Om Shanti Om - Yeh film poori "filmi" hain

Starring

Shah Rukh Khan	.... Om Prakash Makhija / Om Kapoor
Deepika Padukone	.... Shantipriya / Sandy
Arjun Rampal	.... Mukesh Mehra
Kiron Kher	.... Bela Makhija
Shreyas Talpade	.... Pappu Master

Director : Farah Khan
Producer : Gauri Khan

Music Album : Om Shanti Om

Rating : **

I went to watch this movie on my mom's request. I wanted to show her the new Inox theatres opened in Nagpur.

A perfect diwali treat for most of the Indian and espically SRK fans. The film has all the ingredients in it what a commercial hindi masala movie should have.Is mvie mein drama hain , emotion hain, action, aur toh aur romance aur tradegy bhi hain. SRK is at his overacting best. After his good overacting in "Chak de....", this was another treat for me. Deepika Padukone as heard is sexy in the film. Thats was one good thing of the movie. Kirron kher is good with dialouges " Ek chuti bhar sindoor ..... ". The best part of the movie are the dialouges.

"Maa ka dil toh aisa hi hota hain......"
"Pitchar (movie) abhi baki hain mere dost...."
"Yeh meri filmi maa".

The movie has reincarnation. Similar to "karz" fame of Rishi kapoor. Om prakash Makija after 30 years becomes Om Kapoor in his incarnation role. Shreyas Talpade "Pappu Master" is good. and yes I missed the main actor "villian" Arjun Rampal. Arjun Rampal has done good acting in the film. he has short and sweet role in the film.

I liked only song in the film where all the actors of the film industry have come together for the song " OM SHANTI OM". Overall if you want to have entertainment, go for this movie and also if you are SRK fan ( Not like me).

Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Film: Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shiney Ahuja, Vidya Balan, Amisha Patel and Paresh Rawal.

Director: Priyadarshan

Rating: (Ok)

After a long time i had been to a movie. The last one i saw in theatre was Munnabhai II. I hoped this film to be good as it was a priyadarshan film. Early in the morning, I had read the reviews of the movie in Times of India, it was not encouraging .
The movie is a typical Priyadarshan film with his favourites cast in the movie, Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal. Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a remake of a Malyalam film, the 1993 'Manichitrathazhu'. Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a slap dash cross between suspense & comedy - there is a lot of psycho babble and then there is a lot of plain babble too. The first part of the movie has comic scenes. The second half is more of a psychological thriller. The plot revolves around a cursed house in which a couple comes to stay after 65 years. Askhay Kumar, a psychiatrist, is at his best in comic role, but Paresh Rawal is wasted in the movie. He has a short part to play in the film.Vidya Balan has done jsutification to her role and has acted better than her last film "Hey Baby". The last 15-20 minutes belong to her and she has made the most of it. The rest of the cast is boring and the acting is also average.Shiney Ahuja is average in his part, but Ameesha Patel is a total waste in the film. She should now stop acting i guess. Rajpal Yadav has done justice to his role.

There are a few scenes in the movie which are totally hilarious. The first one is the "maun wrat" scene by paresh rawal and his wife along with asrani. The next one is the entry of Akshay kumar where he is in a total sadhu's attire. The next 5 min there after are too good. ( My best scene ).

Bhool Bhulaiyaa is NOT an out-n-out comedy movie as its trailers suggest. It’s a thriller narrated in a very entertaining way.

Self Management

This is an expert taken from one of the sites....

You are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Learn to accept total responsibility for yourself. If you do not manage yourself, then you are letting others have control of your Life. These tips will help "you" manage "you."

Here is a list of things that help you in self management and which will in turn lead you to the path of success: -

-) Look at every new opportunity as an exciting and new-life experience.

-) Be a professional who exhibits self-confidence and self-assurance in your potential to complete any task.

-) Agree with yourself in advance that you will have a good attitude toward the upcoming task.

-) Frequently ask, "Is what I am doing right now moving me toward my goals?"

-) Do it right the first time and you will not have to take time later to fix it.

-) Accept responsibility for your job successes and failures. Do not look for a scapegoat.

-) Do not view things you do as a "job." View all activities as a challenge.

-) Use your subconscious mind by telling it to do what you do want. Instead of telling yourself, "I can't do that very well," say, "I can do this very well."-) Give yourself points for completing tasks on your "to-do" list in priority order. When you reach 10 points, reward yourself.

