Out of hibernation

Apologies for the lack of posts coming from myself over the past few months. This has been the greatest hibernation I have succumbed to. I can as well use the traditional excuses of having been horrendously busy and stuff, but I choose not to. I have heard my friend (Varalu) say this thathuvam several times - you can always make time for things you want to. Hence, I refrain :)

But yeah, here's how it went - the past few months, a mix of good and sad times.

Get your bums on the saddle!!

I know I shouldn't be preaching this as I am not good at following it, thanks to my mind (it has this little inertia which opposes and combats any move/change that tends to disrupt my rhythm of daily conventional activities). But, I just came across this cool idea of commuting in Bangalore, shared in the Ignite Bangalore event and couldn't help passing it on to the readers.

Yeah! I am talking about "Bicyling in Bangalore" or rather "Biking in Bangalore" (if that would convince you ;)) With the growing pollution, crowd, commotion and fuel costs at its worst-best in Bangalore, this seems to be a perfectly feasible and last probable resort left for the people. I understand that , the elite-few who are already into this movement (an accidental pun??) or those newbies who are getting inspired, are susceptible to some cranky talks around. Facing the traffic one fine morning in a tiny bicycle with a constipated face madeup to look cool while you are actually getting stresssed out pedalling hard is disgusting indeed. It takes nerves and ***** to do something that invites a dozen souls to giggle at you. Perhaps, there would be a saturation limit when the roads can no longer hold automobiles anymore, when the traffic real-estate will become immensely precious and ways to optimize it will be talked of, a web of flyovers spanning the entire 3-D space would have been built and that's when the city might think of conversion to this mode of transport. This is certainly a great idea atleast for those who are willing to take it up. I have myself known a friend of mine, who bicycles through the city.

Why Bangalore makes it easy?
- Great weather all around the year
- Good wide pavements along most roads and there's a talk of cycling lanes too
- Prospects of social networking on the way is high in the city ;)

Positives
- Healthier - exercise built into your commute - the treadmills were inspired by bicycles, now it's time you revert back :)
- Fuel efficient (unaffected by lorry strikes and market)
- Often quicker (average speed) than cars/autos (this you 'll best realize when you drive short distances monitored by multiple junctions and during peak hours)
- Physically and mentally reduces the feel of congestion
- Reduced (rather nil) carbon footprint
- Talk to people on the route and build friends ;)

So, guys! get your bums on the saddle..


Links:
Bangalore Biker's Club
Blog@BumsOnTheSaddleDotCom

Wayanad Trip..

Readers,
Its been ages since my last post. I understand that the world has completely changed by now, several significant events have taken place since my last post :)

* Chandrayaan I launched
* Bush winning the Shoe-Dodging-ing World Title!
* Terrorists & NSG playing hide&seek at Taj
* Obama trying desperately to ban at least the Jokes/Ads on Recession (if not recession itself)

I agree and wholeheartedly accept that my lethargy and only my lethargy attributed to this hibernation. Many a posts still lie as drafts and I don't wanna publish them as they would be now chronologically insane and invite abuses from readers more than anything else :P

So yeah, I have been a regular blogger (at least of my travel-logs) and this column is just to do justice to this ancient practice of mine. It was exactly an year after the Trip to Chikmaglur (NOT to be interpreted as Chick-maglur!), Dec 20 2008, that this one happened.

Wayanad, 255 kms from Bangalore is supposedly called The Plantation District of Kerala and true to its name, it was as we later discovered. A weekend was ahead and we (6 of us) decided to make the best of it. I managed to get hold of a Tavera (I am becoming more inclined to this vehicle and will vouch for it as my favourite trip vehicle, following one of my trip to Tirupathi with Driver_Basavaraj), with high-quality DVD/CD players and a more calm and composed driver than I had seen before. The new guy was rather more posh with a bluetooth headset, had fitted his vehicle with a LCD television screen and the vechicle looked clean. Accomodation was taken care of, we booked a resort at Kenichira called Hilia Resort , where mallu twin sisters Cicy and Elsy (I 'm not cooking things up here!!) were awaiting our arrival cleaning their koart-yaard (mallu for court yard) for our campfire :)

