Mysore - What I miss

I miss some things of Mysore.

But for places, I miss the Chamundi hills most. That is the place in Mysore I never got bored off.
It can be a quiet place to reflect, a crowded temple to squeeze into, a fun bike ride with friends, a calm bike ride alone, or a good workout climbing up, or a crazy move going in at midnight in thick fog. Chamundi hills rock! yeah... rocks..

But for other places, I miss my locality. From the vegetable angadi hassan wali akka, the chaiwallah anna from somewhere north Ktaka, Rajasthani mess ke bhai log, green hotelile kozhikode chettanmar, Vel's messile akka and anna from TN, chat wallah bhai from UP, churmuri wallah anna, paanipuri wallah bhai again from Lucknow and less lightly the fellows in the dhaba and Nandana & Hariprasad owners.

Readers might have noted that I mentioned only places related to food. This is not just because I am a foodie, but also because I am a foodie. I do miss other people too, but people who serve you food are the ones with whom you make stronger bonds. This is a lesson I learnt from life.

The above missings weren't expected, and hence comes as a pain. My mother used to lament how I lost weight due to the 'food problem' in Mysore. But the truth was that I had enough around me and only my late night office schedule left me hungry and undernourished at times(undernourished, me!! who will believe it , other than my poor mother). But as I had to walk or use the shitty bus service in Mysore, I had a good health condition there. Now, with the bike and being in Bangalore, all those are lost.

 Bangalore, though famous for the variety and quality of food isn't quite rewarding owing to the shit-like traffic condition, the dusty atmosphere and our special location plus the overall attitude prevailing among my roommates against venture fooding. On my own, I had an adventurous life in mysore ..sigh..

Overall I miss some people, some places, the atmosphere and mostly and very badly.. the me who was there.

Can't say I was 24 carat gold there. But I was far better in many terms. I wish to include those good things in what is good now.

I do wish many times that I could buy a plot of land in Mysore and move out later on. Bangalore doesn't suit me completely... for the records..

Mysooru-to-Bengaluru: A Tale of Two Cities

I started off my career in the city of Mysore 2 and a half years ago.

Hailing from a growing metro, and used to the certainty of being in the hometown for 10 long years, I was taken aback initially at what I got to experience.

After 2 years and 5 months of life there(an eventful one), I moved to Bangalore as part of a job change.

Let me try to put the vortex of my thoughts about the two cities in order here:-

Mysore was a laid back town. I hated it for the slow buses, irresponsible traffic, lack of modern facilities and early closure of shops. But now the hate has rightfully been replaced with a longing for what was good in that city. No doubt Mysore is a gem of town for living normal lives. But for youngsters hailing from top colleges and towns with exuberant energy and ambitions, the city proved to be a damper.

I have seen lots of friends and colleagues who came with lots of energy and promise, and crashed themselves against the dull wall that Mysore is. These people wish to do many things, but are unable to find the motivation to do them. Well, it is not the problem with the city in itself that people behave in such ways. But then it does form a major part. There are few opportunities to utilize the energy.

 Having said this, I hate many aspects of Bangalore too. It is dusty, crowded, and has no value for ethics or individuals. After all it is an amalgamation of people from all over the world, all worrying only about their own matters. As with all metros, it is bound to be void of human touch, and more of a sea of machines out here to print notes for themselves.
 
All the things mentioned above doesn't escape the naked eyes. What might is what comes next.

Mysore:-
It is not very difficult to get depressed and lazy in a city like Mysore. After all you can always think of at least a dozen things that suck big time.

But do all people behave so?Leave the residents who might not be able to find peace without the atmosphere that Mysore provides. The answer is NO.

People have fought this inertness and lethargy of the town by indulging themselves into things they wished to do. I admit that the town provides few modern facilities, but it ain't so bad in itself. If I want to list what you can do in Mysore to suit your taste, it will be a very big list. So I will skip that part.

Memories may fade but lessons don't

 The point in simple words is- Mysore makes you look into yourselves, discover what you want to do and pursue it with passion. The lack of all the noise makes you focus on things you value individually.