-) Practice your personal beliefs. It may be helpful each morning to take 15 minutes to gather your thoughts and say a prayer.

-) Make a commitment to show someone a specific accomplishment on a certain date. The added urgency will help you feel motivated to have it done.

-) Practice self-determination, wanting to do it for yourself.

-) Believe that you can be what you want to be.

-) Never criticize yourself as having a weakness. There is no such thing. You are only talking about a present undeveloped skill or part of yourself that if you so chose, you can change. You do not have any weakness, only untapped potential.

-) Be pleasant all the time-no matter what the situation.

-) Challenge yourself to do things differently than you have in the past. It provides new ideas and keeps you interested.

-) Talk to yourself. A self-talk using positive affirmation is something that is common among all great achievers. They convince themselves that they can accomplish their goals.

-) Create your own "motivation board" by putting up notes of things you need to do on a bulletin board or special wall space. It is an easily visible way to see what you need to work on. When an item is done, remove the note. Also keep your goals listed and pictured on your board.

-) Stay interested in what you are doing. Keep looking for what is interesting in your work. Change your perspective and look at it as someone outside your job would,

-) Establish personal incentives and rewards to help maintain your own high enthusiasm and performance level.

Bheemeshwari River Rafting

After a long time this trip was planned. The trip participants were Abhigyan , Sourabh, Tarun and Ankit. We decided to go on sunday as on saturday India and England ODI was coming and India did win that one. We started from bangalore at 8.30 in Morning and reached the camp at around 10.00.

Location -
Bheemeshwari is located at a distance of 100 km from the tech city, Bangalore, down the Kanakpura - Kollegal Highway. You have to turn off at Halagur, and go down the Halagur - Muttatti road.

Our Trip -

Our main plan was the rafting. Rafting takes place in three batches. Batch timings are 10.30, 1.30 and then last one at 3.30. The camp is controlled by the Jungle Lodges and resorts authority. More info about the various facilities at the camp be found at their website. They have their pwn trainer who will be present along with you during the rafting activity. The trainer before commencing the activity gave us some instruction on how to row the boat, what all to do during a drowning situation and the safety measures to be taken. It's a 8km long drive through the river.Our rafting started with full josh. On the way in the 8km ride we did go through some of the terrains of the water which was terrifying for the first time, but after that we enjoyed a lot with each of the water terrain we approached. In midway there is a swimming zone, where the trainers ask to jump into the sea and swim. It good for those who don't know to swim. I also learnt little bit of swimming with that experience.



After reaching the destination we all were carried back to the starting point in a jeep. The lunch was provided to us at the camp area. After resting for some we decided to trek, and did trek for some distance but we didn't get the fun of trekking. so finaly we decided to head back to bangalore. In the end it was exciting journey because finally i did river rafting.

Bheemwshwari Route Map

Work from home / Company

These two picture portrays scenario of of people doing work from home and people doing work in company. The end result of both the pictures is people end up doing nothing but yes they have fun at their respective workplaces.

A Lot can happen over coffee ..

After so many days i had "leisure coffee" with my friend Himanshu. Leisure coffee in the sense that we did sit for more than 40 min for a cup of coffee at a local tea stall and were having discussion. Some thoughts were flowing down in my mind at the same time. I thought of penning it down and was looking for an appropriate image and got the perfect which reflected my thoughts to an extent.

WITH DUE CREDITS TO SHANNON WHEELER.

Black Friday : The saga of sms love story

Disclaimer : All characters in this story are fictional and any resemblances to living or dead are purely co-incidental.

Day one -

It was Friday , 13^th . As usual I was reading some articles on internet. At that time my mobile rang. It was a sms, I had received. Here is a full conversation that took place on the sms.

sms gal : I want black Friday movie

ME : Who is this ????

sms gal : Ur love janu .! ;-x

ME : sorry wrong number, u cannot be my love, bcos she’s with me rt now J

sms gal : L Darling tumne mere good Friday ko black Friday mein bana diya !! But I’ll still love u for ever n ever n ever n ever.

ME : theek hain madam kal raat ko milte hain styx mein. Ready ?

ME : Wasie bhi usko abhi train mein bitha diya hain. So I m free for some dayz.

Sms gal : hai daiyya accha hain ki sautan ko bhaga diya ganga maiyya ki kasam kha ke bolo kit um mere liye devdas bane firte ho.

ME : sahi hain. Ab toh tumse milne me majja aayanga meri chandramukhi. Paro ghar chali gayi toh kya hua chandramukhi toh hain.