00:30 am, Dec 20 - we started off. The trip till Mysore was cool, none of us slept, there were music and jokes to keep us bright & awake. Highlights were the spike-strips that we so eagerly watched for in the Bangalore-Mysore highway and claimed points :) And ofcourse, Bino told us how our car looked like an aircraft and the highway a runway..
I bet anyone who travels to mysore on a private car will/must stop at one of the CCDs on the way. The ambience these have during the night can never be explained. We had some basic snacks & chai there, but Abheek had some visual entertainment as well :)








The route we followed was: Bangalore >> Mysore >> Nanganund >> Gundlupet >> Sulthan Bathery >> Kalpetta (Wayanad)



As we neared Sulthan Bathery, the stretch of bamboo forests began and we drove past the Bandipur Wild Life Santuary. It was exactly the time when Bino grabbed the front seat and a sudden enthu siezed him and he began paining people (esp his bong prey) to sleep. Our idea was to visit one of the falls in Wayanad and then head to our resort. It wasn't until 9 am that we reached Meenmutty Falls, supposedly one of the biggest falls in Wayanad. I hadn't the slightest idea that this was gonna be a cleaverly disguised intensive trekking as well.

A guide accompanied us into the forests leading to the waterfall and the path got more and more wilder and unnavigable as we moved on. Fatigue took charge and frequent sutta breaks became a necessity! We kept paining the guide at regular intervals to tell us how far we had come close to the fall & about the return route. After a stretch, we could see ropes tied to trees along the mud way to help people move ahead. After an hour of intense trekking, we reached a point from where we could see the Meenmutty falls flowing down from the hills. There was bright sunshine now and it made the water dazzle in a rainbow attire. The rocks where the falls hit the floor, threw off little white flakes of water. It was a visual treat to watch, the roar of water being a stress-reliever. We dropped our initial decision to return after a glimpse of the falls, deciding to instead head till the foot of the waterfalls and probably drench ourselves in the water :)





But, getting to that point wasn't easy either, the rocks were horrendously slippery and gaining a firm foothold was as difficult as trying to touch your nose with the tongue ;) (Well, don't try it now..). Failing our grip, we were once even dragged into the water. I was reminded of the Anjuna Beach in Goa, where wandering in the beach was equivalently painful, the situation there being worse because of dozens of crabs lying clinged onto the rocks. So, reach we did finally and my little Sony Ericsson k530 2MP camera captured all images there (I am glad it's still working despite being profusely drenched). We perched on top of a rock which was continuously hit by the falls and turned around. Boy! Looking at the huge column of water 200 meters high, cascading down towards us and getting us wet was simply smashing. Meenmutty was undoubtedly a prospective candidate for the next Liril Ad ;)



It was now noon and the trek back to our car made us starving souls. Our guide brought us to a hut where they had buttermilk and water as energy-replenishers. Finding a way to Hilia Resort, Kenichira now became a pain. We drove on & on, Cicy and Elsy directing us to all wierd places and routes. But, Hilia Resort wasn't that bad after all. We checked in quick, had a quick shower and darted off to the kitchen where Manu (our patient, strong mallu-englished attendent) served us food. Personally, I loved the food at that moment of hunger and dived into all possible dishes. There were deserts as well - "Sir, please taik these Benena", Manu remarked :)

After this heavy lunch, we decided to take a nap. And Bino, who had brought with him his sentimental tent (his life-time ambition to sleep in a tent was going to materialize!), unpacked his stuff. We found a lawn nearby where we began setting the tent. I was excited to spend the entire night in it. After a heavy nap (an oxymoron??), we woke up in the evening and called for the campfire which was lit just beside the lawn in the koart-yard (as Cicy & Elcy had sincerely mentioned). It was then that we spotted few hammocks in the garden and in the scurry to capture one for myself, I tripped not noticing a broad ditch and sprained my toe!



