tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60338090037696565382024-03-13T13:25:37.388-07:00Thoughtful MindMy random thoughts reflectedblazergunshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316513802483420974noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-72954342056580689162009-10-12T23:40:00.000-07:002009-10-12T23:42:02.149-07:00This Blog Is Now Defunct!I have decided to move this blog to http://hobbymonger.wordpress.com/<br /><br />Hope i catch you guys there.......varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-30366454019295485852009-04-16T20:26:00.000-07:002009-04-16T21:27:28.916-07:00I Voted!Iam ashamed to revel that it took me 8 years to realize that the change i wanted was only possible if i become the part of the change. Its too long a time for such a realization, but atleast i did it now. This time i was determined to cast my vote so i traveled to Hyderabad. I always thought that all politicians were corrupt and uneducated and can never make a good leaders. This was my excuse for all these years for not voting. This time when i really took the effort to understand the candidates and their manifestos it became clear that one need not be highly educated to do good for the people. Education is needed, but more importantly the vision to tackle the problems that lies ahead. Giving away 10kg free rice or a color tv is NOT the solution this nation needs. We need real solutions. If we are to bring up the lower class of people are we in a position to give them jobs. What does one need to do to generate jobs? How are we to clear all the debts we owe to World Bank? I found it rather interesting when various candidates put their ideas. One thing that was missing is the clear in depth goals to achieve all what is promised. I guess i need to realize that the political scene is slowly turning for the better. Iam an optimistic person, but i believe this election will NOT change many of our problems. It will take time for the political scene to change. But iam sure i will see a day when i press that button i know that my country would see a positive change. Until that day i will not lose hope and continue to vote for the candidates i believe in.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/Sef_nQCdqNI/AAAAAAAABLA/NVqyUE0vXSs/s1600-h/17042009005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/Sef_nQCdqNI/AAAAAAAABLA/NVqyUE0vXSs/s400/17042009005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325506134174181586" border="0" /></a>Well, I did it!<br /></div><br />Just one last thing i liked to share. We (Me & my family) went to the polling booth to find that there was long queue and badly arranged. We had to stand in sun for 1 hour before we got the chance to vote. I hate standing in queues but that does not mean i break queues, i generally avoid such places. This is the first time in my life i stood in the queue and was determined to cast my vote. It may sound silly, but iam really proud of myself. Another wonderful thing i saw in that polling booth was a queue which was mix of rich/poor, castes and religion. Its ironic in a way, because it is this place we all come together and vote for a change that would eventually eradicate the differences between us. I HOPE that day will come soon!varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-2593397058441430602009-03-26T09:38:00.000-07:002009-03-26T18:00:54.859-07:00A Program That Evaluates Men's Dating Chances<pre>
<br /><title>/media/disk/1.c.h</title><span style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 255);">/*</span><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 255);">This program can be compiled using gcc (Goofed up Crap Compiler) only. </span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 255);">The the functions that dont have definitions are found in the dynamic lib still_need_a_lib.so. </span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 255);">The program code flow starts with "maintain_steady_girlfriends()".
<br />Use cscope to navigate the code ;)</span><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 255);">*/</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><onlyfordementedminds.h></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#ifdef HAVE_ANY_STUPID_DEGREE</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><greatfuture.h></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#endif</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><onlyhotchicks.h></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><bollywood.h></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><tollywood.h></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><gayinfo.h></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><weirdos.h></span>
<br /></span><span><span style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><looks.h></span></span></span>
<br /><span style="font-family:monospace;">
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#define VIRGIN_HONEYPOT -</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#define NEED_ONLY_POGOSTICK </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">0</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#define SRK_TO_RESCUE </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#define UNDER_BRIT_STD </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">struct</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> new_girl_t</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">{</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> looks; /*macros defined in looks.h*/</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> shape[</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">]; /*Covering all the imp size*/</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">short</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> long_legs; </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">/*</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Its a flag</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">*/</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> noise_threshold;</span> /*Found in any universal lib*/
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">};</span>
<br />
<br />/*main()*/
<br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 153);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ention </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">main</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tain_steady_girlfriends(</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 153);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ention argc, </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 153);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">acteristics *argv[])</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">{</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (argc != </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Dude, ur weird! this will never happen for you! Hail Virginity</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> VIRGIN_HONEYPOT;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (!strcmp(argv[</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">0</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">], </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"female"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Right on track buddy! happy hunting!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(poor_chap_has_chance());</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (!strcmp(argv[</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">0</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">], </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"male"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Please refer program written by Elton John</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> NEED_ONLY_POGOSTICK;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (!strcmp(argv[</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">0</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">], </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"both"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Swinging both ways huh!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(try_new_experiment());</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"By any chance you know SRK?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> SRK_TO_RESCUE;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">}</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> poor_chap_has_chance() {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> weird_answer;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> looks, wallet;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Have you crossed the age of 12?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> weird_answer = (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">unsigned</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> *)getc(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">stdin</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (weird_answer == </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">'n'</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Have patience, need to mature, come back later you sick brat!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> UNDER_BRIT_STD;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Incase you were wondering, British standard is 12 and min \
<br /> needed to qualify as manhood</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Still wondering? Watch tv you dumbass, 12 year old boy had a baby</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"How you look? and how big is your wallet?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> scanf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">%d</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">%d</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, &looks, &wallet);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">switch</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(looks) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> THIN_LIZARD_FACE_WITH_TWO_DRUMSTICKS_SHOVED_UP_HIS_ASS:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> need_advice_desperately(UGLINESS_PERSONIFIED);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> FAIL_TO_SECURE_EVEN_LOCK;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> HEAD_AND_BUTT_INTERCHANGED_POSITION:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> need_advice_desperately(SALMAN_LOOKALIKE);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> FAILED_AT_BODY_MASS_COMPARISON_WITH_SALMAN;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> BEARD_IN_NO_MANS_LAND:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> need_advice_desperately(WHEN_STINK_TAKES_ON_DEO);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> FAILURE_OF_AXE_EFFECT;</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> FACE_RESEMBLING_DAEMON_IN_LEFT_HAND_OF_GODDESS_KALI:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> beyond_repairs(LAST_CHANCE_CONVERT_TO_OTHER_RELIGION);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> MIGHT_ASWELL_CHOOSE_MALE_PREF;</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> WEARING_GOGGLES_THAT_PROJECTS_FACE_MAGNIFIED:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> need_advice_desperately(CALL_ROY_ORBISON);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> IF_HE_CAN_SO_CAN_YOU_TRY_AGAIN_LATER;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> LARRY_DAVID_LOOK:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> beyond_repairs(HOLD_ON_TO_WHAT_YOU_GOT);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> REMEMBER_SALMAN_RUSHDIE;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> WATERMELON_WITH_POTATO_ON_TOP:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> need_advice_desperately(HOW_TO_REVERSE_THE_POSITION);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> NO_GYM_CAN_CURE_YOU;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> SOUTH_INDIAN_HERO_LOOKS:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> beyond_repairs(FIND_NAMITHA);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> CONSULT_VIJAYKANTH;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> NORTH_INDIAN_HERO_LOOKS:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> beyond_repairs(DIE_YOUR_HAIR_BROWN_AND_LIE_YOUR_ARE_AMITABH);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ONLY_VOICE_MATTERS;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">default</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(still_some_scope(wallet));</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">}</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> still_some_scope(</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 153);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">eresting wallet) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> weird_answer;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> no_stopping_me = </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">0</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">struct</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> new_girl_t *new_girl;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Congratulations! You passed the important test, rest of the test \
