Ephemeral Thoughts !! :)

Cooooooooooooo"L"rrrggggg !!! :)

2008-10-04T23:57:00.004+05:30

Quite sometime since i blogged and yes quite sometime since I found something worth blogging
;)

Here I come again to do good to mankind ;) ok ok enough of this crap and here I go...

A lot of crazy things happened...workplace shift , close friends left the country , few people whom I had not met at all for ages and to top it all lotsa workkkkkk :(
All this and more just got the actual "Pavi" awayyyyy from herself...It was high time I treated myself to a cool and relaxing retreat :)

Ping came the idea , why not pool in a few people and plan a trip to a Cool and Relaxing place not very farway from Blore but yet no less in beauty :)
Ting came the answer and this time it was "Cooooooooooorg"

The best thing about this trip was it was 8 people and belive it or not it was an "All Girls" trip ;) hehhee... a lotta people raised their brow when they gotto know bout this trip and yes we had a few canditates(read : guys) applying to join this gang too ;)

All bookings were made and first time we were gonna try out a "Home Stay" concept during the trip.
Home Stays are huge bungalows whose one part is given out for tourists to use and the people who own this bungalow also arrange the food and transport for these tourists.
It is kind of a costly affair but the comfort and luxury that it provides is worth all the money :)

Started off during the late hours of Friday to Coorg via Mysore and the journey was filled with the "I hate my manager" and "I hate my work" talks and all girls freaking out about the fact that we all are worth something much better than what we actually have ;) hahaha
Since we had a nice weekend ahead we decided to take a good night's nap and slept thru the rest of the journey :)
We were awakened by the sudden voice of Manasa who said hey girls "Virajpet".. I was still living my dream and I thought wow my dreams are close to reality ;) then came a "thud!!" and that was one heavy bag which was being lifted down to the seat in front of me ;) ... it was at this point that I realized that Dreams can never come close to Reality ;) hehehe... me and my stupid brains..

It was too early to be true.. it was 4:30AM dammit :( I have never seen this time in my entire life i guess...but then if u want some u need to lose some ;)
We got down and Virajpet and waled a little to settle down at a nearby "BATA" showroom whose doors were expectedly closed :)
The Home stay driver came in some time in "Red Omni" and packed us all off towards the
"Marcad Estate HomeStay" :) Here begins our journeyyyyyy !!!!!!! :)

Owing to the fact that we reached there during the wee hours of the morning we couldnt see much since Mr Sun also closed his eyes for a few hours before he could be wide awake :)
We were welcomed by Mr Swaroop whose only "voice" i could recognize..He showed us our way to the many rooms and we virtually split ourselves into those rooms and after short discussions
of wht time to again see each other's face we went to get the "power sleep"
I was in a woody room :) yesss it was made of wooden floors and slopy wooden ceiling..the other parts of the room were modern and luxurious... these were the last few minutes which my eye saw before getting into the "thoughtless, dreamless" sleep :)

In a few hours I was woken up by the girls screaming out loud...
Paviiiii r u gonna get ready or nottttttttttttttt !!!!
I suddenly jerked outta the bed and quickly finished up everything and got full jing jang ready to strt off the exciting trip that we had planned for :)
A lovely "Coorgie Breakfast" which was Cocunut Idli , Aloo Sabji , Bread Butter , Tea was placed at the Dining Table and friendly Lady "Reshma" got this all made for us :)
We all were very excited about the breakfast itself coz this kind of hospitality got us all really happy coz normally we dont get treated this way... hehehe

After a few discussions with "Swaroop" about our trip plan we made a very comprehensive , time saving and all-location touch route plan and started off !!
When we stepped outside the bungalow we had our first few beautiful glimpses of the Coffee Estate which was spread in front of us with narrow and high trees that dotted the entire estate :)
There were beautiful carnations , hibiscus flowers lacing the entire house too :)

Breathing the air filled with the mixed smell of coffee and fresh dew was enough to take me to
a trance state !! :)
Then we girls strtd off in our cars towards the set route of Dubbare-Nisargadama-Khushalnagar-AbbeyFalls-Omkareshwara Temple-Raja Seat and back to Virajpet :)

This route gave us the sights of Canopy-roads , Beautiful Coffee estates , Lush green fields , cute little bridges crossing over small streams ,Placid lakes , Lotus lakes , Smell of freshly ground Spices and Smiling faces !!!
As a part of this entire day we Boated across River Cauvery , Saw Elephants playing Footbal , Crossed a Hanging-Swaying Bridge, Climbed a tree house , Posed on a Monkey Ladder , Got caught between Bamboo Trees , Did revolutions around 14 Stupas , Heard to Buddhist Lessons ,Enjoyed the spray of fresh water from a waterfall,Sipped on Hot Chai with Spicy Bhel Puri , freaked out at a bunch of uncultured baays from down south ,Shopped for Tea Leaves , Spices and Chocolates ,Danced around a lonely tree , Twisted to the tunes of a Musical Fountain , Relaxed with a cup of chai and hot pakoda , Sang out loud through the thick and dense jungles ,Saw a snake cross the road and quickly climb a tree and a few of us also got talking about life and all it has to give :)
This ended the 14 Hr journey of Coorg that we had :)

We felt that we were out for 2 days coz we had utilized every minute that was given to us that day and boyyyyy did we have fun or what ??????

