Is it going to be my last cuppa ! ( whims and fancies)

I am not a connoisseur of any cuisine or beverage, but definitely I am a food lover :)  and occasionally I enjoy drinking  coffee.  From past few weeks I have been drinking so much coffee that I have started to hate the taste of it, so I decided over a cup of coffee at 3.45 am in the morning today  that this should be my last cuppa  for at least a few weeks (read 4 here) and may be I will be able to enjoy coffee better after that or may be I will quit drinking this bitter sweet liquid altogether.
I know a lot of friends who drink coffee regularly may be like 3 times a day (or even more, I seem like a lesser evil here :P) and few of them who don't even drink coffee. I don't want to stop drinking coffee but also I don't want to drink it so much that I will start hating it (I guess I have reached the starting point of this phase now) because  I do love coffee once in a while, so my best bet now is to quit coffee for a month and see how it goes...
I wonder if I will be able to follow this even for a day! ( I am very flaky you see :P), I will let you know after tomorrow morning 9 am class ;) ...
People say where there is a will there is a way!! but I donno 'where' my will is and I certainly donno 'which' my way is :P ...

First time in Flight, First time in Mumbai to First time in Love :) (Part 3)

Oh man this travelogue does not seem to end. Even I am tired of writing, editing and rewriting. Ok this is the last and the final chapter, so please bare with me a little more.

Second Day in Mumbai. 6.30 am, I really did get up, hooray !  and got a bicycle to go around the campus :). First stop was for breakfast in Hostel 1. Then walked towards the IITB Hill top point. Its a small trek, gives a nice view of the IIT lake, Hiranandani buildings and the gaint pipes which carry water form the lake to the outside world. We Spent quite a lot of time at the top gazing at the lake and the buildings.

I was very excited as the next stop was Taj Hotel,  got ready, left IITB campus at 12 pm, waited in long queue to get tickets to the VT station and from there took a taxi to Taj.I was feeling a sense of elation, and I still have not been able to figure out why I was so much excited to enter a hotel. We got a table at the Sea Lounge, enjoyed the awesome view of the sea from our table with a milkshake and talked on and on and on. Roamed around Taj, had a tea at Shamiyana and then left Taj. We roamed in and around Taj, shopped a bit and then took a local to Andheri. And during the transit form VT to Andheri had the famous Mumbai Vada-Pav. Almost lost my purse in the VT station and almost fell down form one of the  locals. Took an auto to Juhu from the Andheri station which broke and could move no further in the middle of some road near to Juhu , hence had to walk  for almost half an hour but finally reached Juhu beach just before sunset. Oh man, what a crowd it was, it felt like the entire junta of Mumbai was on Juhu Beach. Sunset from the beach with your feet in the water - always a picture I would die for. There are a lot of eateries around the beach, had a kala Katta and the mouth watreing Pav bhaji. It was already time to head back to IIT campus. It was a nightmare getting back,  took autos and buses and two locals to reach Kanjurmarg. My slipper was a nuisance from day one as it was biting my feet, by now I could walk no more as it was almost eating away my feet. I walked bare foot in all the stations till we reached IIT campus.  We made it to IIT at 10.30. Ran to Gulmohar for dinner (it closes at 11 pm), ordered the last meal (literally, as we were the last customers) with a lassi which I relish even today. Chatted into the night, biked a bit around the campus and it was time for the final stop- 'IIT auditorium' for the Final Match of the FIFA World cup 2010. Match between Spain and Netherlands, none of the teams which I supported for so didn't matter who won. I was tired and the match was really boring (none of the teams had scored till then, it seemed like a defensive match from both sides) so took off after half the match time was over. Walked around the IIT campus and retired to bed at 2am which I still don't get as I could have easliy stayed awake for another 2 hours till 4 am which was the time I had to leave for the airport.  I somehow got up with great difficulty at 4 am and was amazed by the auto driver who without a fuss agreed to drive till the airport at that hour in the morning, you see in Bangalore rickshaw drivers are a real pain. We had a steaming hot Chai and I bade goodbye to the city I fell in love with for the first time in my life. With adios to my friend who made the trip memorable  I boarded my flight back to Bangalore and to Cisco to begin my week which felt very wrong after this wonderful trip :P

The spirit of the people, the locals which run so efficiently, the crowded streets, Marine Drive, The sea-link ride, the IIT campus, all of these exceeded my expectations and I just fell in love with this city. I always wanted to stay in Mumbai for one year to experience what it felt like to live in Mumbai, well this fascination started becuase of my brother who loves Bombay (well it was Bombay then when he lived there :)), he used to praise the spirit of the people so much that I always wanted to live in Mumbai and after these 2 days I have decided that I am for sure going live there for a year  :)

First time in Flight To First time in Mumbai to First time in Love :) (Part 2)

I reached Mumbai at 8 in the morning. It was raining. Had an apple and started Mumbai Darshan with Darshan :P. The first on the list was Bandra-Worli Sea link, so took an auto from the Santa Cruz Airport to Andheri station, form Andheri took a local to Bandra, and from there took a bus to Haji Ali Dragah so that we could ride on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and man Wow is the word. There is the sea, the multi story buildings and the slums and you are able to see all that from the middle of the sea because of this sea-link. Seeing such structures, my faith in engineering gets restored at least for that moment and I feel this great sense of reverence for my fellow engineers and for me too for being one among the clan :P. I will remember this bus ride for years to come :).