Sms gal : Black Friday de de apni dil ki rani ko.

ME : Abhi apni paro ko train mein bithaya hain. On the way back. 10.20 tak aa jaunga chandramukhi. So tab take k ganna hi ga lo apni devdas ki yaad mein.

ME : Main aa gaya chandramukhi. Tum kaha ho.

Sms gal : aati hu. Coming.

But she doesn’t come.

Day 2 -

ME : Chandramukhi how are u today.?? Devdas here.

Sms gal : Tumne waise bhi mera dil dukhaya hain black Friday na deke.

ME : My bhabhi n bhaiya wants to meet u today evening r u free today???

ME : Kal sms karne ke baad bhi tum nahi aayi. Maine baut der tak tumhari rah dekhi.

Sms gal : Janu ab toh tumne dil thodh hi diya hain, ab bateen banana se kya.??

ME : Batoon Batoon mein hi toh dil jud jaate hain. Mera dost cardiac surgeon hain. Bas ek ghante ka kaam hain, open heart karke dil jod bhi denga.

ME : Sorry aaj thodi der ho gayi b’lore ghumne mein so bhaiya bhabi couldn’t come here. They will try to come tomorrow morning or speak to u on phone ? But tum kaun ho ??? Itna toh bata do.

Day Three …….

ME : kya mujhe use ladki ka naam pata chalenga jisse main itni pyaar bahri baatein kar raha hun…

Sms gal : Ab tum naam jaan kar bhi kya karonge.. keep guessing..

ME : so ab main tumhe chandramukhi bulaunga … kaise hain naya naam

Sms gal : Bilkul accha naam nahi hain. …

ME : Whats ur name ???

Sms gal : Find out if u can….. ???

ME : Waise aaj bhaiya bhabi are coming to college so be ready…..

Sms gal : Nope u r jus joking ….. they are not coming….

ME : It’s real please believe me…otherwise problem ho jayanga….

Sms gal : I would love to meet them…so that it would be easier for us ….

ME : Yes definitely …my brother would call you ….and our love story would have a happy beginning..

After some time my mobile rang. I tried to answer the call but no one replied. Again after 5 min the mobile rang , no one replied this also. Again after 5 minutes my mobile rang. This time also no one replied so in anger i threw my mobile on my bed.

Day four

I woke in the morning to find out my mobile lying in pieces. I now remembered that the whole incident was a dream and the mobile ring was nothing but the morning alarm which snoozed after every 5 minutes and in sleep i threw my mobile out of bed. It was a bad start of the day for me but yes definately the dream was real nice.

Inflation, not a monster but a blessing in disguise?

Recently i have been reading too much about the Indian economy. This is because of my interest in the share market that i have developed over the past one year.
India's inflation has increased too much and measures have been taken to bring down the inflation rates to the normal rate of 5 -5.5 %. But many of us think that inflation is a curse for the economy. India was in similar period during the regime of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and inflation at that time was at it's peak in double figure. The GDP was growing at the Hindu rate of 2-3%. Industries could not survive because banks were offering interest at the rate of 20% on NRI Account deposits and the prime lending rates fluctuated between 18-23%. Here is an link to an article on IBN CNN website by Mr Mathews J Nedumpura which tells ue that inflation is not a curse but a blessing in disguise.

CNN - IBN : - Inflation, not a monster but a blessing in disguise?

Kemmangundi or “KR Hills”

Kemmangundi or “KR Hills” 17/03/07 – 18/03/07

This was my sixth trip on the bike. This time it was to Kemmangundi, called as the paradise of Karnataka. Kemmangundi is a hill station in Tarikere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is located at a height of 1434m above sea level. This was the summer retreat of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and as a mark of respect to the king, it is also known as Sri Krishnarajendra Hill Station.

Abhigyan, Ambrish, Sourabh and me, were the four guys on two bikes. We started our journey at 5.30 in morning from college and through the city towards yeshwantpur. Problem started early in the morning with my bike getting punctured near Yeshwantpur railway station. It was early 6.30 in morning and no shop was open at that time. A tea stall vendor saw us and said that he’ll repair the bike. He took too much time to repair the puncture. I was not satisfied by the way he did the work and sourabh had a quarrel over there with him. We decided to show the bike to another expert person. This time we got the right person and he did the job efficiently. At around 9.15 we left Bangalore after having our morning breakfast. Our first stop was after Tumkur some 80 kms from Bangalore. Almost 11.00 am in the morning and sun was at it’s full intensity. After tumkur it was tiptur, arsikere, kadur and birur. After you reach birur you have to take left. Till birur the road is really nice. After birur the road is not that great but yes enough good to catch speeds of 50-60km/hr. From Birur Kemmangundi is 70 kms to the left. First is Lingadahalli 40 Kms from Birur and then 30 kms from Lingadahalli is Kemmangundi on the same road. After Lingadahalli it’s a steep hill road to the top. Since the road was really good, we did reach Lingadahalli by 1.30 pm.