After munching on the great food prepared by "Reshma" we went back to our room and started the usual pulling each other's legs as we munched on Chips and Pepsi...Played a few rounds of Crazy Card Games , played some newly invented games and then decided to retire for the day :)

The next day was called the "Relaxing Day" of our trip coz we all decided to get up whenever we wanted and have breakfast and so what we feel like :)
This gave me the liberty to get up at normal-human time and get ready at leisure :)
The next morning I quickly escaped from my room to shoot !!! hehehe dont get startled I meant i went out with my Camera :) I started using all kindsa modes and started taking some nice pics when nature was at her best :) I felt Nature was posing for me all the whileeeeeeeeee :) hehehe

Then after another sumptuous breakfast we all set out towards the nearby lake and a walk through the coffee estate :)
The walk was "damn cute" in my words coz we were just given one instruction and that was to look for a red arrow which points towards the lake !!! andddddddddd as Murphy's Law has it... we missed it and went thru the wrong roads :)
Then when a few brains strd working they instructed us to retrace our steps back and get searching for the red arrow :) We finally found it and then raced through the road towards the beautifulllllllll lake that lay at peace at the end :)

The entire scene looked too beautiful and this view i call as "The Click of the Trip" view !! We took our usual pose maarifying clicks and then got back trekking towards the Estate Bungalow :)

This walk got us all a lil more than hungry and we all happily had food and started packing to say "Bye-Bye" to Coooorg :)
Our friendly drivers came to pick us up and they diligently dropped us off at the Bus Stand and we bid "Adieu" to the wonderful and scenic place Coorg at this point !!

All in all a great experience , different setting and a real refreshing trip for me !!
In short it was a Thanda Thanda Cool Cool Experience !!!! You better get there to know what i'm actually talkin about :)
So what r u waiting for... pack your bags and leave the townnnnnnnn !!! :)

Cheers ,
Paviiiiii !!

Everythin I Wanna Do !!!!!!! :)

2008-05-28T22:00:00.004+05:30

What all I wanna doooooooooo !!! :)

It was a lazy Saturday Afternoon , the usual silence around me coz no one was at home , I could hear the groundnut seller at the far end of the road screaming & trying to wake up the lethargic people to get him some business... since its been pretty hot these days there was a warm vaccum around me... and as I lay on the sofa doing the usual channel-surfing a thought came across my tiny brain "What is the best thing that I would like to do at this moment !!!!".....

Ding ! came the answer and this time it was not 1 but a lot and yes indeed what better way to record and cherish the answer than Blogging it to form the permanent 0s and 1s :)

Soooooooo... here it goes !!! My Wackiest and Craziest ways to spend my life doing...
P.S : It is a fragment of my imagination... bizzarre things should be expected ;)

1) I wanna go for a ride in the sea...sitting on a cuteeeeee DOLPHIN.........spraying water all the wayyyyyy

2) I wanna hug a hugeeeeeeeeeee Panda Bear and play hide and seek with it :)

3) I wanna really really get lost in a lonely island and get rescued using the morse code or the SOS way :)

4) I want all my best friends around me and wanna get a "Black&White" picture and get it printed hugee and paste it on one entire wall of my room :)

5) I want to sing for AR Rahman !!!!!

6) I want to bunjee jump in the Grand Canyon..

7) I want to talk to "Nemo" yes yes the cute fish

8) I want to sit inside a space ship and control its movement and take it to my planet "Venus"... hehe

9) I want to dance with the Kathakali Dancers and do those eye movements along with them.. blink blink ;)

10) I wanna do the tap dance with a huge bunch of Penguins the "Happy Feet" way !!! :)

What do u wanna do ?????? :)
Does this get you thinking ??? ;)

I really hope to do atleast a few of these things as soooooooon as possible !!
What do u think ?? Can I ?? ;)

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

Made in CHINA - Part 1 :)

2008-04-27T21:20:00.010+05:30

Happyyyyyyyy !!!

Yes I was.. Finally was called to my manager's cubicle and was told "You need to support the PeT team at Shenzhen,China..... could you discuss this with your folks and let me know if I can schedule your trip??".... I was like What the...... ;) Come on man.. this was something I was waiting for and he is asking me to find out if its OK by my folks ??? hehe.... Anyways there started my "Dream Come True" experience !!! I had to leave to China for 2 months ranging between Feb and April and I don't know if I was very excited but yes I was indeed happy...

The truth is after cart loads of my friends moving away from the country... discussing climatic conditions in other countries.. tagging along with them to get the foreign exchange , shopping for warm clothes perfect for that particular city.. getting that huge International Travel bag from Eastern Store... I too had to do it sometime man... and yes I was more than prepared to just get out of the country.. I know I know... all of you guys and gals (my sweet friends outside India) might have raised their brow reading the above para ;) Yeah yeah you can have ur laugh ;) Anyway I too had fun doing all the above stated and yes was a lil more than excited as I prepared to "Experience China !! "

Flight towards Hong Kong thru Singapore was beautiful... Highlights were the "Changi Airport,Singapore"... Mannnnn that was when I truly felt that I am in a "Foreign Country"... hehe.. just the walk from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 was simply sooo good that I didn't know if I was actually living that moment... I gave a pat to myself and said.. "Hey your worth it" ;) Then was the unbelievable "Hong Kong Intl Airport" placed as "The World's Best Airport" since 2005 and no one to take that position after that :) I guess these things were enough to give me the "Foreign" experience that I always wanted :) But heyyyy "NO" there is more coming...

