[UP] The Mysore Story, Days 6 & 7

I recommend reading the posts in order of writing, i e Day 1, then 2, then 3 and so on till 7

Day 6: I remembered that I was supposed to pick up my father, and from that moment on, it was RUSH HOUR! I had a pit stop of sorts in Ashu's house for a Dosa, which pissed off Ashu's mom(" I made this with so much difficulty, and you have only one?"). I ripped off towards the station, worrying that I may be late, As I rolled in, I saw my father rolling out! talk about perfect timing! We went to my grandfather's place, where we were greeted my My Grandfather's younger brother, a lawyer with a passion for making Dosas. Cant really say no to him, so we had 2 more dosas. Pop wanted to pay a quick visit to all my relations, so we hopped on the bike and went on a whirlwind tour. At every place we went to, we were offered Dosas! something wrong with the world... All too soon, it was time to pack and leave Mysore.

We left in the evening, with me at the handlebars. We got to B'Lore in 2.5 hrs flat! Ripping is good for you :p

As usual, we spent the night in my Chickappa's place, and had Gobi Manchurian, again! Nothing more to report here, move along...

Day 7: We got up early, and retraced our way to Chennai. Even before we left banglore, our luggage flew off, and I was forced into acrobatics to hold it, and myself, form falling off. After repairing that, we went full blast. The bike performed so well,I was planning to get down on one knee and propose. Pah, who needs girls?

Reached Chennai after 7.5 hrs of travel. Total Distance covered = 1265 Km.


There, I'm done splitting it up, Happy Somy?

[UP] The Mysore Story, Day 5

I recommend reading the posts in order of writing, i e Day 1, then 2, then 3 and so on till 7

Day 5: We had planned to climb the famous Chamundi Hill, But I slep assuming that it wouldnt work out. Imagine my surprise when it did work out. At around 7, both Ashu and Somy were present, and we set off. its lovely riding in the early morning, with the cool breeze running thru your scalp. Only when we reached Chamundi did the enormity of the climb struck me.... The hill was more like a mountain! Sending up a prayer, I started off. After briskly covering the first 100 steps, I was completely blown out.
"Dai Ashu, how much longer man? I'm pretty tired"
"well, we've covered 100 steps, just around 950 more to go"
"!!!!"
I almost fainted on hearing this, but my resolve to conquer the hill only increased.I then proceeded to make a complete fool of myself, resting after every 20 steps(Stop sniggering), with Ashu, Somy and D2 taunting me, when they werent laughing their asses off.I made the grave mistake of giving D2 my camera, and she took two snaps of me huffing and puffing my way up. Unfortunately, they developed very well, and are crystal clear in their insult to me.No outing would be complete without my customary imitation of Gabbar Singh, wich I performed with great gusto! On popular demand, that is, D2's, I imitated Kaho na Pyar hai, to widespread laughter of Ashu and Somy, and sulking of D2, who worships Hrithik.

After upteen breaks,I made it to the summit. In fact, I was the first one on top! Actually, I raced up the last few steps while the gang was courteously waiting for me. Oh well, All's fair in love and war.Me and D2 went in the temple, as Ashu and Somy hadnt had a bath. After our darshan, which took 30 min, we did a pradakshina of the temple, and took a few snaps.We then had a drink of flavoured milk, Thank god for Nandhini.

The climb down was a lot more enjoyable, as Gravity was our ally, and not our opponent. Me and Ashu decended slowly, talking about girls, as all guys do. I ran down the last few steps, thus claiming, amid much amusement, that I was the first to climb up and the first to decend!

Our stomachs growled for nourishment, and we went to this hotel called Nulpak. Pretty good food, which was marred by D2 cribbing anxiously about her results, which were due in a few days. We fooled around the rest of the day, and in the evening, went to Rathna atte's(My father's sister) place. We were joined my Nandhini, my second cousin(Kinda complicated, she's my father's sister's husbands' sister's daughter) and Vidya, another Second cousin. On popular demand(That is, D2's) we were forced to see Gangster, a movie in which Imraan Hashmi does the only thing he knows, that is, kiss the cute actresses. Man he seriously needs to improve. All he needs to do is to ask me tips. Here's my two word review of "Gangster"- KWAK THOO.

