| Annual Pilgrimage - Rider Mania09 |
[07 Feb 2009|12:42am] |
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After a long hiatus i return to livejournal, finally :)
The 23rd Jan'09, republic day holiday made a loooong weekend and the actual excitement was about the Rider Mania'09 which is considered the annual pilgrimage of all the Enfield riders who turn up in numbers to meet up and have a blast. It is the time when old friends meet again and the others make new friends. This time it was in Ooty on 24th and 25th Jan'09 and it was organised by the RTMC guys. For the novices, RTMC stands for "Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club" and thei war song is "ONLY ONE WAY, THE HIGHWAY". There were 650+ riders who rode down (rather UP should i say :)) to Ooty to be part of the pilgrimage.
For me, Rider Mania is the celebration of the brotherhood and the amalagation of different people driven by one single motive, the joys of owning an Enfield, being part of a riding club, connect with all the other riders and talk everything about these beautiful machines, the travelogues, the trips, or to put in very simple words connect with being on the open road and live life the enfield way :) like a traveller.
My Rider Mania started on 23rd Jan'09 when i took an off from the work, clients, bloody deadlines and being "professional"and "politically correct". My intial plan was to start early and reach Masinagudi by noon so that i can join my good friend Hugh Tyman alias Q sah alias Q Tymanu :) and the lovely and bubbly Viv for lunch. Sadly, i could not accomplish that task as my mechanic was not happy with the servicing job the earlier day and he decided that i should pick up my Diana on the next day, which meant that i had to run around a bit in the morning (which i hate).....according to me mornings are the best time to sleep...hehehehehe. Eventually i collected my bike at around 10:30am with my mechanic still grumbling, "saab, thoda ye karte to accha hota and thoda woh karte to accha hota :)". By the time i got out of the bloody city traffic and hit the NICE corridor, it was 11:30am. I was very happy for myself to see that actually on a weekday, i was heading out for the open highways while the majority of the people were headed towards their offices.
I reached the first toll-plaza on NICE at around 11:35am, paid the 5 bucks as the toll fee and headed off. It was a pleasant morning with a flock of white egrets flying overheard and giving me company. I stopped again at the second toll plaza just after teh Kanakpura road. As i was waiting for my turn one of the local boys manning the toll gate came to me and said "Petrol Overflow Saar". I stopped my engine immediately and and switched off the fuel nozzle but the petrol would not stop flowing. After 10-15 seconds, the petrol stopped overflowing and i tried hard to kick-start the engine without any success. After about 20-25 kicks, thankfully Diana roared back to life with a thick plume of smoke, i did some idle running till the smoke subsided and headed for the Mysore highway.
I rode non-stop till Mysore at a decent speed trying to make up for the lost time. Every now and then i came across riders who were also headed towards Ooty. Just before Mandya i went past the "Indie Thumpers" from Mumbai. There were about 35-40 riders with their Thumpy companions who made everyone take notice of them. It is always a fantastic sight to see a bunch of riders romancing the open roads. I stopped near the Mysore Palace to eat some street idlies and the coconut chutney loaded with green chillies. To avoid the probable fire that the chillies might cause inside me, i gulped 3 glasses of "pesal(read special)" of sugarcane juice. The "Pesal" cane juice had some lime and ginger added into it. I stopped for about 10 minutes at the big lake after Mysore to spot some migratory winged beauties. There were Pelicans, Black cormorants and the painted storks while the solitary Brahminy kite kept a close watch on the proceedings.
I stopped again at "Hotel Ramprakash" for lunch (ok ok...i agree i gulped idlies and juice, but i was hungry again...burrrrp...Amen!!). At a princely sum of 25 bucks, i had the full meal which was actually a bit more me, but i managed to stuff all the food in my secret pockets. I think i still did not "deploy" all the secret pockets.....hehehehehehe. It was 2:30pm when i kick started towads Bandipur (yyyyiiiippppeee!!!) and then to Masinagudi. The only change that i noticed this time on the road were the frequent appearance of speed humps on the Najangud-Gundlupet stretch. I was tempted to stop at the CCD by the "Cafe Frappe" at Gundlupet but i was more worried about the fading light. The Gundlupet-Pugmark restaurant stretch has become worse. It gets dark pretty soon on the Bandipur-Mudhumalai stretch and being a regular to this part of the world and knowing the forest, i would never risk to drive in the dark on this stretch. There have been many instances of bikers loosing their lives or getting seriously injured by the elephants. The bigger risk is stopping in a convoy of vehicles in the forest after it gets dark, you never know when the "people friendly" tusker is round the corner, sizing you up, since they are smart enough to understand that the single headlight guys are the easiest and the most stupid targets to play around. I reached Masinagudi at around 3:45pm and stopped to have the lovely potato bajji's and followed it up with the customary visit to the Wine shop to buy my Romanov vodka. I was greeted by the warm hugs of Q sah and Viv and the famous saying of Viv "Well, it's evening and lets get smashed :):)".
After a drinking spree and a dinner of Roasted vegetables and chicken we headed to the open terrace of Mango Creek (Hugh and Viv's sweet home). We caught up with the happenings of each others lives with a couple of nightcaps and then played Tenpin bowling on the new Wii gadget that q sah has. Viv was the champion :) while the "boys:)" played second fiddle to her. The next day morning, i was frantically trying to reach Karthik who was riding with about 15-20 guys towards Ooty. Finally i managed to catch him, while he was taking a break at CCD Gundlupet. We decided to meet at Sasi's small snack shop at Mavanalla to ride togather to ooty. It was a fantastic ride to the top and as usual i loved those 36 hairpin bends from the base of Nilgiris to Ooty town. We asked for directions to the venue (Sterling resorts, Fernhill) and reached there on time while the other pilgrims were trooping in. The entry by the Indie Thumpers, the MadBulls and the Royal Beasts from Delhi was absolute music to the ears :).
There were a lot of events during the entire 2 days but the best was the modified bikes competition. Some of the bikes were completely revamped and stunningly beautiful. There were also stalls which were selling mementos and also the cramster and te Orazo boots stall. I bought my self a Cramster jacket and a riding boot which set me back by about 9000/- :). The evening was fantastic with DJ on the floor and not to mention the beer that flowed. After a tiring and a long day, karthik and I rode back to the Elk hill resort about 2-3 kms away in the freezing weather. 25th was a new day and a new start, we reached Fern Hill just in time to be part of the Ooty ride where most of the riders joined. It was an awesome sight to see so many of these beauties thumping away to glory. Throughout the route that we took, the people stopped, stared, saluted and admired the thump. In the afternoon, there was an arm wrestling competition, one category was for the ladies to flex their muscles. Me and Karthik went to the town for some sightseeing and then rode up to the Doddabetta peak. While coming down we stopped at a couple of places to admire the fantastic views and mother nature. We stopped at a egg bajji kiosk and gulped about 5-6 of the piping hot bajjis...yuuuummmmmyyyy. The evening was again fantastic with music and dance, but the best part of the evening was when videos of different riding clubs were shown. There were also some MadBulls guys who turned out in style, i mean in their "mundus" :):).
We went back early (read 11pm:)) as Karthik and I planned to start early so that the probability of seeing wildlife in the forest would be higher. We stopped at the base of the nilgiris, where other riders joined us and spent close to an hour just sitting there watching and hearing the forest. It was blissful. We reluctantly trundled along to stop again at Sasi's place and fed ourselves some lovely "tribal" idlies with dollops of fresh coconut chutney being scooped directly out of the wet grinder and tumbled on the steaming idlies. After the sumptous breakfast, we headed off for Bengaluru with sad faces and back to the hustle bustle of the city and the harsh realities:)
I had a fantastic time during these 4 days and the memories will remain forever. I forgot to mention the names of the riding clubs who came for the annual pilgrimage:
RTMC (Bangalore), MadBulls (Chennai), Royal Beasts (Delhi), Indie Thumpers (Mumbai), Highway Nawabs (Hyderabad), Eastern Bulls (Kolkatta), RERAM (Meghalaya), The Wanderers (Hyderabad), Kovai Thumpers (Coimbatore), Road Shakers (Pune), Road Survivors (Chandigarh), Wanderlust (Nagpur), Royal Cochin Bulls and Silver Bullets apart from the many individual riders.
I have uploaded the pics to the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vanoushka/RiderMania09#
Enjoy!!!
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| Strange Offerings in a Temple |
[23 Oct 2007|02:16am] |
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A normal offering in a temple would be flowers, coconuts etc. In some of the shakti peethas, the offering might be non-vegetarian food and liquor, but there is a temple in Kendrapada district in Orissa, where the offerings are "CLOCKS".
Pay a visit to the "Maa Panchu-baraha" temple in Kendrapada district's in the Rajnagar block. This temple is more than 400 years old and the belief is that if you want to untertake a journey or pray for your safe return, an offering here will take care of your journey. This is a seaside village and the devotees offer clocks and even wrist watches to the deity for safe and timely passage to and from faraway destinations. In the past, people of Satabhaya and neighbouring places travelled extensively to sell clothes, paddy, vegetables and other items. Travelling by water or road was fraught with dangers in those days, so the villagers came to the temple before setting out for faraway places.
No wonder, the goddess holds a special place in the heart of transporters. Many truck and bus drivers believe that offering a clock would save them from accidents on the road. The fame of this strange ritual has spread far and wide, with hundreds and thousands of devotees pouring in with the offerings. The walls of the the entire temple complex are adorned with all types of clocks. The peak season is during the Dusehra in October and "Pana Sankranti" in march. Later, the administration auctions the clocks to collect money for the development of the temple. The ritual of offering clocks is about 100 years old and is relatively recent. But old or not, the ritual has meant that shopkeepers selling clocks in the nearby villages of Bausakani and Gupti are laughing all the way to the bank, based on their sale of the clocks.
Hope you liked this strange piece of information :)
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| Santhali touch to the Dussera in Orissa |
[12 Oct 2007|04:24am] |
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As we all know, Dussera is celebrated with subtle differences in our country. These differences are broader when it come to the Dussera celebrations in Orissa. In some parts, Durga puja leads to dussera while in some other parts like Khallikote, Dussera is part and parcel of a 16 day festival season which kicks off with durga puja and ends with "Kumar Purnima". Here Kumar Purnima is celebrated with greater pomp and piety than Dussera or Durga puja. In the tribal belt of Koraput, Baripada, Bargarg, Bolangir the Dussera is celebrated in the tribal way(which i had already mentioned in a previous writeup here). In Baripada, "Dansaye Dance" is an integral part of the Durga puja/Dussera celebrations. It is performed by the Santhali dancers(all male), who are the original natives of the Baripada-Mayurbhanj belt. "Bhuyang" is the most important musical instrument for the Dansaye dance. It is a typical stringed instrument made from melon that has been dried and scooped out. It has bamboo fixtures on which metal strings are run. Another traditional instrument is the "Kendra". The male dancers wear a headgear or a turban made from a tightly rolled dhoti with one end hanging from the back and almost reaching the knee. A peacock feather is attached to the front of the turban. Each dancer also wears "Ghungroos" on his feet. The history of this dance can be traced back to the ancient times when the "Bhanja" rulers ruled Orissa. During their reign, there were five-day marathon performances by these dancers at the Lion's gate of the majestic palace of the Maharaja of the Mayurbhanj or "Rajbati". The dancers were presented with a specially prepared "laddoo" and a brightly coloured cloth on Dussera by the king. This brightly colored cloth was considered as a prized possession and the person having this cloth earned special respect from the common man. Though the kings are long gone, the enthusiasm of the Dansaye dancers have not died down. Nowadays, they get gifts from the people of Baripada and are very happy with them. Dansaye has survived as it is a synthesis/fusion of Aryan and tribal cultures that is synonymous of Mayurbhanj district. The presentation of Dansaye dance during the puja festival was symbolic of the tribals propitiating the Goddess and invoking her blessings. Hope you liked this small snippet of innformation which the so called media does not cover. They are busy showing the affairs of Rakhi sawant and the other nautanki of these so called bollywood oomph queens ....These media guys simply show Bullshit...nothing else. CHeers :)
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| B'lore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Erode-Palakkad-C'batore-Ooty-Mysore-B'lore |
[16 Sep 2007|10:43pm] |
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It's been a long long time since i have blogged here. I am back with a ride report of 850kms. My good friend Naveen got married and it was a chance for me to ride down to Palakkad which i did not want to miss. I sacrificed 3 holidays for that...hehehhe coz i had saved all my holidays, so that i can spend more time at home during the Durga Puja. Anyways, these 3 days were worth their weight in gold as i rode through some of the lovely roads of NHAI(National Highways Authority of India) and also the notorious broken roads of Kerala....hahaha.
I started late....12:10pm, to be very precise, eventhough i knew that it will be a 7 hr ride. I took the NICE(Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise) expressway out of Bangalore towards Hosur. The approach road to the NICE road from my flat is a slush road. I could only see 4 wheelers and the big boys(trucks) on this stretch. Diana(My Royal Enfield) was a bit wobbly initially but after 10-15 minutes, i guess she realised that we were going on a long ride :)..LOL. People informed me that you reach Hosur very quickly by taking this road. I think it was not my day as i got stuck in the traffic near Electronic city and it took nearly an hour to cross the E-city junction. I stopped at the HDFC ATM near Hosur, withdrew some cash and headed off. I stopped at Chinnar and then at Shoolagiri and at a couple of other places to click some pics of the amazing landscape which dots this highway. There was this Karizma guy with a pretty chick as his pillion who was showing off to her that he can go faster than me. I was least bothered with the theatrics, because i know what my 350cc engine can do and when you know what your machine can do....you don't have to show it to others. I was going at a constant speed of 90-100km/hr and just before the Krishnagiri flyover i saw the same guy cooling his heels with the bike next to him, i stopped and asked if he needed any help. He told me that his engine stopped suddenly and is not starting up. I flashed a wicked smile and told him that your engine has overheated and in the worst case scenario, the engine has blown out....told him to better look for a mechanic or a truck to take the bike to the nearest mechanic.....hehehehhe. I think this is where a Royal Enfield or a RD350 scores above the others ad that is the reliability of the engine. I was riding at a constant high speed for over 30kms and Diana was still gunning for more :)
After Krishnagiri, the road narrows down to a single carriageway and the condition of the road hasn't changed since my last visit to this stretch. The only visible difference was the work being done by the NHAI to make this stretch a 6 lane expressway, thus connecting Krishnagiri to Dharmapuri. Work is being done a frantic pace on this stretch and in some stretches they have closed down half of the road and kept people to regulate the traffic at these bottlenecks. In some other stretches, the top layer of the road has scrapped off, thus exposing the gravel part of the road which makes it a bumpy ride. Once you near Dharmapuri, you can start seeing the first glimpses of the Western Ghats in the distance. They look magnificent :) Just after crossing Dharmapuri, i stopped for my lunch at a small shack. I don't eat in Dhabas or restaurants during my rides. I prefer to stop at these local shops and shacks, coz this is where you get the real local food and to add to it, the local crowd who add the dash of energy and color to the proceedings. As usual the people were amused to see an Enfield with real horns :) and the same questions followed about mileage and modifications. This small shack was run by a lady and i thought that rice, sambar and a curry would be the common fare, but to my surprise, i was served with parotta(south indian version of a chappati...i guess) and a dollop of some sort of gravy was poured on it. I was still waiting for the accompaniments to be served while the chap sitting across the table waved me to start eating. It was food for a change and i liked it. The gravy was spicy with a dash of tamarind and curry leaves added to it, not bad at all for 11 bucks :). I gulped a pepsi alongwith a ciggi to neutralise the spice of the gravy. After dousing the flames......hehehehee.....i headed towards Salem. This is one of my favorites stretch of road, this stretch is part of the Golden Quadrilateral with the Western Ghats on the left hand side running paralled to the road. This stretch also has a sizable number of macaques who are loitering for the scraps thrown by the people driving on these stretch. I was stopped by the cops at a checkpost and was told to shell 500 bucks for the extra fittings(read...the horns on my bike). I tried to tell them "show me where it is written that i cannot have extra fittings" but to no avail as the cops were talking only in Tamil. After a lot of haggling and arguements....they settled for 200 bucks. the logic given to me for the 200 bucks was "saar...we 4 people, 50rupees per head".....i thought.....hmmm....what if there were 8 of them?? 400 bucks ?? bloody ridiculous, anyway after greasing their palms they let me go with big smiles on their faces. I am sure they would had a party once i left with spicy mutton curry and a pouch of the local made whiskey.....hehehehhee.
