Yet another unforgettable week-end!!

Last five days of my life have been a real roller coaster of emotions. I experienced all the basic emotions like Joy, Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Anticipation through out this period. I met the daughter of my friend who is just 20 days older, a bride, entering her new life, a 90 year old lady who is en-route to a temple, albeit her age and sickness, each one imparting a different kind of respect towards human life.

Man is a social animal and when the fear of society is taken off from that very man, he becomes a mere animal. There remains no difference between the thinking man and thoughtless dog or a pig. An incident that I experienced is so un-humanly that I was left in complete disgust towards the person who committed it. Very unfortunately, this man is a friend of mine with whom, I need to maintain the relationship for life.

On a very different occasion and another friend in the scene, I felt trust in the relationship solidified.

Overall, we are what we think. I know that I need to move forward remembering the incidents that impart positive energy to my thinking process and leave those, which will take me down. Thanks to my friends and well wishers who bestowed me with these emotions which will shape my personality.

Birthday Trip

I am not a spiritual guy by any standards. However, there has to be a force that is governing us. Religion is one name that we give to this unknown force and whenever we need help in matters that are out of our reach, we seek it from the religion.

I wanted this birthday to be extra special and decided to visit Tirupati to get the blessings of Lord Venkatesha. I have booked the accommodation and the Darshan three months in advance and failed to book the travel. So, started to Tirupati by bus. The travel took almost 16 hours and was uneventful.

Traveling alone has its own benefits: getting some quality time to think and evaluate about one's own life is one of them. I got ample time for this. I trekked up the hill on foot and it took 4 hours to reach the top. It was an awesome feeling to be in the temple town of Tirumala after 3 years. The Ramayan that played on the local radio puts anyone's heart at peace. It being the Brahmotsava's, the town is full of pilgrims and very busy.

After checking into the accommodation, that I booked earlier, I went for Darshan and was pleased to see the arrangements made by the Temple authorities for the pilgrims who walked to the abode. They gave me some basic meal to eat in the queue. This hospitality was not expected a couple of years back. I waited for 4 hours in the queue to see the almighty and the Darshan lasted less than 20 seconds. But all the pain was worth it.

After Darshan, I went to dinner and witnessed a strange phenomenon. I saw at least a dozen of newly weds enjoying their dinner. Where on Earth would I get such a glimpse?

The next day, it being my birthday, went to Darshan again and it took only an hour to meet the God.

I had to kill the whole day in Tirupati as my return journey is scheduled in the late evening. Tirupati is a small town. It doesn't have decent movie theaters or better shopping malls. If Lord Venkatesa miraculously vanish some day from his shrine, Tirupati will hold no importance whatsoever.

I managed to reach Kakinada, my home town, by next morning and spent some quality time with my family. Started to Vizag that evening and back to my routine, as usual...

Importance of Smiley in the informal communication.

I was chatting to two of my very close friends today and understood the importance of Smileys in the electronic communication.

There is a research that states 70% of communication in humans is Non-verbal. The facial expressions and body language comprise of this non verbal communication and the words that we speak form the verbal communication.

Some words are very harsh in nature, but sometimes used in teasing, when coupled with smile. But, in case of e-communication, the other party can not see our expressions. Smileys are one great innovation in e-communication.

Currently, I am in so much love with the emoticons. ;)

India, The World Champions

INDIA - A land of great diversity.

But, yesterday evening, the whole nation was united for a single cause. There was only one religion called Cricket and the biggest festival, the 2011 Cricket World Cup final, was in full swing. It was the clash between India's demigods and Sri Lankan lions. The Indians in the country and abroad were glued to the television sets in support to their team. Every Indian wished only one thing, a win in the finals and becoming the world champions. The Indian team reached the finals thrashing titans like Australia and Pakistan on their way.

Indian team was the favorite to lift the cup even before the start of the series. People were anticipating a fairytale end for Sachin Tendulkar, the man with virtually every record under his name, except a World cup victory. At the age of 38, this could be practically Sachin’s last World Cup and he wishes to win this one very badly. The sentiment is so strong that the team said that it will win the cup just for this man.

And as the history unfolded before the millions of spectators, India fought superbly and became the champions. Gambhir displayed the greatest nerve under pressure and Dhoni matched shot to shot with him. The world cup feather was added to Sachin’s cap in style. It was a very emotional moment for whole team.

The whole nation went into a kind of mass hysteria once India won the cup. Every city witnessed its masses on the streets dancing and singing. Every individual had his own way of expressing their happiness. Some danced to a bollywood number while some were emotionally singing the national anthem. The tri-color was everywhere. The traffic jams became a norm and yet the usually restless souls never complained.

The people of India are well known for their impatience and differences. Yet, a sporting event can put all those differences aside. It was a great feeling to see your favorite team winning, but witnessing the greatest party with no limitations whatsoever is a different thing altogether.

This happens only in India…

Destruction of statues on Tank Bund, Hyderabad.

Frankly speaking, there are no words to express my feelings. I don't know how one can think of future without respecting the past. And the irony is, our so called leaders are not even bothering about future of people.

I still remember my first visit to Hyderabad as a tourist when I was in 3rd class and walking down the tank bund and listening to stories of great people from my Mom and Dad.

Tanknund for me and my sister WAS Hyderabad...

Deshbhakti

Why do so called celebrities do not have minimum ethics about behaving in public? Doesn't they realize the after effects or are they indifferent towards the sentiments?

Here we have Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza having no respect to the Indian flag.