Me and Ashu were pretty disgusted, and we left the girls and went for a drive. We stopped under a moonlit sky and just chatted about life. That was a lovely experience. We returned after an hour of deep conversation, and rocked out on Worldspace Radio. Pretty awesome stuff. Soon joined my Somy, who had the sense to get disgusted by crappy movies. We slept off later.

[UP] The Mysore Story, Day 2, 3 & 4

I recommend reading the posts in order of writing, i e Day 1, then 2, then 3 and so on till 7



Day 2 :The next morning, we were off pretty early, and the Mysore Highway was a thing of beauty.Except a few streches, that were pretty hard on the bottom, it was a wonderful journey.We went non-stop all the way, and arrived at my Grandfather's house in Mysore, after around two-an-a-half-hours on the road. The look on his face made the 9 hour journey worth it. He didnt recover even after we hugged and greeted him... and his first words were"Beyond all belief", with me and my father roaring with laughter. We proceeded to visit my pretty sizeable list of relatives in Mysore(All of whom were pretty surprised at the size of my trip), which finished only by evening. I dropped my Father off at the station that night, and saw him off.Spent the(first and only) night in my grandfather's place. 3 days of fun coming up!.

Day3: I got up around 7:30, and had dinner at the SRKVS. Its an amazing recidential school where my tatha served(and is still serving) for over 50 years. And thats no typo.I had breakfast(Idly) there and proceeded to Sowmya's place. She is my cousin, my father's sisters daughter. We soon met up with Ashwin(Another cousin, this one is a genius), and had lunch in a hotel called Rasooi Magic. Pretty ok fare. We then left for Araditha's(Fondly called D2, shes really cute, but her top floor is pretty much empty) home. We argued and counter argued for over an hour about what we'd do, and We ended up going to a theater called Sterling, and saw the Da Vinci Code(Muahahaha, since DVC is banned in Chennai). The most expensive ticket was like 35 bucks.... man I really should settle in Mysore.After the movie finished, we went to Pizza Hut, and ordered a "Treat for 4", 2 Pizzas, 4 soups, A pasta and garlic bread. The Pizzas and Garlic bread was awesome. The Soup was like soap water, and the pasta was worse than poison. At least poison doesent prolong the agony...
We watched a coupla movies(Thats all that we did majorly in the 3 days), Forrest Gump(Brilliant) and 36 China Town(Corny). Slept late, as was expected.

Day 4: Me and Ashwin decided to go to a gaming parlour, as both Sowmya and D2 were engaged for the day. We met Ashu's friends, and went to pelican. Very average computers, nothing like the monster machines we have in Chennai. I proceeded to thump them 4 on 1, and ended with a score of 35 (Me) -3(Them) , talk about Ownage! After that, we parted, as Ashu had some college work. I went to D2's place and we fooled around the whole day. Sowmya and Ashu were supposed to come, but somehow if didnt work out, and I slep in D2's place alone. man, I love her bath-tub, I hadnt been in one for years... I was floating aroundin the bath tub for almost an hour.
Dinner and Sleep. Good Night.

[UP] The Mysore Story, Day 1

Because the previous blog, Mysore Bound, was real long, I've decided to split it up here.

I'm BACK! and I'm feeling on top of the world!I have not updated my blog for over 2 weeks, hope I make up for it now. A good, long ride is like a drug, and without any hangover too! Lets see.... whats next? ahh yes, the Ride Story.

Day 1- Got up early, round 0430(Thats new), and finished the usual stuff(Brushing, Bath, etc). Ma insisted to do a bit of aarti to the bike, to ward off mishaps, and I let her. We were off (Packing was done the previous evening)on the dot, at 0500 Hrs. We passed thru the city, via Porur, and found the National Highway pretty soon. After that, it was smooth sailing all the while. The Bike performed excellently, without a single cause for concern, except that it did not pull after reaching 105KMPH. We passed some lovely, scenic places, Green paddy fields, yellow fields, Sugarcane fields, Distant mountains, Lovely, smooth roads et al. We stopped in chitoor, about halfway to our destination, for breakfast. We Had Dosai at Hotel Nandhini, a place that served only Andhra type food. Soon, we were breathing fire, and gulping down water. My father has a curious kinda reaction to spicy food, he starts hiccoughing., and here, he promptly started. The hotrel was decent enough to provide us a visitors book, and we appreciated it(Coz I dont remember even the Taj giving us one, while we were there).