AFter Thoppur. keep an eye on the right for the board clump which says Mettur/Erode/Palakkad. Turn right (the straight road leads to Salem whcih is still about 75 kms)after an Indian Oil petrol bunk for Mettur. The road is amazing eventhough it is single carriageway. Mettur is 35kms from this point(as per the signboard), eventhough my Odo showed 41 kms. I stopped at a Reliance petrol bunk to tank up Diana and headed towards Mettur. I stopped after 7kms at a lovely place with hills on the left hand side and lush green paddy fields on the right for a chai and sutta break. Communication is a major problem in this part of the world, as the only language that these guys know is Tamil. They refuse to speak even english (knowingly or unknowingly). I had a chat with a truck driver since his truck had a Rajasthan registration number. He told me the route till Palakkad and was very happy when i offered him a cigarette while i asked for his bidi....hehehehhhe...LOL. After the sutta exchange and the chat (he also talked about his trips to Orissa and cribbed that he doesn't get the wheat chappatis). I realised that i had spent almost an hour chatting with him and his young helper after he told me "yaar, tumko late ho jayega"......After wishing him luck, i sped towards Mettur with no intention of stopping there. But, Mettur is such a lovely place and the sight of the dam and the Stanley reservoir is just amazing. I stopped to click a couple of pictures and admire nature. After you cross the bridge over the canal, turn right for Bhavani-Erode. The entire stretch of this road is set in the countryside and is lush with paddy fields and coconut trees apart from the magnificent views of the hills on the right. Bhavani is a bustling small town and you have to drive very carefully here, as the local chaps criss cross the road at their own will and 90% of them had the TVS Excel moped...:). From here it is NH-47. This stretch of road has very heavy traffic and to complicate matters it is a single carriageway and is ruled by the buses that fly (yes...they literally fly) on this road. I was overtaken by one of them and that too from the left hand side. I followed this bus for a good 20kms. I was going at 80km/hr and all i did was to follow this bus which made my riding easier. "NH-47, BYE PASS RIDER, WE TWO...OUR ONE"....hehehehe.... was written on the back of it, the chap driving this bus was literally flying through all the traffic forching some of the oncoming vehicles off the road. I overtook this bus and immediately followed another BYE PASS RIDER. All these buses stopped either at Avinashi or Coimbatore. Once you are near to Coimbatore.....keep on the left and take that road which leads towards the bye-pass. Turn right if you want to enter Coimbatore or drive towards Ooty. The bye-pass is fantastic and built by L&T. Most of the road is staright and you can see for miles ahead. I touched a max of 130km/hr for about 15-20 seconds and then again slowed down to the 90s. Halfway on this road, i suddenly had a big wobble of my handle and slowed down to see that i had a flat tyre. I could not find any puncture shops for the next 2.5 kms and had to drag my Diana, which was back breaking. I found a puncture shop, who was closing the shutters. Initially he refused saying that "marriage paaaarty saaar", i told him to take some money and pleaded him to fix it. I told him that i am going to Kanyakumari...:) and will be driving through the night. He was convinced amd took an extra 20 bucks to fix my puncture. I thanked him for being my savior and sped towards Palakkad. The road is very bad once you enter kerala. Some of the potholes are big enough for a small sized car to fit in. I guess all the potholes were sewn to make this road. I reached Palakkad at about 9:30pm and found that most of the shops were closed and the only people that i saw were at the booze shops. I called up Naveen and followed him to the lodge, where my stay was arranged. I was greeted by his cousin and beer at the lodge.
After attending a typical Namboodiri wedding, i started my ride back from Palakkad at around 11am. I decided to ride back through a different route via Coimbatore-Mettupalyam-Coonoor-Ooty-Masinagudi-Nanjangud-Mysore-Bangalore. The intial plan was to ride through Sathyamangalam-Chamarajnagar-nanjangud-Mysore-Bangalore. I wanted to check the route before actually heading towards it. Just after Pudusseri(outskirts of Palakkad) i asked one Trucker and he told me that a big portion of the stretch from Chamarajnagar-Nanjangud was closed. I was a bit dissapointed as i wanted to ride through the lush forests and during this time of the year, chances of spotting elephants is very high on this stretch. I headed out towards Coimbatore and exited the bye-pass and turned right to enter Coimbatore. I kept asking for directions for Mettupalyam since i did not see any board clumps showing the directions for Ooty for the initial distance through Coimbatore. I reached a busy junction and from here onwards, there were sign boards which one can follow and ride towards Mettupalyam. I stopped just after Coimbatore at a small eatery named "THAMBIDURAI NON-VEG MESS". The food was simple and for a change it was not spicy. Rice, 2 curries, sambar and a chilly beef was my lunch. The lady was surprised when i said that i don't need curd. She blurted out "What??? no curd rice" as if i just committed an unpardonable sin....hehehehehehe. The best moment of my ride was at this eatery. I SAW TWO SARDARS EATING CURD RICE WITH PICKLE AND PAPPADAMS. I couldn't stop laughing at this sight....LOL. I told the lady that i remembered an old joke and was laughing at it....hehehehehhehe. They made my day and i started off towards Mettupalyam, which is at the base of the Nilgiris. I stopped at a couple of places to take the pics of the Nilgiris which towered above this town and disappeared into the clouds. I was sure that i would be greeted with rain once i start the climb on the ghat section. In fact rain god had other ideas and i was greeted by the first wall of rain as soon as i entered Mettupalyam. I stopped to enquire about the ghat road and also for chai and sutta. Landslides are common for this road to Ooty and chances were high that i would be stranded in Mettupalyam. But, it was good news and the bus driver who had just come back from Wellington informed me that the road is clear except for 2 places where some branches of the trees had fallen and only half the road was open and the highway guys were busy clearing the other section of the road. He also told me to watch out some sections of the road since it was raining as these stretches were very slippery and in some strteches there are clouds(yes....one can ride through clouds) and where the visibility is very low.
I kick started Diana in the pouring rain and trundled along the busy towm traffic. The moment one crosses the Cantilever bridge, the ghat section starts. Eventhough the road is not that steep vis-a-vis the climb from Masinagudi to Ooty, but the volume of traffic is more and the number of idiots driving on this stretch and trying to overtake at curves and hairpins are more. A lot more caution is required to negotiate this entire stretch till Coonoor. Some of the landscape and sights are breathtaking and the nilgiris is at its best from this side of the mountains. I stopped at some places to click some pics. There are a couple of checkposts en-route and be prepared to shell out some cash and NO ARGUEMENTS at these checkposts especially if your vehicle is not Tamil Nadu registered. The sights of the tea-gardens at Coonoor is breathtaking and one can stop at some of the shops to buy tea and cashew. The roads in between Coonoor-Wellington-Ooty is very bad. Big potholes and in some places the road has been washed away. It was still raining till i reached Ooty. From Ooty to Kakanalla, i was riding through clouds and as usual the visibilty was reduced to few metres. Things were much better in Masinagudi, where i stopped for the delicious "batata vada" and tea. I headed off towards Bandipur and en-route saw a lot of bisons, spotted deer and peacocks. Saw a big tusker in bandipur who was enjoying the rain about 15-20 feet from the main road. This guy was really big and had a broken tusk. My friend Murthy in bandipur had once told me that it was an aggressive tusker and had charged a lot of vehicles. I stopped and waited for a big vehicle so that i can tailgate it to cross the big chap. In 10 minutes a KSRTC bus was on its way and i tailgated it till the Bandipur forest office. I stop at the chai shop everytime i ride on this road. I met my friend Murthy and we had a chat about the forest and his work over a cuppa for about 30minutes. It was still drizling and getting dark so it was better to keep riding towards my destination. Once i crossed Gundlupet, the heavens opened up again. My bike's headlamp was at it's worst and as a result had a tough time in riding in the rain with literally no headlamp. It took me more than 3 hrs to reach Mysore, by that time i was dying for a hot shower, a couple of pegs of whiskey and hot food. I reached Mysore at 8pm and with the bad condition of my bike's headlamp it was not safe to ride till bangalore in the rain. I stopped in Mysore, watched the thrilling India-Pakistan 20-20 cricket matcg and retired for the day. I started at 12:30pm for bangalore and was a pleasant ride in cloudy weather and a trafficless highway. Reached Bangalore at 3pm after an eventful 850kms of riding.
Some other details:
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Erode-Coimbatore-Palakkad
Distance: 407 kms
Casualties: None
The best moment: Sight of the Mettur dam
Things/people to avoid: Cops at the checkposts ....heheheheh
Palakkad-Coimbatore-Mettypalyam-Coonoor-Ooty-Masinagudi-Nanjangud-Mysore-B'lore
Distance: 443 kms
Casualties: A dog
The best moment: Natural beauty of the Nilgiris
Things/people to avoid: Cops at the checkposts ....and No Arguements
The trip photos can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96368053@N00/sets/72157602034024631/
Hope you enjoyed the trip report -:) Comments are welcome :)
I still have to write about my Masinagudi ride, which i undertook last month. I call it "Chasing the Monsoons ride" as it was raining throughout the 270kms from bangalore to Masinagudi.
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| The "Smart", "Sinister" Future Military weapons |
[06 Apr 2007|03:50am] |
After a lot of writeups on wildlife, I felt that i was lagging in the other favorite aspects, namely people & culture, bike rides, Classic bikes and another interest of mine "MILITARY HARDWARE". For the first time I am writing about military hardware. There's heck of information that I can write about military hardware, starting from guns, small automatic weapons, fighter jets, warships etc. This writeup is about some of the weapons that are the "smart", "Sinister" and futuristic weapons which will decide the difference between victory and defeat in the coming years. I will be updating this list as and when I collate more information about them.
So, fasten your seatbelts for some action and destruction that these weapons can unleash both in terms of psychological victory and in the long run..... establishing supremacy, eventhough this term is subjective and is a hot topic for discussion.
All the weapons that are described here are the result of a lot of research, a "lot" of common sense and of course spending huge amounts of money. The list begins as follows:
1) JAVELIN SHOULDER FIRED MISSILE:
Photo Courtesy of the Redstone Arsenal
This is a "Fire and Forget" shoulder fired missile. It has a very high success rate against tanks, armoured carriers and buildings. It's favorite target are the Tanks. The question now arises, why is it so lethal ???
There are quite a lot of reasons for that. The most important thing is tracking down it's target. This weapon reuires a crew of 2 to operate. The first person is the called the "Recon" while the second chap is the "gunner". This is armed with a viewfinder which has Infra-red vision, which means that it can operate in the day as well as the night. It is lightweight, and has a very stable platform considering that it is firing a heavy missile.
The Javelin is made up of 3 parts/components:
a) The imaging grid
b) The software and
c) The sensor
Once the sensor identifies a target chosed by the "recon", it send all the data of the target to the guidance system through a tracker. Once the target is locked and the trigger fired, it unleashes a missile which is lethal and smart. It has a cent per cent success rate against tanks and it's armour and has rarely failed . To destroy a tank by smashing through it's armour needs some special alteration to the ammo and the way it fires it's ammo. All modern tanks have a reactive armor whose mai job is to take counter measures and nullify the "hit". This missile has 2 charges. The first one blows off the reactive armor thus neutralizing any counter measure while the second charge is the main warhead/charge which smashes through the remaining armor. Once this main charge explodes, the temparatures reach 8000 degrees Fahrenheit, which literalyy roasts the metal and the occupants inside.
Another reason of it's high success rate is the less heat signature that it shows up making it difficult for the enemy to pinpoint it's location. This has been achieved by putting 2 motors in the entire firing sequence, the first one's job is to provide a push/propel the missile out of the barrel while the 2nd motor present in the missile kicks in once the missile has left the barrel by some distance and propelling it towards it target. The missile can reach 2500 yards in under 19 seconds and has an internal guidance system which tracks the heat signature of the tank's exhaust and engine and zeroes on it. The crew can fire and change positions within 15 seconds thus making it nearly impossible for the enemy to pinpoint the firing position. All this technology come at a price. Each missile costs $ 40,000.
2) CORNER SHOT ASSAULT RIFLE:
Picture: AP Photo/HO, Cornershot
This assault rifle is the brainchild of a special forces commander in the Israeli army. It has been created after putting in common sense to design it. The Israeli forces have the most experience in Urban, street fighting and close combat warfare, courtesy it's neighbours. In normal circumstances, to shot down someone across the street or around corners, the person has to come in the line of sight and then fire from the M16 assault rifles, but this comes at a price coz you never know the exact position of the enemy. To get a clear shot, around the corners, there are two options, either come in the line of sight or cut the angle around the corner by standing at a slight angle. In both these situations, the other person can take you down because he is able to see your body sillouete.
To overcome this, the barrel of the Corner shot can be swivelled 90 degrees on either side of the rifle with the flick of a switch. Two cameras have been mounted at the front of the barrel. The 1st camera has a fish eye lens which has wider range and depth of field while the second camera is a very high res one. There is a small Plasma screen which projects the images seen by the cameras as a result one can see what is around the corner, without actually coming in the line of sight of the enemy. This rifle can also be used for recon purpose as it gives the user an added advantage to peep through small holes, grills and overhead clearings. The soldier can watch the movements of his/her enemies by being completely out of sight and range of enemy fire.
A provision has been made to attach some add ons to the rifle. One can attach a M16 assault rifle and also a heavy duty 40mm grenade launcher whose fire power can smash through doors and windows.
By applying common sense and a bit of ingenuity, the corner shot has been designed, thus making the soldier stealthy and lethal.
3) PANZER HOWITZER 2000:
Picture: Courtesy of Quistnix/Creative Commons |
The best and most innovative artillery and tank technology comes from Germany. It started with the iconic Panzer tank, the name itself was sufficient for the enemy to shit in the pants. It has come full circle with the merger of the artillery power of a howitzer and the mobilty of the Panzer. The 2 main advantages of this technology are "Greater range" and "Faster firing rate". As the saying goes, "There is more to weapons than the hardware" and the Panzer is a perfect example of that. The entire weight of a single unit is a massive 55 tons and the fire rate is astonishing, 10 rounds per minute upto a range of 25 miles. Thass a heck of a punch....:). Eventhough it is heavy, it is fast and can reach a top speed of 40 mph. The secret of it's speed is the engine which is a massive 18 litre, turbo charged engine churning out 1000HP. That is raw power. It has a 1inch thick armor. The fast firing rate is due to the automated loading system. It carries a crew of only 3 people, the "driver", the "commander" and the "gunner".....i would love to be the gunner....surrounded by the smell of explosive and the loud booming sounds -:). Due to the automated loading system, the gunner can load 60 shells in less that 12 minutes....phew!!! thass fast......heeehhehehe. Each Panzer can easily out fox and out bomb 3 normal howitzers, which are considered as the most modern artillery pieces in the world.
The faster and deadlier effect is also due to a technology mastered by the germans, which is called the "MRSI (Multiple Round Spontaneous Impact)". Using this technology, the Panzer can fire 5 rounds at different angles, as a result of which the target gets bombarded with multiple rounds of artillery fire at a gap of only 1.5 seconds which is Bad bad news for the enemy. Once it has fired it's ammo it takes less than 16 seconds to escape making it impossible for the enemy to keep a track of it's movement. The basic military principle that is applied here is called "Shoot and Scoop".
4) JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER:
Photo by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.
This fighter aircraft is the "BAAP" of all the fighter aircraft. It has the distinction of the first Supersonic Stealthy Fighter jet in the world. This jethas been designed to give pain to the enemy. There has been a family of Stealth aircraft, namely the F17 Nighthawk and the B2 Bomber. The biggest handicap of the stealthy planes have been their slow speeds and they can carry their missions only under the cloak of darkness. In the day, they are sitting ducks for the anti-aircraft artillery pieces and the best example of it was visible during the bosnian operations where one of them was shot down. The JSF has been the built by a consortium of 9 nations with a staggering budget of $ 200 billion. It can reach speeds upto Mach 2 or in lay man's language twice the speed of sound. It has more payload than any other jet today.
There are three versions of the JSF. Namely:
a) VTOL(Vertical Take-Off and Landing) - Designed for the Marine Corps
b) The normal version which takes off from a runway
c) One designed to take off and land from the Aircraft carriers.
It has a very powerful engine which is capable of providing 40,000 pounds of thrust and can make 9G turns at a speed of 1200mph. That is seriously fast -:)
Some technological firsts have been achieved in this plane. There are special Air Intake fans, which act as the turbo-chargers and 3 special nozzles(2 RollOver Nozzles + 1 vectoring nozzle) which provide the stability to the jet. The pilot enjoys a 360 degree clear vision. Apart from this, it has an array of sensors all over it's body surface which continously relay the information to the super computer which is the main nerve centre of the plane. It has several hi-tech cameras(in fact 6 of them) plus the sensors. All the information and visuals are fed into the pilot's visor. The cockpit is voice controlled and the entire displays are touch screen based.
Now for the strike power, It can carry 2000 pounds of smart bombs which are tucked inside the air-frame, as a result the plane is stealthier and has less drag. Apart from this, it can carry another 15000 pounds of extra ammunition to deliver the knock out punch. It is an Air-to-air and air-to-ground superiority fighter jet. It has been planned to induct the JSF into the USAF in the year 2008.
4) SENSOR FUSED WEAPON:
 
This is one of the smartest bombs that has been developed recently and had been shrouded in a cloak of mystery for a long time. This is the smartest carpet bomb of the world today. It is a 1000 pound cluster bomb and is specifically made for one single purpose, "anhilation of tanks and armoured brigade". Each bomb can carpet bomb an area of 360 acres and can destroy 40 tanks at one go. Such complex and smart technology doesn't come cheap, eventhough the real money spent on perfecting this technology is under wraps but each test costs about $10 million. It was finally inducted into the USAF after it's design and technology was rejected for 120 times due to various reasons before it was perfected.
Each weapon is made of 4 canisters, which in turn have 40 small bombs which are called the "SKEETS" and each of these skeets follow the heat signatures from the tanks on the ground. Each canister has a parachute attached to it, which slows down the descent speed. Each Skeet makes a spin/coning motion that results in a circular ground scan pattern. The laser sensor detects changes in height such as the distinctive contour of a vehicle. At the same time, infrared sensors detect heat signatures, such as those emitted by the engine of a target vehicle. Each Skeet makes a spin/coning motion that results in a circular ground scan pattern. The laser sensor detects changes in height such as the distinctive contour of a vehicle. At the same time, infrared sensors detect heat signatures, such as those emitted by the engine of a target vehicle. These skeets in turn are very smart and once released act on their own in tracking, identifying and destroying their targets. Once these skeets are free from the mother bomb, each one of them tries to lock onto one heat signature and once it locks, there's no escape for the target. They literally communicate with each other and no two skeets home into a single target. The other skeet automatically chooses another target and if it doesn't find one, it self-destructs. Each skeet detonates and shoots deadly molten copper at a high speed which simply slice through the metal like a hot knife slicing through butter. Each skeet disables targets using the kinetic energy , not the blast of an explosive charge.
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| A good Indian Wildlife website |
[06 Apr 2007|02:30am] |
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Trust me...am listening to Kumar Gandharv |
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Hey guys,
Check out www.wildlifetimes.com
This site is owned by a very good friend of mine named Jayanth Sharma, alias "Jay", alias "J sah", alias "Gadget Boy"{Thass my terminology -:)}
He is an Avid wildlife photographer and a wildlife lover and has been chasing wild animals and clicking some wonderful pics from the forests, and wildlife sanctuaries of India. Since i am also an avid wildlife "enthu cutlet", i have accompanied on a lot of trips with him. The initial trips were on our beloved Royal Enfields and once he was overloaded with his heavy photographic gear, most of our trips have been in his Gypsy. One of his pic was on the cover page of "Sanctuary Asia" magazine.......eventhough I know another oncoming secret :).....keep checking the site for the updates and the secret to unfold.
We were colleagues in one of the so-called IT companies, but we have been great buddies since then and share a bindaas, "bakkarful" friendship. Since the last couple of months, the hectic timings and the work have slightly robbed us of our thrilling trips, but am sure we will catch up on it.
All I can say to him is "Dost...keep up the good work, and carry on doing the same with the same enthusiasm, energy and patience."
Cheers!!
Ride Far and Ride Often
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| Circuitry, software and Evolution |
[14 Feb 2007|08:22pm] |
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Various life forms have evolved, some became extinct, some became stronger and smarter over the history of life on earth. The most important factor that contributed to the survival of species is the evolution of Brain Power, or in my terminology the software and circuitry (nerve calls and nerve connections). It is evident that a species has to have software to survive apart from the hardware. The Intelligence and brain power has evolved over generations to enable the organisms to survive in the ruthless and competitive world.
Brain Power varies from species to species. Evolution has shaped the amount and complexity of the "stuff" which would ensure that a particular species is able to survive successfully through the rough and tumble of time. It is Strategy which dominates over Strength and Speed.
Let us travel to East Africa to take a look at it. The animal which is in the hot seat are the Chimpanzees.
Even though their primary diet consists of fruits, berries, leaves and twigs, they also have a fondness for meat. They have been spotted on numerous occasions, hunting monkeys and eating them. Their favorite is the Colobus monkey. The colobus monkeys are a very tight knit group which is led by an experienced male. Normally, they hang around in the canopies of high trees and are very fast and agile and seem to disappear from one canopy to another in a flash.
The Chimps know that they don't have the necessary hardware to chase and hunt down Colobus monkeys because evolution has not made them to be hunters. But still they are experts in hunting down the monkeys, the prime reason is the Software, which enables them to formulate a strategy and then go for the kill. Even though, the Colobus may be fast and agile, there is no guarantee that they will not end up on the dinner tables of the chimps. The hunt is led by an experience male chimp, while the others, pool in their help. They split up into small groups of 2-3 individuals and have a fixed set of work to do. Some try to confuse their quarry by shouting and raising a cacophony from the ground, some act as the dummy chasers, some become the herders, while a couple of them don the role of the ambushers, who sound the death knell for the monkeys.
The hunt starts with the lead male sizing up the quarry and tries to pin point the youngest ones in the troop which might be easier to catch. Then the group assigned to be the loud speakers raise a cacophony on the canopy floor thus making the monkeys run helter skelter. Once the monkey troop is on the run, the dummy chasers do their job and by the time they are done, the troop breaks up and the unlucky ones get separated from the safety of the troop. Meanwhile the chasers, try to block all the escape routes and chase/herd the troop in one particular direction, straight into the path of the ambushers, who are waiting to pick up the quarry. Eventhough the chimps are not made for hunting animals, still their kill rate is twice than that of the lions. Strategy, definitely pays off -:)
The Brain Power also varies from species to species depending on the complexity of their lives. In some cases the brain is just made up of few hundred cells and in some cases the brain is completely absent. The reason for the brain size is simple economics. The bigger the brain, the more energy it consumes. In fact the nerve cells consume more energy than the muscles.
There are some species, that are highly successful eventhough they don't have a brain.
A very good example is the Jelly Fish. Their bodies consists of more than 95% of water. In the morning, swarms of Jellyfish rise to the ocean surface to feed on plankton. They don't have any software, but they do possess flawless circuitry, they have a very primitive nerve network where the information is relayed by flashing electrochemical signals. These signals travel upto 80km/hr though the wirings. These signals help them to gather the necessary information they require to survive in the wild.
500 million years ago, a critical change occured in the evolutionary cycle. A few hundred nerve cells ganged up to form the first primitive brain. There are creatures which still follow the same old, time-tested design. One of them is a type of a Flat worm. This species have beaten all odds and have managed to survive amidst the burst of life and the other smart creatures that surround it.
But, mother nature has endowed it with the perfect amount of brain cells for it to survive. It does not require the extra add-ons at all. It is literally blind and feels it's way and hunts for food by zeroing on the chemicals that it's prey leave on their trail. It is a "contact killer" and once it locates it's quarry, which are normally earthworms, it gets in contact with them and the moment it touches it's prey it secretes and oozes a deadly cocktail of chemicals in it's slime, on the earthworm. These chemicals ensure that the earth worm dies a slow, agonising and dissolving death, after which it sips the dissolved matter in the same manner as we suck juice from a bottle using a straw.
There are some other set of species which have a small brain, but which is very specific in it's tasks and the information is sort of hard coded in it's processor. One such species is the Mud Wasp from the deserts of Australia. The female mud wasp builds a nest before it lays it's egg. It makes a small hole in the soft sand and then build a nest which is remarkable. It starts building a tube over the hole to a certain height, once it reaches that particular height it starts buiding the same tube in an arc. It looks more or like the base of a field hockey stick. Once the arc of the is made to a certain length, it builds a flange with a bell shape at the end. It builds the entire nest using sand/mud which it mixes with it's saliva to form a sort of a dough. The lengh of the tube, the angle of the curve of the arc, the dimensions of the flange and bell are precise to the last milimetre. Researchers compared different nests of the Mud wasp in Australia and surprisingly, dimension wise they are almost identical. The best part of the entire nest(apart from the precision measurements), is the Bell opening. The outside of the bell is rough while the interior is very smooth. There is a superb survival logic to the smoothness of the bell. There's another wasp named the Cuckoo Wasp, which is the pirate of the wasp world. It tries to get inside the nest of other wasps and lays it's eggs. To avoid this to happen and prevent the Cuckoo wasp to get a foothold on the opening of it's(Mud Wasp) nest, the Mud Wasp makes the surface smooth, as a result the cuckoo wasp has to look out somewhere else to lay it's clutch. The Mud Wasp's software is hard coded with the exact information that it needs to build the nest, or in other's word, it is a robot when it comes to building it's nest. Eventhough, the concept looks perfect, but it has one major and glaring shortfall. Suppose, the level of sand on the ground increases due to a sand sliding from a sand dune etc while the Mud wasp is still building it's nest, it does not change the design as a result, when the flange and bell are built with the new sand levels coming into the picture, the bell touches the ground. This is the perfect oppurtunity for the Cuckoo wasp, all it needs to do is simply get into the nest with a single hop from the ground without touching the bell. This robotic inflexibilty open the doors of the nest to the enemies.
Another very good example is of the Common Goose. It's brain is hard coded to ensure that it does not loose it's egg from the nest. The Goose's nest is on the ground and often it happens that the egg rolls out of the nest. When the goose find's it out, it's motherly instinct kicks in and it retreives the egg back into the nest. The information of identifying it's egg is again very specific. Anything that is smooth and lying near it's nest is an egg for the resident female. Some researchers tried to find out the concept of the goose identifying the egg. So, they placed different objects like a toy, a light bulb and even a cube outside the nest. The only thing that was common for all the objects, was the smooth surface and everytime the goose retreived the object into it's nest. This is how nature and evolution have hard coded the goose's software "Mama, Anything smooth outside the nest is an egg". This is a very simplified logic for the goose to ensure that it's future generations are not "left out" -:)
In some species, evolution has added another dimension to the brain power. Mother nature has installed a recognising software in the brains of some other species. An Ostrich is the perfect example of this feature. Ostriches lay eggs in mass numbers, I mean to say they use the concept of rookeries to ensure the survival of the next generation. This technique is also termed as "Safety in numbers". Many ostriches lay eggs in one big clutch alongwith the other females. In fact, some ostriches invite others to lay their eggs with their clutch and normally the host takes care of all the eggs. Sometimes, this over enthusiatic approach back fires and the host has more eggs that she can manage. What it does to ensure that her clutch of eggs are safe is quite remarkable, she starts removing the other eggs from her clutch. Eventhough all the eggs look similar to us, the host is able to recognise her eggs by the small dimples that are present on each egg. These dimples are like fingerprints and no egg has the same dimples. The host ostrich, taps the eggs with her beak and feels them with her beak. By doing this she is able to distinguish between her eggs and the neighbours eggs.
The next step of changes is a giant leap in the brain's power. This is where complexity of the brain comes into the picture and the real competition begins. To be truly competitive, the brain has to be flexible and the animals that have this type of software have to add an extra dimension, which we call as the "learning curve". The brain has to be flexible, learn from the changes that happen around and act accordingly. An example of a species which has taken baby steps towards this concept are the Honey Bees. Normally, any living creature slows down when it is in the last stages of it's life, but this is not true for honey bees. The last weeks in the life of a honey bee is the busiest and remarkably this the time when it's brain grow, learns, changes and acts accordingly. In these last 2 weeks of it's life, the honey bee becomes the forager of the colony and is responsible to bring food to the colony. But, the question arises, how does it succeed in doing this when it is aging??
The answer again lies in the software of the honey bee. In fact, the brain expands with age and in these 2 weeks the brain goes into an overdrive and adds 160,000 new brain cells. It has to do this because of the level of complex work that it does as a forager. Once it comes out of it's nest for the first time, there is a confusing and huge variety of flowers that it has to attend to get the nectar for it's colony. It has to know, the timing of the opening and closing of different flowers and nectar producing time of each variety of flowers. Intitially, it is a trial and error for the honey bee, when it is still trying to gather all the information. It uses the sun's ray, the angle and intensity of the ray to find the direction. It is like positioning the brain according to the sun's rays. After a couple of days, the honey bee finds out the exact time and the "time window" available for the opening and closing of the flowers. Once the sun is up and roaring, the brain cells fire and pass the message to the bee about which flower to visit and which one to avoid. The sense of timing is precise to as near as 18 minutes. Truly remarkable!!! Once the bee gets over the trial and error phase, all it needs to do is check the position of the sun and it knows which flowers are open for business. For some of the animals, evolution has created a huge database which can be used to store information and retreive it to use and survive the odds. A very good example are the African Elephants. For these giants, memory is a critical survival tool and for whom long droughts are an occupational hazard. An african elephant can live upto 70 years and for it to survive this long droughts, requires a massive brain and which also acts as a huge database. A herd of elephants is led by an old and experienced female and it is this female's decision in critical situations like in droughts etc, ensure the survival of the entire herd. Elephants have evolved a very hi-tech sensing system which enables them to locate water from great distances. In droughts, when all the nearby water sources have dried up, the matriarch relies on it's database and the spatial memories that it has remembered and stored in the massive brain over it's lifetime to locate water from great distances. All this information is stored in a part of the brain which is called the Hippocampus. Normally, the elephant makes precise co-ordinates of it's earlier journeys to far flung water sources and stores them in it's 45kg brain. When the need arises, the matriarch strarts the ardous long journey to the nearest water source, stopping every few kilometres to check the area and match it with the mental map which is there in it's database. If the match is correct, the elephant keeps going towards the next destination and re-checks again. The African elephants are known to trek hundreds of kilometres to their water sources and they have been doing it successfully for centuries.
The odds of survival also increases where there is "safety in numbers". The species that depend on this strategy are also called as the "Social Animals". The social animals have bigger brain power not because they live togather, but because they have to live with each other. The complexity of relations, hierarchy, co-operation come into the picture and even though it seems pretty easy for us to relate, but for animals it is challenging and there's a very little room for errors between survival and extinction. There are different examples to cite, about social animals, but i'll try to dissect some particular species.