Kallathi Falls – Our first destination was Kallathi falls. Kallathi falls is about 10 km. from Kemmangundi. On the road from Kemmangundi to Tarikere, a deviation takes one to Kallathi falls. It is also known as Kallathigiri falls and Kallahatti falls. Water cascades from a height of 122 metres and the temple here is attributed to times of the Vijayanagar Empire. According to a local legend, this place is associated with the Hindu sage, Agastya. There is a sideways besides the temple for going upwards. We did a little trekking for about one km and reached a really good spot. It had natural ponds made up of stone and the water is really cold as up go higher and higher. We did have a good bath at this place, taking the pleasures of spa and as well as the falls. Beware of the monkeys as you go higher. They try to snatch eatables from you. After spending 2 hrs in water we were hungry now and had to look out for shelter for the night. Kemmangundi in particular has cottages by the Department of horticulture which are given on rent. We didn’t do any booking at start itself. After Kallathi falls we started towards Kemmangundi cottages. At 5.00 in evening we reached there. We were lucky to get the last cottage over there and that too for jus one day. There’s only one restaurant at that place. For non-veg lovers, food has to be ordered in advance. After settling down and since we had time we started towards Z-point. Z-point is famous for it’s sunset. Vehicles go till shanti falls after which you have to walk across the steep path.

Shanti Falls - Shanti Falls is a small stream of water with a height of 35 feet. We continued our journey towards Z-point from shanti falls. It’s a trek of 1.5 kms to Z-point from shanti falls. We reached Z-point by 6.15 and it was time for sunset also.

Z-point - Z point is a vantage point at Kemmangundi and is another favorite place of people who want to view a spectacular sunset. The other side of Z-point is a deep valley. We were very much tired by now and wanted to lie on the beds nothing else and yes hungry too. We didn’t have our lunch. So after reaching our cottages we just had our bath and went to the restaurant. We did get a real taste of the south Indian cuisine over there. After the dinner we sat in the garden in front of our cottage and chatted for more than on hour. Everyone decided to get up late in morning apart from me as I wanted to have a stroll around the places near the cottage. These cottages are made on lands like the ones we have in step farming and as you see above you will see more cottage at different heights level. Raj Bhavan is the cottage at the highest level and it is for the government officials only.

Day 2

As usual I got up early in the morning. Abhigyan and Sourabh also got up at the same time. After having out tea at the restaurant we decide to have a stroll around the area. There are places like Rock Garden and Rose Garden. Rock garden consists of things made up of rocks like the one we have in Chandigarh. Here there’s a rock chair with human design and animals made up of small pieces of rocks. Rose Garden contains various kinds of roses. Department of horticulture looks after them. After strolling around the park and garden we went to RajBhavan . From Raj Bhavan you can have a good look of the Kemmangundi hills at a stretch. It a very scenic place to go in early morning. Entire KR hills are can be spotted from there. We did have heavy breakfast at the restaurant and procedded at our journey onwards to Hebbe falls.

Hebbe falls – Hebbe Falls are at distance of 10 kms from KR hills. Local transportation is jeep over there. Since we had our bike we decided to take our bikes. I would advice not to take the bikes for that stretch as the road is really bad. One mistake and you are gone. Bike can go till a private estate called Babay estate of the Khoday’s group. From there we did have a walk of about 2 km till the water falls. Hebbe Falls rush down a height of 250ft. in two stages to form Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls.). It was nice to spend the time our there. Such huge falls, with cold water. I started shivering in the water after some time. After hebbe falls we decided to return back to Bangalore, the same night itself. Since the road was good and there was no traffic on that road we did night driving and returned to Bangalore by 1.00 in night.

For the route map click here.

Here’s some info of the cottage booking for KR Hills.

Dimag ki ghanti baja de

Having a feeling that life is full of problems….like

1. Love Problem
2. Cricket Problem
3. College Problems
4. Work Problems.
5. Parental Problems…etc etc

Here's a solution for all …..