Chinaaaaaaaa.. Shenzhen it was... Got through the Immigration , was more than happy to see my "Check-in" baggage after Bangalore... don't know how it found me through so many different countries , skies and seas ;) hehe... anyways glad to have u dude !! :) I got out of the Ferry Terminal at Shenzhen and saw the expected "Chinku" faces everywhere.. Had a "Post-It" with the office address in Chinese.I was lucky to find a friendly Chinese speaking guy who guided me to a "Govt RED-Taxi" and told the driver where I need to be dropped..I said Thanks and waved him goodbye :)

The Taxi looked like an Indian Contessa Car... I was like Taxi ??? duhhhhhh... my car would be what in China then ??? A kid's toy ?? :( mummyyyyy i felt bad... really... Then came "NSN,Shenzhen"... the building was like a Glass Dam and with a huge fountain in the front.. I took short steps inside not knowing where to go... I was wondering "Will these guys have Lifts ??" or will they have "Escalators here too ?? " then in just a while the security guy came forward and asked me something in "Chinese".. "chui chao fui fui" is all i understood.. I would have laughed out loud if i had company... but damn i was all alone ;) anyways he saw my "Bible" (read yellow post-it) and guided me and my 35 Kg Luggage to the 2nd Floor to the NSN Shenzhen Office Reception...

From then Life was all about "Cooking" , "Cleaning" , "Working" , "Touring" , "Learning Chinese" and loads and loads of "Experience China !!!"
This was just the "First Stint" I had with China !!
Keep waiting for the next write-up for more intricate details about the place ,people ,language ,culture and last but not the least "Experience China !!" :)This is gonna be one helluva trip... travel with me !!! :)

Cheers ,
Pavi !! :)

Celebration !! :)

2007-10-11T11:54:00.000+05:30

Often do I complain about being very busy, tied up with just tooooo much work, always involved in multiple activities both personal and work related.. But little do i forget that when all this work is done the contentment that I get is just beyond explanation.

Yeah in the past 1 week I’ve been soooo involved in work that each moment was only adding to my irritation and frustration.. I was always with the attitude " what the hell !" in my mind and face... but come on... gimme a break when its all over and my work is done and the clock strikes 8 PM I’m actually sooooooo happy and contented.

This contentment is a real welcome change for people who get busy pretty often with something or the other coz it keeps them happy till the next schedule starts and then again comes back once its over :) So it stays along with u but shows up on and off.. hehe... talkin about binary 0 and 1 ! ;)

Anyways I’ve been thru this phase sometimes and believe me every time this "contentment" comes across it makes me so happy that I do the weirdest things to display this happiness... I once went to a nearby store and bought myself 2 huge cone ice creams , Lays chips and one packet of chocolate just to celebrate the fact that I finished one entire lesson in the subject Control Engineering..haha... but these tit bits of celebration are the ones i will remember for a long time coz it shows the amount of gladness and contentment I had in myself though an onlooker would term it dumb ;)

Similarly in my 4th sem of engineering I had got exactly 70% which just touched the baseline of a Distinction..My Dad and Mom were wild at me coz that was not what they expected from me , but I was soooooo glad to be those very few in class to have got a Distinction that sem..I sneaked outta my house and went for a looooong ride on my bike singing loudly to myself as if this world is filled with only deaf people ;)

But that’s what I call Celebration!!

For me Celebration would surely be " Me , A steaming hot cup of Masala Chai , A light drizzle outside the window , Sweet music playin in the background and yes A Total Feeling of Contentment and Happiness !! What more can you ask for ??

So what’s Celebration According to you?? :)

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

Plagiarism :)

2007-09-06T17:19:00.000+05:30

Are we humans all about Plagiarism ???

Hmmm I strongly feel "Yes, We All Are"...

How many of you who have actually gone to the extent of doing something totally different ??
You are as of now reading my blog because someone some day had asked you to read an article on a blog site and so you follow suit and have been doin it for quite sometime now !

Lemme give u a snapshot of my thoughts on plagiarism..

Have u ever wondered how it would be to enter office at 12 in the night and find your team members having their first cup of coffee to start off another 12 hours filled with work ? I'm sure your answer would be "whts with u ? do u think i'm mad?" haha...
Yes i do !! coz its just plain plagiarism that you are doing... Our forefathers or people even before them followed the practice of working during the day as they didn't have the comfort of having sunlight to perform their duties to the fullest during the nights and so you follow suite.
Don't we now have enough replacements called tube lights/bulbs to aid us in working during the night ???? Why cant we reverse the entire process we go through and start working during the nights and sleep during the day ?? haha...

Why cant I have breakfast at night ? and have lunch in the morning and dinner at noon ? ;)
Why cant I have my own room at office and my manager sit in my cubicle ? ;)
Why cant I pick up the fone and say "Bye" instead of "Hi" ?? ;)
Why cant I sit on the table and keep my comp on the chair and work ?? ;)

I guess its just plain "Herd Mentality" that YOU , ME and EVERYONE have in us !! Someone has done it before and got his way through... so you better Follow Suit !!

I don't think any of us would dare to change the way we live, NOT YOU , NOT ME , NOT ANYONE... Coz we all are pretty insecure about the implications of having to drastically "Change".

Its not your fault to think that way coz we all are nothin but Humans.. and Humans are Plagiarists !!!
But its nice to think about it once in a while !!

May be me Blogging is just another act of Plagiarism ;) But hey I'm Human !! ;) Think about it U Plagiarist !!

Cheers,
Pavi !!

P.S : Those who work on shifts please excuse... you follow another page of Plagiarism ;)

Smoke on the Water !!! ;)

2007-08-13T18:55:00.000+05:30

Another Day , Another Morning , Another Hour and yes Another Trip !!