We ordered some starters sitting beside the campfire. While we were wondering what to talk about, Bino began unravelling his secret questions ;) The ones over which he had pondered for long and for whom the answers he never knew. We argued on ones like - "Euthenesia being legal or not!", "AI taking over the world entirely in near future?" and a holistic talk about topics like marriage, sex etc.. We finally realized that everybody has a opinion of his own and establishing any conclusion/consensus wasn't always the right thing to do. But, ofcourse the brainstorming was good :) I remembered my college days, it was during the exam nights that we used to do the popular group study. We would discuss about all social/political/xyz/.. topics. Couple of hours before the semester exams, there would be arguments on why Sachin is better than Ganguly, why Bush was an a******, which famous business idea would revolutionize the world, hot vs homely girls :P, etc.. We decided that we shall have the dinner and come back to the campfire and spend some time late night before we went to bed. Bino & me planned to take the tent. We stayed awake till 2 am singing/screaming in the night (ironically we were the only people in that house, so it didn't matter), till sleep and the pain in my toe almost took over and I had to crash in the tent. It was cozy and warm, we zipped the tent from inside and kept little windows open. It was a cool feeling to lie down listening to sounds in the forest and the moist fragrance of the trees around. I had a sound sleep and woke up at only 10 am next morning. We had planned to wake up early and visit most places before we left Wayanad, but it seemed like we were late already. Calling up Manu, we decided we would pack up, have lunch and leave to Bangalore, visiting two places on the way, Pookot Lake & Lakkidi Hill View. The lunch was taking a while and we thought of exploring the Hilia Resort garden where we found that they had impressive recreational facilities as well - a badminton court, TableTennis, Carrom and a Cricket Kit!

We had our last food @ Hilia and left the place at 3:30 pm. It was getting dark and we had to cover ~35-40 kms to reach the Pookot Lake. When we did finally, we realized that we were late by 5 mins and the boating was closed for the day :( There was now no choice but to walk around the lake and we moved on not knowing what else to do. But, this walk was significant in several aspects - we had the most hilarious of all conversations and came up with some business plans as well. Sanjay and Bino devised their Healthy Cigarrettes product, cigarrettes which could basically serve a purpose to heal people of ailments and be used universally with the statuatory warning - Cigarrette smoking is now RECOMMENDED for good health :) A little further, we found a whole new concept of social networking <<content suppressed>>..



Taking couple of snaps, we headed to the Lakkidi View Point, which was just a roadside on a hill, where from one could see the district of Wayanad below. The highway to Calicut meandered amongst the forests with little lights of vehicles flashing (it was getting dark now and cold as well). We spent couple of minutes there and started off back to Bangalore, it was 6:30 pm now.



By the time we reached Mysore, we were shit hungry and were lucky enough to get into a good hotel for dinner. And after the food, we decided to relax and played a movie in our Tavera. When we got back home (Bangalore) it was 2 pm.

Overall, an extremely memorable trip - full of Bino ;) We missed out few other places in Wayanad, which are noteably good as well. If you are planning to visit Wayanad, please note the following:
1) Wayanad, is not a town by itself. It's an entire district.
2) Other Popular places (apart from ones mentioned above) of visit are - Muthanga Wildlife Santuary, Chembra Peak, Edakkal Caves, Soochipara Falls, Kuruva Dweep
3) A weekend may not be sufficient to explore all of them, especially if you are planning to relax at a resort :)

TWU kicks off..

ThoughtWorks University (Batch 9)



Trip1 : Bangalore City tour - Jun 6, '08
Places Covered
* Bull Temple
* Lalbagh Botanical Gardens
* Lunch @ Koshys, St Marks Rd


Trip2 : Trip to Mascal - Jun 14, '08


TWU Graduation Function : July 18 '08

Know your new Airport..

The new Bengaluru International Airport will commence operations on Friday, May 23, 2008 (00:01 hours of May 23). All flights landing and departing after midnight will operate from the new airport and flights arriving before midnight (on May 22, 2008) and departing after midnight will also operate from the new airport. As the date fast approaches, some insights into the whole new passenger experience that awaits you.

Departure from Bengaluru International Airport
Please find information on the location of the airport and the various means of transport how to get there in the attached materials. Once you arrived at the airport, enter the check in hall, which is common for domestic and international passengers. There are 53 Check In Counters and 18 Self check in machines. There is no need to screen your bag before check in.

Once you have checked in, follow the domestic and international departure gate signs on the first floor and proceed through security. Post security check you have on offer a wide array of retail and food & beverage outlets. There are also comfortable lounges for first and business class passengers. Free Wi-Fi Internet is also available for those carrying their laptops.