<br /> will surely eliminate you. Have a nice day!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(!wallet) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Hold it right there!! If you aint got no money then there \
<br /> aint no honey</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> STEAL_FROM_A_BANK;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (wallet <= WOMEN_WHO_HATE_SHOPPING_THRESHOLD) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"You got yourself a grandma who cant walk!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> TRY_AGAIN_AFTER_SHE_DIES;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (wallet <= WOMEN_WHO_EAT_LESS_AND_GROW_FAT_THRESHOLD) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"You got yourself a road roller, do a service to city roads will ya?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> return SPEND_ON_GYM_EQUIPMENTS;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (wallet <= WOMEN_WHO_CELEBRATE_VDAY_ONCE_A_MONTH) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Atleast you have a bike?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> weird_answer = (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">unsigned</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> *)getc(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">stdin</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(weird_answer == </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">'n'</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Why are you even trying this?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> VIRGIN_HONEYPOT;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"You got yourself a wife (+) nagging!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> POINT_OF_NO_RETURN;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (wallet > ALL_SHE_CAN_EAT_DRINK && wallet > ALL_SHE_CAN_SHOP && wallet > \</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ALL_HER_MOBILE_BILLS && wallet > ALL_MUSHY_MOVIES_SHE_CAN_SEE && wallet > \</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ALL_GIFTS_SHE_EXPECTS && wallet == BUY_A_COSMETICS_FACTORY) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Got a high end car?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> weird_answer = (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">unsigned</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> *)getc(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">stdin</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(weird_answer == </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">'n'</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) { </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">/*</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Pessimistic thinking</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">*/</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Your chances are more if you do have one!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> BORROW_YOUR_FRIENDS_CAR_AND_SHOWOFF_AS_YOUR_OWN</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Welcome To The Big League</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">); </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">while</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (no_stopping_me != I_CANT_TAKE_THIS_ANYMORE) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> new_girl = get_new_girl(BEST_IN_THE_LOT);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, GIRL_LIKE_MONICA_BELLUCCI))</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> add_to_linked_list_with_hash(new_girl,</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> set_hash_val(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"highest priority"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">));</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, AVG_LOOK_BODY_PERFECT))</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> add_to_linked_list_with_hash(new_girl,</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> set_hash_val(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"body priority"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">));</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, HOT_LOOKS_BIG_BRAIN))</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> add_to_linked_list_with_hash(new_girl,</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> set_hash_val(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"approach with caution"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">));</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, HOT_LOOKS_NO_BRAIN))</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> add_to_linked_list_with_hash(new_girl,</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> set_hash_val(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"approach for all booze
<br /> party"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">));</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, HOT_GIRL_TALKS_A_LOT))</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> add_to_linked_list_with_hash(new_girl,</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> set_hash_val(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"only for dance floor with
<br /> loud music"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">));</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">if</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(compare_girl(new_girl, HOT_GIRL_WITH_MARTIAL_ARTS_SKILLS)) {</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> free(new_girl);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Save your balls dude!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> free(new_girl);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> no_stopping_me++;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> iterate_linked_list_based_on_hash_value(create_new_detached_process_let_main_end());</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> WE_HAVE_A_WINNER; </span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> } </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">else</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"You got yourself a wife (-) nagging till age of 40</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> PRAY_TO_GOD_AND_COSMETIC_COMPANY_TO_KEEP_HER_IN_20'S_FOREVER;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> }</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">} </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> try_new_experiment() {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">int</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> mood;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">char</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> *do_you_get_the_pun;</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"We cannot classify you</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> printf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Your mood please?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">\n</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> scanf(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">%d</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, &mood);</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">switch</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(mood) {</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> FEMALE:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(poor_chap_has_chance());</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> MALE:</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> NEED_ONLY_POGOSTICK;</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">case</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> BOTH:
<br /> /*NOTE FOR DUMMIES: do_you_get_the_pun pointer is not
<br /> * allocated any memory .Ie. When a guy is in mood for
<br /> * both MALE and FEMALE at the same time, it will result
<br /> * in SEGFAULT. */
<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> strcpy(do_you_get_the_pun, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"learn c first! then chase skirts"</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">);</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">return</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> IF_ONLY_WE_COULD_RETURN</span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">}</span>
<br />
<br />The interesting thing would be to see who are nerds that can find syntax and logical
<br />issues in the program.
<br /></span></pre>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-17765479293398688902009-01-28T00:47:00.001-08:002009-01-28T00:53:27.706-08:00A Strange Incident In Railway Station<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I was in the Coimbatore railway station to catch a train back to Bangalore when a strange incident happened. I could not locate the platform where the train would come so i asked a police man standing nearby. Forgetting that i was in Tamil <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Nadu</span></span> i asked him in Hindi. Bewildered, the police man answered back in fluent English that i would find the train in 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span></span> platform. Embarrassed with my wrong perception that police men are uneducated, i walked on to the platform. After wandering aimlessly in the platform, a middle aged man looking like a small barrel with shirt on it approached me and asked if i needed any help. I was confused and little suspicious of the courtesy<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"></span></span> shown by this stranger refused the kind gesture. This was the second time i <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">replied</span> back to someone in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">English</span> although knowing the native language. I soon realized that he was there for money and would squeeze out as much money as possible assuming that i was a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">stranger</span> to this part of the country. At this point i decided to play along and see what all he would do to get money. I also decided that i would maintain "only <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">English</span>" image. When it was time to get into the train compartment, he pushed himself into the crowd and made way for me to enter the compartment. I soon settled down and knew that it was time for give-me-money talk. To my surprise he wished me a happy journey and walked away. