realizing it. When a wild cat kills a child outside Sanjay Gandhi National Park, please don't lie by saying that the cat encroached into city land and killed a human; when we all know, who is encroaching where and who is killing whom, don't we? Atleast, stir we people out of our tolerant sleeps and instigate us to do our bit for wildlife protection.

Well, we people, can we do only a bit on our part or is there anything more that I and you can do? As they say, a collective effort can definitely prove helpful. We can start by pledging our support to organisations involved in the safety of the big cats (You can easily do this on the net). We can also give in our suggestions to them at their websites. Instead of sending (should I again dare say this?) silly emails we can collect such startling facts and have them sent, so that atleast a few of us can be made aware of our responsibilities towards mother nature. We can post on official government websites regarding this and atleast hope that they take some initiative on this front. There is a lot we can do on our part, we just need to start and the results could be good.

As we near our Republic Day, can I quote a slogan: 'Save the Tiger - Save The Lion - Save The Wildlife - Save Nature - Save Us?'

Or should I pen, 'Let Mother Nature retain (or should it be regain) some of its dignity. Let us behave as responsible citizens of India and of the world on the whole.'

Does this seem too far fetched? Is this asking for too much? No, I don't think so. What about you?

India Shining once again - Intel Duo-Centrino lanuched

A Great step for laptop technology.

A Greater step for India.

So proclaims the advertisement of Intel's brand new product for mobile computing - Centrino Duo. Indeed it's a great step for laptop technology, considering that battery life is among the prime concerns of laptop owners. The new dual-core processing can truly revolutionarize the experience of using a laptop and provide expanded connectivity. Indeed, it's a great step for mobile computing (and for Intel), but as the advertisement rightly says it is also a great step for India and
India's R&D potentials.

The fact that a substantial part of the technology was developed by the Indian wing of Intel can surely make any Indian feel proud about it. It goes a long way in acknowledging the country's tremendous potential in research and development. It is not just that Indian proffesionals are respected all over the world. It is because we truly deserve it. Indian youth, as we all know, is among the brightest and smartest lot of people in the world. This product launch has just provided an example of how Indian innovation has contributed towards changing the world. Even Albert Einstein had once quoted that India has given the world arithmetic, without which no scientific discovery could ever have been possible, and hence we owe a lot to India.

Today the engineers at Intel India have continued the legacy that the great scientists and mathematicians of the past have given us - making India proud. The senior vice president at Intel expressed that by the end of 2007, 100% of all the components that go into a PC will be designed by India. I think, that would be something that we Indians could be really proud of rather than telling the world that we are the leaders in the BPO market and the Call Centre Industry - something which I seriously feel is quite below the kind of potential that Indian youth possess. We can do much better than talk over the phone with a hundred people a day, try and solve their problems and also get abused in return (however I know that not many would agree to this).


Just to leave you with some proud trivia about India, most of which would already be known to you,
(I do not take credit for the following, the facts have been collected from over the net)

First a few starters,

Who is the creator of Pentium chip ?

Vinod Dahm

Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?

Vinod Khosla

Who are the founder and creator of Hotmail?

Sabeer Bhatia

Who is the president of Bell Labs (Bell Labs is the creator of C, C++, Unix)?

Arun Netravalli

Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?

Rajiv Gupta

Who is the Microsoft Testing Director of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?

Sanjay Tejwrika

Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, McKenzie & Stanchart?

Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

To continue, take these,

Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (just 1.5% of the population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.

12% scientists in USA are Indians.

36% of NASA scientists are Indians.

34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.

28% of IBM employees are Indians.

17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.

13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

Now the main course, a few of India's past achievements;

• India invented the Number system. Aryabhatta invented 'zero'.
• India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
• The world's first University was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
• Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.
• The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
• The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.
• According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
• USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
• The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
• Chess was invented in India.
• Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
• When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
• The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Finally, a few quotes about India;

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.
Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
Hu Shih. (Former Chinese ambassador to USA)

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS.

BUT, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.

India is Calling!

Pachmarhi - An untouched beauty

Hi all,

Ok let me come straight to the point. I don't know how many of you have been to this place, but Pachmarhi or Panchmadhi in Madhya Pradesh, India is a place one needs to visit atleast once, especially in the winters. It is a beautiful hillstation lapped in the Satpuda Mountain ranges. The temperatures here drop to about 3-4 degreeC in the winter, but it is worth getting cold in this natural scenic beauty. And the reason I say it is untouched is because the place is not filled up with tourists so much so that even moving around becomes difficult. Famous getaways near Mumbai include places like Alibaug, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala - Khandala and the likes, but they all suffer from the one dreaded thing -- Gross Commercialisation -- these places have been milked by tourists and tour operators to an extent that they are too crowded for people to enjoy the scenic beauty. Ok I cannot exactly call Pachmarhi a weekend getaway considering it takes you more than half a day to reach the foothills of this place and then another hour or so to be there. Your Journey can begin by first reaching a railway station called Pipariya which is located close to Pachmarhi. Or you can even consider coming in from Bhopal or Nagpur which connect to the hillstation.

Since, I have said even before that I would not tell you stuff like how i plan to spend my weekend and what I had for breakfast today, I would definitely suggest you on how to plan your weekend in Panchmarhi and what special delicacies to enjoy here. If you ever happen to be here, first of all, come with the intention of spending atleast 3 to 4 days, because Pachmarhi is worth every second of your visit and every penny you spend here. An ideal schedule could be landing here on a Friday and returning on Sunday.

Places of interest can be easily obtained from a search on Google for Pachmarhi, so I would not spend my and your time on it. Hoewver, do not miss the Jatashankar caves and the Bee Falls. They are really cool. Also, the sunset at Dhoopgarh is worth a watch. It is commom in Indian Tourist places to have a sunset or a sunset point with the same Sun setting behind the same old mountains. But, the Dhoopgarh sunset is something different, something like the one you would see at Ranikhet near Nainital in Uttaranchal without the snow-clad peaks. For starters enjoy the snap shown here.

If you are an animal lover, you can take a one day trip to the Satpuda Wildlife Sanctuary at Madhai, some 40 Km from Pipariya. Although you need to take special permissions to visit this protected land, it is worth a ride. The vast landmass has (on last count) 14 Tigers, a substantial figure considering the sorry state of wildlife protection plans in India. The 4 male, 6 female and 4 cub cat family is accompanied by a host of other animals and birds including Bisons, Deer, Sambhars, Neel Gaay, Peacocks, Huge Crocs, Oars or wild looking pigs as also the omnipresent monkeys and bundars. As for the road from Pipariya to Madhai, I bet you it is better than the best patches of road on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway!!! The road then takes a diversion and a 10-odd Km. patch of village road ( surrounded on both sides by lush-green fields, straight out of a Yashraj Film) leads you to the banks of Denva River, which you can cross by taking a motor-boat. Albeit, do not go there without a valid permit and no I wont tell you how to obtain it. And all my best wishes with you for sighting a tiger there!

So, the next time you have spare time and are thinking about a place where you can take your family along and enjoy a good mix of some new (Gupt Mahadev, Bee Fall, Jatashankar et al) and some similar (Pandav Caves, Apsara Vihar, etc.) looking places, book your tickets to Pachmarhi. A variety of hotels are waiting for you.

Before I leave, a nice option to make your trip more memorable is to move North for one of the bigger cities in the central Indian state - Jabalpur. For details on this and the awesome Bedhaghat Falls join in to view my future posts, till then chao.