Arrival at Bengaluru International Airport

The airport is equipped with adequate number of immigration counters and baggage carousels for quick baggage retrieval. A large duty free shop is also located in the baggage claim area.
The following means of transport are available from day one:
* AC Volvo Buses operated by BMTC to key destinations in the city (Indicative Price to MG Road: Rs. 120)
*Reliable professional taxi services operated by MERU and Easycabs, with a metered fare (Indicative Rate to MG Road: Rs. 600)
*Premium Limousines operated by Hertz and Akbar Travels – cars with drivers as well as self driven cars are available.

However, Please note that all international passengers would be charged a user development fee of Rs 1070/- per ticket.

This way your travel experience should be to “Breeze in & Breeze Out”.





Documents for your reference:

Traffic & Parking Map - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Traffic & Parking Map

Airport Shuttle Service - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Airport Shuttle Service

Easy Guide - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Easy Guide

Landmark Map



(Courtesy: Official Website of Bengaluru International Airport)

"Honesty is the best Policy" (Proof & Contradiction)

I am not gonna take you into any proverbial training here! It was an auto-walah who raised this saying (fyi, he did it in English), and impressed us by his square actions.

[All conversation in red are by the auto-walah and are reproduced exactly.. He spoke in English, Mind you!]
I took an auto from Murugeshpalaya (a.k.a Chemfort vicinity), after having had a proper dinner @ Maduri Grand. I was with two of my friends (Antony, Varalu) and we began to chatter in Tamil. We had barely gone few mts that this guy grew interested in us - "Sir, Are you all from Tamil Nadu ? Which place are you from Sir ?".
"Yes, all belong to different places..". On hearing that one of us were from Chennai - "Sir, I would like to travel to Chennai and see the sea there!" (He grinned, glancing back at us, impressed by the literary effect he had successfully created). I was taken aback by his remarkably flawless syntax. Everybody speaks English, but this one was too polished & well laid out for an auto-walah. And so, we told him what he had to do to see the sea :) He seemed happy and continued (willing to converse more in English) - "Sir, how is my English ?". I was too overwhelmed and hit him with my appeciation - "Wah! kya english hai :)".
"Sir, I have been practising this language for the past one month, in just this small time I was able to learn this. I have been reading this newspaper regularly". And he showed us the Mid-Day Newspaper. "It is a very good feeling Sir. Everybody should learn English. Hindi is just our National language, but English is International language!". We nodded. It was a short ride and we soon got down. As we glanced at him to tell us the fare (for every Bangalorean who makes daily auto-trips, this is the most aweful moment with butterflies in his stomach while the auto-walah comes out with his G.P.F - greatest possible fare and presents his magical formula that helped him arrive at this stupendous figure!). He didn't budge, instead - "Sir, how much does the meter show ?". Then he took out his paper that would help him magnify the fare - "New rates sir, for 38 it comes to 40, look sir, correct ?". We would have given him any amount he demanded for the impression he had created, but he insisted - "Sir, it is the right of every passenger to see this and check". The G.P.F for him, pointed to Rs 60/-, which I happily paid (now this is what I called cent-percent Customer Satisfaction) and moved out wondering how the city would be had every auto-walah been like him.
As he rightly said - "Honesty is the best policy".
HENCE PROVED !

Now comes the contradiction, (I cite for this, an incident which occured on the same day, infact just couple of hours before we had dinner and got into the above said auto). We were returning from the brandfactory (marathahalli) in a BMTC bus and I held out the fare (which is also a G.P.F here in Bangalore, bus rates being mercilessly high) - 20 Rs. He gave me tkts which costed 18. I knew I had to get the change back, so waited as the conductor buzzed by to issue tkts to others at the other end of the bus. As my stop grew nearer, we asked him for the change for which made a jeering remark calling us software engineers and hinting at us not to make a big fuss about it. He finally pulled out the 2 Rs and tossed it to me, asking me for our tkts. I was under the impression that he wanted to cross-check and do some ksrtc fundae. But, he did something different. He got our tkts and handed them over to another fellow ! We were spellbound. This was the finest execution of day-robbery (regret : directly translated from its Tamil equivalent).
I have witnessed conductors get money & sneak away without issuing tkts. Others procrastinate issuing the change to passengers till its too late and the passengers let it go. I have often wondered about the number of commuters that BMTC serves and such petty incidents hit the corporation severly in terms of revenue. I must say the goverment takes heed of such acts and ensures people are issued tkts to the right place and at the right scale (leave alone the possibility of them not buying a tkt, its becoming the other way round - Conductors not issuing tkts!).
HENCE, CONTRADICTED !