1) Meerkats: These guys live in big, tightly knit communities. Their survival depends heavily on maintaining relations, hierarchy and co-operation. The entire clan takes care and looks after the pups. There is no hard and fast rule in their soceity when it comes to raising the young ones. The entire clan is like a family and this helps the pups to learn a lot of new things as they grow up. They learn how to hunt, animals that they need to avoid etc by watching their elders. Each member takes it's turn to don different roles everyday. Some lead the hunts, some act as sentries and are always on the lookout for enemies. Any alarm by these guys signals danger and everyone dives into their dens. To rapidly change roles is a major challenge in Meerkat society and they have mastered it, courtesy the advanced software that they have which they use to survive the odds.
2) Vampire Bats: The first question that most of us ask would be, "Why are these ghoulish, ruthless, dark and cold characters mentioned here? what's so special about them?" . I think, Roger Moore in one of his bond movies had the answer. he said and I quote "It is the coldness and ruthlessness that keeps me alive".....hehehehhehe. I completly agree to what he said....LOL.
OK....Back to the vampire bat's world.......
The recognising upgrade is at the pinnacle in it's world, apart from the calculating attitude of the vampires. The food of a vampire bat is very specific. It survives only by drinking blood from mammals. It is definitely a high risk way to make a living. It's saliva is loaded with anesthetics. It normally oozes the saliva on the skin of a mammal and then using it's scalpel like teeth makes a small incision. The prey doesn't feel anything, as a result the vampires get a free ride. They drink copious amount of blood in each sitting. It drinks so much blood in one sitting that it can survive without the next meal for two days. But, sometimes when it fails to have it's meal, it shows a remarkable trait. It goes back to the rookery and literally begs from each bat for a sip of blood. Some oblige and some don't. The donor and the recipient know and remember the favors and they return it , when it's friend is in need for a sip. They exactly know, whom to approach and whom to avoid in the time of need.
3) Macaques and Gelada Baboons: Macaques and Geladas are considered the masters of community living. Macaques live in big packs led by an experienced male, called he dominant male, 10-15 females and their progeny. Their society is built on strict pecking order and hierarchy. It is the dominant male that rules and where there are more individuals and prospective competitors, tensions definately flare up very often and they get very ugly. It is a common site to see the scars of the fights on the males. So, to have the upper hand the most important aspect is networking or maintaining good PR with everyone. The brain has taken rapid strides to accomodate this. The part of the brain which is responsible to think and make decisions for heir own advantage is highly developed. The simple act of grooming each other plays a very important role in their society apart from getting rid of the irritative ticks. This is the time to build friendships and alliances. When trouble erupts, it is always good to have friends and allies with you to quash the rebellion -:).
The Gelada packs are much bigger than the macaque troops and to avoid confrontation, the Gelada brain has evolved another big advantage. This is communication. Researchers, doing studies on Geladas in the ethiopian highlands have found many troops, each numbering about 50 individuals assembling in the lush grasslands for foraging. The geladas have evolved vocalizations which help in diffusing the tensions. Fighting is very rare and even if a fight start, it is quickly diffused. The researchers have found that there is a constant cacophony of noises when such big groups assemble at one place. This cacophony is like a constant chatter, where the information flows and is exchanged between different groups. This constant flow of information keeps a tab on the entire groups and each group is able to communicate with the other and avoid confrontation. The bigger the group, the more complex it becomes and grooming is replaced by conversation and gossip -:).
Evolution has fine tuned the brain power to meet the needs of each individual species.
The next refinement of the software is again a major upgrade. This upgrade in our terminology, is the power to contemplate and have the required ammunition to see through the eyes of the others. The power of contemplation and conscious awareness is good in Bottle Nosed Dolphins(I dunno much about the details and how they do it).
The species that is closest to us in this respect are the Apes. Amongst the apes, Chimps are the experts. The chimps have some ability to percieve what the others think and use it to their own advantage(hunting colobus monkeys is a small part of it).
If you think, bribery and politics are part of the human society, you are wrong. The chimps exhibit these traits also. They have been found bribing other members of their group, by passing the food, especially sharing meat(a delicacy) after the hunt. In Chimp society, an individual chimp sharing it's share of meat with others is considered as a political stunt and as a bribery, coz actually it it is making alliances with the other members especially the males. These males might challenge each other for the right to lead the group and of course the sole mating rights to the harem of females. After all, these alliances give you the political strength which really counts to ensure one's rule at the top.
Brain power is ever evolving and is full of twists and turns, enhancing and refining the art of COMMUNICATION which in turn leads to friendships, alliances, courtship and sex, which hold the keys for the future generations.
From all these examples, there is one definite conclusion :
"EVOLUTION ARMS THE ANIMAL WITH THE EXACT AMOUNT OF SOFTWARE THAT IT NEEDS TO SURVIVE SUCCESSFULLY"
Hope you enjoyed the write up. Comments are welcome, criticism double welcome -:)
Cheers!!!
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| Air Warriors |
[26 Jan 2007|04:28am] |
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Judas Priest |
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Birds are one of the superb creations of mother nature. These winged companions can be found everywhere and apart from the visual delight that they offer, they are one of the most successful and efficient seed transporters in the animal kingdom. The birds are again clustered and grouped according to their specialities, there are the seed crunchers, the nectar drinkers, the wood chisellers etc. One of the most fascinating of these groups are the hunters, or in short the "birds of prey". If we finely dissect this category, there are some birds, who have taken hunting to a new level of sophistication, finesse, elegance and deadly precision, for me they are the "AIR WARRIORS".
They are that extra yard or two ahead of the others, courtesy the extra array of senses and refinement that they possess in their own unique way. From the long list of birds of prey, the following eight are my pics who truly belong to this class.
1) Tawny Eagle
2) African Fishing Eagle
3) Goshawk
4) Harpy Eagle
5) Peregrine Falcon
6) Spotted Owl
7) Kestrel and last but not the least
8) The Golden Eagle
Without wasting any more words, let us try to understand the factors that make these guys stand out in the crowd, one-by-one.
TAWNY EAGLE:
The Tawny Eagle is an opportunistic killer or to put it in my words, it is the pirate of the eagle world. It prefers to hang around the marshes and lakes in sub-saharan africa and in India always looking for a chance to snatch the quarry of others. In sub-saharan africa, it's competitiors are surprisingly not any other bird or a big carnivore but the Black back Jackal and the mud terrapin. Normally, it feeds on carrion and occasionaly would not mind spending a little more energy and hunt down birds that visit the lake shores and small mammals.
It has a smaller and sleeker body outline than it's cousins as a result of which it is very agile, flexible and highly manouverable. After all you need the manouverabilty to dive, snatch and escape quickly even before your competitors get a chance to react. It is also a ferocious fighter and takes some effort for it's competitors to snatch its quarry. Since it is not a fussy eater and can adapt itself to it's surroundings, it is thriving in the wild and there is no immediate danger of it becoming an endangered species.
AFRICAN FISHING EAGLE:
The African Fishing eagle is a specialist. Nature has made some minor changes and tweaks to this eagle making it one of the finest and graceful fish catcher. As their name suggests, they are natives of africa. It can be seen perched on the branches and zeroing in on it's prey(fish), which are very fast and slippery. Spotting a fish by sitting on a branch a few hundred feet away from it with the sun beating down on the water surface, making the surface glitter and shine is very difficult business. But the fishing eagle has something special in it's arsenal. The positioning of the eyes is different vis-a-vis the other eagles, it's eyes are positioned slightly forward for better depth of field. It has a 180% field of vision and most of it is sharp. It's eyes have been fine tuned to cut out the glare from the reflecting water and also it is able to calculate the exact distance and the depth of it's prey from the surface considering the fact that it is looking through two mediums and the refractive index comes into the picture. Apart from the specialised eyes, it has a bony eye brow which acts somewhat like a baseball cap which helps in shielding the retina from reflection. Once it has spotted it's prey, it literally scoops the fish from the water. If the fish is too heavy to allow it to get lift, it drags it along the surface of the water to the shore and if the fish is heavier than that, then it drops the quarry thus avoiding the risk of buckling under the weight of it's food. The underside of it's talons have small spikes which mimimize the chance of loosing the prey due to slippage. The feathers at the wingtips are water proof, as a result it nullifies the extra bit of weight caused by the water which can make it unsuccesful in getting the desired lift once it has scooped the fish from water.
GOSHAWK:
The Goshawk's biggest strength is it's doggedness and the tenacity with which it pursues and hunts it's prey. It is very rare for it's prey to escape because it would fight till the end and never gives up chasing it's quarry. It is not as powerful as it's bigger cousins and most of the time, it starts tearing the feathers and disembowels it's victims even when they are alive. It normally lives in the forests and hunts on the edges of the forests. Birds are it's favorite food and it normally attacks when the bird is taking off on it's flight. The sole intention of this chap is to prevent the bird from flying away and everytime the prey tries to gain speed and lift to fly away the goshawk jabs it from the top thus preventing it's prey to fly away. It literally tires it's prey and forces it to stay on the ground and once the prey is tired completely, it pounces on it. Once it has targeted its food, normally one bird in a flock, it doggedly pursues it to it's death. It has short broad wings and a long tail which is rounded rather than being straight, both these designs are perfectly adapted for manoeuvring through trees. In order to avoid the feathers and the beating wings getting in it's way, it has third eyelid which closes horizontally, thus preventing any injury to it's eyes while pursuing it's favorite food, the birds. This chap sets a target of one bird everyday increasing it's efficiency manifold and most of the time it is successful hunting it's food to take care of it's daily requirements.
HARPY EAGLE:
 This guy is the big daddy amongst the air warriors. This chap is big and powerful. It tips the scales at 9 Kilos and has a big wingspan of about 2 metres, one of the biggest in the animal world. It's favorite hangout place are the brazillian rainforests where it towers above all the birds and the sheer size can scare the life from it's prey. Tree-dwelling mammals such as monkeys, coatis, opossums and sloths are on it's menu. It even has been found attacking researchers who venture close to it's nest and chicks. The Howler monkeys and the Spider monkey are it's favorite food. It uses it's sheer bodyweight to great extent while delivering the blow which knocks the winds out of it's prey. Hunting and catching monkeys is again a tricky business. It makes a dummy run at it's prey scuttling them and scurrying them for cover. In the melee, the unlucky ones get separated from the troop and become sitting ducks for the harpy. It picks them up from the tree tops by swooping and crashing into them. The sheer impact is equivalent to a car hitting a man at 60km/hr, which disorients the prey. To avoid any loss in the lift after hitting a stationery or slightly moving target, it's tail is broader and at the impact it spreads it to give maximum lift. The prey normally dies immediately after it has clasped it, as it's rear talon which the size of a middle finger of an average human being, punctures the skull and pierces the brain giving instant death and the dinner is served -:). The legs of this heavyweight are as thick as a man's wrist as a result of which it grapples bigger prey with ease. Strength is another aspect which adds the punch to this chap. It is able to lift more than 3/4 of its bodyweight and it's grip can exert a pressure of 42 kgf cm² . The Harpy is definitely big, powerful, efficient and a nightmare for the monkeys and sloths of the brazillian rain forests.
PEREGRINE FALCON:
 The peregrine falcon is built by nature for only one thing, SPEED. This is the dive bomber of the animal world. It has the distinction of being the fastest creature that nature can create on planet earth, the cheetah may be fast at 110km/hr but, hold on to your breadth when you know this guy's speed. It is more than thrice the speed of the cheetah, it clocks an average of 300+km/hr in a dive, the fastest that has been recorded is 390km/hr. This speed is more than the landing speed of NASA space shuttles. This bird is seriously fast, and furious.
The chase starts almost a mile in the air, which it initially climbs and is on the lookout for prey. Once it has the prey locked in it's cross hairs, the chase begins. It starts getting into a dive and starts accelerating. After a short while, it tucks it's wings close to it's body to reduce drag. This shape is one of the most aerodynamic shapes in nature and a wind tunnel engineer's envy. The top speeds are attained once it becomes a missile and hurtles towards it's unsuspecting prey. They prey does not have the faintest idea that it is going to land up in it's plate because of the speed at which it crashes into the prey and also it attacks it's prey in an arched flightpath. The reason of the arched path is that it is able to see best at a 40 degree angle, so it stays in the arch for better visibility. It's body is built specifically for speed, it is light, small, has a short wing span with narrow tips to reduce drag and a tapering tail which forms as the stabilizer guiding the wind uniformly and through a narrow channel. It dives into either wing of its prey, so as not to harm itself on impact and delivers the blow with it's talons. It feeds almost exclusively on birds, such as doves, waterfowl and songbirds, but occasionally it hunts small mammals, including bats, rats, voles and rabbits. The air pressure from the Peregrine's bullet-like attack plunge might burst an ordinary bird’s lungs. But, nature has added a twist to it and has blessed it with a series of baffles in it's nostrils which slow the wind velocity, enabling the bird to breathe while diving.
No wonder, this marvel of nature has been copied to make some of the fastest jets in the world. The feature of the Perigrine's nostrils, once its use was found, is mimicked in fighter jets. To add another feather to it's cap, the Suzuki super-sport motorcycle, Hayabusa, is named after the Japanese word for the Perigrine Falcon as a salute to the fastest creature on the planet earth.
SPOTTED OWL:
After speed and strength, comes stealth and the spotted owl is the master in it. Packed with an array of high-tech sensors and finer refinements to reduce the radar signature(exact words for me to express) it strikes silently and efficiently, time after time. It simply pops up from no-where and is too late for it's prey to notice and react. To achieve this element of surprise, you need to have special gadgetry -:).
It is a nocturnal predator and bides away most of it's daytime dreaming, resting and planning for the next meal, literally dinner for it as it hunts in the night. Since it is a nocturnal predator, it's eyes have been specially designed for the dark. The eyes of organisms are made up of rods and cones which are the photoreceptors and are responsible for vision. Cones are adapted to detect colors, and function well in bright light; rods are more sensitive, but do not detect color well, being adapted for low light. The eyes of this guy are packed with rods and it's eyes are so sensitive that it can spot a single LED from a mile away. This also means that eventhough the prey doesn't have a clue of it's presence, but the owl is seeing it's next meal clearly and brightly. The eyes are so big that they occupy almost half their head, It has a 110 degrees field of vision out of which 70 degrees is sharp. It's neck vertebrae are again special, which allow it to turn it's head 270 degrees. The face is also specialised, in the sense that it is like a radar whcih funnels the sounds into a narrower channel enabling it to pinpoint it's prey more efficiently. This is not the end yet, it has a super sharp sense of hearing. The positioning of the ears is also different, the right ear is bigger and is placed slightly higher than the left ear. Every time the prey moves, it also moves it's head to re-calculate the exact position. Even if it chooses to hunt with it's eyes closed, it can do it easily by just following the sound of it's prey. All this sound hitting the ears at different height and at a slight delay/lag, enables it to calculate the exact distance of it's prey. Humans can hear upto 8500Hz, while this master can hear sounds of frequencies upto 20,000Hz. The sight and sound refinements are fine tuned enough to catch the smartest mice and rats that form a major bulk of it's diet. Apart from this specializations, it's wings are again specially designed. The wings are made of soft feathers and velvetty tufts which act as sound mufflers, thus enabling it to fly without making any noise.
When you can see, what others can't, and calculate the distance by hearing the sound made by your prey, you'll always be a step ahead of your meal and will always ensure a higher kill rate. To add to all these super sensors, if your approach is steathy then I doubt why you can't be one of the best hunters of the animal kingdom. For all these reasons, the Spotted Owl is my Favorite.