We hit the road again, and around 70km on, we made an unscheduled stop at the Mulbarg Hanuman temple . We spent an insightful 30-40 mins there. All too soon, we left the diety in our rear view mirror, and thumped on.

Our first signs of being close to Bangalore was the chill in the air and the gradual climb. At a distance we saw a suspension bridge, and therby entered Bangalore. We made our way across the crowded city, and reached the Mysore road. As we rolled into my uncle's house, the expression of my Aunt's face said it all.We spent the evening in the abode of my Cousin's place.

My little cousin, Smruthi, now in the 7th std, was scheduled to get a prize for being the topper in her class.All of us went up to the beautifully decorated stage, and cheered madly when she shyly made her way to the podium.Our hands were numb with clapping.Two other incidents stand out in my mind for that evening. One was the beautiful speech given by the Swamiji of the school, it left me tingling all over, which was a big deal, as I slept all the way thru Deve Gowda's speech.... wonder how that clown became the PM of our noble country. Another incident was when the school choir was singing "Kannadada Deepa(Kannada Lamp)" Pretty nice song. But what made it special was the huge oil lap they had kept near the stage catching fire and sending a 10 foot flare straight up. The poor kids in the choir just sorta clammed up...... lots of screaming mothers happened.... but it ended pretty well. To their credit, the school handled it very well. While coming back, me and Amshuman,(Smruthi's Elder brother) , went and had divine Gobi Manchurian. All hail the Mughals!

[UP]Mysore Bound

I'm BACK! and I'm feeling on top of the world!I have not updated my blog for over 2 weeks, hope I make up for it now. A good, long ride is like a drug, and without any hangover too! Lets see.... whats next? ahh yes, the Ride Story.

Day 1- Got up early, round 0430(Thats new), and finished the usual stuff(Brushing, Bath, etc). Ma insisted to do a bit of aarti to the bike, to ward off mishaps, and I let her. We were off (Packing was done the previous evening)on the dot, at 0500 Hrs. We passed thru the city, via Porur, and found the National Highway pretty soon. After that, it was smooth sailing all the while. The Bike performed excellently, without a single cause for concern, except that it did not pull after reaching 105KMPH. We passed some lovely, scenic places, Green paddy fields, yellow fields, Sugarcane fields, Distant mountains, Lovely, smooth roads et al. We stopped in chitoor, about halfway to our destination, for breakfast. We Had Dosai at Hotel Nandhini, a place that served only Andhra type food. Soon, we were breathing fire, and gulping down water. My father has a curious kinda reaction to spicy food, he starts hiccoughing., and here, he promptly started. The hotrel was decent enough to provide us a visitors book, and we appreciated it(Coz I dont remember even the Taj giving us one, while we were there).

We hit the road again, and around 70km on, we made an unscheduled stop at the Mulbarg Hanuman temple . We spent an insightful 30-40 mins there. All too soon, we left the diety in our rear view mirror, and thumped on.

Our first signs of being close to Bangalore was the chill in the air and the gradual climb. At a distance we saw a suspension bridge, and therby entered Bangalore. We made our way across the crowded city, and reached the Mysore road. As we rolled into my uncle's house, the expression of my Aunt's face said it all.We spent the evening in the abode of my Cousin's place.

My little cousin, Smruthi, now in the 7th std, was scheduled to get a prize for being the topper in her class.All of us went up to the beautifully decorated stage, and cheered madly when she shyly made her way to the podium.Our hands were numb with clapping.Two other incidents stand out in my mind for that evening. One was the beautiful speech given by the Swamiji of the school, it left me tingling all over, which was a big deal, as I slept all the way thru Deve Gowda's speech.... wonder how that clown became the PM of out noble country. Another incident was when the school choir was singing "Kannadada Deepa(Kannada Lamp)" Pretty nice song. But what made it special was the huge oil lap they had kept near the stage catching fire and sending a 10 foot flare straight up. The poor kids in the choir just sorta clammed up...... lots of screaming mothers happened.... but it ended pretty well. To their credit, the school handled it very well.