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">couldn't</span> help asking him what this is all about. This time, to his surprise, i spoke to him in Tamil asking him why he was so <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">courteous</span>? After a smile he said that he was working for the Tourism department of TN and his job was to help non-locals from getting cheated. The police man i spoke to earlier had asked him to help me as <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">didn't</span> look like a person from this part of the country. It was a very different experience and something i will remember for a long time. Now <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">iam</span></span> curious if this happens in other cities also? </span><br /></strong></div>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-80625851787738090962009-01-10T22:47:00.000-08:002009-01-10T23:16:15.262-08:00An Account Of Winter Trek-08 Part 4<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extended Vacation (Kugti & Amritsar)</span> <o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p>Dear Diary,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p><span style=""></span>I wish I could convince you that we had a well planned vacation, but it was not to be. Our initial plan for the extended vacation was to trek in Kinnaur. Our planning was so good that we forgot to find out about the time taken to travel to that location from Dalhousie. It turned out to be 2 days. Slouching in a small cramped internet cafe we started searching for new place to trek. The owner of the cafe suggested us Kugti. After seeing the pics he had taken last year in Kugti we finalized on it. But to our dismay it was very difficult to get any information about the stay and travel arrangements. We got mixed reviews about that place from the locals. In spite of the setbacks we decided to go to that place. I believe this was the best decision we have made so far in this trip.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmXx4NNNlI/AAAAAAAABGw/ZHmeu_Eheh8/s1600-h/9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmXx4NNNlI/AAAAAAAABGw/ZHmeu_Eheh8/s400/9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289926120480519762" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Bharmour: A small town near Chamba is around 7000 ft.<br />It is well know for temples. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharmour">More info</a><br />Photo By Varun<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">To reach this place we had to make it to Bharmour. Bharmour is a small town near Chamba. There is no direct bus to Bharmour from Dalhousie, so we took a bus to Chamba. This is the second time we have come to Chamba, previously during the trek. We reached Chamba late and couldn’t get any bus to Bharmour. We halted at Chamba and took the first bus out next morning to Bharmour. The route was pretty dangerous with lots of steep bends and bumpy roads. The scenery was breathtaking. I observed that not once did the bus driver honk, something I found amusing. I come from a place where people honk to the car behind them. We reached Bharmour at <st1:time hour="11" minute="0" st="on">11:00 am</st1:time>. With some snooping around we found that the forest department had jeep services to Kugti. We were a bit late so we decide to hire a cab to take us there. We were told that the cab would drop us near Kugti, but to actually reach the village we had to walk 6km as there were no roads. Another problem was the stay. The forest dept official told us that we might get permission to stay in their guest house. If that doesn’t happen there is no other place to go.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmXBOokECI/AAAAAAAABGo/J2LusytFBjc/s1600-h/8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmXBOokECI/AAAAAAAABGo/J2LusytFBjc/s400/8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289925284687253538" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Frozen River: On the way to Kugti one can frozen rivers and falls<br />Photo By Uttaran<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"> Knowing the risk involved we decided to push on. The route to Kugti was really bad and it took us nearly 2 hours to reach that place. Once there, the cab driver told us that it was 6km walk straight. It was all up hill and after a while we started feeling<span style=""> </span>tired and cold. We realized that there were no humans around and it was really deserted. After 3 hours we finally managed to reach the village.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmZxrAqIwI/AAAAAAAABG4/PApU1CdS3RY/s1600-h/10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmZxrAqIwI/AAAAAAAABG4/PApU1CdS3RY/s400/10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289928315961484034" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kugti Village: A small remote village is last village in the range.<br />There is no road to this village. People travel on foot or mule.<br />There is no telephonic communication facilities.<br />Photo By Uttaran<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">The village was small but very beautiful and clean. The man in charge of the guest house refused to let us stay. We knew we were screwed. Knowing our problem the guest house in charge let us stay in his house. We realized that we had actually taken the kids room and they all had to adjust in a single room. The dinner we had there was simple but really tasty. We hit the bed at <st1:time hour="22" minute="0" st="on">10:00 pm</st1:time>. Next morning we decided to go to a small temple nearby.<span style=""> </span>The steepness of the path we were taking incremented our determination to see god decremented till we reached an “I” give up” point. We ditched the temple for trek in adjacent mountains. Satisfied with the small trek we decided to head back to the village. We need to trek back to the point where the cab dropped us last time.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmbM-w4mKI/AAAAAAAABHA/2-mkfhALBnA/s1600-h/11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmbM-w4mKI/AAAAAAAABHA/2-mkfhALBnA/s400/11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289929884632127650" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A small shack we stayed in<br />Photo By Varun<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">We had arranged for a cab to pick us up. After a quick breakfast / lunch session we packed our bags, thanked the family for the stay and hit the road. This time it was mostly down hill. We reached the spot much earlier than we expected. After a short wait the cab arrived to pick us up. We reached Bharmour at <st1:time hour="15" minute="30" st="on">3:30</st1:time>, immediately boarded a bus to Chamba. We had another connecting bus from Chamba to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Amritsar</st1:city></st1:place> at <st1:time hour="23" minute="0" st="on">11:00 pm</st1:time>. We celebrated the New Year’s Eve at Chamba with a little vodka. The journey to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Amritsar</st1:city></st1:place> was cold and bumpy. After checking into a hotel in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Amritsar</st1:city></st1:place>, we went site seeing. Waga border, <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Golden</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Temple</st1:placetype></st1:place> and Lassi were the best of the lot. We took the night train to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">New Delhi</st1:city></st1:place> bringing an end to the adventurous and fun filled holidays.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmcUfk1ahI/AAAAAAAABHI/uiQmYWUB3zU/s1600-h/12.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmcUfk1ahI/AAAAAAAABHI/uiQmYWUB3zU/s400/12.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289931113210669586" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Temple<br />Photo By Varun<br /></span></span></div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">There is no part 5 as the return journey was not all that exciting. We were exhausted. The one thing I have not mentioned is the “Yeah” symptom. Our Junglee is know to use the term “Yeah” to express Happiness / Satisfaction etc, and now each one of us started using it for every little thing.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-6320752413112161502009-01-10T19:28:00.000-08:002009-01-10T23:18:41.619-08:00An Account Of Winter Trek-08 Part 3<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-IN" >The Trek (4 days)<br /></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br />Dear Diary,<o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p>We started off at <st1:time hour="7" minute="0" st="on">7:00 am</st1:time> to our first destination Kalatop. The trek was pretty easy and most first timers can pull it off. Kalatop is around 8000ft. Kunfu Pande has got the nack of taking decent photographs and we managed to get some really good pics here. Munching the chikkis given to us we made way through the forest. We had to wait once in a while to let others catch up. By <st1:time hour="10" minute="0" st="on">10:00 am</st1:time><st1:time hour="13" minute="0" st="on">1:00 pm</st1:time>.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWl6pJxY30I/AAAAAAAABFI/sLohHAvNWMk/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWl6pJxY30I/AAAAAAAABFI/sLohHAvNWMk/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289894084739653442" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Pir Panjal Ranges is the part of the middle himalayas.<br />This Beautiful mountain ranges can be seen on the way to Kalatop.<br />With a average height of 13,000 ft it a beautiful site to see.<br />Photo : Varun<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6033809003769656538&postID=632075241311216150"> More info</a><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"> The next part of the journey was much more beautiful. We again walked through the woods and it was simply amazing. Pande got used to camera settings so we decided to take our own time and were last in the group. In spite of the delays we reached the camp 2 hours early and spent sometime lying around in the sun and then we were allotted rooms to stay. I must admit it was damn cold and we had really small rooms to fit 15 people in.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmCINCrxpI/AAAAAAAABFw/4McIWxHOsT0/s1600-h/2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmCINCrxpI/AAAAAAAABFw/4McIWxHOsT0/s400/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289902314774840978" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Evening at Kalatop. With a height of 8500 ft its a stunning<br />location. The sky as seen from here is a sight to cherish.<br />Photo By Cheezo. <a href="http://himachaltourism.gov.in/post/Kalatop.aspx">More info</a><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">Despite the initial discomfort we were awed by the beauty of the place. The sky was so clear and we could see millions of stars. If only my child hood dream had come true this would have been the place to setup the research centre. Reading the previous line I am sure Pande and Cheezo would point me to a video of Randy Pausch. We were asked to join the camp fire for some rounds of singing / talent show. We were not really keen on this as were having a lot of fun pulling each others legs. We ditched it and went strolling in the park. This is when Hemanth enlightened us with some Cheezo blunders in Sar-Pass trek. The next day, was a long trek to Khajjiar, also known as the mini-Swiss of <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>. This turned out to be a slightly tough trek.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmEkh1rVlI/AAAAAAAABF4/Qqr0HSPbvE0/s1600-h/3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmEkh1rVlI/AAAAAAAABF4/Qqr0HSPbvE0/s400/3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289905000417023570" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Route To Khajjiar. 