Get some of the weirdest solutions on the mentos helpline..and if you want to help somebody give some of the weirdest answers…

MENTOS HELPLINE

Do get help and also help somebody by not applying the brains

"Dimag ki ghanti baja de"

Online Canteen Facilities

( Scene - A pipe for water sink is being made for our canteen. How things can be represented in a different and funny way.)

Today there was some ( *excavation* ) work being carried out in the canteen during night. Our special reporter tried to get out from local sources what exactly was being carried out. Here is what our special correspondent found out.( Have a look at the attachment.). Please do send in your valuable comments to our special correspondent.

Abhigyan Agrawal / Sanket Chimalwar reporting from (* crime *)scene for ABHI-TAK

Madikeri this time

Madikeri (Or Mercera as people say it locally).

Third week in succession i was on the bike tour. After the kerala and the Anthargange tour, madikeri tour came totally unplanned. Everyone in the group wanted a two day tour. The planning for the tour was already done. We decided to go on for some safari as we had been to waterfalls last time. So the place choosen was Nagarhole Forest or called as the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. It's is famous for the wild elephants . This sanctuary extends over two states karnataka and kerala.

Starting the trip.

We started from our hostel at 6 in morning and decided to take the express highway, so as to avoid the city traffic and the poor roads. The express highway is really good. six lane road and it directly connect to Bangalore - Mysore express way outside kengeri village. The road is still under construction but 90% of the road is complete and the main thing is that you won't find any traffic on this road. Our first stop was kamat lokaruchi. The same leaf idli or the kotte idli. We took a heavy breakfast and resumed our journey.Next stop was outskirts of mysore. We did face some problems at Maddur and Mandya for the bandh and had to go by walking for some distance as the roads were completely blocked because of the Cauvery water issue and vehicles were not allowed to continue their journey forward. Since we all were on bikes we didi easily pass through the hurdles. We lost some of the time and did reach Mysore late than expected. The next stop was Hunsur from Mysore. Some part of the road is still under construction. But yes the road is good and one can easil cruise at the speeds of 70-80 km/hr on these roads on bike. Also the traffic is less during the day on this road. To go to Nagarhole you have to take a left turn from the bus stop. The sanctuary is 30 kms from hunsur and the road is also good. There are pretty enough road signs to take you to your destination. The main thing was there was no effect of the cauvery issue in this part of karnataka. We reached to the check post No 1 at around 1 pm . But from here started our major dissapointment. The road to safari was closed as their was animal attack that day and no one was allowed inside the forest. The elephants had gone wild. There came the major disappointment for us as the road for the next jurney was on the same route i.e. the route for irupu falls. Also one thing to take care is that no one is allowed inside the forest on two wheelers, only four wheelers are allowed to pass through the forest. There is also another route to irupu. Go back to hunsur, then to gonikoppal (50kms from hunsur). Shettegere, Iriti and then to Irupu. Irupu lies on karnataka - kerala border.So we came back to hunsur and decided to have lunch over there. We proceeded over journey after lunch. 3 kms from Hunsur, there is a Y point, one end goes to Madikeri and the other one the gonikoppal. As soon as we touched the gonikoppal route, i remembered that it's the same route we had taken while coming back from kerela. I also knew that the road is bad after some distance and wanted to avoid it. So finally we decided to change our plans and march towards Madikeri. I knew that madikeri has also some of the good falls and view of the western ghats. So we came to the Y - point and took the route towards Madikeri. The road is good till some point but after that i would say that it is not good. Our next stop was at Bylekuppe, KushalNagar(Tibetian Colony). The colony is really nice and you get a feel that you are in north india. After some refreshments near the golden temple, we started towards Madikeri (30 kms from this point).To go to Abbey falls you have to take a right turn 8 kms before Madikeri town. From this turning the Abbey falls is just 8 kms. we reached there at 6.30 pm. The sun was also down and it was getting colder. We couldn't enjoy much of Abbey falls and decided to come back to the spot if time did permit us the next morning. So back on the same route we did reach Madikeri town by 7 and booked a lodge. The food in town is descent and mix of north and kerala food. The food is spicy and hot. So people who are not accustomed to spicy food beware. As the whole day journey was tiring all went of to sleep very early.