I greatly benefited from the life in Mysore. The solitude, the relative hardships and need for patience, all provide a good platform for focusing on what is good in life.

Running the Mysore Dasara Celebration Marathon

In Mysore, you generate the motivation and create the paths for using your energy, all by yourself. I remember the pull to go out on trips, undertake patient photo shoots, deep researches and long strolls, whenever some free time present itself to me. I am glad to admit I was able to tap into these opportunities quite well.

Bangalore:-
This city has a certain energy to it; be it the bustling crowds, the cluttered roads or the dusty construction sites.

People everywhere, moving to some destination or other. All having some or the other goals and ambitions. Even in a casual moment for one, hundreds around might be in an urgency or going through the most important moments in their lives.

To think of all these energies, just gives a channel of infinite energy and motivation.

I know lethargic people who started being more energetic after moving to Bangalore. So in spite of all the maddening stuff around, the city does prove to be a morale booster. People have definite targets, goals and are serious about them in this city. Maybe because in a competitive crowd, one can't afford to be complacent. I like to see it as a rat race, but now that I might also a part of it, I start to see how its designs and methods. Frankly I don't fancy the idea of getting caught in a rat race.

Perpetual motion

Everything in Bangalore seems to be coloured with the same shade of competition. A few words for the 'human touch' is required at this point. It might not be fully dead as many believe it to be. If you look for it , you can still see it lingering around you. It is just beliefs of people like you and me that it is dead, which actually makes it even truer. I have had some good experiences with people in this city. And I would credit my life in Mysore to have let me bring about that experience. After all people react in the same way you treat them...


Conclusion:-
The vortex is part of the vision. My experiences in one city strengthened and prepared me for what lies in store in the other, or rather for many more things ahead.

Time to fuse the learnings of the old with the challenges of the new to create ultimate weapons. If I manage to merge my will power induced motivations learnt in Mysore with the energy of this city, I believe I can propel myself to higher levels of competence and comfort :)

Trust me to never let a stub of thought to pass by without scrutinizing it. Adios amigos..

Chamundi Night Ride

A ride up the Chamundi hills on my new bike: I had wanted to do this after getting the bike. Today I had the chance.

It was freaking awesome. And to add to the pleasure, the weather was very good when we(myself and Bharath) started the climb.

As I couldn't cross the 40kmph limit, I had a hard time initially trying to stop myself from accelerating through the zig zag mountain road. But soon the awesome view on the sides made me enjoy my slow ride, with the helmet removed.

On one side was the unlit green patches and dirt roads, and when the road curved the hills, the other side revealed the glittering Mysore city. I wanted to stop by all the view points, but didn't. Anyway we stopped at the usual main view point which opens up an AWESOME view to the city.

A gang of college students were seated there. One of them had a guitar and was singing songs. He sang quite a few tracks and all the people seated there applauded him after each song, in spite of the darkness which made it nearly impossible the spot who was singing( but it was no recording for sure :0 ) . We sat there for nearly 20 minutes silently enjoying the atmosphere and deep in own thoughts, which then turned into a discussion about career and life :-O

Then we went up the hills to the temple and waited for 30 mins to get the darshan and came out soon. The return journey too was frigging awesome.

I only felt bad when we reached the foothills as I still wanted to explore many parts of the hill. This was the best trip to the Chamundi hills for me so far. I got to know my bike better and my self as a biker too. And yes, my bike hit 280km in the 12 days.

so.. its vroom vroom wing riding for sometime now..

Mysooru - A Dasara Darshan

Today, from morning onwards I have not been in my room.

I had gone to friends place in the morning,which was an uphill trek,with the laptop and a 'toolkit'. The purpose was to install Linux and Windows 7 on a laptop suffering with 'viral fever' After nearly a day long procedure, I packed up and then walked to a couple of other locations with my lappy, spreading and collecting data.

I was just gonna mentally close the day at 6pm and sleep,when a friend came forward with an idea to go up the Chamundi Hills. I agreed immediately and lo.. we were soon cutting through the thickly crowded and colourfully lit streets of Mysooru. The journey too was just awesome, and we got a good darshan of the splendidly lit city from atop the hills and also of the Goddess.