12km trek in the thick forest is good experience<br />Photo By Varun<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">Again most of the journey was through the forest. We saw kids selling flowers on the pathway. They would wait till the full group passes by and then take a shortcut to intercept us in the next stop. Cheezo was in a race with these kids, and it was a funny sight. Our hero lost badly. Again we were the last in the group, and took our time for photographs. All along we had kids running around offering porter services to trekkers. Some of the older people did use the service but rest of us refused.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmNBRqPf5I/AAAAAAAABGI/agoOqEHzdgI/s1600-h/4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmNBRqPf5I/AAAAAAAABGI/agoOqEHzdgI/s400/4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289914290383323026" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Young entrepreneurs : Kids living in jungle provide various<br />services like tea stalls, snacks, souvenirs, and porter.<br />Photo By Uttaran<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">We reached Khajjiar in the evening and enjoyed roaming around. It’s a commercial tourist place with nothing interesting there. The camp was slightly bigger than the previous one and we had enough space in the room.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmPUt2YfoI/AAAAAAAABGQ/ErD87XP_9lQ/s1600-h/5.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmPUt2YfoI/AAAAAAAABGQ/ErD87XP_9lQ/s400/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289916823391207042" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Khajjiar: Also know as the mini-swiss of India. This place was<br />created by an asteroid. This is a busy tourist location. <a href="http://hpchamba.nic.in/destkhajjiar.htm">More info</a><br />Photo By Cheezo<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">You must understand that it’s inevitable for a group of guys to stop discussing ‘A’ jokes and so the saga continued. The pinnacle was reached when there was a joke about fruits, at that moment we decided to shut up and go to bed. Ozzy realized that I was snoring and wanted to record my snore. Alas I don’t snore it was the guy next to me. They were disappointed with their failure and finally went to bed.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmSDH-BqFI/AAAAAAAABGY/AuGsd67lcsI/s1600-h/6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmSDH-BqFI/AAAAAAAABGY/AuGsd67lcsI/s400/6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289919819699824722" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A beautiful island enroute Chamba valley. Chamba is little<br />town near Khajjiar. Chamba is a district and a commercial place<br />for the tourists. Photo By Arun<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">Chamba, our next camp was relatively close and it was all downhill. Our camp leader told us to take our time to climb down as we have small distance to cover. We were last once again. We started to pace up towards the end, not because of fear of being left behind but more so to do with the intense discussion between Myself, Cheezo and Pande.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmTegf2LiI/AAAAAAAABGg/MAJ4mQ-9XoI/s1600-h/7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWmTegf2LiI/AAAAAAAABGg/MAJ4mQ-9XoI/s400/7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289921389652225570" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >C</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">ity of Chamba. <a href="http://hpchamba.nic.in/history.htm">More info</a><br />Photo By Varun<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">Chamba valley, a big town, was our last camp. We were asked to go around Chamba and shop if needed. Once in the market area the girls did all the shopping and we were busy hunting for non-veg. We spotted a decent hotel and had our early dinner. This end of our trek, and most of the folks left to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Delhi</st1:city></st1:place> from Dalhousie the next day. We had an extended holiday and we had no idea where we want to spend the next 3 days. We reached Dalhousie at <st1:time hour="11" minute="0" st="on">11:00 am</st1:time> and got ready for our extended vacation. The only problem was where? <a href="http://blazerguns.blogspot.com/2009/01/account-of-winter-trek-08-part-4.html">Click here for part 4 </a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-86955198036196894112009-01-10T18:50:00.001-08:002009-01-10T22:46:36.242-08:00An Account Of Winter Trek-08 Part 2<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Trip to Dalhousie & Acclimatization Day</span><o:p></o:p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p>Dear Diary,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">We reached Pathankot early in the morning and got ourselves good hot parathas for breakfast. After an hour wait at the bus stand we finally boarded a bus to Dalhousie. Bad roads were a way of life in HP so we dug into the minimally cushioned seats and listened to music. After an uneventful bus ride we reached Dalhousie at around <st1:time minute="0" hour="17" st="on">5:00 pm</st1:time>. We reported to the base camp and took all our blankets and sleeping bags from the organizers.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWCvEmvolrI/AAAAAAAAAhw/F7N1A3MEydc/s640/dsc02380.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 410px; height: 367px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWCvEmvolrI/AAAAAAAAAhw/F7N1A3MEydc/s640/dsc02380.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The base camp at Dalhousie. You can decent facilities and good food. A nice lawn overlooking the camp is for exercising as well as relaxing. Photo taken by Varun</span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">After our dinner which was pretty delicious we had a camp fire without fire. Participants from the previous batch entertained us with jokes and songs. I have to admit though they were fun, we were all in a different mood. The day ended and we retired to our bunks. The next day was Acclimatization day and we were made to get up and exercise at <st1:time minute="0" hour="5" st="on">5:00 am</st1:time>. There we met the rest of the gang (Mini and co, who had arrived late). Pande gave us some LMAO moments when the instructor caught him not exercising. After an hour of exercising, we were asked to go back to base camp for breakfast.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlipUlzIlI/AAAAAAAABEY/sLXTFe6jUPk/s1600-h/goat"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlipUlzIlI/AAAAAAAABEY/sLXTFe6jUPk/s200/goat" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289867699364766290" border="0" /></a></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Stray Mountain Goat found roaming around in Dalhousie.<br />Picture taken by Cheezo</span></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">Aerosmith sang... <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:100%;">“I met a Blind Man<br />Who thought me how to see”,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="" lang="EN-IN">I guess that applies to us except the fact that he didn’t teach us directions. We got lost yet again. All 5 of us took the wrong way and it took us 2km of walking to realize the mistake. Sure enough we were late for breakfast and also delayed the start of acclimatization day. After a hurried breakfast we were on our way to a 3km casual trek where we got to introduce ourselves and get to know others in the group. We had people from Maharastra, <st1:place st="on">Gujarat</st1:place> and Tamilnadu. But the most misbehaved group was from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Bangalore</st1:city></st1:place>. It’s unfair to put that label on all the folks from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Bangalore</st1:city></st1:place> as it was us who were the hooligans. One useful thing we did when we returned from the trek was to clean up Dalhousie. We began collecting as many plastic bags lying around as possible and dumped them in bin. We were also able to inspire others to do similar act.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlknOwNnLI/AAAAAAAABEg/SCt62pZdXcY/s1600-h/garbage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlknOwNnLI/AAAAAAAABEg/SCt62pZdXcY/s320/garbage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289869862461349042" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Cleaning up Dalhousie. Thats a stupid pose though ;)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Photo taken by Varun</span><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="" lang="EN-IN"><br /><br />This is about the time when Arun managed to get his new nickname. So back in the bunkers we already started off with ‘A’ jokes and were having a blast, we even came up with very funny patentable ideas. <a href="http://blazerguns.blogspot.com/2009/01/account-of-winter-trek-08-part-3.html">Click here for Part 3</a>.<br /></span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-51473227151945777552009-01-09T20:26:00.000-08:002009-01-10T23:21:05.341-08:00An Account Of Winter Trek-08 Part 1For a change I decided to blog about this trip “My Diary” style. This was one the best trip I had ever been on. I have decided to share every little detail of the trip as I remember, censoring out the stuff that’s not meant for all. So here it goes…<br /><br /><strong>Train Journey from Bangalore to New Delhi & Geographically Challenged Kunfu-Pande</strong><br /><br />Dear Diary,<br />We boarded the Karnataka Express around 7 in the evening. Every time I board a train, there is an expectation that a hot chick would be my co-passenger and this time it was no different. Like always expectation turned to disappointment when an elderly couple took the remaining 3 seats. Leaving behind the initial setback, we decided to girl-hunt the compartment. Satisfied with our efforts, we decided to settle down and discuss about the trek plans. In a session of fast paced no-holds-bar jokes exchange I regretfully let out a story from my college days earning me yet another nick name to the already over populated array. We spent the next day playing cards and listening to music. I often wondered what makes a decent group of boys/men/old men go wacky when it is to do with ‘A’ jokes. I guess all guys think alike. We ended an uneventful day with some wacky jokes from Arun and Uttaran and smart ass comments from the “old” man. By now we had already caught on the “Yeah” symptom. I will be back with more about this later. We reached New Delhi at 11:00 am and met Mr. Jog at the station and we decided to eat at Karims. I’ll skip the details of the lunch but for the record it was the best non-veg lunch I had in a while.