Day -2

After all our daily chores we stared our day with heavy breakfast. First spot of the day was Raja Seat. The king used to sit at this place was did have a full view of the western ghats.The place is nice but not much of time can be given to this spot.Next was the Madikeri fort, which was also of no interset and we did run away from it very early.So after getting the spot list, it was decided to go back to Abbey Falls, wash all our sins in the water, joking have a bath in the water and start back to bangalore. The water at Abbey falls was very chilled in the morning but noting stopped us from enetering into the cold water. Only three of us did enter the cold waters. After having fun in the water for nearly an hour , it was time to pack our bags and return back to bangalore. The coming back route we took was different as we heard incidences of stray voilences in Maddur and Mandya side. So we decided to take the Hassan route to come back. The route we took was Madhavpur-> SomwarPeth-> Hassan -> Banaglore. The entire road is too good to drive. Basically in the end it was change of plans for us at the last moment which worked out for us.

Places to Visit

Attraction Point

1. Abbey Falls Madikeri - 8kms from the town. Raja's Tomb can be covered in this.

2. Kaveri Nisargadhama - Towards Madikeri, just 3 k.m. away from Kushalnagar lies the beautiful tourist centre of Kodagu i.e., Kaveri Nisargadhama. River Kaveri splits forming a beautiful island .This tourist centre is developed by the forest department by providing a hanging bridge into the island, Boating, tree top shelters and elephant riding.

3. Padi Igguthappa Temple - 45 kms

4. Talacauvery - Birth place of River cauvery

5. The Nalkand Palace - Nalknad Palace is not connected by public transport systems. But the nearby place Kakkabe is well connected by private buses from Madikeri, Virajpet and Napoklu.-

6. Dubare Island & Chiklihole Dam

Dubare is a natural island formed by river Kaveri, near Kushalnagar. It is a cool picnic spot. Elephants belonging to the forest department are trained here. One can enjoy fishing here with the pre-permission from the Coorg Wildlife Society - Madikeri.

7. Harangi dam- 30 Kms

8. Raja's Seat - 1 kms

9. Madikeri Fort - 1 kms

10. The Golden Temple - 30 Kms (Bailkuppe) KushalNagar

Trekking Spot

1. Thadiyandamole - The highest peak (5729 ft above the sea level) is known as the trekkers paradise. Trekking distance 15 kms to & fro; 50 kms from Madikeri (Near Kakkabe)

2. Pushpagiri- Trekking Distance 12 Kms to the top and 15 kms towards Subramanya. Prior permission is required

3. Kote Betta- Trekking distance 14 kms to and fro; 22 kms from Madikeri (Near Madapura)

4. Igguthappa Kundu - Situated near the Padi Igguthappa temple, Kakkabe. Trekking distance is 12 kms; 40 kms from Madikeri.

5. Brahmagiri - Another Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagarahole National Park. Irupu Rameshwara Temple and Irupu Falls are situated nearby. As the mountain comes under Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary area, prior permission from the Department of forests in necessary. Trekking distance 24 kms; 80 kms from Madikeri (Near Srimangala)

6. Nishanimotte - The highest peak in the Galibeedu range near Madikeri (4395 ft above sea level) Trekking distance 12 kms; 6 kms from Madikeri.

7. Thunga Pare - As the mountain comes under Talacauvery Wildlife Sanctuary prior permission from Department of Froest is necessary for trekking. Trekking distance 16 kms to and fro; 50 kms from Madikeri.

8. Chomakandu - Highest peak in Udumbe region, near Napoklu. Trekking distance 16 kms; 55 kms from Madikeri.

9. Gaddige Siddeshwara -Trekking distance 8 kms; 45 kms from Madikeri (Near Maldare, Siddapura)

Trip to Anthargange

We didn't knew that bangalore surrounding has so much hidden treasure in itself.During the college days there are so less spots to visit nearby bangalore city.But once we have started exploring places so many places have turned up from nowhere.

After the kerala's exciting and refreshing trip this was second trip. We all were 8 guys on 4 bikes.We started our journey from old madras road towards kolar. Our destination Antahargange 70 kms from the city. Our first stop was volvo company premises. I was the only one who was aware of the route and most probably abhigyan's bhaiya. As it happens no one stopped at volvo company. All the riders were busy riding on such smooth and traffic free road which they would have never got in banaglore. So it was a complete ride till the outskirts of kolar, a 55 km stretch non-stop. Everyone must have touched a speed of 80-90 km/hr on this road.