So the next stop was Haji Ali Dargah. It was almost 10 AM. My friend was telling me that, once his friend was locked inside the dargah  from 11 am till 5pm because of the high tides in the sea. I just ignored him thinking he was kidding. I saw a lot of people retuning back but very few were walking towards the dargah. The Dargah is in the middle of the sea with a pathway and yes there was security check before entering the pathway :). The pathway is kind of scary, it has not rails to hold on to and the waves keep  lashing on to the pathway continuously. Lots of people taking family pictures on the pathway and kids and elders alike swimming in that disgustingly dirty water without a worry :). The Dargah is not an architectural beauty but its a must see. Dargah has the tomb of Sayed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari. After paying my respects to the Tomb, I was clicking pics and loafing around, the sea looked peaceful and was about to sit for some time taking in the sea when someone told me that they were locking the Dargah from inside as the tides were raising, actually they had already locked it. I was requesting them desperately and convincing that I was a tourist and I didn't have time till 2 pm to wait inside. Thankfully the Mullah who was near the tomb told the guy to let me and my friend out, I thanked him and ran out of there. The tides were really high and there was nothing to stop them from hitting the pathway. We ran and ran till we reached the mainland. My dress was completely soaked with the dirty water form the sea. I heaved a sigh of relief as I could not imagine sitting inside the Dargah doing nothing till 2 PM. It was at this moment,  I was realized of the good luck which had continued since that morning  :)...

We were hungry, went in to a udupi hotel and had idli as usual. It was the area near to Mahalaxmi temple, my friend was giving me a lot of gyan of the area of which I don't remember  anything :P, we didn't enter the temple but saw it from outside. Took a cab from here to the Mahalaxmi station,and a train from there to Marine Drive. I instantly loved it. It was lively with all ages of people, youngsters, middle aged  and elderly. I can sit in front of the Ocean for hours and hours and hours...  and so I sat there for hours :) and walked along the 3km boulevard. Of course took a lot of pictures and few of them turned out to be quite interesting. By now my dress was kind of dry and may be it was the continuation of the good luck that it didn't rain much, I was told that, it was raining cats and dogs till that day in Mumbai, So I started thinking of the Converse of Murphy's Law :P ...

Next stop - Gateway of India, lot of crowd, lot of pictures and a glimpse of the mighty Taj Hotel. We were hungry and stopped for lunch in a nearby restaurant. Walked a lot in south Mumbai and then turned towards Fashion street looking out for cheap clothes and accessories. It was 5 pm already and we went to  Leopold's which I recalled having read in the book "Shanatharam" (one of my favourite books till date). Well I loved this place, its more fun if you are in a huge group, the place was filled with Firangis and was highly crowded, we waited for almost half an hour for a table. So far so good, and we headed towards IIT, Bombay. Took a Taxi till Church gate and from there a local till Kanjurmarg and an auto from there to the Mighty IIT campus. It started raining heavily then,  but didn't matter as we were already inside the campus. Freshened up, chatted with my friend and got accommodation in one of the girls hostels. It was dinner time, there is this restaurant called Gulmohar in the campus which serves awesome food for very affordable prices, hence ate to my heart's content. Had a longg walk in the IITB campus, talked on and on and finally around 1am retired for the day. Thought of recording the days events but was too sleepy and went into a deep sleep as soon as I hit the bed. Thus ended a lucky day with lots of nice things to remember for years to come.
That's how I din't write till today about my trip to Mumbai. Damn this bloody sleep :P 

ಡಿ.ವಿ.ಜಿ - ಒಂದು ಸ್ಮರಣೆ

ಬದುಕು ಜಟಕಾ ಬಂಡಿ, ವಿಧಿ ಅದರ ಸಾಹೇಬ
ಕುದುರೆ ನೀನ್, ಅವನು ಪೇಳ್ದಂತೆ ಪಯಣಿಗರು
ಮದುವೆಗೋ ಮಸಣಕೋ, ಬೇಕೆಂದ ಕಡೆಗೋಡು
ಪದ ಕುಸಿಯೆ ನೆಲವಿಹುದು - ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ
ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೋ  ಗೊಂದಲ, ಏನೂ ಬೇಡ, ಎಂಥದು ಬೇಡ, ಏನೋ ಒಂದೇ ಚಿಂತೆ. ನಾನು ನಿಂತಿರುವೆ, ಆದರೆ ಗಡಿಯಾರ ನಿಲ್ಲದು, ಸಮಯ ಓಡುತಿದೆ, ಜೀವನ ಸಾಗುತಿದೆ, ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ, ಯಾವ ಕಡೆಗೆ, ಒಂದೂ ತಿಳಿಯದು. ಇಂಥ ಯೋಚನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಳಿತಾಗ ನೆನಪಿಗೆ ಬಂದದ್ದು ಮೇಲಿನ ಪದ್ಯ. ಅದೆಂಥಹ ಅರ್ಥ, ಅದೆಂಥಹ ಕಲ್ಪನೆ,  ಆ ಕ್ಷಣಕ್ಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಮರೆತು, ಛೆ ಇನ್ನು ಡಿ.ವಿ.ಜಿ ಅವರ ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಓದ್ಬೇಕ್ಕಿತ್ತು ಅಂತ ಅನ್ನುಸ್ತ ಇದೆ :P