Traffic Tamasha.. (Odd/Even Rule ??)

That Bengaluru is a genuine Garden City is a known & well-accepted fact, with adequate number of parks set everywhere and the wisest decision taken ever - retaining all those good old trees along the roads! But how long this city is going to inspire its inhabitants is a million-dollar question. With congestion developing all over the city and every possible space knit with flyovers, congested roads turning into a candidate for the highly popular one-way philosophy & over 200 new vehicles hitting roads everyday adding up to the already fragile network of roads (one-ways I would rather call them!), I see this cosmopolitan city inching towards a deadend !

Gone are the days when motorists stuck to the roads & traffic signs, new axioms have now emerged - follow the road when the signal shows green, follow the footpath when the signal shows red! The inventor of this new style of driving deserves sheer appreciation. Dangling up & down between the pavement & the road when the signal toggles, these prank loving auto-geeks make it miserable for a typical 'sadhu' driver to move ahead peacefully.

Traffic jams have become inevitable part of the daily life - I have seen the worst ones materialize and worsen in Airport Road and Outer-Ring Road (to mention just a few), wherein vehicles stay lined up for hours together without batting an eyelid. The capacity of roads in Bangalore is in total disproportion to the exorbitantly high number of vehicles plying, thus flushing out traffic from a junction or a signal is not a cakewalk. Statistics reveal that every km road has about 714 vehicles, hence proving that traffic density in bangalore is greatest. Read this wonderful post on Bangalore Jams.

The City Traffic Police has come up with a novel (thoroughly debatable though!) idea of introducing the alternate day system to reduce the congestion on roads (Source: Times of Indian, Jan 13). This rule will allow vehicles ending with odd and even registration numbers, respectively, to ply on alternate days. This means a vehicle owner takes out his/her vehicle on alternate days. By doing so, 30% reduction in the traffic is targeted. Government & Public Transport would be however exempted from this rule. Besides crunching the traffic down massively (a 30-50% decrease == massive), it would reduce pollution and promote use of public transport. But, again these are days of nanos and so if this rule gets a permanent nod, car buyers could go for two nano's (with odd & even registration respectively) thereby, not falling prey to the govt ;) Its now left to the govt to decide within a month's time whether the rule is to be approved or not. Meanwhile its a sit-n-debate time for the audience.

The govt could also take some time off and take some sane decisions regarding widening roads (esp because most of the roads are reported to be surrounded by ditches and wastelands) and limiting the number of vehicles being registered perday/perperson or whatsoever.


Other links I hit upon:
Driving India is a site dedicated to provide Driving Education to people.

Trip to Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur is situated in south western part of Karnataka. Carved against a mountainous canvas this beautiful place is full of surprises - lofty peaks, sparkling streams, lush forests and bracing mountain air. This district is primarily famous for its commercial crop - Coffee !

I got a handsome opportunity to explore the hospitality offered by Chikmagalur on Dec 22-23, when we planned a weekend trip to Chikmagalur. Getting the stats done and essential food procured, we left the chill weathered Bangalore at 4 am (Sat). Being just 9 of us, a tempo-traveller sufficed. Racing along the empty roads of Bangalore at that odd time of the day, I could find the wind literally freezing me.Having not slept the previous night, most of us got into fits of slumber. But the ultimate word was - "To not let anyone sleep !". And it worked I must say - for everybody kept talking. We took a tea-break and moved on.

A significant activity that occupied all of our minds during the journey was the "Wolf_Game", hats off to Bino for introducing it to us. Each one of us got so involved into the strategy/mindwork of the game that I must say we scarcely noticed it was time for breakfast. We were at Hassan, about 60 kms from Chikmagalur.