KESTREL:
The Kestrel is dubbed as the "Helicopter" of the Air Warriors. Considering it's bigger size, it has mastered the art of hovering over it's prey. Its favorite food are voles which are again tricky customers, as they are very sensitive to their surroundings. To flummox them, mother nature has armed the kestrel with UV reflected light seeing capability, which is unique amongst the air warriors. It's vision has been so fine tuned that it tracks the voles using UV reflected light from the voles urine. The voles are constantly on the move, marking their territories with their urine and this is what this chap uses to hunt them down. It hovers over a particular area looking for the UV reflected light which act as the beacons guiding it to it's prey. Once the quarry is located and locked, it dives down and delivers the death blow using it's strong beak. Hovering over a prey consumes 10 times more energy than hunting in normal flight, but this also enables it to hunt more voles. Usually, it has a target of 20 moles per day, when it is feeding it's hungry chicks and 20 moles is quite a lot, but somehow it manages to catch the numbers almost on a regular basis. The kestrel requires a slight headwind in order to hover, which also gives them a local name "Wind Hover". In order to acquire the special art of hovering, you definitely need special feathers and wings. It has special feathers, just in front of the wings, which look like small notches, helping it to stay at one place while flapping it's wings and providing the desired lift to make it "float" in the air.
The famous Sea Harrier, a VTOL fighter aircraft is the product of refinement of the Kestrel test aircrafts. The name Kestrel was choosen after one of the design team engineer, spotted a kestrel on his farm.
GOLDEN EAGLE:
 The Golden Eagle is the last in the list of the Air Warriors. It is known for combining power with agility in flight. It's prey includes marmots, hares and mice, and sometimes birds, martens, foxes and young deer. It is fearless, and has been found attacking larger mammals. It can kill prey as big as 30-35 kilos and this trait of the golden eagle has been further fine tuned in Central Asia where they are trained to hunt deer and antelopes.
It is the king of Unpowered flight. It uses the thermal currents near cliffs and mountains to it's advantage. It uses them to soar heights upto 3kms and can spot a prey from that height. It glides effortlessly over the thermals and has been clocked at speeds of 125km/hr on a regular basis. It achieves these speeds without flapping it's wings at all, which is why it is the king of Unpowered flight. It's territory is huge, roughly the same area of about 30,000 soccer pitches. It's wings are perfectly designed for gliding, the wingspan is around 2 metres which provides the maximum lift. The wings have slotted tips which reduce the air turbulence over it's wings and fingered tips which act as an aerofoil while in flight. Once the prey is located, it rapidly climbs down and chases the quarry. It's favorite food are Hares and rabbits. These are smart prey, they tend to run towards a higher altitude once they spot the danger and suddenly change directions. Sometimes, this sudden change in direction stops them from being killed as the eagle which is right behind it, is unable to switch direction so quickly and the wind turbulence acts as brakes forcing the bird to abandon it's prey. This rarely happens because, this chap doesn't allow it's prey the distance required to run to a higher ground. This involves pretty complex calculations of judging the distance between the prey and the higher ground, the speed of attack and the distance between it and the prey, most of the time it gets the math correct as a result has a very high kill rate. Once the prey is captured, it's strong talons puncture the victim's lungs and by the time the eagle reaches the nearest branch to eat peacefully, the victim dies of lack of oxygen.
I hope you liked the writeup. Please feel free to add your comments.
Cheers!!!
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| Traditional Games |
[19 Dec 2006|01:30am] |
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It's been a long time since i've written anything about people and culture. Maybe the wildlife bug stuck for a longer while. But, i'd definitely admit that i love gathering and sharing knowledge about wildlife, people and culture. The default stuff being my ride stories, have to update this section pretty soon but i guess the project deadlines and the clients take such a heavy toll during the weekdays that i prefer to sleep or spend time in the kitchen, cooking all the unconventional and exotic dishes on the weekends.
One of these unconvenional dishes being mutton curry, marinated in THUMS UP, Lime juice and a dash of the bamboo shoot pickle........hehehehe try it, i bet you'll love the tangy mutton curry, which simply melts in the mouth and also gives your tummy a easy job of digesting it.....LOL....yea yea...agreed am lazy, but anyday, who would not like to take a break of doing the same routine and monotonous job.
Anyways, after gathering some stuff on the traditional games that people all around the world play, it's time to share it. I spent close to 2 months trying to gather this stuff, from books(check out the british musuem in B'lore, it has some good stuff about people and culture), from my dust infested notes and the snippets that i collect from all the sources, i have made a list of some traditional games that people all over the world play, eventhough very few people actually know about it.
The list is:
1) Kallaripayatte - Kerala(India)- No explanation is needed as most of us know about it.
2) Oware - (Possibly originating in Africa)- This is the oldest board game that is payed by a large audience today. This game dates back to atleast 7000 years back. The specimens that have been found are wide ranging, which means it was a very famous game in the olden times. The name of this game has ben given the Akan people of Ghana. The design of the game has been found in the Nile valley, Syria, Atens and in the rock ledges along the caravan routes of ancient world. An Urn painting(authenticity is questioned)of Ajax and Achilles playing Owara during the battle of Troy has also been found. It is a PIT and PEBBLE game which was spread far and wide from Africa, as a result there are about 300 different versions of this game today, stretching from Africa to Far East and even to South America. There are three major types of this game, distinguished by the number of rows on the board. Two row boards are the most popular of which Oware is an example. These games can have a varying number of pits along the board from 5 to 14, but the 6 pit long board is the most common, played predominantly in West Africa and the Caribbean.It is believed that this game originated from Ghana, where the kings and nobles used to play it. It is not just a game where 2-3 people play, but literally all the people who are watching are playing it, by giving advice and doing bakkar(thass..my terminology...hehehehe).
3) Xavante - Brazillian Rainforests - There are no records whatsoever about the origin of this date. It has been played by the tribals of the brazillian rain forests since time immemorial. The name also comes from the tribe which play this game on a regular basis and which was accidently discovered by a french researcher who was actually doing reseach on the flora of this particular patch of the brazillian rain forest. It is a raw form of the relay races that we see today, but with the entire village participating in it. The baton is a carved trunk of a "BURITI" palm which weighs about 80-90 kilos and the runners take turns in carrying it over their backs and running long distances. Whenever one runner gets tired, the trunk is taken over by another runner and the race continues. The rivalry is between two different village teams and the winners take back the Buriti palm and a wild boar as the prize.The Xavante tribals are reputed to be excellent runners and are said to catch game(the prey) on foot. Amazing!!! isn't it ???
4) Capoeira - It is a Brazillian martial art which is gaining popularity worldwide, especially in south America. It is believed that, it was first practised by the Nigerian tribes, and the fighting was accompanied with music. Participants form a "RODA" and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the centre of the circle. The game is acrobatic andd comprises of feints, kicks, sweeps and headbutts. There are two forms of Capoeira called the capoeira regional and capoeira Angola . Capoeira does not focus on injuring the opponent. Rather, it emphasizes skill. The word Jinga which most of us are familiar with the way the Brazillians play football is coined from the Capoeira dictionary of words. Capoeira Angola is considered the basic and the oldest form of Capoeira while the Regional is more savvy and is more fast in terms of the movements and the music.
5) Yagli Gures - Alapli(Turkey) - It is also called as Oil Wrestling and is the national sport of Turkey. Here the wrestlers wear Kisbet which is mainly a type of trunks made from leather, soak themselves in Oil olive and wrestle with opponents. The aim is to control the other opponent by putting his arm through the latter's kisbet and make him fall on the ground. The sport of oil wrestling dates back to 2650 BC in Egypt and Assyria. Matches are held all over Turkey throughout the year, but in early summer the wrestlers gather in Kirkpinar for the annual wrestling tournament to determine who will be the baspehlivan (chief hero) of Turkey. As per the records, this competition is the world's oldest continually sanctioned sporting competition.
6) Zurkhane - Isfahan(Iran) - The name also means house of strength or force. It is a covered structure except for a single opening on the top, at the centre of the structure, there is a circular or an octagonal pit, sunken in the floor. The main event, takes place in this pit directly below the audience level. The main floor is divided into smaller sections for the audience, pahlawans(wrestlers) and the musicians. The musicians entertain the crowd before the show begins. There is also a small structure which is used by the person who recites poetry. He is also called as the murshed or the murabbi. There is a bell near him and a brazier near his feet. The former is for informing the audience of the arrival of prominent guests to the gathering, the latter is for heating his drum, as well as for preparing a cinnamon and cardamom flavored hot drink served to the champions after the completion of the exercises. The zurkhaneh has a little known but fascinating history. During the fall of the Persian Empire to the armies of Islam, Iranian athletes and warriors alike, lost their ability to perform their traditional sports in the open. Neither did they want to abandon their cherished traditions which were fundamental for keeping their minds and bodies sound and healthy. Consequently, Iranian athletes decided to gather in private homes and carry on their normal routine there. Later on they moved into the type of covered structure that we recognize now as the zurkhaneh. Two types of zurkhaneh emerged: those that followed the traditions and rituals of the Sufi orders and those that followed the manners of the national champions of ancient Iran. Every move in these zurkhanehs begins with praise of the Prophet and his family. The ethics of the religiously-oriented zurkhaneh, too, follow the ethics of the Sufi orders, to wit, the champion must be pure at heart; upon entering the pit, he must bend and ritually kiss the floor of the pit, and the like. During the exercises, eating, drinking, smoking, talking, and laughter are forbidden. Individuals who wish to enter the pit must have the murshed's permission (rukhsat). The murshed, if he approves, indicates his approval by saying "permission granted" (fursat). Membership at the zurkhaneh is by rank. The lowest rank is that of the nowcheh. This is an individual who is being trained by a designated champion. The next higher rank belongs to the nowkhasteh. This is a nowcheh who has made a substantial degree of progress under a designated champion. The third rank belongs to the palavan or tested champion. The leader of the champions is pahlavan-i pahlavanan (champion of champions). It is he who organizes the schedule for the exercises. As mentioned. the zurkhaneh also has a coach who is variously referred to as davar or murabbi. The rhythm for the exercises is set by the poetry recited by the murshed, as well as by the beat of the murshed's drum.The ethics of the zurkhaneh are based on manliness and bravery. Much of it, as it was mentioned earlier, is related to Shi'ite Islam, Sufic orders, and Iranian nationalism. The rules of the zurkhaneh forbid employment of any tricks that might belittle an opponent or humiliate him before the audience.
7) Traditional Archery - Shillong(Meghalaya) - According to local people, the game is running for the last 100 years though nobody knows exactly when it has started. The archery competition happens everyday where the local archers assemble in a small field surrounded by ticket selling booths and small shops selling booze. Before the competition starts, it is a custom to shoot 3 arrows at the target. The three arrows represent the child, Clan and the state. The archers then start shooting where they shoot more than thousand arrows in the next 5-10 minutes. The officials then count the number of arrows that hit the target. The last two numbers after counting is the winning lottery number. Information is then passed across Meghalaya. The calculation for picking the winner is simple, If 942 arrows are in the target it means that 42 is the winning number. The Meghalaya Government legalized the archery lottery game in 1982.
8) Ulama - Los Lamitos (Mexico) - This is the oldest team sport that was played and is traced back to more than 3000 years. The name of this game comes from the word ullamaliztli . The name is a combination of two words: ullama, which means the playing of a game with a ball, and ulli, rubber. It was probably played by the Incas, Maya and the older civilizations, the traces of which have been found by Archaeologists with the discoveries of hundreds of ball courts and rubber balls dated as far as 1500 BC. The game is said to have mythical and religious significance. According to the Popol Vuh, the Maya Hero Twins were summoned to Xibalba, the Maya underworld, where they won a game against the lords of death and resurrected their father and uncle who became the maize god. The modern form of Ulama is still played in pockets of Mexico. The game has three main forms, the most prominent being played wih the hip. The object of the game is to keep the ball in play and in bounds. Depending on the score – and the local variant of the rules – the ball is played either high or low. The essential garment for these hip players consisted of a loincloth, leather hipguards, and wide leather bands around the buttocks. The team that first scores eight points wins.
9) Buzkashi - Afghanistan - Lot of us know about this game, courtesy National Geographic channel. For people who don't know, please check the following link:
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/buzkashi.html
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| The Kings of Sunderbans |
[14 Dec 2006|02:22pm] |
The Royal Bengal Tiger is the 2nd largest cat(Siberian Tiger is the largest)The Royal Bengal Tiger is one of the most beautiful and royal animal. An average male weighs about 220-260kgs and can grow to 10 feet from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. It is one of the most elusive of the big cats. The estimated numbers of these royal beasts are in between 4000-4500.
It is a highly adaptable cat capable of living in diverse habitats. But it's favorite haunt are the mangroves of the Sunderbans. There are about 350 of them in the Sunderbans. These mangroves are the perfect place for them as they seem to appear and disappear whenever and wherever they wish.
It's favorite prey is the sambar, even though it doesn't mind hunting wild pigs,deer, birds and even snakes.The tigers of the sunderbans don't mind a change in their diet by killing humans. But "Man Eaters" are rare, most of these man eaters are either too old to hunt game or are seriously injured to risk another injury. There's also a theory for them becoming man eaters, the locals say that a lot of times, the dead are cremated partially and the remaing corpse is thrown into the river and quite a lot of these bodies paas through the rivers that dump themselves in the Bay of Bengal, so they get to taste human flesh quite often and have developed a taste for it. Jim Corbett, states that no more than three out of one thousand tigers were Man eaters.
There have been 3 major killing phenomenon that had sent shivers to the people residing in these parts in 2003 and 2004, which has belied the fact(am still doing some R&D on this) that only Old and Injured cats are man-eaters.
1st Instance: A fisherman was sitting on the bow of his boat in the night and the middle of the river, he was ambushed, dragged and killed. This means that he was stalked for hours by the big cat. It swam to the middle of the river, unnoticed(for a 10feet creature), jumped atleast 4-5 feet from the water, grabbed a fully grown person and vanished.
2nd Instance: A honey collecter was attacked only a few feet away from his companions and the only sound that they could hear was a "aah" and they only saw a flash of orange disappear into the forest. The person's body was never found. This shows the power and stealth of this mighty predator.
3rd(the most interesting and chilling): A girl was attacked and killed, right in front of her house, in front of the other members of the family. The family came to know that their daughter was dead, only after some time. In the morning, the family found out that their goat was also missing.. The interesting thing here is that, the goat was tethered just 6-7 feet before the point, where the girl was sitting. No-one heard that the tiger had attacked. The reason, was that the tiger had swam through the marsh, crept on to the bund and once on the bund, made a single leap(about 15-17feet) and landed on the girl. Since it simply flew over the goat and landed on the girl, there was no way anyone would have known that anything had happened. Or maybe the goat was scared like s**t. Another interesting fact was that the tiger returned later in that night and took away the goat, this time also there was no noise at all.
Pretty amazing!!!! considering that a 10 feet, 300 pounds big creature was involved in all these attacks.
The people who live around Sunderbans are heavily dependant on the mangroves for their daily living. They get wood and honey from the forest, which they sell in the markets to make both ends meet. Most of the fisherman are very poor to afford boats, so they have mastered another age old and basic technique to catch fish, which makes the fishermen very vulnerable to attack. Imagine, being stuck in thigh deep slush, trying to catch fish with small nets and a tiger jumps into the river anticipating a quick snack. The Royal Bengals are the Champions in swimming. In most of the cases, the tigers kill humans who have ventured in the mangrove forests. Since tigers are hunters based on vulnerability and are ambush predators, they attack the last person in line traveling amongst the group. It is standard practice now for the person last in line to wear a mask with bold eyes wide-open staring backwards to ward off the risk of any attack. This reduces the tiger's ability to stalk the men because it appears is if the human is looking in both directions.