First time in Flight To First time in Mumbai to First time in Love :) (Part 1)

A long overdue memoir: 
The two most amazing days, when I fell in love for the first time in my life... - With the city of Mumbai :P  I myself was amazed at how happy I could really be, enjoy myself and the company I am with. I really don't remember the last time I was so happy. I forgot everything else for those two days and there was nothing but pure joy. 

I woke up on that saturday morning at 3.15 AM,  took a bath and got ready to leave for Mumbai. I guess it was my good luck, that my new room-mate knew how to ride a two wheeler and I dint have to walk for a kilometere at 3.30 in the morning to the bus stand. Thus the journey started with a positive note :). Reached Jayanagar 4th block bus stand at 3.45 AM and the BIAL bus arrived as per schedule at 4.15 AM and reached airport uneventfully at 5.15 AM. 

I was entering an airport for the first time in my life hence I was obviously excited :P. I had my PAN card and the online receipt ready at the departure gate, stood in the Indigo airlines queue for the Mumbai flight 6E 482, collected my boarding pass, went in for a security check and boarded the Indigo bus. I so much wanted a window seat on my first flight journey but had to be satisfied with an aisle seat. 

while I was frantically searching for the reclining button of the seat, the air hostesses came in for a safety demo and I tell you, to see them perform the routine for the first time was hilarious. Then came the captain's voice, announcing that we were begining our ascent. It was 6.10 AM. I put on my seat belt and waited for the take off. Experiencing take off for the first time felt good, it ran, rattled and then flew, and we were above the city in the clouds and then between the clouds. I was trying hard to get a peek of the ground from my ailse-seat, my neck started to hurt but I could not get a view :P, all I could manage to see were the clouds. My seat was becoming a nuisance as it was not reclining,  finally found the reclining button by asking the person sitting next to me. with that I slept off until I was woken up to put on my seat belt for the descent. And we landed in Mumbai :D. I went out in the Indigo Bus and then to the exit gate. I had a broad grin on my face :D as I saw my friend waiting for me. There it was, Aamchi Mumbai :). 

A day that was ... hmm "awesomest" !!!

11th Dec, 2010, it began with an anticipation of having a fun filled day, out of the routine. I love travelling, add to this the ingredients of good company, the stretch on highway 101 with mountains on one side and the clear blue ocean on the other, great music and the relief of having finished your exams the day before, yes travelling does feel like heaven :).

Strated at 9.15 am, (though we were supposed to start at 8.30, well I got up only at 8.30 :P), with a stop at thousand oaks and reached universal studios in the universal City around 11. Our 'good luck' began with the studio's systems being down, hence our passes not being stamped and viola we had a free tour of the Universal studios :P. We began our adventure of Universal studios with the house of horrors and surprisingly it was fun, followed by the terminator-2 3D show, with a prelude from the cyberdine "Suuuper" :) lady and the technology combined with reality of actors on-stage and on-screen simultaneously, made the show really really "suuuper". I have not watched any of the Terminator movies but after this show I have planned to watch Terminator-2 in its honor:P. This being the Christmas season there was  a giant Christmas tree and a patch of snow. Played in the snow for the first time here :) and loved it. On the way, met 'Donkey' of the "Shrekk movie",  and got ourselves an unlimited refillable bucket of Popcorn :D. Next stop was the Shrek 4D show where even we were involved in the action (us being the 4th Dimension).

Okay, now it was time for our picnic lunch of corn sandwich, and with our first refill of the popcorn we proceeded to the ultimate "simpsons ride" and waited for a like 25 min (which is supposedly a very short waiting time). Truly amazing it was !!! (the holography technology, just amazing). Next on the list was pop-corn refill  and the studio tour. The king-kong's Skull Island creation - just brilliant. (I don't have words to express other than superlatives for everything I saw this day). After the studio tour, time for another refill of popcorn and dinosaurs so Jurassic park it was! Finally a ride to the mummy-land, the best roller-coaster ride till date on my list. we just could not get enough of it even after the second round :)...with a last refill of the pop-corn, and a patel pic in front of the "universal studios logo" we ended  our adventure of Universal studios,  and thanks to Manaaasa :P, Kumar, Karthik, Murali, Priya who made the day even more amazing :)

To complete the Day, Dosa in  an indian restaurant and "the entire day just felt like heaven :)".

:D

What do you do when you come across the perfect person you always imagined in your life?
hmm... every time you try to describe that person, you always end up  just repeating 'AWESOME' :D (like forever) ...