We planned to hit Chikgamagalur by noon if all went well. The roads were wide and clean and our driver was doing the best navigation possible. In couple of hours, we got into the Ghat Section, witnessing hilly passages into the unknown horizon. There were yellow grass meadows around and roads meandering uphill amidst them. By 12, Chikgamagalur arrived and we had to head for another 20 kms to our resort - TexWoods. It was surrounded by forests on all sides and offered a spectacular view of the entire Chikmagalur country. This is what their website spoke & I was eager to verify the same. We passed by the Honnala check post and then the road got worse. I was reminded of my childhood strides in Arunachal alongst the hilly slopes of the mountains where the roads used to be just enough to hold a jeep with hill on one side & steep abyss on the other. It was an identical scenario here, our vehicle bumping like it never had done before against the broken tar and tyring ahead. I looked around, it was concentrated vegetation all around with streaks of sunlight lighting our pathways. Desperate to ensnare the view around, I dashed against the camera, but was only partly successful owing to the mighty jerks. There were coffee plantations to be seen around and few cottages, but no TexWoods !! We kept moving and it took a while for our Resort to appear all of a sudden in view. It was relief at the end, we were hungry jackals by now.

We checked into TexWoods and had a refreshing lunch indeed. It was time now to look at the prospects available - we had Trekking, Fishing, Wildlife Safari in mind. But nothing materialized in the end as we slept off at 3 & our souls were woken up only by 7 in the eve. "Let's make the best time of the night at least" - thought we. Following a campfire lit by TexWoods, we had dinner and then sat down beside the swimming pool. I must say this was the best night I had ever been in. We had a full moon, plenty of food/drink by our side, music around (thanks to Bino & his band again !!), Ashish for his professional and fact-filled talk (despite the fact that he had swallowed in gallons and claimed he wasn't high !!), grass on the other side wherein we laid down in peace, forests all around. Noteworthy was the philosophical discussion that ensued (after couple of us decided we were not going to fall asleep so soon) - agenda included/not_restricted to "Defn of GOD", "Universe", "Existential Theory", etc. And I must say our discussion brought out a cocktail of wierd cum logical reasoning, which I would rather prefer to suppress due to an offensive touch ;)

Popular defn of GOD from Bino went along - "When u toss a coin, u get a tail or a head. GOD is the force that eventually decide that !". After a combination of philosophy+physics in the talk which carried us away very far & forth, we decided to take a stroll for a couple of metres to enjoy the forest and moonlight. But there was Ashish - "Come on man ! I am not doing this. Its pretty unsafe at this time of the night..". So we put off the idea, Bino turning around remarking "It's no fun getting along with a guy who's scared..". So we decided to hang around the resort amongst the car park & savour the ambience.

We were just busying ourselves with the surrounding, while I caught glimpse of something dark & hairy moving towards us. "Bloody hell ! It was a dark dog-like creature, having a bushy tail with its eyes sparkling green in the dark. We were petrified, "wat if it was an Wolf ?". "Do you think so" - I asked Bino. "Maybe, bt m not very sure" - was the reply. We suspected it to be a fox, but then it was way too confident & undeterred in its walk. It moved besides the car that was parked and came along the other side, turned around to have a clear view of us. Bino put off his cigarette (lest it be attracted by the fire), me and Ashish stood still pinned to the wall. Not a word to utter, for a moment I had butterflies in my stomach ! This creature then turned back & moved on. We fled into the resort rightaway, but our curious souls never stayed still, we wanted to know what that damn creature was. We spotted it coming along the same path again, then wiling around the resort, swimming pool and looking around as if he was the king of the resort. We took a close look from inside, it wasn't a fox, neither a wolf (for it would have pounced upon us on sight), seemed to be a dog probably wild in nature. Cutting off our endeavour, we got to bed still wondering what it could be. The next day we saw him again, moving along the same place and I managed to grab a image of him (shaky though).

Next day, we geared up for the Jungle Safari at the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. A jeep took us about 10 kms deep into the jungle, which was pretty much awoken by the sunlight and a previous jeep that had passed by. So we couldn't spot anything significant but the ride into the forest was enthralling.