Day 2 :The next morning, we were off pretty early, and the Mysore Highway was a thing of beauty.Except a few streches, that were pretty hard on the bottom, it was a wonderful journey.We went non-stop all the way, and arrived at my Grandfather's house in Mysore, after around two-an-a-half-hours on the road. The look on his face made the 9 hour journey worth it. He didnt recover even after we hugged and greeted him... and his first words were"Beyond all belief", with me and my father roaring with laughter. We proceeded to visit my pretty sizeable list of relatives in Mysore(All of whom were pretty surprised at the size of my trip), which finished only by evening. I dropped my Father off at the station that night, and saw him off.Spent the(first and only) night in my grandfather's place. 3 days of fun coming up!.

Day3: I got up around 7:30, and had dinner at the SRKVS. Its an amazing recidential school where my tatha served(and is still serving) for over 50 years. And thats no typo.I had breakfast(Idly) there and proceeded to Sowmya's place. She is my cousin, my father's sisters daughter. We soon met up with Ashwin(Another cousin, this one is a genius), and had lunch in a hotel called Rasooi Magic. Pretty ok fare. We then left for Araditha's(Fondly called D2, shes really cute, but her top floor is pretty much empty) home. We argued and counter argued for over an hour about what we'd do, and We ended up going to a theater called Sterling, and saw the Da Vinci Code(Muahahaha, since DVC is banned in Chennai). The most expensive ticket was like 35 bucks.... man I really should settle in Mysore.After the movie finished, we went to Pizza Hut, and ordered a "Treat for 4", 2 Pizzas, 4 soups, A pasta and garlic bread. The Pizzas and Garlic bread was awesome. The Soup was like soap water, and the pasta was worse than poison. At least poison doesent prolong the agony...
We watched a coupla movies(Thats all that we did majorly in the 3 days), Forrest Gump(Brilliant) and 36 China Town(Corny). Slept late, as was expected.

Day 4: Me and Ashwin decided to go to a gaming parlour, as both Sowmya and D2 were engaged for the day. We met Ashu's friends, and went to pelican. Very average computers, nothing like the monster machines we have in Chennai. I proceeded to thump them 4 on 1, and ended with a score of 35 (Me) -3(Them) , talk about Ownage! After that, we parted, as Ashu had some college work. I went to D2's place and we fooled around the whole day. Sowmya and Ashu were supposed to come, but somehow if didnt work out, and I slep in D2's place alone. man, I love her bath-tub, I hadnt been in one for years... I was floating aroundin the bath tub for almost an hour.
Dinner and Sleep. Good Night.

Day 5: We had planned to climb the famous Chamundi Hill, But I slep assuming that it wouldnt work out. Imagine my surprise when it did work out. At around 7, both Ashu and Somy were present, and we set off. its lovely riding in the early morning, with the cool breeze running thru your scalp. Only when we reached Chamundi did the enormity of the climb struck me.... The hill was more like a mountain! Sending up a prayer, I started off. After briskly covering the first 100 steps, I was completely blown out.
"Dai Ashu, how much longer man? I'm pretty tired"
"well, we've covered 100 steps, just around 950 more to go"
"!!!!"
I almost fainted on hearing this, but my resolve to conquer the hill only increased.I then proceeded to make a complete fool of myself, resting after every 20 steps(Stop sniggering), with Ashu, Somy and D2 taunting me, when they werent laughing their asses off.I made the grave mistake of giving D2 my camera, and she took two snaps of me huffing and puffing my way up. Unfortunately, they developed very well, and are crystal clear in their insult to me.

After upteen breaks,I made it to the summit. In fact, I was the first one on top! Actually, I raced up the last few steps while the gang was courteously waiting for me. Oh well, All's fair in love and war.Me and D2 went in the temple, as Ashu and Somy hadnt had a bath. After our darshan, which took 30 min, we did a pradakshina of the temple, and took a few snaps.We then had a drink of flavoured milk, Thank god for Nandhini.

The climb down was a lot more enjoyable, as Gravity was our ally, and not our opponent. Me and Ashu decended slowly, talking about girls, as all guys do. I ran down the last few steps, thus claiming, amid much amusement, that I was the first to climb up and the first to decend!

Our stomachs growled for nourishment, and we went to this hotel called Nulpak. Pretty good food, which was marred my D2 cribbing anxiously about her results, which were due in a few days. We fooled around the rest of the day, and in the evening, went to Rathna atte's(My father's sister) place. We were joined my Nandhini, my second cousin(Kinda complicated, she's my father's sister's husbands' sister's daughter) and Vidya, another Second cousin. On popular demand(That is, D2's) we were forced to see Gangster, a movie in which Imraan Hashmi does the only thing he knows, that is, kiss the cute actresses. Man he seriously needs to improve. All he needs to do is to ask me tips. Here's my two word review of "Gangster"- KWAK THOO.