These are a few important things I came to know today :-

1) However long be a queue at the Chamundi, it moves very fast(compared to Kerala temples)
2) You can get to see Cheetahs on the Chamundi hills, on the roadside - irrespective of time
3) Cost of a Canon 120IS camera
4) Mysore has a very good Chat centre, right in the centre of the city which serves awesome stuff

Each one of the learning has an experience or story behind it :)

whoa what a nice day.thanks to my friend.

Gauri-Ganesh-Eid in Mysore

The entire city is decorated and filled with shops selling various condiments and ingredients necessary to the festivals that are being celebrated back-to-back in this ancient heritage city of Mysore.

While the majority of the Hindus celebrate the double pack festivals of Gauri and Ganesh, it is the end of the holy month of Ramadan for the Muslims and they are celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. Though the city always remains notoriously famous for the hostility between the two camps, during festive seasons( Karnataka has an abundance of those) the city looks and behaves like a normal one, with people being more polite and considerate about the other religion and their festivities.

But it is hard to miss all the colour and bustle on the roads and the sense of hurry and joy in the faces of people. As I reside in an outskirts area of Mysore, I am able to see the semi-urban populace bustiling through the newly sprung up road-side markets selling flowers,decorative items, colourful bangles and lots and lots of different Ganesh idols varying in size, colours, theme etc. Never before in my life have I seen a Ganesha with the body and pose of Sri Sai Baba.

The Gauri festival on the other hand seems to be celebrated only in Karnataka( as far as I know ), and is only for girls. Soon after it gets over, the family members have to 'undo' those decorations and put up those of Ganesh festival and start working on it. The Ganesh festival begins in many homes and communities with the bringing in of the great Moorthis( idols) of lord Ganesh. I am currently watching it at that stage. It is good to see people dancing and singing on the roads carrying their favourite God.

Meanwhile, I will be trying to capture some good snaps with my nokia phone camera. If something interesting or good comes up, I shall put it up here. And I am yet to see the Eid celebrations as the Muslim areas are far away from where I stay :(


Happy Gauri-Ganesh festivals to all my friends all over the world and Eid Mubarak too. May happiness and peace prevail.

Mysore sightings

Today as I returned from office,there was no power. So, I decided go for a short walk.
So I set out,with a 50 rupee note in one pocket of the pyjama and my phone in the other,listening to music via headset.
I traversed the dark lanes and roads in our locality observing what the people were doing at powercut time. Some had emergency lights on and were having family meets.Others were unaffected by the powercut and happily watching TV on invertor supply.

Many others were simply sitting outside,or at the junctions chatting away or having a cup of tea. I walked past all these people happily. I passed by many people working at Infy or L&T returning from their offices,with the ID cards showing out clearly in the dark.

Anyway I soon left the lanes and hit the road,the dusty and under construction road. Had to cover my mouth and nose while passing through. The atmosphere there looked as if someone had put smoke effects,light bending and shadows forming here and there.

I moved on and on,onto the main road( called Double High Tension Road ). It is a fairly clean and calm road. So I broke into a slow jog and broke up when I went out of breath.I did it 2-3 times,so as to avoid putting too much pressure on my body at first itself.

Soon I reached a junction which I had never visited before. So from there I started guessing routes and went ahead. I explored around 2-3 new lanes and routes (going in circles). Only once I had to confirm my path with a shopkeeper. I managed to see many new shops, offices etc in my locality which I never knew. I also passed by a family feud on the road. People on vehicles were stopping to listen to what was going on,whereas I blissfully broke into a jog right through the fighting family putting up a smile in case someone gave me a stare or cursed in Kannada( the former might have happened,but definitely not the latter ).

A light breeze was blowing by the time I stopped jogging and decided to take it easy and walk back home. Also, some great tracks were being played at that instant from my phone.Ah,pure bliss..."Yaaron ye dosti.." by K.K was the only one which made me sad and miss my friends..