You take a left turn on the by pass towards chenna- turapati highway and get into kolar city. We reached kolar around 9.30 in the morning probably half hour late from our expected time. You have to go straight till the main bus stand and take a left turn from pallavi theartre for antahargange. There are two ways to reach the top of the village. One is by road by which u directly reach to the top or park ur vehicles at the base and take the stairs route to reach the top. It definately requiers some guts bcos after some time the way is really bad . You have to climb up the rocks but the best thing about this route is that you fulfill your desire for perfect trek of 4kms.It's a full rocky terrain. You can find some very dark and small caves where you can try out your crawling skills.You should have your own water bottles because you don't get any water on the way till the top.I felt that this place was the most hredest trek i had done till now, full of rocks. You have good places for pit stop in the shadow of the big rock. It's much cooler and you can have a good nap that place.But this is only the starting of the journey.We reached at the top after an two hour gruelling and exausting trek through the rocks.

At the top we found a mosque where we got some "thanda paani".

After this spot it a must that you take help of some localite to find out the caves. We took help a little kid who took to us some of the caves that are present at the top. You need to take some loaclite as you will not be able to find the caves on your own. Going through the caves was experience of it's own kind.Due to the time lag, we decided to return after going through 3 caves.Going through those 3 caves took the toil on us.Going down was the risky business but less time consuming job.

We started our journey back at 3.00 PM and reached back bangalore at 5.00 PM.

Kerala's wonder

At last my desire to go on a long bike trip was going to be fulfilled. I missed out the trip on last Saturday with Himanshu and cursed him so much that Himanshu would have thought that he had made a big mistake of not informing me. But this time yes he did inform me in advance about the trip. Ambrish also decided to join me as no body was here in the hostel for the three days holiday and he would have got bored in the hostel. Our journey started on 26th morning at 5.30 am. We met himanshu and company (Ejaz and Pushkar) at banashankari T-point .Our first stop was "KAMAT LOKARUCHI". I had been so many times on tis route but never been in KAMAT. The attraction was the "leaf idli" or "kotte idli" what is called in kannada. After having heavy breakfast over there we decided to start off, Mysore being over next stop. I felt that my bike was giving problems so decided to have a check at Shah Automobiles, Mysore dealership. Since the dealership got moved from it's place we decided to carry on our next stop being gundlupet. To go towards kozikode you have to take a right turn just two kilometers before gundlupet town. The road is really good. If you have a car you can cruise at speeds of 100kms.We then passed through-out the bandipur check post, where the forest range starts. You get the Muttunga wild life sancutary on this route famous for birds. We got a view not of bird but of elephants sawaying their trunks. We continued toward from there toward Sultan Battery(Waynad District), our next destination. One can spend almost three days in waynad itself admiring it's natural beauty. On the way as soon as you enter kerala border, you can contact the local over there for local spots related information. We came to know of Edakkal caves. 9 kms off the way from the main road. The caves are good one , but try avoiding going on public holidays as it has too much rush. After seeing the rush and also the limited time we had we decide to march back to main road and continue our journey towards kozikode , our last destination of the day. After we crossed Sultan Battery, we reached kalepeetha and then to Quilandi. On the way you have to cross the ghat section which is the most adorable one and we all got refreshed by seeing the view from the top. The ghat section is almost 12 kms and really dangerous. One wrong move and you are into deep valley or the heavens. You have the phokuttu lake on the way. Because of the limitedness of time we had, we didn't stop at phokuttu lake also. Our destination was to reach Kappad beach by 6.10 as the sunset for that day was scheduled at 6.20. Somehow we reached kappad beach at 6.15. and we sat off there for an hour. We searched a rest house for us. Kappad has two resorts. First One, i don't remember the name, but too much expensive. The other one is poonur resort and cheaper one. Luckily we got a room over there for 300 bucks. After having good dinner in night we slept at the beach for an hour till 10.30 pm and it feels really nice. We asked the locals over there about the Vasco - da - gama beach , the place where he landed in India and to our surprise it was the same place where we came yesterday , did sleep for an hour in the night. Because of the long driving, everybody was tired and got asleep very soon. The plans for the next day was ready already which was suppose to start at 7.30 in morning.