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlaPL1P3-I/AAAAAAAABD4/VTpg8L4d6wA/s1600-h/karims"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SWlaPL1P3-I/AAAAAAAABD4/VTpg8L4d6wA/s400/karims" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289858454244024290" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br />Photo Taken @ Karims: Situated near Jama Masjid is a must place to go if you are a meat lover. This is said to be a restaurant opened by the Mugal Emperors Cooks. There are many branches that have opened up all over the city of Delhi but nothing matches the original. A word of caution, it takes quite an effort to reach the place and many might find it dirty but if you are a foodie this is the place to go. Pic Taken By Cheezo</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This kick starts the second episode of Part 1. We thought, I say that again “thought” that Kunfu-Pande being a local boy would know Delhi well. That would go down as the biggest mistake of the trek. Pande and I had our shares of goof-ups in Bangalore, but we could always escape by declaring that we were outsiders. Our very own Pande promised to take us for the movie Madagascar 2, but we ended up in a cine hall that played that stupid SRK flick. You have to forgive me, but I can’t even mention that name of the movie in my blog. It’s an insult. After couple of calls to Junglee we decided that we shall pass away the time by roaming in the streets. We soon realized that we need to hit a pub and enjoy some music. Our Pande once again delighted us with the news that he knew a ROCK pub. After roaming around in all the wrong directions we finally made it to the ROCK pub that turned out to be Sports Bar that played MJ. We finally ended up in Barista. I was too sober to remember what happened next, so we skip to Part 2. <a href="http://blazerguns.blogspot.com/2009/01/account-of-winter-trek-08-part-2.html">Click here for part 2</a>.varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-24521388439456852912008-12-02T22:23:00.000-08:002008-12-04T02:17:57.418-08:00Jethro Tull - A Night Of Entralling Music<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STetYkLFU6I/AAAAAAAAAes/yCj7j9kTkPs/s1600-h/02122008427.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STetYkLFU6I/AAAAAAAAAes/yCj7j9kTkPs/s400/02122008427.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275876126026453922" border="0" /></a><br />Just minutes before i could enter the concert arena, I could'nt help myself wondering if its going to be good show. For one, i was not a big fan classical/hindhustani music nor had i heard much of Jethro Tull. It was obvious that it was too late thinking about it as we have already purchased the tickets. I was the one to pull in more company for the concert so all more reason for me to be worried about the quality of the music that will be played. So it was Me, Uttaran, Ozzy, Arun and Prerna, with 3 of them having little or no prior concert experience. I have heard few Jethro Tull numbers and i liked them, but not much of Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the Pandit Ravi Shankar. The first thing we had in mind as soon as we entered the arena was to gobble up some unhealthy food and thats exactly what we did. The concert started at around 7:15 PM and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull introduced Anoushka and her band. She started off with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Raag Jog </span>in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aaditaalam. </span>The splendid sound of sitar and tabala gelled well with the cold weather to give a promising start. She mellowed down with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Raag Panchamsigara </span>her dad's composition which was not so much to my liking but it was great anyway. She went on to play another song which iam not sure what it was. But it was overall a superb performance. This has convinced me to try out Anoushka's works. After the first set, we were eagerly waiting for Tull to take stage. The second set was purely JT, and they started off with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Living In The Past</span>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STettAHc0bI/AAAAAAAAAe0/P0WrpT6xCcU/s1600-h/moto_0253.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STettAHc0bI/AAAAAAAAAe0/P0WrpT6xCcU/s320/moto_0253.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275876477124792754" border="0" /></a><br />I initially found Ian's voice a bit shaky but it improved a lot as the song proceeded. Although not my favorite Tull song it was enjoyable. The next track was <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mercy, </span>brilliant track, the guitar solos were very good and above all Ian rocked! Tull kicked in with a more familiar song <span style="font-weight: bold;">Too Old To Rock n Roll </span>and dedicated it to Sir Mick Jagger as we all know as the one the oldest rock stars to survive the new millennium. The frequency at which Ian was changing instruments in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavy Horses, </span>goes to show how talented he is as a musician. At this point Junglee was busy jumping here and there to avoid the pot smoking idiots. Just for the record there were many. Uttaran and me were particularly interested in 2 girls in front of us who were high. We wanted to try our luck if you know what i mean. After one and half hour into the concert the moment i was personally waiting for arrived. The opening notes of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thick As A Brick </span>brought in the nostalgic feeling. That feeling only a few individuals can cherish. I personally love that song, especially the lyrics. I would pay any amount to watch JT perform that song again. Then came the magnum opus of JT, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aqualung </span>brilliant as usual. That marked the end of set 2. The last set would be some fusion between JT and Anoushka. I was not sure how this would workout as i never been to this kind of fusion concert. It turned out to be one of the best concerts i attended to. The third said was beyond brilliance. They have done a superb job in mixing two unique sounds together. The set started of with a new composition just for this tour called <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tea With Anoushka, </span>which was lovely blend of guitar and sitar. It was slow to start but picked up momentum getting the crowd to sway. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Celtic Cradle </span>the next song that Ian introduced to crowd was simply mind blowing. True to his words it was indeed Irish music with sitar and flute as the main instruments. The music was very different and it had a lounge music feel. I guess all of us throughly enjoyed it. Moving on, Ian wanted to play <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mother Goose </span>for the crowd. He brought in Anoushka's band members to have a tabla, flute and sitar jamming with guitar, drums and keyboard. Uttaran was bit skeptical as it was well known Jethro Tull number and might spoil the whole sound with sitar. Again they have outdone themselves it gelled very well and the outcome was enthralling piece of music. Ian and Ravi Chandra Kullur (Anoushka's flautist) had a jamming session where they both tried to raise the bar higher and higher. Ian jammed with Anoushka and then there was a tabala and drums jamming.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STeuBQNsTaI/AAAAAAAAAe8/3wLN_6uZ9K4/s1600-h/02122008429.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/STeuBQNsTaI/AAAAAAAAAe8/3wLN_6uZ9K4/s400/02122008429.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275876825043324322" border="0" /></a><br />Ozzy Looks Doped!!<br /><br /></div>It was a really extended version of Mother Goose but was enjoyable. No rock show is done without and encore, so the band was in the stage for the last song and it was none other than <span style="font-weight: bold;">Locomotive Breath</span>. The show ended on a high note. I mean that "literally", as lots of people were stoned. After an hour wait to get out we finally and drove back kicking into the interstellar overdrive.varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-14991078222890176382008-11-26T00:30:00.001-08:002008-11-26T00:30:11.169-08:00Dummy Post<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>anki tell me if its working!!!!<br/></div>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-27105427154929038032008-11-04T00:33:00.000-08:002008-11-04T00:37:06.453-08:00My Washing M/C Going Bonkers!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SRAJcIJPgkI/AAAAAAAAAeM/hr5nDoxxLBY/s1600-h/09102008049.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SRAJcIJPgkI/AAAAAAAAAeM/hr5nDoxxLBY/s400/09102008049.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264718343223345730" border="0" /></a><br />My washing machine started revolting after months of washing my dirty clothes :)varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-34683441914061637362008-09-30T22:43:00.000-07:002008-09-30T23:01:49.176-07:00Kellogg's Pyramid!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SOMSADNUL-I/AAAAAAAAAcw/vr6dzS6c8Ik/s1600-h/01102008048.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SOMSADNUL-I/AAAAAAAAAcw/vr6dzS6c8Ik/s400/01102008048.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252061382514585570" border="0" /></a><br />Kellogg's Wheat Flakes<br /></div><br />This is the amount of breakfast cereals we (2 of us) consume in 22 days. We stock it up at the start of the month! Is this normal? I begin to wonder if this type of diet is actually going to help us in the long run. We have already said no to puri, dosa, vada, pongal some of the main south indian dishes, so what is left is the western style food, cereals. what do you folks think?varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-25172803228096040432008-09-16T04:54:00.001-07:002008-09-16T04:56:22.111-07:00My Personal Tribute Richard Wright<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I heard the news that Rick Wright one of the original members of the band Pink Floyd, has passed away. He died of cancer at the age of 65. This will go down as one of the worst days of my life. People reading this post might find it silly that iam mourning for a person (a musician) whom i have not known or met personally. I agree i don't know him personally but his music has made me what iam today. Pink Floyd's music has always been very personal to me. I don't like to share that with anyone. Every time i hear "Wish you were here" i burst out crying as it related to my very close friend i lost. I can honestly say it was Pink Floyd that was the inspiration for my success in life. Iam very lucky to have discovered such brilliant music at a young age. Rick, i don't know if there is really a "Great gig in the sky", if so shine on you crazy diamond.</div>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-58784637126218143072008-09-08T04:24:00.000-07:002008-09-08T08:04:12.292-07:00Remembering: My Cousin's WeddingIts kind of hard to believe that my cousin sister is married. I just wanted to write something about this special event in my family. I remember the rants we had about marriage and what we want and we dont want. Somehow it was me and her who were the shameless rebels of our family. We always wanted to breakaway from tradition in any possible ways. Thus came the discussion on how many guest we will invite? and what we will do? what we wont do? , the list goes on and on. <span class="fullpost">One thing for sure was the fact that our saying will have no impact as far as parents were concerned. I remember the days when she was really fussy , fighting with her father for every little things he wanted her to do. Some instances include her refusal to look at any horoscopes sent to her, not willing to talk to suitable bridegrooms chosen by her father and so on. She entered her second phase where she suddenly changed from brashness to shyness and spent all her time including office hours over the phone talking to Raja. She let go her stand on how the wedding is to be conducted and let her father take care of it. She soon became the scrape goat for all of us and boy! we loved it. Everyone of us used to tease her but she always took it in good spirit. I was over the moon on day of her wedding. Everything was going as per plan and i was playing the bakara part in the wedding. It never occurred to me that this would be last time i would be seeing her before she takes off to US. It was all of sudden realization that a person you have known all your life is moving on and chances of seeing her whenever i like are very less. I guess iam not the only one with mixed emotions. Iam very good at hiding my emotions so on the day of wedding i goofed around and made fun of both the bride and groom. When i got time for myself after the wedding i was really sad. I guess, it must be same for everyone close to her. Even if i make it to the US in future there is very less chance of sharing the same level of bonding as before. Things will be never be the same. I understand that we have now grown up and ready to take serious responsibilities of life. Its just so hard for rest to understand and be mature. She had moved on, she has a family of her own and i would soon have mine. I will cherish the best moments we had together for rest of my life. From this moment its a new beginning for them and iam happy for them. If you guys are reading this, i wish you all the very best for your future.