Returning to have the breakfast at the resort, we decided to go fishing and then trek down to a stream in the forest. The idea of a stream amidst the jungle was inviting indeed. We walked along, our guide taking us to the fishing pond where we were given the baits and fishing rods to dip in & let the fishes fool us. We fished, fished & fished, but not a single fish to be fished, oh.. what the fish !! Our guide smiled at us sarcastically- he had caught four of them and we were still not even off the mark ! But more than the outcome, it was a spectacular feeling to sit down, staring into the pond, dipping our unlucky equipment into the water and look at the commotion that followed - fishes frantically closing in onto the bait. After an hour or so, we took a leave. There was a stream couple of kms ahead, with a wooden log over it. We crossed over just for the sake of doing it and then got into the water, beginning the fundamental splashing game. After having gotten drenched & more importantly satisfied that everyone else was drenched, we got out of the stream & trekked back. We were damn hungry by now and I longed desperately for some quantity food. We trekked via a different route this time and then a jeep took us to our resort, tired and hunger-laden souls that we were !

Having a refreshing shower & invigorating food, we bid adieu to TexWoods and subsequently Chikmagalur, reaching Bangalore by midnight. Ample fun & memorable stay @ TexWoods accomplished :)

Wonder Valley !

The place was aptly named "Wonder Valley", yet another place of fun & team exercise.
A group of 37 assembled at the Wonder Valley to hang out for a day & drench ourselves in a plethora of planning & adventure.

We were warmed up by the organizers there who made us stand in a circle & did those "energizers" which were the names given to such games. It was done to break apart the lethargy and reluctance among the people to freely participate in teamwork.

Dynamic Obstacle Course (DOC) was the next one, I must say this was the best Team Building Event I have ever come across. The whole course reminded me of Takeshi's Castle in POGO, which I had always wanted to try out. DOC though not so vigorous in degree was atleast similar in intention. Four teams were formed out of the 37 and each was asked to choose their own territories to play the game. Each team needs to go through 3 sectors and get to the other side. There are obstacles in each sector and the team needs to use the resources provided; poles and rope, to get from one side to the other.

So we began having a look at the resources we were given - two wooden poles, two ropes, and a drum (nay I call that a Baby). Yes, the drum was a portable one termed as the "Baby" in DOC game. The objective of the game was to carry the baby from one end to the other (of the entire territory ridden with various obstacles), without putting it down on the ground or handling it violently (by tossing him into air, etc..). In addition, all the team members had to also get over to the other end with their respective resources. The obstacles present were crossbars, swings, rubber tyres suspended from trees, free hanging ropes, stones and other artificially created ones. If a team member touched the ground while crossing over, he had come back & start over again. But the worst part said - "If you put down the baby, all of you need to come back to the starting point & begin again !!"

We were given 10 mins to devise our game plan. We needed to use the poles for walking over from one obstacle to another, exploring every possible way we could best beat the obstacles, keeping the baby safe with us. We could spot another team approaching from the other end. So it was going to be based on mutual cooperation. We both helped us in understanding the sectors each of us crossed and about how we overcame the obstacles.

It took an hour for completing the DOC. Having had lunch then, we were ready for the next activity - "rafting" which was to be exciting specially because it was we who were going to build out raft. The raw materials at our disposal were -
* Bamboos (12 ft, 6ft, 4ft)
* Rubber Cylinders (to be inflated)
* Ropes
The life-jackets, paddles were the common accessories.
We were given 10 mins to sketch the design of our raft and get it approved from our guides. Then we needed to procure the stuff & build the raft.
It was a novel experience out there learning how to set a raft and float on it.

Having built the raft, six of us could get into water with four guys paddling, two at front, two at the rear. Being built of merely bamboos and designed like a grid, we were thoroughly soaked in water. After frolicking in water, going out to three-fourths of the breadth of a lake (which our guides told us was about 60 ft deep), we had to return to our base.

We returned thoroughly drenched & the coffee that ensured was relishing indeed.
Overall a different experience for me :)

Catch the glimpse here :

PaintBall @ Yuyutsa..

Two weeks flew past after I joined my Internship @ Intel and my team was already craving for a "Quarterly", which was how our outings were branded as. And so our itinerary finally stood out promising an exciting finish of PaintBall.

The Agenda for the day long (Dec 7) event run as -
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10:30-12:00 (Comprised of collective team building activities)
12:00 (Lunch)
Post Lunch (PaintBall Game)

Here we go !! 15 of us set out in the typical IT-Garuda Vaahan (SWARAJ MAZDA), the eternally adapted vehicle for transporting all software engineers and IT analysts across the city. The weather in the city was not very promising but then we hoped that we would invent fun @ the end. The talk in the bus mainly focussed on the heroic and highly inspiring starlwarts of Tamil/Telugu Cinema viz - Vijaykanth, Balakrishna, etc..