Conservation and efforts are being made to protect the Bengal Tiger by the WPSI (The Wildlife Protection Society of India). "Project Tiger" is also an ambitious plan to save this king of the jungle. It includes Corbett National Park, where there are over 100 Bengal Tigers. Tiger conservation programs are in place in Ranthambore National Park, and Kanha National Park in India.
The local people also are very keen to save this beautiful animal. According to them, everything in the Sunderbans revolves around these tigers and harming them would be harming the eco-system, on which they are heavily dependant for their day to day survival. The tigers are also worshipped because they represent power and strength. Lord Shiva, for one, is often shown wearing a tiger skin. Goddess Durga rides a tiger into battle, symbolizing her ability to defeat demons that no one else can vanquish. The bottomline is that the "TIGER is their Guardian and Killer".
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| Blackbucks |
[14 Dec 2006|01:37pm] |
The Indian Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), is one of the three species of antelopes found in Orissa. The other two are Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and the Chowsingha (Tetracercus quadricornis). All the three are even-towed (Artiodactyla) Bovids. Blackbuck is considered to be the fastest animal in the world next to Cheetah. There is a fast decline in the population of Blackbucks throughout the country due to poaching and habitat loss. In the recent past, this endemic animal was most numerous, commonly seen as a large wild mammal in the Indian subcontinent. Subsequently within a short span of time this animal has suffered much reduction in numbers.
DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS
In India the species is wide spread in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu and other areas throughout peninsular India. In 1982, the estimated population in India was between 22,500 to 24,500. According to 1993 estimation, the population of Blackbuck in India was between 10,000 and are stable or increasing.
Present distribution in Orissa:
The Balipadar-Bhetnoi area comprising of about 70 villages of Buguda, Aska and Kodala Forest Ranges in Ganjam District. The Blackbucks of Balipadar-Bhetnoi area are protected religiously by the local society. The belief that the presence of Blackbuck in the paddy fields brings prosperity to the local villager has contributed greatly to the conservation of this species. The villagers do not kill the animal even if it strays into the fields and grazes their crop.
The Blackbucks of Balipadar-Bhetnoi areas are protected socio-religiously by the local people for several generations. As the story goes more than a century ago, there had a long spell of drought in the locality. During this period, a small group of Blackbuck appeared in the area and then there was rain and the drought spell was broken. Since then people had started rigidly protecting these animals as they feel that their fate is linked with these Blackbuck. During 1918, a Britisher known as "Green saheb" and the 'Sardar' of the locality Sri Madeshi Chandramani Dora took initiative for protection of this species and published a notification in the Oriya news paper "Prajamitra" prohibiting killing of the Blackbuck.
The Forest Department conducted a census of Blackbucks on 14.5.1973 in the Balipadar- Bhetnoi area. Subsequently, the census was conducted in the year 1980, 1998 and 2004 in the same area. In order to ascertain the population, the survey area is divided into small segments and enumerators in each segment make total count of the animals from direct sighting.
Results of 2004-census indicate that, there is 42% increase in the Blackbuck population over the last count (1998census), and out of three Forest Ranges, namely Buguda, Aska and Khallikote, Buguda Range alone holds 56% of the Blackbuck population at present.
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| Rhino Conservation in India |
[14 Dec 2006|01:35pm] |
One of the most powerful animal on the planet, the Rhino is a very good example of power, grace and stubborness. Their ancestory traces back to some 50 million years and their design has not undergone any major change since then. They have managed to beat all odds and have survived till date, only to be hunted down for their horns by mankind to near extinction.
But, they are bouncing back in the wild with support from a number of organizations, International Rhino foundation(IRF) being the largest and the most active amongst all the others.
There are 5 species of Rhinos in the wild today, namely:
1. Black Rhino
2. White Rhino
3. Indian Rhino
4. Javan Rhino, and
5. Sumatran Rhino
The Javan Rhino, with a population of just 70-80 individuals is the most endangered of all. The most abundant is the White Rhino, with a population of around 11,500 individuals. The Indian Rhino is exclusively found in India and Nepal, while most of these powerhouses are found in the Kaziranga Natonal Park. There are about 2500 Rhinos in this National park.
The Indian Rhino is different from it's African counterparts. They have a single horn and are brownish-gray in color. Their skin also seems to hang from their bodies as if they are wearing armor plates. An adult Male Rhino can weigh more than 2 tons while the female is smaller in size and weight which is contrary to the other two asian cousins, where both the male and female are roughly the same size.The habitat of the indian rhinos are the riverine grasslands and the floodplains caused by the mighty Brahmaputra and it's tributaries. The males are usually solitary and then, there are the cow-calf pairs.
They are not territorial and with the ranges overlapping with other male territories.
The conservation in India is considered a great achievement and success. When the conservation of this gentle giant started, there were about 180 of them left in the wild. The main reason for their decline is for their horns, which are in great demand in China and other south east asian countries, and people believe that it has medicinal powers, which is not true. It is the same protein(keratin) that our fingers are made of. A kilogram of powdered Rhino horn costs about $45000 to $50000 in some of the eastern markets of Asia. Even after so much of protection provided by the Indian and the Nepalese Government, the poaching still continues. The other reasons being the loss of alluvial plain grasslands(Terai) for agricultural usage to feed the burgeoning population and loss of the calves to the predatory tigers of the park. A number of Rhino calves are hunted by the tigers.
The IRF is trying to conserve and increase the population of the Indian Rhino outside Assam, by transporting some of the rhinos to other National parks in India, where they once occurred. It has also come up with a program named "Indian Rhino Vision 2020" to help conserve and increase the population of this endangered species.
With all the conservation efforts from the IRF, Indian and Nepal Government, we hope to see this powerful and gentle giant roam again in the forests of India.
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| Ghost In the Darkness |
[14 Dec 2006|11:32am] |
There is a lot of enthusiasm, concern and passion for the conservation of the TIGER, LEOPARD, RHINO etc. I think they get all the conservation efforts and the money that the government and the NGO's can provide, maybe just because they are big or maybe just because they have been famous.
There are a lot many other species in India which are at a greater risk of extinction than the Tiger or leopard or a Rhino. The animals are classified as:
1) Low Risk Categories.
a) Least Concern - Widespread and Abundant species
b) Near Threatened - Might be a threatened in the near future
c) Conservation Dependant - The species belonging to this category need habitat-specific conservation or else, they might end up in the threatened category list within a period of 5 years.
2) Threatened Categories.
a) Vulnerable - Species facing a High risk of extinction in the wild.
b) Endangered - Species facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
c) Criticaly Endangered - Species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
3) Other Categories.
a) Extinct in the wild - Species which are only found in cultivation and in captivity.
b) Data Deficient - Very less/no concrete data to make an estimation
c) Not Evaluated - Not yet evaluated to fit in any criteria.
d) Extinct - Thought that the last individual of that species has died.
This classification and tabulation is called as the World Conservation Union(IUCN) Red List Categories.
Sometimes, it has happened that a species considered extinct has been spotted again in the wild, such species are called as the LAZARUS Species
The Malabar Civet belongs to the Critically Endangered category of this list, which puts it at a higher possibilty for extinction than the famous Big cat. It was very common along the western ghats of Karnataka and Kerala. It is also called as the Malabar Large-spotted Civet. It has been very rarely photographed and in fact the IUCN goes on record to say that it has never been photographed. It has been hunted down to near extinction for the secretions from it's anal glands, and also due to loss of habitat, courtesy the hacking of the forests to give way for plantations like tea, coffee, cashew and pepper. This secretion is used in Oriental medicines and also for flavoring the beedis.
It has a black dorsal crest extending from it's neck to the tip of the tail. It is nocturnal and prefers to spend the rest of it's day in the scrub forests or in the plantations. It feeds(possibly) on small mammals, reptiles, amphibians etc.
The length of my writeup indicates how much less is known about this animal. Very very less is known about the rest of it's anatomy, it's behaviour etc. There are no estimates either on the number of individuals that are surviving in the wild.
Even though Mr.Tiger hogs the limelight, there are some species like the Malabar Civet which are slowly slipping into that dreaded Extinct category.
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| Bali Yatra: Pride of Dussehra in Orissa |
[18 Oct 2006|05:58pm] |
This is one of the articles that i was planning to write since the last couple of months,
Here it is, Hope you'll like it.
The Bali Yatra(Festival of sacrifice) begins at Sonepur(near Balangir in Orissa) on the auspicious day of Mahalaya. It is a 15 day affair that ended on 7th October(the full moon day). As i had mentioned in my earlier article, in Orissa, animal sacrifice is common to appease the deity on Vijaya Dashmi. The important places where this ritual is prevalent are:
1) Patkhanda Yatra at Jarasingha near Balangir and
2) Chhatar Yatra at Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district.
I am counting only these two places, as there is some media coverage(atleast in Orissa), while there are many other places where media coverage is absent. I had been to these two places while i was in college and have vivid memories about them.
The interesting fact about Bali Yatra (actually, it is JATRA and not YATRA as mentioned in Oriya scriptures) is that it is known for practising Patanjali's Astanga Yoga. This Yatra is different in the sense that it makes sacrifice of evil emotions like anger, pride and ego. The animal sacrifice still continues, but in a very hush hush tone. The yatra centres around the ASTA CHANDI temples of the town and is a blend of music, literature, dance, yantra, mantra, tantra and yoga. In fact, you will see the original "BADIPALA" at this place. Badipala is an art of story telling with 2 central characters and a sidekick with the mrudungo(type of a drum related closely to the mrudangam) and a harmonium, sometimes a couple of other local musical instruments are also used. The two central characters tell the story using hymns, and poetry. The job of the side kick is to add the special effects, like asking the central characters "oh really", "accha", "what happened next" etc, basically small questions. He also adds that comic touch to the BADIPALA.It has been 5-6 years, since i have seen the real Badipala. It is becoming an dying art. I vividly remember my schooldays, that was the time when a Community Puja(Ganesh, Durga etc) was incomplete without the BADIPALA. Different troupes from different parts of the district used to vie for the top prize at these community pujas. Nowadays, they have almost disappeared.
This time i visited almost all the puja pandals in Rourkela and enquired if a Badipala will be performed on any day. 99% of the Puja pandals did not have it on their entertainment charts. It was Song and dance and the same Orchestra. There was only one pandal where two troupes had arrived to perform BADIPALA. Later I discovered the reason behind the show being performed here, All the members of this puja commitee were Oldies, they were surprised when they saw me in the crowd, which was primarily made of uncles and aunties who were over 55-60. One of the gentleman walked up to me and was very inquisitive to know the reason of my love for BADIPALA. After the show, they invited me to the community dinner and bombarded me with their questions. They were still wondering, "how come a young chap like me, is interested in BADIPALA ?"
But the speciality of Bali Yatra is not BADIPALA, but the vibrant SOLAH BHARNI played on the DHOLAK. The vocal songs are based on Raag Maleshree and is rendered by a particular community of Sonepur. The music is a blend of folk and classical music with a tantric overtone. This music takes the BARUA(on whom the deity is said to be manifested) to a state of contemplation and then gradually to the state of SAMADHI. The Barua then performs dances in sync with the music which varies from time to time and place to place. This ritual is performed in the various temples of the town like SAMALESWARI, BHUBANESWARI, SURESWARI and KHAMBESWARI on different days. Based on the different days, times and places the festival is known by different names such as NISHA BALI, DANGUA BALI, GAEN BALI and NAVAMI BALI. The prime attraction for the devotees is the MAHA BALI performed on the Vijaya Dashmi day. Today, this festival has lost much of its significance. In 1998, the then collector of Sonepur, had banned the festival for a few years, which led to a furore in the Assembly.
The BARUAS are some families belonging to the "MALI" community of Sakma village near Binika. This time, only two or three animals were sacrificed and that too not in public.
The good thing is that, the people in and around Balangir are trying their best to keep this tradition alive.
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| Tribal Way of celebrating dussehra in Orissa |
[03 Oct 2006|04:03pm] |
Dussehra is celebrated with fanfare throughout the country and the different ways that people celebrate is very interesting. It is called the Ram Leela which ends with dussehra, there is the Kullu Dussehra, there is the Mysore Dussehra, there is the Bastar dussehra. There are many different versions which we don't even know or i would say that they are not publicised.
The different pockets of Orissa also celebrate it in their own unique style. Since Orissa has a lot of Shakti "Peethas", animal sacrifice is prevalent eventhough most of the famous Shakti shrines have stopped this practise. The tribals of in and around Koraput perform "Lathi(bamboo stick) puja" to pay their obeisance to Goddess Durga. The belief is that this puja will give them prosperity and has been folloed for the last several hunders years. People trek long distances to reach Jeypore with their lathis.
The oldies say that during the ancient times, "Pujaris(priests)" were appointed as the village heads by the kings of jeypore to look after the daily affairs and the functioning of the tribal villages. These priests used to collect the forest and land revenues from these villages and present it to the king on Vijaya Dashmi. In return the kings gifted land to them and the income from these lands was used by the priests to maintain the village temples. The tribal heads and the other sub-sects used to take out a "lathi procession" and the village flags. All these processions culminated in Jeypore and all these tribal chiefs used to trek this entire distance bare foot. They also carried small idols of Goddess Durga on palanquins accompanied by the local dancers and the musicians.
On the Ashtami day, they arrived in Jeypore and kept the "lathis" in the local temples. On Navami(a day before Dussehra), The kings used to hold a special "Raj Bhet" where they were apprised of the various problems of different villages. A huge "lathi" procession was carried out on the midnight of Vijaya Dashmi where the devotees gathered around a celestial fire to perform "Homa Puja", which continued till the morning. Sacrificing cattle was an important part of the puja, which was also known as the "Aparajita" or Durga puja. After the puja, the tribals used to bring the "lathis" to their respective villages and worsipped it throughout the year and prayed for a prosperous year.
After the abolition of the Zamindari , the numbers of these tribals had been dwindindling at a rapid pace. However, in 2005, a Dussehra Puja Committee was formed to celebrate the festival in its traditional style. This year about 40-45 tribal groups made it to Jeypore, with their "Lathis" during the puja.
Since this is not publicised or not not on a grand scale, such unique and lovely traditions are dying out fast. Hopefully, the initiative taken in 2005 will preserve this traditions for the future.
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| Travelogue of NUSLI, HOMI and RUSTOM |
[14 Sep 2006|03:20am] |
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The Dire Straits |
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Main Characters:
NUSLI: Thats me!