It's pathetic to see our idols behaving like this...

Much awaited Get-together with pals.

Me and my friends have been planning for an outing to Bapatla beach resort since almost six months as part of our annual getaway. And all the planning lead us promptly to the awaited day and I traveled to Bapatla from Vizag to join rest of the guys who came from Secunderabad.

Bapatla is a small town in Guntur district. The town is having many schools and colleges. The Agricultural College is a beauty in itself with a huge campus. I took an auto-rickshaw to reach Suryalanka beach, which is the most common and convenient mode of transport in the town.

The resort on the Suryalanka beach is maintained by APTDC (Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation) and it is very bad in terms of the infrastructure. The AC's won't work sometimes and the geysers are in competition as well. The restaurant is pathetic. It doesn't offer anything other than puri-bhaji for breakfast and chicken is the only non-vegetarian food for lunch and dinner. Beach resort without sea food is quite something. So we have to travel to the town which is 10kms for having a decent meal. Ghumaghumalu is a fair deal with variety.

If I need to say some positives about the resort, then I need to say that the resort is located right on the beach with excellent view from the cottage. Also, the route that you take to reach the resort from Bapatla is scenic.

We visited Vijayawada and Amaravati sparing a day out of our stay for 4 days. We had excellent darshan at both the abodes. Amaravati is a Shiva temple and Vijayawada is, His wife, Parvathi's. We all definitely must have had good past lives to have a great darshan.

One exciting thing in the journey was we had to cross a flowing river due to the recent floods on foot to reach Amaravati. It was scary and fun at the same time. Keeping one another lively through jokes and teases made it easier to venture into something that crazy. Ganga, Shiva's second wife gave us a darshan in this way, I guess.

On the whole, the trip was a great experience and we all are sure to cherish those moments for a life time. Our friendship grew stronger without any doubt by spending those 4 days together and I am already looking forward for another such nice time next September.

My Puri Trip.

This weekend, I had a chance to visit Puri and Bhubaneswar as part of my solo weekend getaway. Bhubaneswar is a small city and the first impression is that it has a very small Railway station with only four platforms to serve. Remember that this is the capital city of Orissa.

I took a train from Vizag at 12:10 AM and reached Bhubaneswar at 07:30 AM. I had 4 hours with me before my next train to Puri. I used this time to loiter around on the roads. One thing that caught my attention was that Litchis are being sold in heaps along the roadsides. Needless to say, that I filled my tummy with them. I also tasted Chanapuda which is a odissi sweet made of milk, cashew and sugar. This is not so great and happily can be missed.

I landed in Puri at around noon which is one hour ride on train from Bhubaneswar. I checked into Puri Hotel on the beach road in Swargadwara area. This area is the most happening part of the town with all the shops and stuff like that. The area is filled with countless number of sweet shops which very strangely prepare only one variety : Khaja. I somehow couldn't digest this fact of being robbed off with local sweets. But, the streets are also filled with stalls serving sea food. I got the biggest prawn I ever saw in my life for a mere 100 rupees. Upon picking the prawns from the lot, that is cut in front of us and cooked. I had 2 big prawns and a pamphret fish for dinner. Its like heaven for sea food. These stalls are right on the beach road beside Monginis cake shop, if you ever visit Puri.

Talking about heaven, Puri is the abode of Lord Jagannath and I visited the Lord as well. Believe me, this is the most commercial temple I have ever seen. Right from the entry till you leave the temple premises, people try to rob you in the name of God. Apart from that the temple is a beauty. It stands royally at 180 feet tall. And at the summit, there is a flag which will be changed everyday. There are four families under the temple payrolls which are trained to go to the top and change the flag. There are no steps and person going to the top will actually crawl up on the temple walls. You can visit the temple between 6 and 7 in the evening to witness this spectacle.

The sea in Puri is very rough. It best suits for surfing. But for others like me, the sea is very dangerous as the tides are very high. There is help available from the locals if you want to go into the sea though. And there are life guards watching over the sea for any mishaps. Baywatch sans babes and boobs...

The next morning, I visited Sun temple in Konark. This is roughly 40kms from Puri. The temple is an abode to Sun God and showcases the heights of Odissi architecture. The temple is in the shape of a chariot and is pulled by seven horses and the sanctum is the house of Sun God. Unfortunately, the temple is showing signs of aging and to save it, the government of India has filled the Sanctum with Stone to support the structure from collapsing inwards. The exterior is a majesty in itself.

From, Konark I came back to Bhubaneswar and visited the famous Lingaraj temple. This is a Shiva temple and it is also a pinnacle showcasing the Odissi architecture.The part of the town in which the temple is located is not developed much, making Bhubaneswar a perfect blend of culture and cosmopolis.

I took train to Vizag the next morning and back to my routine life...

Absurdity at its height.

Imagine you are a captured by the American authorities for masterminding a terror plot in India and you plea for safety.

The US government accepted the plea of David Coleman Headley who was the mastermind behind 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

New York Times article

Courtesy: Sumith's Tweet

My tastes...

I hated Shah Rukh Khan for his acting all through my life. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna just didn't work for me. He always acted Shah Rukh Khan on the screen instead of the character that he is playing.

But, hey he is at least playing himself. How many people in this world get a chance to be themselves in front of the whole world? I started loving him...

I started loving him after watching Living with a Superstar on Travel & Living channel. I started loving him after My Name is Khan

Kudos... Shah Rukh.. Way to go. Be your self off screen and on screen and we love you for what you are!