This time around it was to the sparkling Hogenakal Falls or translated to " Smoke emitting Rocks - Falls ".
For those who dont have any clue/idea about this place , its the place which is seen in nearly the entire first half of the famed movie "Roja" directed by yes my fav Maniratnam...
To be precise its the place where the song "Chinna Chinna Aasai" was shot :)

We were thinking about the boredom that surrounded us at office during the entire week the usual cribbing session were happening at our lunch tables.. though we had just got back from Jog Falls around 2 weeks back , all of us had the penchant to get out of the city this weekend too :) so here started our plan to leave to Hogenakal Falls :)

I kinda knew a lot about the place coz i had seen it may be half a dozen times owing to the fact that it is very close to my Dad's native place and I’ve seen the falls in all its glory and also sometimes only in a percentage of its glory. But still i knew that every time you get to see this magnificent falls its gonna leave behind a different picture in your mind !!

Some prerequisites that i had set before leaving for this outing was i wanted the expenditure to be an all time low considering the thousands that I had recently spent on my clothes.. Thanks indeed to the humongous collections that all the shops had as a part of the "Sale Season”. I guess i am born to shop and shop and shop... I just dont get tired of shoppin the way I dont get tired of seeing my Parents daily :) I know thts what u call an "Addiction" hehehe..

Anyways keeping the "Cost-cutting" factor in mind my very kind friends planned to travel to this destination only using "Government Transport”. Both the Karnataka and the Tamilnadu Transport services proved to be very helpful !! :)

We boarded the Coimbatore Intercity Express at the City Railway Station during the wee hours of a chilly morning at 6:15 AM. We were lucky and intelligent to go to the farthest general compartment which had only a few people occupying the seats. I got my most wanted window seat and we started off with Gleaming Faces and tht wicked smile on us which said " Ah hah Train!! " hehe ;)

We reached Dharmapuri in nearly 2.5 hrs and we had breakfast at a nearby snack bar.Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyy Delecioussssss food is all i can say about the breakfast. One of my friends went to the extent of planning a drive to dharmapuri on a weekend only to have Breakfast and Lunch here ;)

After the totally satiating heavy breakfast or brunch we started off to the Bus stand to catch a bus to Hogenakal Falls.We got a bus immediately and as expected all the buses here were equipped with a DVD player and 2 TV sets playing the best of Tamil Movies to entertain all the travelers. I guess some people traveled from place to place only to watch the movie ;) hehe

Though i wasn’t very interested in the movie , I had to watch it sometimes to translate the dialogues for my friends who were watching it like as if they hadn’t watched a movie in the past decade...(with a gaping mouth) hehe..

After an hour's journey we reached Hogenakal and the weather was pleasant and a bit sunny :) After walkin a distance we had at least 5 boatmen surrounding us and asking us what we would want to do and whether we are interested to go for a coracle ride around the falls.

My first sight of the falls was totally an "unexpected" one. All I could see was water gushing up and down the sides with huge waves in its path. I had never ever expected to see the waters this way. The river was roaring and it beat the sides with a sea like effect coz of which we could see waves coming our way :) It was scary and yet a treat to the eye !
Then we bargained a little and rented a coracle for Rs 450 and started off towards the falls with the boatman indeed :)

It was a pleasant ride though we were constantly engaged with the new sights of the gushing water which i'm sure has never reached this level in the past few years at least. The gorge that is seen in the Chinna Chinna Aasai song is now no more visible as the waters have risen to such an extent as to cover the entire gorge which measures a whooping 500 feet in height ! We were bamboozled by this fact... Oh God ! :S

After a nice ride on the waters the boatman stopped at a small rocky area which was supposed to be the only means of viewing the overflowing falls at this time of the year. We climbed the rocky path and reached a point from where we could see the entire range of falls. It was "Water Water Everyyyyywhere".All we could see was huge volumes of water being emptied into an already overflowing river and we couldn't quite distinguish one falls from the other coz the gap was minimizing by the hour i guess. The sight was simple superb. Then our very helpful boatman took us to a small rivulet kinda place where we could all settle down and play in the water. We all decided to spend around half an hour here and it was really relaxing and enjoyable to get into the waters !! I went a little ahead and tried totally immersing myself in the water but when the water level reached my ear i totally freaked and got back in nanoseconds.. Thanks to the Hydrophobic Me ;) (Yes i dont know to swim.. please laugh) hehe ;)

The entire surroundings was only H2O.. it looked like the gods above were all crying together and the land below was totally getting confused about this sudden outburst that the god's were going through.. hehe...Just a few meters away the waters were lashing and hitting the rocks and water was being sprayed everywhere due to the force. A sight to see and capture indeed !
This i call the "Click of the Day" view !! :)

After this refreshing experience as i would call it "F5" Indeed we went back to our coracle and got back to the banks in around 2 hours. To relieve us from the tiredness we just cooled ourselves with Tender Coconut and Cucumber and then strd off our journey back to Dharmapuri by yes indeed the "DVD Coach" Bus !! :)
The famous Rajnikanth Movie "Muthu" was playing and all passengers were more than delighted and excited to watch it !! :)
We reached Dharmapuri and had snacks at yes indeed the same Snack Bar and left to catch the train back to Bangalore.

The train though was an "Indian Railways" train came just on time and we were kinda too sleepy on our way back !! Music accompanied us till bangalore and we
reached Blore as expected at around 8:45 PM and then got back home !!