On reaching home after the 40 mins stroll,I was planning to blog about it and do many other things. But what I saw there was that all houses were having power except ours(even 1st floor had). It took some good half an hour to fix it up and by that time I was starving. Got a couple of Foodles pack and prepared extensive meal :)
It was then that we were plunged in yet another powercut.But I managed to have my meal watching a Telugu movie on my lap in candle light :D

Finally now only I got the time to blog all this :D Pretty huge is it..? Thats how it is nowadays, a lot happening.Also writing being a passion to me, I don't look at the clock for it. :D

Infy gates

The maisooru traffic police seem to have made the infy gate their favourite spot. This has been my observation since I started walking home from office(thats about 2 days back).

They find it profitable and easy to prey upon the hoards of young engineers of Infosys and L&T,as well as other companies in Hebbal area(who happen to pass through).
Well,I shouldn't call it 'preying',but my disposition w.r.t being fined for riding without helmets grants me the rights ;)

Though our company has a policy to stop riders who are not wearing helmets,many of them remove them once they cross our gates,only to be caught by the dozen or so traffic policemen stationed in front of the infy gate. It is usual to see a pair of policemen or maximum half a dozen to be deployed for such activities. But here I see all of the personnel busy with around 3-4 riders around each,either negotiating,begging or silently paying up.

Even some locals get caught(they are the ones who wud negotiate).They are the ones who take the liberty to assume that such an outskirts area would be safe for them. Poor fellows.

Many such funny things happen in front of the gates of the Indian IT giant. Being their neighbours,we get to see and laugh upon many. Though their presence has made life a bit costly and difficult for us as well,we take it lightly and instead amuse ourselves on the many idiosyncrasies of Infy lifestyle.There are a group of people in our place who smoke,drink or eat only Infy brand stuff,pointing to things available at the few shops opposite the Infy gate.

During our initial days of training, I was amused by the way many of my batchmates worshipped Infy or Narayan Murthy. Some used to say,oh how magnificent are their buidlings,how big is that,how this is available,blah blah.... I used to dismiss them pointing to the skill density advantage we have..and now that we are into our works,even the most desperate of those souls have no other feeling for the normal IT companies(this is not targetted at infy alone,so infoscions ..chill) other than pity, and sympathy. :D :D
As usual, its not who laughs,but who has the last laugh.

Diwali times...

This Diwali we had total of 3 days holiday,which included a monday. I am always happy when a monday is a holiday :)
So, I decided to pay my relatives@Bangalore a visit. Plus I had missed the Yahoo! and Subex boys the last time I visited Bangalore.Also, I was determined not to sit idly 3 days at Mysore,when majority of the people would either go home or be busy at their own homes.

So,I added the Bengaluru plan to my list by around Tuesday last week.I got time to search for many tourist spots,hiking and trekking areas of Karnataka. I was also involved in the community googling event of our team. We covered quite a lot of ground, and I was able to produce comprehensively relevant and detailed data on majority of the topics I got to handle. It was good to scrounge the web after quite some time.

Anyway, refreshed as well as rejuvenated by the extensive googling, I was eagerly waiting for the weekend to close in. On Saturday morning,I got into a volvo bus from the Maisooru Bus Stand at 8 am,and watched some kannada movie copied from Nadodikaatu series of Malayalam and dozed off,waking up somewhere near the outskirts of Bengaluru. Rest of the area, I observed ;)

At Bengaluru, I visited by cousin's place at Madivala.Also roamed around the smoky and war-torn city at night. The smoke was so tight by around 8 pm that we couldn't see the traffic signals clearly. Also, it was suffocating and stung my eyes. At that point,I swore to myself to encourage more and more people to stop bursting crackers for festivals. The sights and sounds of the metro during Diwali simply strengthened my cause.