HOMI: Zee
RUSTOM: Shantanu
SOLI: Venkat
The journey begins when Myelf, Zee and Shantanu decided to visit Pune and Mumbai. The purpose was to attend Pinky's wedding in Mumbai on 28th August.As usual, we started late to catch our train from the Bangalore Cantonment railway station. I met up with Shantanu at our old chai shop, who was happily slurping the tea and puffing away the Wills Navy Cut. I joined in the celebration and eventhough i met him after a long while, i dint have that detached feeling. We started our regular blabber, "bakkar" and the giggles once we met up, and eventhough i had a feeling that we were getting late, the laziness and the happiness(that i will be away from bangalore) slowed me down as the new ciggis lit up. We dragged ourselves to the main road and dodged the traffic to cross to the other side of the road. An autowalla was ready to pounce on us to mint some money as soon as he saw, two IT looking guys....hehehehe with backpacks crossing the road. We dumped ourselves in the auto and he blasted off like a rocket towards Madivala, only to be stopped in his tracks by the burgeoning traffic. At the signal, we saw a couple of uncles doing circus on their scooters as they were driving over the broken pavement and the same ones definitely scared some souls who were waiting at the bus stop. As soon as the signal turned green, our auto driver zoomed off towards our destination again to be stopped in his tracks by the traffic near Fanoos. By this time the heavens had opened up and the rain started pouring like crazy. After knowing that we had to catch the train at 8pm our guy evaded and dodged the traffic with some deft manouvering only to be stopped again at the GPO. By this time Zee was frantically calling and smsing us to know our location. Near the GPO, i once had a feeling that we would definately miss the train so asked Shantanu about the back up plan. His reply was short and crisp, "wapas aa jayenge aur ticket cancel karlenge and buy some booze with that money". I liked the very practical answer and the calmness with which he replied. Somehow we managed to reach the station and Zee was waiting for us. As soon as we got down from the auto, zee welcomed us with his million watt smile topped with some niceties(i mean slang). We ran to the other platform, just in time to catch the train.We surveyed the people who would be companions till Pune. There was an Old couple, two uncles(definitey Marwaris)....i
figured out from the Baniyan and the Pyjama...hehehehehe and anothe guy from Orissa, who was busy fixing deals and whenever the amount was more than 10k, he would shout in the phone and look around....just to check that others are looking at him. We settled don and started our regular talks and caught up with Shantanu and about the things happening in the our lives since the last few months.The train stopped at a small station(Doddaballapur) to let another Superfast to whizz by. We got down, puffed a couple of ciggis, walked on the rail tracks for some distance and came back to our compartment. We kept a couple of coins on the tracks, which would serve as mementos of this trip. Unfortunately, we could only scour one coin which had become an ellipse and shantanu pocketed it, saying that he'll return it back....which we knew was a hoax....lol. After a light dinner, we retired for the night. Zee woke up early at Raichur, had a light snack and woke us up. I guess, he made a mistake there, as i immediately jumped on his upper berth and dozed off. We woke up and i could read Zee's face which said...."Chor..mera berth chori kiya". We had vada pavs at Sholapur, but i guess they were not enough for Shantanu and myself, we ordered Egg Biryani and i could see Zee eyeing the eggs...hehehehehe. We hogged it to the last bit of rice in the container. After that we three of us stood near the door till Pune and were enjoying the landscape and the ciggis...(ok ok...i know smoking is banned in the Indian Railways).
We reached Pune in the evening and without wasting time, boarded an auto and headed to "Goodluck Cafe" at the Deccan Gymkhana. This cafe was establised in 1935 and it has still maintained it's old look and feel with the stained Glass on the walls and the wooden paneling. This is where we became NUSLI, HOMI and RUSTOM. After hogging the amazing Bun Maska, chai and Omelette we walked the entire stretch of FC road, boarded another auto and headed off towards Dorabjee and the MG road. I have eaten omelettes at so many places, but dunno why, the Parsi and the real Irani ones are the best. Maybe some secret ingredient or maybe as simple as the hands that make them. Homi, showed us the slum areas, where he used to wanderfor his photoshoots and also showed us the blind beggar, who sits at one particular place on an footbridge with a harmonium and sings his songs. Eveenthough, Pune is also becoming the "Mall Cultured" city, but the one thing that i liked is that it has still retained it's Old glory of the Parsi Dheekras and the Wadi's. It is always heartening to see the originality of a place and not the artificial stuff...i mean the glass buildings, malls. This is why i don't like Bangalore....am sorry, but this is a fact that i admit. We reached MG road and since it was a Saturday, no vehicles were allowed to ply on this road. It becomes a walking zone on the weekends. We lounged on MG road, walking as lazily as possible, observing people sitting on the roadside and sipping beer. The crowd was a good mix of the Oldies, the Deekras, the young, bubbly college going crowd, families....etc. HOMI clicked some snaps of road side vendors and the old buldings. Then he took us to the best part of the town, the Shivaji MArket area and the Dastur Meher Road. We met the "Dildaar" Faheembhai, who left his roaring mutton business and accompanied us to Cafe Nayab, The "Achari gosht" made here will put the famous "Samarkand Hotel" to shame, when you compare the taste and the aroma. Well, bloody who cares, as i always say "Street Food is the Best". I asked him, "Hows the Business ?"....the reply that he gave was to the point...he said "Aajkal to sab jagah pe dukanein hain, aur log wahin se khareedte hain, lekin jo SHAUKEEN hai, woh yehi pe aate hain." We laughed like crazy, after hearing his reply. He was so true. We also visited the Chidiyawale baba ki dukaam. It's a barfer shop, and presently the 4th generation of his family run this place. We walked around the Shivaji market(It's a 125+ yr old market) and then went towards the Dastur Meher road. As soon as you enter this road, a complete change in the chatter on the street is evident. Most of the buildings on this road are more than 100 years old and people have maintained it very nicely. You'll find Mercedes or some old vintage cars parked in front of these houses. There is a mix of architecture styles that one finds in these buildings. On this road, you'll find Cafe YEZDAN, a vintage irani cafe....aah what a place, the crowd(i don't consider the new age, hip hop, ipod people as a crowd), the Ban Maska,the chai and the Old parsi chap sitting across the counter....heavenly. It's a regular hangout for the Old Parsi Deekras, with their grandchildren in tow. Another landmark is the original Dorabjee's restaurant(estd. 1870's). They have peeled off the the original Wooden panelling and replaced then with the shitty glazed tiles. I was very disheartened at this change happening at Dorabjee's and maybe that was the reason that we did not visit this place. That Old touch was missing. After roaming on this street for a couple of hours, we headed to another old restaurant, "THE KINGS" (estd. 1905) . This place is famous for it's parsi food. HoMI and RUSTOM ordered "Zeresk pulao" while i preferred the Parsi Dhansak. By the way...Zeresk is a herb from Iran. The Dhansak was 10 times better that what i have in Bangalore. After washing down the food with Falooda and HOMI+NUSLI feasting on the caramel custard, we dragged ourselves to the nearest auto and stayed in a decent hotel on the Dastur Meher road. Somehow, we never wanted to leave this street....hehehehehe. We went on a walk late in the night, admiring the old buildings and the patience and determination that these people have to preserve this heritage. The next day morning we had the staple Deekra breakfast at YEZDAN with a lot of Old and cute Deekras as company. We lazed here for a good one hour and were already very late for Ravi's wedding. We took a taxi from Pune to Mumbai via the Expressway. The start was not at all pleasant, as we passed a stretch of the road, where an accident had occured...maybe 30 mins back. We saw two dead bodies still on the road. For a couple of minutes none of us talked, HOMI broke the silence with a PJ and we were back in the mood. The ride was amazing (Road+landscape+Our Driver). He was a jolly good fellow, and he too cracked a coupe of PJ's....perfect ride...hehehehehehe. As we left Pune, the only regret that i had was that i missed the "Wadis"....maybe next time i'll give the deekras a break and visit the "wadis". I came to know a fact about the Ganesh festival in Pune...am not sure how many know this. One of the Ganesh processions starts from Budhwarpet, the red light area of Pune.
We reached Dadar at about 3pm. We boarded a local to Grant Road and as usual walked the distance towards Falkland road and the Do Taaki road. This entire area has the Bohra-Irani-Muslim touch, be it the food or the architecture. We had lunch at the famous Delhi Durbar. The menu being, Dabba Gosht, Reshmi Paratha and Falooda....yummy...we were kicking ourselves to know that delicacy named "Khichda" was not served on that day. Anyways, we loaded ourselves up minus the Khichda, and as usual dragged ourselves to the nearest Taxi. We reached Marine Drive and spent an hour there. One thing that i love about Mumbai is that this city has tremendous energy and no-one is bothered what you are doing. Saw a variety of people on Marine drive, the oldies chatting away, the joggers doing their own bit, romantic couples, students reading , the hawkwers doing their brisk business.....and no-one is bothered about what the other person is doing. I would say "Mazza ni life"....i took a power nap, while HOMI and RUSTOM chattered along, puffing away gloriously. After some coaxing, i budged on towards the Churchgate station, caught a Fast local to Goregaon and showed up at Ravi's wedding, wearing Shorts and dirty t-shirts. We were whisked away to our hotel.....hehehehehe and we came back to the venue for the reception, only to find that we were the last guests to arrive(Nothing new for us...lol). We tried to sleep early so that we can get up at 7am(midnight for us) for the wedding, but our talks went on till 4am. SOLI joined us at 5am at our hotel and somehow we managed to reach the wedding venue...half asleep and witnessed a typical Tamil Brahmin wedding, hogged the sumptous lunch(we were one of the last people to leave the dining tables...hehehehehe). We managed to rush back to Goregaon station and boarded the Churchgate local. As usual, he compartment has it's usual variety of people. A couple getting cosy, a UP wale bhaiyya chattering on his mobile, a group of college going kids, the office goers, a couple of marathi bhaus catching on sleep while they were standing...and as usual no one bothered of what the other person is doing. We got down at Churchgate and then boarded a Taxi to Mohammed Ali road. We disappeared into the bylanes of the Bohra Muhalla looking for some antique stuff and also to enquire about the rates of the antique furniture. I was planning to buy a Gramophone(yea..the vintage piece). I had a doubt of getting it to bangalore in one single piece without proper packaging on a flight, so i ditched it with a heavy heart and roamed about these streets. You can get absolutely anything in this vintage chor bazaar, right from a huge betel nut cracker to a vintage video camera...all in working condition. The aroma of the kababs and the farchas gave us company during our entire stay in this locality. Homi showed us a shop which sold fresh, hand churned, home made ice cream but i guess we had already killed ourselves with the typical brahmin lunch and there was not even an inch of space available in our tummies at that time. We finished our Mohammed Ali road trip with the customary Irani chai at one of the typical old, vintage Irani cafe. We went back to Marine drive and spent some time there only to be interrupted by heavy rain. In fact the rain was a blessing for us, coz without it we would have definitely missed our flight. We reached the airport in 90 minutes, by literally crawling through the traffic.
We flew back with the fond memories of Pune and Mumbai back to Bangalore and back to the same old song and dance with clients, deadlines. Will be definitely visiting
these two lovely cities and would stay there for a longer period and drown myself in their heritage.
Till the next visit, ciao from NUSLI, HOMI and RUSTOM.
Chalo ne dheekra, kal office bhi jaana hai.....hehehehehehe.
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| Forest Sentinel - Kencha |
[19 Aug 2006|06:34pm] |
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Jethro Tull |
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We were on a safari in the Rajiv Gandhi National Park, near the Kabini. We ventured out of the jeep tracks and reached the main road which leads to Mananthavady in Kerala. At a distance we saw a forest guard, dressed in Khakhis driving away the cattle from the national park area. This man was limping around with a stick to support him. I was wondering how the forest department employed this person especially when his work involves walking and sometimes even running.
I was told that his name was “Kencha” and his life changed for ever after his encounter with an elephant on a fateful evening. Eager to know more about him and his horrendous experience, we got back to this place on our own after the safari and saw him doing the same: Chasing cattle out of the national park/jeep tracks along with his colleagues. It was raining and these guards had gone out on a “beat” in their lingo.
Kencha and another guard finished patrolling in the evening and were returning to their base camp a few years back. They spotted a lonely tusker a few hundred feet away from their destination and it was a dark evening. The bull was in a weird mood and immediately attacked the two men on foot. While Kencha’s accomplice escaped by running away from the spot, Kencha found him self right in front of the charging elephant and didn’t know what to do.
Though most of the times the elephants just mock-charge the people, this was an unfortunately occasion when it really attacked Kencha and made him fall. In the process the elephant stamped on his right leg and tore open the fleshy part of the thigh. It also broke his shoulder and injured him very seriously.
Fortunately and surprisingly Kencha was not killed. He was still alive when others came to the spot and rescued him while the elephant had disappeared. Kencha being an employee of the Karnataka Forest Department was admitted to the hospital in Mysore and his treatment was taken care of. How ever Kencha and others said, he didn’t receive any form of compensation from the department or the government for this tragic event he had to face. Years have passed by and Kencha still manages to get on to his feet with the help of a stick and does the patrolling of the Jungle around his territory. Though he cannot move as quickly as a normal person would do, Kencha still manages to do his part of the work efficiently.
Most of us perceive elephants as cute animals and we associate them with fun and Lord Ganesha in India. Wild Elephants are the most dangerous animals we can find in these jungles and proper care should be taken to avoid encounters with them. On the way to Mudumalai from Bandipur National Park, people encounter elephants on the main road quite often and some times it’s sickening to see the tempo track drivers who are used to seeing them around stop by and intimidate the huge animals. On one occasion a tempo traveler stops so close to an elephant and its calf and when the cow trumpets he returns his own trumpeting call and laughs out loud and starts his vehicles engine. Without proper knowledge of their behavior and experience of handling them, people shouldn’t venture close to them and try to avoid any conflict with them. On numerous occasions bikers traveling to Ooty through Bandipur have stopped by for that great photograph but have had to lose their lives for that. Sometimes its really surprising that people cannot perceive the danger that can come from an elephant. Its huge size and strength is enough to flatten cars and bikes and cause severe damage to humans beyond proportions.
While elephant sighting in the south Indian jungles are quite common, what’s unknown is the danger that comes with a humongous animal like the elephant. Tourists who travel on these routes should play it safe take precautions so that no loss of life or property occurs. How ever some instances like that of Kencha’s happen once in a while. But usually the elephants are calm individuals who mind their business when not disturbed.
For pictures, please click:
http://static.flickr.com/52/146806418_78487222d1_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/81/216766743_5475433f7b_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/72/216766715_6a9da5c04c_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/47/146769243_2811f2661c_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/51/146795328_89d73a8a17_o.jpg
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| 5 days in wilderness |
[18 Aug 2006|11:33am] |
It had been a long time that I had gone on a ride. The Independence Day weekend gave me that chance and jumped on it. Initially, I was planning for a ride alongwith Jay and our Royal Enfields, but Jay wanted to do a test ride on his Gypsy. He knew that I would have blankly refused a car drive, so he told that we will be going in a SUV and that too a 4X4. I am fine with a SUV if not a Bullet.
Honestly, I hate cars….hehehehehe. We had been out together on our bullets during same days last year to Wayanad.
We had a great drive towards Mysore and then stopped by Jay’s house for a few hours. The last 80 minute drive to Cicada – Kabini (Formerly known as Kapila Retreat) was a great one. It was a cloudy afternoon and we reached the resort by lunch time. On the way we happened to meet a small herd of elephants that had just crossed the road. The cow was aggressively guarding the young calf behind the thick vegetation. Cicada – We thought was undergoing changes in all aspects. Every employee was found in uniforms, golf cars were introduced to carry the luggage of the guests, We happened to inaugurate a section of rooms with A/C and the new dining hall was launched.We also saw work nearing completion towards the swimming pool and the Conference room was in full swing. Over all it looked like we had stepped in to a Resort around Bangalore which caters to the IT sector. I thought the touch of Wilderness was depreciating. Anyway, least interested about the upgrade, we met up with a friend Vikram Nanjappa of the resort and planned our activity.
That afternoon Vikram, Jay and I set out to our first Safari in the drizzle. Apart from Gaur, Chital and Sambars we found nothing else in the Safari as expected during a rainy evening. We quickly settled down in the evening and spent time talking about the last few months of our lives. Jay and I had last been out to Kudremukha National Park in January.
The next morning, we set out on time and hoped to have a better experience than the previous evening. That particular safari was drastically different from the other. Within a few minutes of venturing out on the main road, we saw a JLR bus standing on the road. We rushed towards the place and didn’t know what was seen around. We looked around and we heard the pleasant chuckles and remarked “Think that’s a pack of Dholes(Wild Dogs) around” and immediately we spotted the alpha male smelling the ground and emerging out of the bushes. It panned across the road and was followed by the rest of the pack. Excited about the early morning Dhole treat we carried on.