All in all a great and refreshing outing. Though we opted for the cheaper means of transport we were not let down at any point of time !! This proves that we still have some hard working people who make this world a better place to live in and yes Travel In too !! :)

Cheers to Cauvery for her mighty glory , Cheers to the rocks that gave birth to the Breathtaking Falls , Sheers to the Government for making it possible and Cheers to my Friends ! for having "Been there and Done that" !! :)

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

2007-07-08T23:23:00.000+05:30

Carnatic Music !!!!!!!!!!

Carnatic music, also known as karnātaka sangītam is one of the two styles of Indian classical music, the other being Hindustani music. The present form of Carnatic music is based on historical developments that can be traced to the 15th - 16th centuries CE and thereafter. From the ancient Sanskrit works available, and the several epigraphical inscriptional evidences, the history of classical musical traditions can be traced back to about 2500 years.Carnatic music is completely melodic, with improvised variations. The main emphasis is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki). Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: rāga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāka, the rhythmic cycles.

Origins & History !!!!!!!!!!

The Sama Veda is said to have laid the foundation for Indian music, and consists mainily of hymns of Rigveda, set to musical tunes, and would be sung using three to seven musical notes during Vedic sacrifices, sometimes accompanied by an instrument.The Yajur-Veda, which mainly consists of sacrificial formulae, mentions the veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitations during the sacrifices.
Like all art forms in Indian culture, Carnatic Music is believed to have a divine origin, and music is venerated as an aspect of the supreme (nāda brāhmam).Ancient treatises describe the connection of the origin of swaras to the sounds of nature (as in animals and birds, the sound emanating from a bamboo reed as air passes through its hollows etc), and man’s keen sense of observation and perception that tried stimulating these sounds. Many scholars consider that folk music influenced the structure of Carnatic music too.

References to Indian classical music are made in many ancient religious texts, including epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Yajnavalkya Smriti mentions "Veena vadhana tathvangna sruti, jathi, visartha talanjaaprayasena moksha margam niyachathi" ("The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the knowledge of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains salvation without doubt.")The historical roots of this tradition can be found in Bharata's Natya Shastra.Carnatic music is based on music concepts mentioned in Natya Sastra.Natya Shastra mentions many musical concepts (including swara and tala)that continue to be relevant to Carnatic music today. According to some scholars,Carnatic music shares certain classical music concepts with ancient Tamil music. The concept of Pann is related to Ragas used in Carnatic music.The rhythmic meters found in several musical forms (such as the Tiruppugazh) and other ancient literature, resemble the talas that are in use today.

Both Carnatic and Hindustani music shared a common history. Since the late 12th and early 13th centuries, as a result of the increasing Persian influence (and as a result of the Islamic conquest) in North India, Hindustani Music started evolving as a separate genre, while Carnatic music was relatively unaffected by these Arabic and Iranian influences.In Carnatic Music (which was based in South India), the pan-Indian bhakti movement laid a substantial basis as far as the use of religious themes are concerned, while major developments post 13th century also contributed to its divergence from Hindustani music.

Carnatic music saw renewed growth during Vijayanagar Empire by the Kannada Haridasa movement of Vyasaraja, Purandara Dasa, Kanakadasa and others.Purandara Dasa who is known as the Sangeeta Pitamaha (the grandfather of Carnatic music) laid out the fundamental tenets and framework for teaching carnatic music.Venkatamakhin is credited with the classification of ragas in the Melakarta System and wrote his most important work; Chaturdandi Prakasika (c.1635 CE) in Sanskrit. Govindacharya expanded the Melakarta Scheme into the Sampoorna raga system, which is the system in common use today.

Even though the earlier writers Matanga, Sarangadeva and others also were from Karnataka, the music tradition was formally named Karnataka Sangeetham for the first time only in the 13th Century when Vijayanagara empire was found.

An excerpt from an external site... but yet interesting !!!!!!! :)

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

The Insatiable

2007-07-03T14:45:00.000+05:30

The human mind is an "Insatiable" type... Contenment is a word that has lost its meaning as time has passed.

Moments of happiness and sadness have equally contributed to the growth of this unquenchable thirst to acheive more.

Good in its own way and very bad in some important ways...An insatiable mind shows signs of not being happy with whatever you have.
The mind complains about even the good around you.The penchant to acheive more burns the joy of achievement.Achievement loses its meaning and saddistic notions takes over.

When the heart is insatiable then comes dislike of what one is doing and this inturn troubles the mind and muddles the entire thinking process.... All this only for that one feeling which we are not able to curb... The feeling of "Want"..

Want is everywhere.... In you , In Me , In every soul around... The trials to curb this morbid growth in us leads to a feeling of confoundedness and a loop --> infinity thinking.

Some say ignorance is bliss... yes indeed its better to remain silent and ignorant about these facts coz you know u cant help it... and when u cant u better not "want" to... Now don't turn "Insatiable" about this too :)

Cheers,
Pavi !!

Gyaaaaaaaan !! :)

2007-06-22T15:59:00.000+05:30

Some facts I never knew until... ;)

!) The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with

@) Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobiacs is the term for people who fear the number 666

#) Publishers have coined the term "Brownsploitation" for the rash of books that have sprung up in the wake of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code blockbuster

$) Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States

%) TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters only one row of the keyboard

^) The first words spoken by over Alexander Bell over the telephone were: "Watson, please come here.I want you."

&) There are no words in the English language that rhyme with silver and orange.