Anyway,on account of the festival, we found many of the shops closed by around 7 pm and the famed Forum mall was almost vacant,and so were the numerous other malls and streets. That day, the crackers for me were provided by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,in the sizzling display of fireworks which didn't involve smoke.(Though the stadium wallahs were bursting many whenever a six was hit [:(] )

The next day, I had some 4-5 hours free, before I could visit my uncle's place at Kenkeri. So I decided to visit the Yahoo guys place a.k.a "Pulimada". Met them and went to Total Mall (erstwhile Kemp Fort),and saw the Shiva temple(cannot call it temple though). It resembled an amusement park made for 5 yr olds(or foolish adults),with all mechanical models of shivalingas.I felt ashamed seeing the kind of things they put up there in the name of God. It was fit for a good laugh,but as many people might be taking it seriously,I opted not to.After all religion is such an inflammable and sensitive issue ,wherever in India you are.

Then I went to Kenkeri satellite town, enjoying the outlying areas of Bengaluru on the way. That place is beautiful and serene compared to the nearby Metro. I enjoyed strolling out watching the crackers and celebrations in the area at night,until the smoke became too stifling.I got chance to explore the area further the next morning also.
Then was my first train journey in Karnataka(with start and end points within the state). I travelled from Kenkeri to Maisooru,a journey that took the precise 2 and half hours it was supposed to take. I always consider a train journey to be more rewarding than a bus or private vehicle,if you are interested in mingling with the local culture. And that is what I experienced also. I observed the differences and similarities when compared to a journey in Kerala.

By that my journey of the weekend almost came to an end. Its last part is just some funny incidents at my place,owing to the persistent efforts of the people in our area to fill up every dark corner of every house with the sound,smoke and light from their crackers. Woah,that was quite an effort, surviving the night without going deaf or blind...
Now back to the routine life of learning and earning,till the next weekend,when yet another adventure awaits me...

Night Journey

"I am sitting at Seat num 38 of the Rajahamsa express bus,travelling from Mysore to EKM. Finally getting to go home after more than a month.Though at the much feared back seats of Rajahamsa,its not been much of a trouble yet.Its cold outside and hence I am sitting with my face stuck to the window,gazing at the dark outlines of trees and mountains,up and down the curvy roads of the Ghats.
I realise that we are passing by beautiful landscapes,alas hidden by the cloak of darkness.
Still I find the forest so enchanting and calm. I wish I were out there,roaming inside the forests and exploring the terrain. I guess this is what they call,"The Call of the Wild" :D

As the tall trees pass by as gray shadows,a sort of gloom descends on me, as I feel separated from my destiny(or something) by just a thin sheet of glass.Now I recall my friend Jyothish's ideas,who is the enthusiastic torch bearer of the nature club and green movements in my college.The idea of regrouping here,at our workplaces in Karnataka and explore the forests of the Ghats...hm..now I should get some sleep!"

--Saved onto phone as text message at 1.05 am 2nd Oct 2009


Now that was something I have been keeping in my mind to post asap.
I am back home from Mysore after about 1 month. I find Cochin to have changed quite a bit here and there. New hoardings and buildings throng the place. Getting to see malayalam words after some time of Kannada/English/Hindi is also a joy in itself,however small it might be.

The climate of Mysore is quite similar to that of Kerala(minus the humidity and heat). It is raining there also now,so the difference is pretty subtle. But the colour of Kerala terrain is light green set against light or shady blue background,whereas that of Karnataka is sort of dry/brownish green against a dark or shady blue background. That is one thing I really found a contrast while staring at the surroundings from my seat.

This is not the case with all places in K'nataka though.I must admit that there are simply awesome landscapes in K'nataka(and believe me I have seen NOTHING yet). Enroute to B'lore once,near the town of Channapatna, I got to catch a glimpse of a magnificent view. I was in a local bus so couldn't stop to admire and neither did I have a camera(still don't have :)) to capture it. I can try to explain what it looked like. There were two rainbows formed across the light blue sky,both of them touching the lush green fields..resulting in an awesome display of colour and contrast.Also the sun was just out of the clouds,partially illuminating the top of green trees,leaving the lower branches to be in contrast with the lighter upper ones. I felt I was in heaven or something...there was no break in the scene for about 2 mins,after which the bus moved onwards to mortal lands. Thinking of it still gives me the Goosebumps.. :D