DAY -2 (27/01/07)

So it was now fun time for us. Everybody was ready for fun now in the ocean water. We reached the same spot i.e. Vasco-da-gama beach and had fun for an hour in the beach. I was reluctant to go inside the ocean water but Ejaz pulled me inside. The best part was that the beach was not crowded at all except the fisherman. After having a nice refreshing bath back at the resort we left kappad and started our journey towards Kannur , “Cannore” what-ever you say. So from kappad next was the abondened light house in Quilandi. There are many light houses in that area and as you go the highway towards Mangalore you get to see many signs of the spot. It would be helpful if you take the help of locals over there, so that you won’t miss out any interesting spot. Light house was an total disappointment for us as the opening time for the light house was 3 ‘O clock in afternoon. We proceeded with our jouney toward Cannore as we didn’t have enough time. The next big town for us was Mahe Pondichery. The attraction of this town is the Wine that is served over here. The cost of the wine is also less than that compared to the other part of the states. I think it’s because of the tax holiday that Pondichery in Tamil Nadu enjoy’s and Mahe pondichery being a part of that Pondichery (Tamil Nadu). The road is really nice but be aware of the private buses which ply on these routes. They are driven carelessly and don’t care for anyone else. There’s nothing to see in Mahe Pondichery. So our journey continued. The next stop was Thalassery Fort. The fort is too small and is for actually a place where the prisoners where kept. We did run away quickly from that place and felt that the day is going as total waste. We were already bored by the beaches so tried to avoid going there and also the last destination of the day’s trip was a beach. So we continued our journey towards Cannore. Himanshu had information about the muzhpalingad beach (also called the virgin beach). It’s on the way from thalassery towards Cannore (12kms). As soon as we reached the beach and seeing the beach, it was like our day was made. Seeing the cars and bike being driven on the beach I got very much excited. I had very much fun when I drove my bike in ocean waters just next to ocean waters at top speed. (click here to watch video)At this beach bikes and cars are given on rent for riding on the beach. It was 2.00 in afternoon and we were very much hungry. We saw a resort next to the beach and went there but the resort served to those persons who had booked a cottage in their resort. So the next option was to ask the locals if they can provide some food to us or some money and too my surprise one family did provide us some delicious food including tomato curry and fish curry. The curries which are made over here are too much spicy and it’s hard for people who don’t eat too much spicy and hot food. One local named shahji helped us too much in that. Now we changed our plan and decided to stay over there for the night and continue our journey further in the morning. The next thing was to find out some good place to stay. Ask the locals over here and you will definitely get something place to stay at a very low price. Even there are some resorts and cottage at the rate of 300/- per room. Shahji assured us for a room and asked us if we would like to have boat ride for Rs 1000/- . That will include a 10 kms deep journey into the ocean, going to the lone island over there and the round trip of the back-waters. We thought that it was expensive but the idea of coming over there and not having fun made us to go forward. Little did we know that we would get the best of that 1000/- bucks. As soon as we entered the ocean in the boat shahji told us that if you people are lucky you will get to see dolphins(Click here to watch video). And our luck was really great we got to see a dolphin and we did chase it to some extent. We thought the 1000/- buck worth has been attained in the initial part of the journey. The next was the island but two things stopped us from going to the island. One is we were not having our boots, any knife and torch light with us. Second was it was getting dark and the back-waters was yet to be completed. So we decided to skip this one and go to the back waters. It was really amazing to see such a thing. I had seen back-waters previously in Mangalore and Udupi belt but their natural beauty is in this part only. We were tired by the days proceeding and also hungry when we returned from the ocean trip. Again shahji had arranged dinner for us. But this time the dinner was better from the lunch. For the non-veg they had fish, prawns chutney and muzzles and for the vegetarians we had dal, plain curry and macroni and yes paratha too. And this was for just Rs 250/- in all. The women villagers have some kind of self help groups where some 12 women’s form a group and do serve to the tourist and earn money. We tried for a rest place and shahji too tried but couldn’t get one as desired. We started our journey towards Cannore at night some 13 kms from this place. We got a decent lodge for Rs 400/- for 5 people. The next days plan was to go to the Cannore fort and to the Cannore beach.

Day -3 28/02/07

After having heavy breakfast we stared our day’s tour towards Cannore fort. Again here we had to face some disappointment as the fort was place for the prison inmates and the beach was not that good. As we had to reach back to Bangalore by evening we started our journey back at 12.30 in afternoon. The back route was through Iriti -> Gonikoppal -> Hunsur -> Mysore -> Bangalore ( Total 340 kms). We reached kamat at 6.45 in evening and had basundi over there. After reaching back I calculated the total kms rum in three days which came to around 850 kms approximately. It was a real good change for me and my bike.

My next post would be the Madikeri tour which I did on 9 – 10 of Feb. Till then bye.

This was our route map how we went.