</span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-57589022177807165612008-08-30T23:33:00.000-07:002008-09-08T03:41:32.702-07:00Skandagiri TrekSkandagiri is 73km from Bangalore. Located at an altitude of 1750 mts, its a beautiful location for moderate trekking. This is essentially a night trek, but we decided to trek in the morning as girls were accompanying us. The trekking day started off with me searching for ATM at 4:30 AM. <span class="fullpost">I then picked up Manish and Uttaran. Arun and Kiran were right on time. So the only people who were late at the start point(EGL) were Ozzy and Prerna.There can never be a trek without at least one person getting late. We never thought getting out of the city would be a problem, but it turns out Uttaran (Our Navigator) has not done his "classwork". We were roaming around the city to find the exit to Bellary road. Finally, we were out and cruising along the highway. Reached Chikbalapur at 7:30 AM, and soon found our way to basecamp of Skandagiri. We parked our cars at basecamp, and found a guide for the trek. Although a guide is not needed for the morning trek, we decided to hire him nonetheless. We started the climb around 8:00AM, and it took us 3 hours to reach the top. We had few first timers with us, so we had to stop at regular intervals for them. Irrespective of the stops we made it to the top in good time. On the way we saw all the 6 circular fort walls as stated in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandagiri">wiki</a> .<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMSxf4QHZaI/AAAAAAAAAbU/DYYrBd1Q_Jk/s1600-h/p8290072.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMSxf4QHZaI/AAAAAAAAAbU/DYYrBd1Q_Jk/s400/p8290072.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243511027400140194" border="0" /></a><br />A View From The Top<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>There were supposed to be two unexplored caves which are python infected. We didn't get a chance to see them, but if i ever go there again, thats something i want to see. Prerna was struggling, as the climb was steep. Apart from a few statements like "You guys carry on, ill be here. Pick me up when you come down", "I don't think i can make it" she mustered enough energy to reach the top. Energy bars must have done the trick :) . Ozzy was not doing any better either, he conveniently declared the trek as Fitness Awareness Session. While Arun and Uttaran, our official photographers were busy shooting pics, we were enjoying the scenic beauty form the hill. We could see mist and lush green trees all around us. Manish showed us a beautiful spot to rest and nap for a while but we ignored it at that moment.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMS5_ofCzDI/AAAAAAAAAbk/JV6p0fDCELQ/s1600-h/p8290074.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMS5_ofCzDI/AAAAAAAAAbk/JV6p0fDCELQ/s400/p8290074.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243520369016622130" border="0" /></a><br />Another View<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>That was a big mistake because, on the way down we could not get to that spot as it was already occupied by "shrill voiced" college girls. We finally managed to conquer the hill only to find no shade at the top. There was nothing there except a small temple.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMSy7TwlrHI/AAAAAAAAAbc/8PK2hZXd-dk/s1600-h/p8290081.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMSy7TwlrHI/AAAAAAAAAbc/8PK2hZXd-dk/s400/p8290081.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243512598152195186" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMS7LGd96YI/AAAAAAAAAbs/oa8oENw6iRk/s1600-h/p8290045.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SMS7LGd96YI/AAAAAAAAAbs/oa8oENw6iRk/s400/p8290045.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243521665555360130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Photo Time Folks!!<br /><br /></div>The place was dirty, and filled with plastic papers and bottles. Alas! the beauty of the place was spoilt by irresponsible city idiots. It was scorching hot and no place for us to hide. After searching around a bit we settled down in a place and started our regular chitchats. The topic of discussion was none other than our Sunflower boy. We seriously need to find better topic to discuss. We had some food, so we got busy munching them. Prerna had made some rolls which were delicious and in matter of minutes it was over. It was very clear why this place is meant for night trek. There are no tress or rocks on top for shade. So by 12:30 PM, we decided to climbdown and stop at a place for lunch, which never happened. Climbing down was also a little tough as it was steep. So much so that everyone there managed to come up with a theory of why goats can climb down comfortably than humans. Since Prerna was the one leading the pack and was pretty comfortable than she was when climbing up, Arun nicknamed her "The Goat". Ozzy and Manish were falling behind and the reason being few "Natural Beauties" ;-).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLthkFVNoyI/AAAAAAAAAbE/IUpg4M-VcgQ/s1600-h/dsci0052.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLthkFVNoyI/AAAAAAAAAbE/IUpg4M-VcgQ/s400/dsci0052.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240889863910040354" border="0" /></a><br />Climbing Down The Hill With "The Goat" Leading The Pack<br /></div><br />We reached the basecamp by 2:30 PM. It was blistering hot. On our way to Bangalore we decided to stop at a road side Dhaba for lunch. We found one soon after a sudden downpour. It was rather strange to see the weather change so suddenly. Nonetheless, it was awesome driving in the rain and with our CJ (car jockey) Arun playing superb rock number i had no complain.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLtjEIUw2LI/AAAAAAAAAbM/5X__94pumhg/s1600-h/dsci0065.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLtjEIUw2LI/AAAAAAAAAbM/5X__94pumhg/s400/dsci0065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240891513980901554" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">A Funny Notice<br /></div>We had a long lunch session discussing topics from liquor to linux and finally reached Bangalore at 5:30 PM. It was a fun trek and iam looking forward for more. And before i forget, kudos to Kiran for dirtying her "Orbit White Shoes".</span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-72486152545866846462008-08-28T04:37:00.000-07:002008-08-28T04:56:28.049-07:00Excited About Trek To Skandagiri!!This is all in all uttaran's idea. Initially i was hesitant about Skandagiri as i was planning the same trek with another group. I realized that might not happen as my other group is full of ditcher's. This is the chance to make it there. We made all our plans, we will start at 5:00 am from egl and hope to return back by 7:00pm. In our usual long tea breaks we decided what stuff to be carried. We are 6 of us taking 2 cars. Me and Ozzy are the car drivers. Arun might bring another person along, not decided yet. These folks want me to cook at the peak!! Iam not sure if thats gonna happen.varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-92181589041818010772008-08-26T06:19:00.000-07:002008-08-26T22:22:37.253-07:00Testing The New TemplateThis really not a post, but just to test the new template. I might not del this post after all.<br />Wanna know more ?<br /><span class="fullpost">This is supposed to be hidden, lets see if this works, or else ill be back to square 1. Btw, iam done with getting a new license plate attached to the car, iam happy now.Done it!!! now my read more... works on IE and FF</span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-48362021537550450232008-08-25T07:46:00.000-07:002008-08-27T21:03:32.122-07:00When traditions conflict modern outlookJust few days to go for my cousin's wedding, iam a nervous wreck. First, i will be asked to wear dothi which i have never worn all my life. I feel very insecure with the traditional outfit. Just when iam getting accustomed to what i have to go through, there come another shocker. The Bridegroom is supposed to put a ring on my fingers!!! Isint is what people do in gay marriages?? I hoping none of the bridegroom's friends from US will attend the wedding.blazergunshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316513802483420974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-74375908173252883222008-08-25T07:36:00.000-07:002008-08-27T21:03:55.915-07:00Broke the number plate!!Yesterday, i managed to break the license number plate of my car. I admit it was my fault that i did not notice the bike parked behind my car. I could not see from my rare view mirror as the bike was parked using the side stand. It was totally not visible in the mirror causing the accident. Whom should i blame? Me/Guy Who parked the bike/The car manufactures ?. I know it has to be me, but i think the car manufactures must start having this beeping sensors in the rare, to identify any objects not seen through the mirror.blazergunshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316513802483420974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-77793561999599860372008-08-25T04:36:00.000-07:002008-08-28T04:34:03.979-07:00Trip To Kakinada & YanamPhani's wedding was something i was looking forward to. The wedding was to take place at Vizag and the reception at Kakinada. I planned on attending only the reception. The main attractions apart from the wedding was food. This town is supposed to be famous for crabs and peserets (dosa). I reached on 23rd morning and headed to the hotel. I met couple of my college friends who had also come for the reception.<span class="fullpost"> Knowing that the reception is only in the evening we decided to take a cab and head to Rajamundri. We wanted to spend sometime at the banks of river Godhavari. The moment we stepped outside the room, we felt the heat and we rushed back to the room. The rest of the day was spent watching movies on my laptop. The food at the reception was extraordinary. So after a heavy dinner we decided to take a cab to Yanam. Yanam is a union territory, about 24 km from Kakinada. Booze is supposed to damn cheap at Yanam, so we made sure we go there that very night. Little did we know that Yanam was a very small town and a decent accommodation was not possible. Besides it was already 10:30 pm and we were not in a position to search for a good motels. We settled down in a small stinking room with A/C. The toilets were so dirty that we decided to skip the morning downloads :-). We spent rest of the night boozing and talking about politics. On sunday morning we went around Yanam only to find a river bank. After few hours, we could no longer tolerate the heat.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLKiwyech2I/AAAAAAAAAa8/KPXnt5eZy1E/s1600-h/23082008011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SLKiwyech2I/AAAAAAAAAa8/KPXnt5eZy1E/s400/23082008011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238428275652200290" border="0" /></a><br />The River Bank, Yanam<br /></div><br />We boarded a bus back to Kakinada. We reached Kakinada around lunch time, so we walked around to find some hotel that serves Andhra meals. But it was so hot that we abandoned the search and settled for an A/C restaurant. It was time to say good bye to Kakinada, but the heat had other plans. It was not a very comfortable train journey from Kakinada to Bangalore. To make things worse there was a kid near me who was playing "spiderman" by hanging on the chains and jumping from one seat to another. It was a tiring journey but food was something i will remember for a long time.