Now..returning to Earth..
After coming back I have been moving around a bit(when not downloading something or surfing),absorbing in maximum before I return to my workplace and settle into the lifestyle there. I am still in the planning phase of purchasing myself a good camera phone,and now the need for a laptop/pc is also added to the list,as my parents have expressed their opinion that I should buy my own system rather than transport whatever is there at home. Trust my parents to make me more responsible :)

Anyway its a learning period in terms of multiple facets of life.. :D
I will try to add some pics later on... and some from my Dasara views of Mysore. I forgot to copy them into my pen drive :)

Today is a day

Hi to all..
It is a bright and sunny day here at Mysore. A pretty calm climate for me..(not so for my roomie who is used to lower temps)
So after finishing the weekend chores of cleaning and planning,we decided to hit the cafe` for sometime and then proceed with our lunch. We have some internal assessments this week ...the last one I assume. After that we would be into real work...ooh

Things seem surrealistic about the exact nature of work as of now..but would be pretty real soon. I am itching to get started..

It feels good to walk along Kalidasa Road(near to which we reside)..which is a commercial hot spot of Mysore.To the left side of our building..K.D Road becomes a bustling metro shopping area..brimming with people of various kinds going about with their business. It has many branded shops and large supermarkets and lots of things to check out. On the right side..is the calm and quiet neighbourhood of Vijayanagara..which is almost ignorant of its rich and prosperous neighbourhood. The cafe` we found to be good enough is to the right side.. The ironies don't end there. I had once noticed that when its powercut time..one side of the road is brightly lit while the other is plunged in darkness...Also,if you just received your salary ,you tend to head off to the left ..but for the rest of the month you tend to go the opposite way .. :D

Anyway what is more interesting is the immintent mix of cultural attributes, which might occur as the result of a clash of the Titans. Now the process is slow..but would take deadly acceleration in the days to come..I have started to listen to old Kannada songs and even comment on how many of their hits are copies of Mallu ones or sung by Malayali artistes.. hurray to our music gods..

I think I have penned down many things by now..enough na? So let me take leave of you for now.. signing off with

Hi...

I am writing this post from our Browsing centre at C-TEA (our training centre).

Today I plan to go home ,after 4 weeks at Mysore. Now we have a great session on OS internals which would be followed by an even more interesting one for RTOS. All in practical senses.

Hoping to learn a lot and tune into the company's frequency asap...

The weather and food at Mysore is something I really liked.. Especially the short bursts of rains and bisibele bath :)


We are getting integrated with the life here..and my Kannada learning process is in progress...

Have to start thinking about my next blog and devote some time to actually post some good articles here.. till then its good bye from me..

Life@Mysore

Hi all readers...long time since i had posted something in my blog.

I am informing those who are not aware of my current whereabouts. I have joined Larsen & Toubro Embedded Systems and Software(L&T EmSyS) as a Graduate Engineer Trainee at Mysore.
This is my third weekend at Mysore,and finally got a good cafe` in our locality. Lot of things I have seen,experienced and learnt in these fruitful days of my life.Not much would I be able to put in here...but maybe some of them might appear in later posts..

I will just put up a list of things I miss here..
1) My computer and LINUX
2) Internet!!!
3) My friends
4) My songs and videos collections
5) The monsoon of cochin

This list is not in the order of preference..just the way I wanted to type it out...

Here, its M$ Windows everywhere...but no one can deny Linux its credits,so it still shows its purpose in our technical labs.That is the time when I get to share my bag'o'tricks with the rest of the batch...chatting over 'write' instead of dozing off in the C++ class.. :D

And about the internet..I realize the approx dependency I have on it...not as high as I thought it to be..but not too low either... :P
I do miss my hacking and networking stuff here...its a whole new learning experience here though...

And about friends..nothing can be said about it..as it is expected.and the missing will add sweetness to each reunion :D

I don't feel like blah blahing about the rest... :P guess I have grown lazy about typing ..

Waiting for many things to happen here... :D :D
Hope all my friends are doing well..and all readers too...thanks for taking the time to read through all these .. :D I hope to be back with good stories of my experiences and experiments with life...sayonara...

Thumba danyavada gallu...