After reaching the Confident Casacades Club at 10:30, it was now time for us to settle down at a shelter & plan our team building games. Finding a place was difficult, too many groups had already camped with their own agenda.

Having settled down, we divided ourselves into 3 teams and started off with simple ones like Newspaper Building (in which each team was required to build something out of newspapers). Our teams were supposed to build "Bridge", "Charminar", "Cubicle @ Intel" respectively. After couple of minutes, we got some reasonable pieces of architecture, which each of the teams justified & marketed overwhelmingly. For instance, The Cubicle was designed so that it had a Laptop, ergonomic chair, cupboard, labels, shelf & so on. It was overall a commendable team work. We had couple of other games involving linking random sets of pictures (which turned out an exotic fun to my surprise) & a MinersGame in which we had a 3x8 grid of black&white tiles & each team had to crossover from one end to the other, without stepping on certain tiles which had mines lying underneath them. It involved considerable presence of mind & memory.

It was 12 when we ended & proceeded to the Lunch arranged by the Cascades team.
It was drizzling by then & there was a shallow swimming pool wherein hell lots of school kids were tumbling, tossing each other and wildly diving into the water. We specifically spotted a guy (kid ofcourse) sporting a brown monkey cap, sweater, sitting composed on a chair & staring at the kids as if remarking - "What crazy fun are you having out there !!!" (I suggest you check him out in the pics below). It was awesome to see the diverse reaction that he displayed on his little face.

Lunch was a complete one - Soup to Desert, I don't intend to delve into any specific details.

Post Lunch was the game that we had planned for - PAINTBALL. I had heard of it from quite a lot of sources & the mixed remarks were :

* It might hurt you at times
* It a tiresome activity
* Ultimate fun

We reached the PaintBall spot & I now knew that all the conceptions I had of the game was going to unfold. So here it was before my eyes, two large netted game arena designed much akin to a military field wherein you are supposed to get into in teams of two with guns and protective gear & shoot your opponents with bullets (which were balls filled with paint). Each arena is basically stacked with bunkers facilitating each gunman to hide & march further shooting down their opponents. The bullets used are filled with paint & leave a traceable mark when they strike a person. So the bottomline is - you are out of the game if you get a mark on your body (helmet, gun or elsewhere).

We played three variations of the game -

1.Dead Man Out
The objective was simple. You team has to shoot down all your opponents.
Ideal strategies need to be followed by a team as to the formation, combat & firing their opponents. Once you are hit by a bullet (the paintball pellet spills spreading color on you), you come out of the battle field & watch the game from outside cheering up your team.
2. Center Flag
Aim is to capture the flag at the center and take it to the opponent's base. The team that accomplishes this first, wins. But hold, its not as simple as it may seem. You need to plan as to who gives the person carrying the flag a safety cover & safeguards him, keeping the opponents occupied by engaging them in crossfire.
3. Double Flag
There are two flags each at the base bunkers (the bunker where you hide initially & start the game). Your have a dual role to play - to capture your enemy's flag bringing it to your base & to defend your own flag. You need to execute this combo of defence & attack efficiently.

The game as such exposed huge fun with situations wherein people ran out of bullets & kept revolving around a bunker, people getting shot from behind without noticing their enemy having surrounded them, shots fired from distance of a meter or so (mind you, it hurts at times, especially if fired from so close a vicinity, afterall the bullets travel at a maximum speed of 80 miles an hour !), getting blows on the helmet (bull's eye !!). There are situations in which an the entire team gets out but for a single person & he is surrounded with all of his enemies pointing guns at him. The game drives sheer amount of thrill and fun.

After having completed our three games of PaintBall and couple of our team members injured (because they were shot at their limbs which werent protected properly & they were struck from a very close distance), we made a move.

We then had some snacks @ the club & returned. The experience we had was amazing, I would suggest the reader to go & try it out. It gives you a hands on idea of how a real combat firing could possibly turn out, without the danger of getting killed ;)

Have a luk @ the pics :


Contact:
Raju - 98454 48955
Sharon - 98456 97673
off - 25559316
http://www.yuyutsa.com