*) The first product to have a bar code scanned was Wrigley's gum.

() Music can help reduce chronic pain by more than 20% and can alleviate depression by up to 25%.

)) Iceland has the highest concentration of broadband users in the world

!!) The Population of the world can live within the state boundaries of Texas

!@) There was once a town in West Virginia called "6."

!#) On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day

!$) If you can see a rainbow you must have your back to the sun.

Now you know !! WoooooHooooooooo !! :)
Keep browsing back to this space for more interesting facts

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

Calvin & Hobbes !!

2007-06-13T13:55:00.000+05:30

He makes me smile & smile & smile !! :)

... and then comes June !!

2007-06-01T14:01:00.000+05:30

In Fountain Court

The fountain murmuring of sleep,
A drowsy tune;
The flickering green of leaves that keep
The light of June;
Peace, through a slumbering afternoon,
The peace of June.

A waiting ghost, in the blue sky,
The white curved moon;
June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I
Wait too, with June;
Come, through the lingering afternoon,
Soon, love, come soon.

Arthur Symons

Its not a poem i liked or related to its just the month that i really like coz i cherish the day i was born, the 6th day of this 6th month :)
Dedicated to all the June People !! We do rock ! :)

Cheers,
Pavi !! :)

Sakleshpur - Green Route !

2007-05-27T17:58:00.000+05:30

My next blog is gonna be about the trek that we had on the Green Route !!
Watch out for more details at the same place !! :)

Sakleshpur - On track on the Green Route !!

2007-05-25T01:47:00.000+05:30

All that we had was a trek bag which contained a few necessities and a whole lot of instant food,tent material , vessels (in case the chef in us woke up), matchsticks , salt (not to taste but to protect..hehe) and yeah last but not the least 2 digital cameras :) andddddddddd.... we were off to the splendid trek on the "Green Route".

The "Green Route" is a 42 kms stretch of evergreen forests on the Western Ghats situated between the places of Subramanya and Sakleshpur.Verdant forests, unexplored hill ranges, deep blue waters...this is what the green route is all about.

Check out the aerial view of the "Green Route" @ http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=12922588&x=75746527&z=13&l=0&m=a&v=2

The entire route between these 2 places is connected via a Railway Track which was once abandoned due to the risk involved and lack of manpower to maintain the same.The entire stretch of the track has around 50+ tunnels and narrow bridges which run up to a maximum of 0.5 kms in length only connected via 1/2 feet wide iron sheets placed a feet apart from each other.Due to certain expert trekkers in our group we were pretty confidant about scaling this distance without any hassle (was what we thought atleast).

It was the usual Friday on the 6th of Oct,2006.The 7 of us were very excited about the weekend trek to Sakleshpur and we were more than ready to leave :).We boarded the KSRTC Mangalore Bus at the one and only Magestic Bus Stand and left around 10:45PM.The initial few hours were filled with the usual talks and gossips but the next few hours was a treat to our back sides... thx to the amazingly maintained roads towards Mangalore.We got down at a point on the highway which was said to be the closest point to reach the Donigal Railway Station(our starting point for the trek).

As we alighted from the bus we were welcomed by a whiff of fresh air filled with pure oxygen and a light drizzle..just heavenly :) on the other side of the road was a small waterfall where we just played around and took a few snaps as a mark of our Starting Point !! Here began our venture into the "Unknown".

It was still around 4:45 AM.We just refreshed ourselves at the small waterfall and prepared ourselves for a "long long way to go...".The sun was still lazy to get up and was just stretching his arms out to provide us with enough rays to see the muddy watered roads towards the station.After a few slippery steps and confusing crossroads we saw a small shack at the end of a hilly road which was the Donigal Railway station.This already gave me a sense of pride and god knows why ;) I guess i didn't know what was in store for me in the next few hours and considered this baby step of mine as a very courageous one..hahaha

We sat at the platform bench for a few minutes and then got down to the track and enthusiastically kept the first foot forward towards what I call "The Best and the Scariest Trek" :)

During the initial few kilometers the highway was winding along the track but slowly the roads were out of our visibility though we could still hear the sounds of vehicles taking sharp turns at the hairpin bends.Our visibility was not too good but still we continued with a lot of zest and zeal.We first encountered a 50 metre bridge which i couldn't quite clearly see until someone from our group called out to me and said "come here come here.. our first bridge" It was all fine until i kept my first step on the bridge.I felt the ground beneath me just crumble and melt into wet sand and me being carried away with it.Yes this so called "bridge" is around 300meters high and has no banisters on either side and is just made of 1/2 ft wide iron sheets kept around 1 feet from each other.I didn't know the meaning of the word"scared" until i stepped onto this bridge.I didn't want to scream coz this trek was meant to be this way and yeah come on i cant just act like a kid..hehe...Anyways i did see the other side of the bridge alive using the help of a few brave guys who willingly held my hand and helped me thru the "living hell". Actually the bridge is just half as scary as the scene below it.All you can see during the wee hours of the morning is a dark sheet of trees and the sound of rippling water somewhere faaar faaar beneath the bridge.Ain't it scary ?? U need to live the moment to experience it.. seriously :) Soon followed another bridge which was comparatively much shorter and yes this time I was not as "scared" as before but yes i was hoping that this bridge would be the last one...hehe wht a fool i was ;)

Then we decided to take short nap on the track until the sun rose coz it was pointless to trek the "Green Route" without being able to actually see the "green" :P.So we settled down on the tracks,covered our faces with our jerkin and had a quick nap which proved to be very refreshing.
After about 15-20 minutes we were back to carrying our heavy trek sacks , tent material and we started off traversing through the most beautiful hill side :)

We came across a lotta scary bridges and yeah not to forget the eerie,dark tunnels.Most of the tunnels were atleast 100m long.They were deep,dark and dangerous.We needed to switch on our torches to find our way through it coz as u walk deeper into the tunnel visibility reaches zilch and to add to the danger the gap between the tracks is deeper and chances of miscalculating your step and spraining your leg is very high.A torch is your only savior.Oh yeah you have friends called "Bats" who might just tap you on ur head occasionally to say "Hi"..so don't be surprised if they join you !!