</span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-14207390481229580002008-08-19T23:05:00.001-07:002008-08-28T04:32:33.912-07:00A Week Of Iranian CinemaAfter the trek, it was time to relax. Nothing befitting than watch some good movies. Thats my idea of relaxation in city.I had 3 movies lined up for viewing. The first one was "The Dark Night", "Children Of Heaven" and "The Color Of Paradise". Dark Night is the latest batman flick which everyone is talking about.<span class="fullpost"> The "excellent" casting of Heath Ledger as joker is often raved about. I have seen it on dvd before and was not all that impressed about it. But after lot of people recommending me to go to the theaters, i decided to give it a shot. Surely it was not as bad as i thought. It was very good entertainer and worth a watch. I guess its the best batman movie so far. This blog entry is not to talk about this movie, rather about two Iranian cinemas i have seen on the same day. I was a bit skeptical of Iranian movies as i thought it would be about some religious nut cases trying to make a point. But it turns out to be way more than that. It makes Hollywood/Bollywood movies look dumb. I guess they are dumb when compared to this.<br /><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><br /><b>Children Of Heaven: (Majid Majidi)</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKu1H6ZtD7I/AAAAAAAAAas/1vszPh_RGKU/s1600-h/coh.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKu1H6ZtD7I/AAAAAAAAAas/1vszPh_RGKU/s400/coh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236478139289112498" border="0" /></a><br />This is a simple story of brother and sister living in poverty. The boy (brother) looses his sisters shoes at the market. Afraid to let their parents know of the loss, they begin sharing the one pair of shoes. The little girl wears it to school in the morning and the boy takes it from her in the afternoon. The story moves on with lovely incidences that bring you delight and awe. The movie's got some amazing moments to cherish. The pair is so natural with those furrowed faces, anxious knitted brows, range of sad faces they come up with make it worthy numerous viewing. My top three moments in the movie has to be , the scene where both the children sit in front of their parents and exchange glances and talk to each other in writing so as to avoid their parents overhearing the loss of the shoe. The scene where both the children follow the little girl who is using the "lost" pair of shoes, only to realize that they live in much more poverty than them. Finally, the climax, its a poetic finish to the story. Its a must watch for all people who love good movies. Frankly, Dark night stands no chance in front of this movie. No special effects, no big actors, no hi-funda concept, just purely human and lovable.<br /><br /><b>The Color Of Paradise: (Majid Majidi)</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKu1iEHjJzI/AAAAAAAAAa0/NWR7CZmsKZE/s1600-h/cop.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKu1iEHjJzI/AAAAAAAAAa0/NWR7CZmsKZE/s400/cop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236478588573919026" border="0" /></a><br />Another masterpiece from the same director. This also an Iranian film. The story is about a boy, who is rejected by his father because he is blind. The story goes on to show what feelings a person goes through when not liked by people he loves. The movie also shows the angle where the father feels that a blind son can never lift him off his poor economic status, hence only a burden. The boy is taken to his village to meet his grandma and his sisters and realizes that he would want to stay with them and study in their school rather than a blind school. The movies rolls out in slow pace with beautiful cinematography, breath taking scenery. I have never cried for any movie before until i saw this. It was truly touching when the father realizes his mistake and tries desperately to save his dying son. Its sure to make you cry. This is a movie with such strong message, human value,love and caring.<br /><br />I know theses movies are of different genre and not the same as action flick. But still it make me wonder why cant people take movies like this with good social message. Hats of to Majid Majidi for bring us such great cinema.<br /></div></span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-38752194570824938322008-08-17T22:08:00.000-07:002008-08-28T04:31:14.291-07:00Trek At MuthatiAfter week long anticipation of the trek at kodachadri (near shimoga) that was planned 1 month in advance, the air was filled with disappointment. We learnt that shimoga was flooded due to heavy rains and trek was not possible. The long awaited trek had come to an end even before it started. We had 3 days to kill and no plan in place. Sensing this few of my friends decided to head home rather than wasting their time in bangalore doing nothing. We were down to just 4. <span class="fullpost">We decided to drive down to nandhi hills near bangalore. We knew it was not a trekking spot, but at least it took us out of the city. Nandhi hills trip proved to be a good time pass, but there were far too many tourist to actually have fun. In matter of 15 mins we decided that we shall trek Muthati the next day. Raja and Joe were the people who worked out the logistics for the trek. I took the responsibility of driving and kicha, hmm sleeping. We started from bangalore at 6:30 AM on Saturday. We had enough food and water, as there would be nothing available there. We left the city via kanakapura road. The roads were very good, so we cruised at around 80kmph.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkPAT5cn1I/AAAAAAAAAZM/H5ZmWz3ieUw/s1600-h/del+085.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkPAT5cn1I/AAAAAAAAAZM/H5ZmWz3ieUw/s400/del+085.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235732539810553682" border="0" /></a>Raja, Me and Joe before we left bangalore.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />It was decided that we shall have our breakfast at some restaurant in kanakapura. We reached there around 7:45 AM. We found it difficult to get a decent place to eat. Even though there were small hotels on the way, we could not park our car. Finally we found one small hotel for breakfast with a good car park. By 8:10 AM we were on our way to a small village called Sathnur. The road at this stretch was bad and narrow so we decided to slow down. Once we reached Sathnur which was around 16km from Kanakapura, we took a deviation to head towards Muthati which is around 18km. The roads were narrow so we had to be careful. We were a bit surprised that most of the journey from Sathnur to Muthati was downhill.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkTGBFL7nI/AAAAAAAAAZU/7xF4rvEhtEQ/s1600-h/del+090.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkTGBFL7nI/AAAAAAAAAZU/7xF4rvEhtEQ/s400/del+090.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235737035885244018" border="0" /></a><br />Road from Sathnur to Muthati<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We reached Muthati around 9:15 AM. It was told that Muthati was a dirty place. But we did not find it that dirty. We found the forest department and payed Rs.150 per head for the trek. For a guide we had to pay Rs.150. The forest dept guy took the money and didnt give any receipt. On asking, he said if receipt is needed it will cost us more. We knew he was cheating us, but we decided to let go as we had to park our car in their camp and didnt want any trouble. Our guide's name was Nagaraj. He took us through a small hill to mark the starting point of the trek. We were told that there are various hills that can be covered in the trek depending upon difficulty and time. Joe had to catch a train at 10:00 pm the very same day, so we decided upon a trek route which would get us back by 3:00 pm. The route we decided was Muthati Base camp - Devanamundi Hills - Kalibetta - Mannabetta - Bheemeshwari - Muthati Base camp. We started our accent to reach Devanamundi which was the hardest part. It was very steep and by the time we reached our first destination we were exhausted. We rested for a while during which we saw the beauty of river cauvery flowing through the hills.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkZ86A_jYI/AAAAAAAAAZc/Fu5631aZBPo/s1600-h/del+107.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkZ86A_jYI/AAAAAAAAAZc/Fu5631aZBPo/s400/del+107.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235744575951179138" border="0" /></a><br />River Cauvery At Its Best<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The next destination was Kallibetta, and way to reach it was a slippery rocks, untamed thorny bushes and tall grass. We had difficult time walking through these obstacles. Our guide was very helpful in clearing the way for us. He even offered to carry one of our backpacks as kicha was struggling. The most difficult stage of the trek was to jump to the other side of a huge inclined rock with a cactus plant exposing all its thorns at us. Our guide did it with ease. I was a bit nervous and i approached with great caution. Our only grip was the rock and nothing else to hold on to. In the end it was successful manoeuvre and all of us got to the other side safely. I managed to get a thorn embedded in my palm.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkqNLRy_EI/AAAAAAAAAZk/WEGvPKOReE4/s1600-h/del+120.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkqNLRy_EI/AAAAAAAAAZk/WEGvPKOReE4/s400/del+120.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235762447649012802" border="0" /></a><br />Me relaxing after the thorn incident<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Our next stop was Mannabetta. This stretch was not as tedious as the previous ones. It was more like a stroll in the park. At this point we started noticing fresh elephant dung. Our guide cautioned us that an elephant had just crossed this path and we were to remain silent until we cross this stretch. Initially we were scared as none of us had seen a wild elephant. Soon fear gave away to excitement. We wanted to come face to face with a wild elephant. Suddenly we heard a noise near the thick bushes. We were sure it was an elephant. On further investigating we found that it was a lone woodcutter. Dismayed, we asked our guide if we can follow the elephant trail. He talked us out of it as it was very dangerous. We finally reached Mannabetta which had a watch tower. The scene from the watch tower was astounding. It was great view. It would have been good if we had an SLR.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkt2tZjk_I/AAAAAAAAAZs/TqmToDK-zOQ/s1600-h/del+130.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkt2tZjk_I/AAAAAAAAAZs/TqmToDK-zOQ/s400/del+130.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235766459717882866" border="0" /></a><br />A View From The Watch Tower<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We rested in the watch tower for few minutes before we continued our trek to Bheemeshwari. This was a piece of cake and we reached Bheemeshwari at 1:15 PM. We had tender coconut water and walked to the river bank for lunch. We saw a funny "No-Plastic Zone" sign on the way.