An hour had passed when we were about to cross a herd of deer on the jeep track and hardly 15 feet away on the right, we saw a Leopard jump down and vanish in to bushes. We were spell bound! It looked like a young leopard probably a year or two old. It had climbed a very steep branch and was probably eyeing the Deer below. Damn excited about what we had seen we continued our journey. Unfortunately Jay didn’t have enough time to click a photograph of the most elusive cat – the Leopard. After a while, we spotted another pack of Wild Dogs playing around the Bisilvadi Lake area. We were on the other side of the lake and we could clearly see them run around the grasslands. Vikram remarked “Man it’s raining cats and dogs for you” and we were happy. On the way back to the resort the same pack we met up in the morning were on their way towards the other side of the park. They had by now made a kill and were looking well fed. They got quite close to us and crossed the road to vanish inside the bushes
The next two Safaris were mediocre. Apart from some elephants we had seen nothing outstanding. That evening, we watched David Attenborough’s “The Tiger” documentary shot in Kanha National Park. The new conference room was wonderful and I loved the video. The large screen experience was simply superb. We also met up with a forest guard named “Kencha” and spoke to him about his disastrous encounter with a Tusker which broke his shoulder and injured his leg for life.
Jay and I had planned to stay in Masinagudi and do two safaris in Bandipur National Park. We reached the Bandipur office at 3:30pm and ventured in to the forests for 3 hours. Within a few minutes of entering the forest, we saw a pack of Wild Dogs lying on the ground and resting. They had done a kill just a few minutes back and were all well fed. We recognized this pack as the “Danahatti” pack that Jay photographed in April this year. We decided to spend some time with them near the salt lick. I watched them from almost a ten foot distance for nearly two hours. With overwhelming satisfaction to my eyes I was a relieved man. Jay took plenty of pictures of them playing, yawing, sleeping, watching, biting, resting and it was a sight to see.
Just next to the salt lick we saw a couple of female elephants come to the water hole for a drink. Suddenly an assembly of tourists caught up with the elephants. Most tourists were excited by the two elephants and they didn’t get a kick out of the Wild Dogs. A common man easily mistakes a Dhole for a street dog and most probably that’s what happened. Meanwhile the wild dogs were posing for Jay camera and tolerating the tourists who would flash, talk, laugh and do every nonsense one can do on a safari. One gentleman even started shouting to his family saying “This was the most ferocious animal of the jungle” – Fair enough. But I didn’t understand why he had to let the Dholes hear him.
Another sighting of some Gaur and a lot of spotted deer marked the end of another eventful day in the jungle. Jay had filled it with plenty of Wild Dog pictures. Being a very busy weekend almost all resorts of the place were full. Hugh Tyman, our friend from Bear Mountain Jungle Resort had kept a secret for us. He gave us the keys of his farm house near the Bokkapuram Village in Masinagudi Town. We had to take the dirt track which would really test the Gypsy’s 4 wheel drive. After a fun filled drive we reached this beautiful plot of 2 acres with a cute little house in the middle. With English style kitchen and a room this place was superb.
That morning we reached the top of the Murugan temple hill in Bokkapuram and spent a lot of time in the morning after breakfast. I also met a couple of ladies who had hiked all the way to the top of this hill who were from Coimbatore. They seemed to be very interested in Wildlife and Nature in general. We also spent some time watching the bonnet macaque's play and mate. After a small chat with them we got down to the resort for lunch and then set out to our evening safari in Bandipur.
The evening safari was pretty normal with respect to sighting. But we happened to see plenty of gaur and two very young calves. The light was low and it was drizzling that evening and we were about to end our Safari. On the edge of the Bandipur-Mudumalai border a humungous bull gaur was grazing next to the moyar gorge. We got back to Bear Mountain in the evening and met a few friends there. The next morning after breakfast, we set out towards Mysore and stayed at my place on the Independence Day. It was a great break and very satisfying to have had overwhelming Wild Dog sighting. I agree that Wild Dogs were fascinating animals and also it was now my favorite animal. I just love hearing their chuckles and their beautiful brown eyes. I love the way they work as a team and rock the forests.
For images, please click here:
Until next time!
Cheers!!!
Ride Far, Ride Often and Ride Safe
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/s_b_muniya2.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/dhole15.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/dhole3.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/elephant_morning.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/dhole7.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/elephants_waterhole.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/dholes.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/home.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/macaque_mating.jpg
http://www.wildlifetimes.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/gaur_gorge.jpg
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| Why a Royal Enfield ?? |
[05 Jun 2006|05:55pm] |
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Jethro Tull |
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After 48000kms of 350 cc thumping under my butt, I consider myself eligible and lucky enough to write abt this dream machine.
An earnest attempt from me, to provoke some of u to join this esteemed group of Royal Thumpers.
To start with, let me just put something into ur minds....Bullet is not a bike....its a LIFESTYLE..CHARACTER and PASSION
The Prime reasons:
The pride and esteem assocaited with owning a bullet is inexpressible. One can easily sense the respect that ppl give a bulleteer. Even the cops respect u ! its the community u get to join... its the kinda ppl who ride it, its a stmtnt that u make, it DEFINES u.
Its a grt peice of engineering and character, to say the least. Just reckon, why it is the bike that Armymen and the cops (and a gifted few) ride. And can u name any indian bike that , has a website of its own (chkout www.royalenfield.com) and has a number of biker groups like ( Madrasbulls, RTMC, Roadshakers etc) all across india
Okay now lets ponder some of the hindrance that ppl normally conceive on buying a bullet:
1. The Cost : Yes, its a bit costly....the electra costs (75k onroad) , but the std350 cost 68k. But consider this,...lets say u settle down to buy some other bike....say, a Pulsar..now, it costs 60k onroad, a CBZ,60k onroad, a RX135, 55k, a fiero, 56k...so u see the bullet is just 10-15k more than the bikes that one normally considers buying... u cud argue with bikes like ct100, boxer ct, joy, dawn....hehehe...better dont buy a bullet, its not for u. So, how much does the 10-15 k matters ? anyway , ur goin to get the bike in EMI...so it will be just 4-5 months more. the money u had been paying everymonth for say, a yr, i beleive is not hard to pay for a few months more. " But u already have a bike ? " Wow , then u already hav the downpayment ready...Sell the piece of plastic and buy the METAL. Beleive me u wud never regret, on ur decision.
2. Power, Performance ? : kidding ? its Royal enfield. Ok if u want the numbers, its 350 cc, 18bhp, and a max torque of 2.75kgm at a mere 5625rpm. the pulsars and fiero's hav a max torque of just 1.3 kgm that too at an irritatingly high 8000rpm.....
3. Reliability, durability ?: Ur son wud be excited enough to ride it, once ur balls r worn out and u decide to wean it away. The high point is that the 18bhp is delivered at an rpm as low as 2725 rpm.... which means if a pulsar engine runnning 300000 kms = a bullet engine running just 100000 kms...so that explains the lifelong performance
4. Hard to handle: This is a common misconception, the bullet condradictarily, is really easy to handle, manoeuvre and is comfortable...sit behind me on the pillion, I ll show u how easy city riding is. centre stand is easier than anyother bike, and new models r easier to start. but yes, its a bit hard to push and lift - its not for kids, though.
5. Mileage ? what the f is that ? yes, u can expect nothing more than 35-40...but again how much is the difference ? its just 15-20 Km/l....say if u spend 1000 Rs on petrol a month , on a bullet u wud pay a 300 more. so its just 10 Rs/day...and if u really wanna save that 10 bucks then consider quitting ur daily dose of pepsi or samosa ( though i wud apprehensively add that, u wud save a lot if u cud reduce ur spirit intake... i bet, the bullet wud be more intoxicating to ride !!! ) . Though i personally feel, u wont ponder much abt mileage , once u ride a bullet.
they say, the Cheetah(yamaha) is faster, the elephant(karizma) is bigger and the tiger(pulsar) is a grt beast....Excuse me.... WHO"S THE KING ?
THE LION.
When u hav the option to RULE THE ROAD, why do u want to just stroll along ?
So, Gentlemen, dont waste this oppurtunity of a lifetime....later, as yrs pass by, u wont hav the time to think abt these things...
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| B'lore-Namakkal-B'lore |
[04 Jun 2006|11:22pm] |
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Jim Morrison |
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After a long while, i went on a ride towards Salem. Normally i turn left from Krishnagiri and head towards Chennai. My friend Zee was the pillion for my ride. Normally, I don't prefer to take a pillion with me coz i have to ride according to him/her as a result the travelling time increases. When i ride along there is no fixed place to take breaks. I take breaks if i find a place laid back and has some nostalgia in it. It might be 20kms after my last break or it may be 150kms. We started very late on this saturday and the first thing that Zee was inquisitive to know was the breakfastpoint(err...brunchpoint) and that too he double checked to ensure that we get red meat(The size of the animal doesn't bother either of us...hehehe).
We stopped at the HP petrol bunk after Hosur to fill up the Bull and ourselves. After my Bull's tank was full it was our turn. Zee went inside the restuarant and the first thing that he asked the guy sitting across the counter was "Do you serve mutton?", when the other guy nodded, zee flashed his Million watts smile as if to say this is heaven and i am enjoying it. After a sumptous lunch, we settled down for a smoke outside the restaurant and discussed some ideas, cuisine and culture(very common topic...when we both talk!!). I was telling Zee about the vantage points on this road till Chinnar and i could hear him humming songs. I bet, he was enjoying the countryside. We stopped our regular chatter, Zee started enjoying the landscape and i started enjoying the ride and was concentrating on the road ahead. We whizzed past a place called Chinnar(This is my regular 1st stop), I slowed down but Zee tapped my shoulder signalling me to keep riding.
We stopped just before Krishnagiri for our chai and smoke break, the villagers were very amused to see the Bison Horns on my bike. It was again a laid back place with people visting the tea-shop just because it had a TV and to top that, it was beaming a typical Tamil action movie, where the villians are thrown 100feet away just because the hero flicked his moustache and the hero fights with the bad boys while puffing a beedi, and the best part was that throughout the fight scene, the beedi dint fall off....pure thrill...hehehehehe. After muscling our way into the shop and asking for tea, we dint get out of the shop, instead were observing the people and every now and then Zee would whisper in my ear..."Nasha dekha ??".....i bet, there was a lot of nasha and the people were oblivious of their surroundings and were totally engrossed in the movie. The road till here is excellent.
After our tea break we headed off towards our next destination, Dharmapuri. I was driving pretty slowly as the road is not that good. It is a single carriageway and when a vehicle is approaching from the opposite side,one cannot overtake. At the same time a couple of truckers ahead of us seem to have a ego problem as neither of them were willing to make way for another. The entire traffic behind them was going at a snail place and this continued for another Kilometre. Finally one of the big-boys had to give up as their big daddy was steaming in from the opposite side. It was a long trailer,it was carrying some huge boiler parts as it's load and a couple of it's helpers were perched atop the trailer making mincemeat of the branches that were coming it's way. As soon as it passed, i dived to the right lane and again dived left in the nick of time in between these two trucks to make way for another oncoming big boy.
A Maruti Wagon R was very eager to overtake me and was constantly honking it's horn without any respite, I signalled it to be on the left lane as there was a curve and i could see a an oncoming Ford Endevor at full speed. But the Wagon R guys were in too much of a hurry and they overtook me only to hard brakes and suddenly diving to the left. Since i had foreseen this so was driving almost at the edge of the road. I managed to slow down but those guys had a very narrow escape as the SUV guy was driving as if he owned the road. I overtook the Wagon R and overtook a convoy of around 5 vehicles after which i again had to dive to the left lane. After about 7-8 kms the wagon R guys again sped past us but this time the occupants were going bonkers after seeing a Bullet with Horns. The frantic waving and whistling by them enthused Zee a lot and he started shouting "Dekha be dekha". I told him that i am used to it now but still Zee was very happy with their response.
We stopped at a another very laid back place...basically a village. We lit a couple of cigarettes and sat on the vintage cement chairs in the village and as usual started our chatter about the laziness of the place and the small small things that we, as urbanites are missing, which is the laziness and the peace. We were sitting under a majestic tree with the sparrows and the mynas singing their songs overheard. After thawing our butts, it was time to hit the road again. The traffic volume tripled as we headed towards the city centre. We had to stop at the main square as there was a minor bottleneck. Turn left from this junction to reach HOGGENAKAL Falls. We went straight and stopped at another small village for another break. We sipped on a coupe of colas with the usual ciggis and sat on the vintage chair with a couple of villagers to give us company. The old chap sitting besides me was smoking a locally made cigarette...in fact a bidi which looked like a cigar. I thought of exchanging it for my cigarette.....hehehehehe.This village is very near to Namlapally. After this place the road is again superb and is a part of the north-souh corridor. SIlky smooth and a 6-lane highway passing through a small ghat section. I love this stretch very much with it's long sweeping curves and superb banking of the road. One could zoom around this stretch without decreasing the throttle. Absolutely fantastic!!!! Zee enjoyed the landscape and the curves so much that he told me to turn back and ride this strech again. We stopped at a particular place to click some snaps and to enjoy the beautiful landscape.
The next stop was Salem at a road side stall which was serving hot raw banana bajjis...yummy!!(Yea....we love street food...we are 110% street food buffs). Maybe another reason might b that both of us are travellers and not tourists.....ehehehehehe. While we were feasting on the bajjis, i was humming the metallica song "Wherever i may roam". After satiating our taste buds and answering a couple of questions of the locals on the Bull...we headed towards Namakkal. Turn right from the 2nd circle(of the bypass) for Namakkal which was still around 55kms. From here on, the road is again a single carriageway, one has to be little more cautious on this strecth as the private buses plying from Salem to Trichy take over the road. I bet, they are the kings on this stretch and drive as if they are in a Grand Prix with no respect for the rules and don't be surprised if they overtake you from the left. We stopped again about 25kms short of Namakkal at a very tiny hamlet of about 5-6 huts. Zee clicked a couple of snaps of the lovely sunset and "Diana". Zee posed for his snap which he told later that he was doing so after a loooooong time. We reached Namakkal, checked into a hotel...err a lodge -:). By the way, in this part of the world Hotel is a place where you get food and Lodge is a place where you can stay. I guess it's the same for every small town. We went on a walk through this bustling town, which has reatined it's old glory in terms of architechture. We found a lot of small eateries and hotels which had that vintage look and the matching furniture and of course the nostalgic and laidback owner. We had dinner at a roadside stall, the menu was fried fish(in fact two varieties) and veg fried rice at a princely sum of 68 bucks. What else you want....AMEN!!! We washed down the food with a couple of beers and colas.
The next day, we woke up and again roamed the narrow streets of this town and started our return trip at around 1pm. We took our customary breaks and ensured that we only ate and sipped tea at the roadside stalls. We had a brunch consisting of double omelettes at a small quiet village, the bill was 14 bucks....hehehhe-:). I tanked up my bull at Dharmapuri and we had lunch somewhere in between Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. On seeing us the small eatery owner proudly announced that he can make "THANTHURI" roti...am not kidding but this is what was written on the small board that was displayed there. He was taken aback when i said "SAPAD"....and it was very simple fare of Rice, Sambar, Rasam and one curry(i guess he had put in all the chillies of the world in it). After a simple yet filling lunch we headed back towards Krishnagiri only to stop a couple of kilometres later. It was a lovely sight of coconut and palm orchards and rice fields and the kids playing cricket in one of the abandoned field. We stopped here to watch these guys play cricket while we were merrily smoking away to glory. Zee was not at all interested to leave this place and after a couple of reminders and a lot of coaxing he budged with a sad face.
We reached Bangalore at around 5:30. It was a memorable trip and eagerly waiting for the next one.
Some of the Nostalgia and "Nasha" that we encountered:
1) THANTURI...this was the best
2) THABA....and not Dhaba
3) CONTHINENTHAL and CHINEES....
4) MURUGAN HIGH CLASS VEG RESTAURANT (A/C and NON A/C)
5) HIGH ENERGY DRINK....It turned out to be Orange juice....lol-:)
Click the link below for viewing the snaps:
http://photos.yahoo.com/ailareladkamast/
I hope you enjoyed the ride story. Please don't forget to put in your comments!!
Happy Thumping!!!
Peace Out
- VJ
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