The bridges and tunnels came one after the other nearly every 100 meters and we all kinda got used to them.What kept us really occupied was the breathtaking view of the Western Ghats.Each frame that we saw could easily take place of the "Wallpaper" at my office desktop.Hills were covered with lush green tall trees which was a part of a dense jungle.Affluent vegetation and an amazing weather added to this beauty.There was a hill on one side of the track whose edges were cut off during the construction of this track and on the other side lay a gorge which was thousands of meters deep and filled with trees which formed a beautiful canopy.We could also see streams of clear blue water flowing beneath the bridges which got lost amongst the thick trees after a few meters.All through our trek we could here the sound of rippling water which was finding its way through the thick jungle to reach the lake at the far end :)

We stopped occasionally for nibbling on a few eateries to keep us away from gettin exhausted.We also encountered a few over-friendly leaches who really didn't wanna leave a few friends of mine and yeah snakes said Hi too :) As we covered the distance, though our legs started crying "No more.No more" the beauty just captivated us and we were all spellbound by the wonderful scenic nature that surrounded us.It was a treat to the eye and an F5 to the brain.I individually was just so engrossed with the surroundings that a few moments I thought that I have reached a place which does not have a destination and I was all alone in the journey to find the unknown :) Believe me this feeling is worth millions.

An out of the usual experience is when we heard the hoot of a train as we were trekking.We all were taken aback coz we thought that this was an abandoned track and no trains ever travelled on these tracks.Each of us started making wild guesses as to which side the train was coming from.Slowly the hoot started getting closer and louder.We crossed the bridge that we were on as quickly as possible and reached the other end and put our bags down on the sides and waited for the train to pass by.It took quite some time for the train to reach the place we were standing.But when it arrived we were shocked to see that it was a goods train with 6 engines and nearly 53 compartments.We also tried the 1Rs trick and it worked !! haha :) It took a surprising 4 minutes for the entire train to pass us and then we were back on track ;)

As the sun rose high in the sky our backs started straining and every bone and muscle started hurting.It was gettin tougher now to take measured steps on the track and we were wishing for plain road to replace the uncomfortable tracks.The breaks we took got longer but all along this tiresome period nature never stopped showing us her worth.The jungles and mountains around us got denser and higher.Streams were curving in and out beneath us and many of us wanted to just plunge into the clear waters and play around till evening.But we had to reach our destination The Yedukumari Station by evening as it would be very risky to cross bridges and tunnels when its dark.We moved on and on, side by side with the beautiful streams , cascading falls and wild forests :)

Though we were totally poofed we continued trekking and yeah pranks on each other and funny fotos entertained us and talks about absolutely weird things happened nearly all through our trek.Finally after scaling nearly 17kms we reached our destination - Yedukumari Railway Platform".I could see the edge of the platform at a distance of around 1 km and i was so happy to see plain land again..haha.. believe me its a pain to take calculated steps on tracks :( I just ran on the platform and found myself a place to sit and thennnnnnnn ooooooooooooofffffffffffff... my legs just gave way and i felt like they were no more a part of my body.We boiled water and made ourselves noodles and drank a lot of juice.Food just relived us from our tiredness and we were back to normal except for the leg pain.

After a few photo sessions and the usual talks we saw a lorry-train arrive at the station. Yeah don't be surprised.. it is called as a lorry-train coz it has the body of a truck/lorry and the wheels of a train :).The driver was friendly enough to let us all into the vehicle and transport us back to Sakleshpur via the same track that we trekked on just a few hours back.We were more than happy to get back in that vehicle coz its somethin we have and will never do.
Each of us had to be lifted up to get into the vehicle and once all of us were aboard we were off to one of the best rides !! It can be compared to the feeling you get while moving down slope on a roller-coaster.Adrenaline push all the way :)

There was a light drizzle and we had no roof top to guard us from the rain so we might as well enjoy till it lasts :) This vehicle was mostly used to carry the crane which is used to clear ground during land slides back to town.It was great fun scaling the entire stretch of the "green route" on top of a lorry-train.It was indeed scary when we looked down the bridges that we had crossed now from an aerial view.Ooooooooooof what if i missed just one step ? I guess that would have been my last step :(
Then after a super duper, exciting , joyful , enchanting ride we reached the Sakleshpur Railway station by late evening which marked the end of one of the best and scariest treks ever !!

If i had to describe this trek in a few words its gotta be Amazing , Enchanting , Beautiful , Scary and indeed One Of A Kind !!
That is the "Green Route" trekking for you !!

Cheers,

Pavi !! :)

P.S : This route now has a fully functional broad gauge track and trains are successfully operating connecting Hassan-Sakleshpur-Mangalore.Now i am waiting to traverse the same locations via train sometime soon :)

Guys and Gals are u readyyyyyy ??? haha :)

Guru - The Movie

2007-03-20T23:51:00.000+05:30

Finally for all those waiting with bated breath !!! Here comes the queen to shower her words of wisdom to do good to mankind and yeah womankind too!!! ;)

GURU !!! A movie by the Awesome Threesome !! The most respected and the guru of all directors Mani Rathman , God of music A.R.Rahman , The king of photography Rajiv Menon !!