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkv3ld8YgI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/3GWiH04mFS8/s1600-h/16082008001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkv3ld8YgI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/3GWiH04mFS8/s400/16082008001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235768673791926786" border="0" /></a><br />A Funny Notice<br /><div style="text-align: left;">We ate our full near the river cauvery. We decided to head back to the base camp. The route to base camp was not tough but we found it hard after the heavy meal. We went to another watch tower and rested there for sometime. The main problem was the number of accents and descents in the trek which tires a person quickly.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkyCgLl4bI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/JO-HOOtMQ-Q/s1600-h/del+141.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKkyCgLl4bI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/JO-HOOtMQ-Q/s400/del+141.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235771060374593970" border="0" /></a><br />Pretty Tired Kicha :-)<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Our guide promised us that route to base camp was very easy. It was easy and we managed to reach the road to base camp. We had to walk 6km on road to reach the destination. We were thirsty and tired. We walked as fast as we can to reach the camp. On the way we saw police patrol question the lorry filling up sand. We were not sure if it was illegal. We were also stopped by forest dept officials and inquired about our whereabouts. Our guide spoke to the officials and they let us go. We finally reached the base camp at 3:10 PM.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKk1pFudz5I/AAAAAAAAAaE/ZV6Wuw2cYYw/s1600-h/del+098.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yWIW9H6R1sc/SKk1pFudz5I/AAAAAAAAAaE/ZV6Wuw2cYYw/s400/del+098.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235775021822889874" border="0" /></a>Wow!! its finally over.<br /></div><br />There was a concern if i could drive back immediately after this tough trek. I decided to drive down without a break just to get away from a some IT folks who have gathered in the base camp for some team building activity. The drive back was tougher than i though due to exhaustion, but good old classic rock n roll kept me going with me singing "Highway to hell".<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Total Distance Of The trek : 20km</span><br /></div></div></div></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Difficulty : Medium</span></span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-26702203739111037782008-06-22T22:15:00.001-07:002008-08-28T04:36:07.986-07:00Cheezo's trip to blore!<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Long time since i blogged here. I was active on my tech blog though. Anyway, i just installed scribefire so decided to write a small blog. It might eventually turn out to be big. Its been an eventful week. My buddy Chirag had come down from pune to stay with me for a week. He moved to pune a few months back and had payed this visit to bangalore to "beg" his manager to let him continue working from pune.<span class="fullpost"><br /><b><br />Day 1</b> : The "blooper boy" (nick named after his Sar-pass trek) arrived on sunday morning. We went on a drive and we had our lunch at MTR. Wasted rest of the day.<br /><br /><b>Day 2 </b>: The Day started with us rushing off to the Railway reservation center to book Chirag's return ticket. This was a no work week for me, so i spent time reading and writing blogs, some technical articles. We had dinner at Suswadh and drozed off.<br /><br /><b>Day 3</b> : We were in office by 7:30 am. As Chirag guessed my meeting got cancelled and we were in early for nothing. Chirag was brimming with ideas today and wanted to patent it. He discussed with me and Uttaran. I did what i always do, find fault in the idea. Eventually we are agreed that idea was good and patentable. Another incident made the day worthy a mention. Ankita blurted out her intentions of leaving IBM if she is faced with such a "situation". This was a shocker for us, as we never thought she would leave IBM. We always pictured her as one of IBM grannies :-). No other useful work for me this week, so i decided to investigate this further. On careful analysis of various statements she made during the day we came to the conclusion that she would leave IBM when she gets married. I think i need to file a patent for my investigation procedure, co-author Chirag. Although she found our analysis stupid and funny we are not done yet ;-). I will write a seperate blog for her.<br /><br /><b>Day 4 :</b> Midweek, nothing dramatic happened, just the usual. More discussion on patent. Wait a sec...this stupid guy (Chirag) blabbered some of my secrets to my roommates. Iam going to get him for that someday. I had to go to BEL to investigate on a e1000 driver issue. I was off for the day and Chirag had to go to office on his own. I was surprised that Alphine had convinced Chirag that the former is smart and intelligent. Only we know the real truth. The e1000 issue turned out to be very interesting bug which i will blog on "Linux Hacks". Uttaran had come home with Chirag and we went out for dinner. I was able to resist the "ice cream" temptation even after numerous pleas from these guys to hit the parlor after dinner.<br /><br /><b>Day 5 :</b> Chirag declared that he would be spending the full day writing the draft for the patent. After few minor hiccups he managed a decent writeup. Chirag decided to visit his cousin's place in the evening and stayed back for the night. Ankita was very upset with lack of proper planning for the Team outing. Finally Suresh was able to pull everthing together.<br /><br /><b>Day 6:</b> Team outing day!! LTC finally has some fund for team outing. We went to Club Cabana. We were around 80 of us and it was great fun. Played cricket in the morning and went bowling. Some of us decided to hit the bar for some drinks. Initially Ankita decided to join us but opted out due to strong liquor smell in the bar (Health Pub). We had a quick breezer and joined others for lunch .Lazy afternoon was spent playing table tennis and fooseball. Chirag and Ozzy decided to stay out of water. Uttaran, Ego and Me hit the wavepool and relaxed. We decided to go to Purple Haze (Pub) in the evening. Ego ditched us, but cheezo, me and ozzy decided to go ahead with it. Some incidents in the pub reminded us that we are still not in college. More on that later. We were desperate to find people of our wavelenght, so on our way back home we barged into "Moocha" the coffee shop (I think that was name of the shop) . I wouldnt say we found what we were looking for, but we got rid of the headache with nice chillers (treat for the throat and eyes).<br /><b><br />Day 7: </b>We got up late and i started watching Seinfield. Cheezo kept reminding me that i had gone to the gym only once this week. I should have hit the gym after an unhealthy "last-night" bash. Lunch time! We decided to have some biriyani and Chirag headed to the station to catch the train back to pune.<br /><br />Thats it!! It was an eventful week, hoping to have some more of such weeks.<br /></div></span>varunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09636412072339634643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-74559708086092000572008-01-17T21:07:00.001-08:002008-08-27T21:05:41.330-07:00On Turning 25!!Today being my birthday, I realized that i have turned 25. Thats a quarter century. I suddenly realized iam OLD. I guess its time to reflect back on my life gone by. It had been one crazy journey, had fun most of the time. As far as i can remember i had always been rebellious, sometime it was good thing to do and sometimes bad, but i had learned to follow my heart very late in my life. I always believed in somebody else's words and never lived my life. Things did change for the better when i started taking control of my life. Iam happy that i have come a long way (positive) but also angry with myself to have lost out on many opportunity. Whether i have become a better person or not is for others to decide. There are 3 things i would like to share :<br /><br />1. Family : I have most amazing family, I say this from my bottom of my heart. My grandfather, the man i<br />admire the most. A very intelligent man with lots of moral values. Man of dignity and pride. Iam not here to write an essay so ill cut it short. Two things i love the most is his unwillingness<br /> to giveup on any work he takes up. I wish i had more of that quality. The second thing is he has<br /> a mind of his own. Iam still puzzled how he was able to break away from this superstitious<br /> belief shackle. Most people around me believe blindly on what "elders" say. He is different<br /> he always questions what was told to him and took in what he believed is right. I think thats<br />a great attitude. I will proudly say i have some of that in me. My grandmother and my mother both alike, kind, helpful and very supportive. My father, i miss him the most as he has always been away from the family due to his work. He is a great guy, very loving and supportive. And my sister and cousins, well, crazy bunch of kids always pestering me for something or the<br /> other. Great kids though.<br /><br />2. Friends: I have had and still have a amazing bunch of pals. They have been with me through all my ups<br /> and downs. We share a lot in common. I believe , key to friendship is to share the same<br /> wavelength. I love to meet new people and make friends. My initial shyness to talk freely with<br /> strangers held me up most of my life. I think i have changed for the better, time will tell. I think<br /> i will stop it here. If any of my crazy friends read this they will be laughing their ass off.<br /><br />3. Myself : I wanted to write this to reflect my 25 years but ended up writing some boring essay. Did i<br /> analyze my life? Yes i did, and i have achieved a lot of things but lost out on some. So ill end<br /> this with a apt song of my feelings.<br /><br />"Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain<br />You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today<br />And then one day you find ten years have got behind you<br />No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun<br />And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking<br />And racing around to come up behind you again<br />The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older<br />Shorter of breath and one day closer to death"<br /><br />If you never heard of this then you have wasted your life.blazergunshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316513802483420974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033809003769656538.post-20321399866349267082008-01-02T00:53:00.000-08:002008-08-27T21:06:19.212-07:00CCR all the way!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://daz.com/img/00/00/00/7776.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://daz.com/img/00/00/00/7776.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I would have never thought i will be writing a blog on the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). I first song i heard of this band was on a soundtrack of "Remember The Titans". The song "Around the bend" was very catchy and feel good number. As time passed i got really addicted to this song. I decided to try out their album, so i chose the Greatest Hits album. The first track of the album was "Proud mary", which was so good that i instantly liked it. As the album began to roll on i started to enjoy every bit of it. I could not believe that i missed such an impressive band. It is strange that this band never made a major impact with selling records as one would have expected. They seem to have this slow and feel good touch to the music unlike most rock bands around. Most of the songs had great lyrics, and good guitar work. Its a good replacement to Simon and Garfunkel. For all those folks out there who have not heard CCR, i suggest you hear them as they are very very good. So go on and grab a CCR album and enjoy.blazergunshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316513802483420974noreply@blogger.com0