Lemme not waste time in elucidating trivial points... I wil plunge into the details right away !!

I still remember me appreciating "Baa's" acting in Baa Bahoo aur Baby( a daily soap ;)) and I wondered why she has not acted in many serials so far... Pop and there u go !!! She is abhishek's mom in the movie !!! Potrays a strong individualistic brave lady and a typical mother of a playful but wise child.The strength in her voice and the impact that she has on the decision that she makes indicates woman power in a very subtle way and yeah guys u better agree that there lies a woman behind every succesful man !!
Another scene where u notice her perfect acting skills is when Sujatha(Aishwarya) decides to go with Guru (Abhishek) at the railway station and the expression on "Baa's" face.The expression that a confident mother has on her children.No fear whtsoeve in the decision that she makes.
These are expression tough to be expressed ;) but she just did it.......

The first song in the movie "Mayya Mayya" surely done to draw the attention of the "Insatiable" crowd of Mallika Sherawat fans can indeed be titled the Item Number of this film.I felt that there was no splendid photography potrayed in this song but yes certain shots were really good like the one where the entire troupe dance in a pillared arena and the camera is swayed across and shaken to give a better impact to the variation in the music !!! Indeed so well thought of by Rajiv !!
The icing to the cake lies at the end of the song when the 4 of them are seen dancing on the boat with Turkey Coastline as the background.Notice that the coastline wears a straw coloured look and notice the color of the clothes tht mallika and abhishek wear !! A striking similarity and a superb match to the blue sea in between !!! Rajiv Menon again !! :)

The second song,the one i consider as the best in the entire movie is "Barso Re".Keeping aside the sudden skimpy clothes and a teeny weeny bit of over dose in the expressions from aish the other things in this song is just too perfect to be true !!
The blue sky , the lush green fields , the amazing weather !!! hats off to Mani and Rajiv :)
Kudos to Aish for her splendid dancing and yeah no one can eve miss out on the breathtaking scenary of Bagalkot, Karnataka.

I guess the description of just 2 songs would be more than enough ;)

Now for some extra gyaan on the movie :

Right from the dresses to the modes of travel including trains and trams, the director took utmost care in making us feel a part of that era and make us witness that period. Mani Ratnam’s story of a rags to riches boy is inspiring and the common man yearns to believe in this story. The middle class often witness their own personal struggle of making it big, when they see the protagonist Guru encountering obstacles and battling them fiercely. Mani Ratnam gives a very realistic approach and a very believable factor to this larger than life story.

There are a few loopholes though, the story although of a simple villager and that of the middle classes may not exactly appeal to these very audiences as the script and screenplay is more for the intellectual audiences. There are other loopholes too, like the loose end of the relationship between him and his brother-in-law. Also the film at times is based more on the dialogues rather than showing, more emphasis is placed on the personal life of Guru and a bit less emphasis is given to the growth of Guru’s enterprise.

However these discrepancies almost feel balanced out by Mani Ratnam during his execution. There are several poignant moments in the film like the beautiful and playful moments between Guru and his wife, their growth and discovery of love for one another after actually being married in a very oppourtunistic manner.
Guru’s paralytic stroke and his subsequent recovery touches the viewers’ hearts and is indeed an appreciable performance.

To conclude GURU is the "Intelligent Man's Movie".The intellectual script and sensational execution of the same by ManiRatnam makes it a class higher than the rest.I dont know if I can say that Bollywood deserves the movie coz i feel Mani works in a league of his own.The movie is inspirational in its own way and leaves an impact while u leave your seat at the theater.
Brilliant Direction , Sensational Music and Breathtaking Cinematography and a seasoning of Splendid Acting and Witty Talks !!! That sums up GURU for me.

Crazy is a Relative term in my Family !!

2006-12-09T02:19:00.000+05:30

Yippeeeeeeeeeeee !!!! My first ever blog !!! In my words " My Firstest Blog" hehehe

There are a lot of rendezvous which happen everywhere around the world... Some Interesting and some boring.But have you ever thought about a few questions that your brain would like to ask you ?? Sounds weird ?? Nope,its not... Look wht i did !!! ;)

Check out an excerpt from the recent interview that I had with my brain !!!

1) What are u doing ?
Ans : duh !!! why wud u ask me if i knew it !! ;)

2) Why u blogging ?
Ans : Now thts a new verb "Blogging"...hey they didnt teach me this word in school... can i "sue" them plzz ??

3) Whts the time ?
Ans : A word with the letters T,I,M,E !!! now u better "sue" ur school..

4) Enough of this crap..wht u gonna do next ??
Ans : I swear by god I wil write a blog which makes total sense(u better not say tht this blog didnt) and yeah please do visit my blog page once a week so that the "Number of Profile Views" can be flaunted...I care a damn if you dont read wht i've written(I cant do anythin more than just "Sue" you).

5) Now whts this guy/girl starin at ?
Ans : Hey getta life..u got loads of issues in life(ur the main one),a job which pays you (peanuts),friends to meet(take back the money they owe u),places to go(the Loo indeed) and last but not the least " Dude Go Get some Sleep...Ur brain cant handle u anymore...Let it dream"

Cheers
Pavi !!