Me and Ashu were pretty disgusted, and we left the girls and went for a drive. We stopped under a moonlit sky and just chatted about life. That was a lovely experience. We returned after an hour of deep conversation, and rocked out on Worldspace Radio. Pretty awesome stuff. Soon joined my Somy, who had the sence to get disgusted by crappy movies. We slept off later.

Day 6: I remembered that I was supposed to pick up my father, and from that moment on, it was RUSH HOUR! I had a pit stop of sorts in Ashu's house for a Dosa, which pissed off Ashu's mom(" I made this with so much difficulty, and you have only one?"). I ripped off towards the station, worrying that I may be late, As I rolled in, I saw my father rolling out! talk about perfect timing! We went to my grandfather's place, where we were greeted my My Grandfather's younger brother, a lawyer with a passion for making Dosas. Cant really say no to him, so we had 2 more dosas. Pop wanted to pay a quick visit to all my relations, so we hopped on the bike and went on a whirlwind tour. At every place we went to, we were offered Dosas! something wrong with the world... All too soon, it was time to pack and leave Mysore.

We left in the evening, with me at the handlebars. We got to B'Lore in 2.5 hrs flat! Ripping is good for you :p

As usual, we spent the night in my Chickappa's place, and had Gobi Manchurian, again! Nothing more to report here, move along...

Day 7: We got up early, and retraced our way to Chennai. Even before we left banglore, our luggage flew off, and I was forced into acrobatics to hold it, and myself, form falling off. After repairing that, we went full blast. The bike performed so well,I was planning to get down on one knee and propose. Pah, who needs girls?

Reached Chennai after 7.5 hrs of travel. Total Distance covered = 1265 Km.



Well, I'm done. Phew, that was hard work. Hope I get some comments for it.....

[UP] Hindu Pardy!

Today, Arun, (A 6"something fella, but he's pretty much a softie) called me up today, and wanted to fool around, as he'd just finished his exam. Naturally, I agreed, and we ended up going to Adyar Anand Bhavan, a terrific, although pricey Sweetmeat shop. We were soon joined by Sundar and Shetty, 2 of Aruns friends, though just acquaintances for me. Usual banter, punctuated by chaat eating, proceeded. We soon parted ways, and then Arun came over to my place, and we fooled around a bit. The actual plan was for me to go over to Aruns house, where we'd watch a movie (Animated, of co[UP] Arun(One of my oldest pals, he's this big,urse). As we proposed, God prompty disposed, and that plan was scrapped. We decied to go to Fruit Shop, a hang out of sorts. So we went to fruit shop, me in my cruiser, and him in his Red Kinetic Nova. Man, he dwarfs his vehicle. We ordered our ususl Lime Mint Cooler, and chatted away. Then the door opened, and in came Sudarshan(Tall, lanky),Ajay(Silent Spectator),Guru(Gentlemanly fella),Siddarth(Good Humoured dude),Arun(another one, In singapore now),Ramakrishnan(babyfaced, the butt of our jokes),Narendran(Mr Nice Guy),Ravishankar(IItian, 'nuff said),Vishnu(Quick witted, thin) and Kapil(Short, fat, exceedingly brilliant)! the entire Hindu School gang! I went nuts, we all did. The next hour or so passed very soon, with us exchanging stories, cell numbers, and a whole lot more. man, it rocked! I laughed till I cried. As traditionally dictated, we pulled Ramki's leg, poor guy didnt know what hit him. We talked about Hindu School, our common bond. Lots on nostalgia, our love/hate relationship with VP, LOTS of VP incidents, man... what a fantastic evening. I got good wishes for my ride, and speaking of which, I need to get packing. I'll see you all later. Prolly will spend a week in Mysore. In the bottom pic, from Left to right, Sudarshan,Arun,Ramki,naren,Vishnu,Siddarth,Ravi,Guru,Kapil,Ajay, and Me.

[UP] Onward to Mysore

I just finished my exams, AND my implant training, a double whammy if I ever saw one. In celebration....
I'm off to Mysore, ON THE FRIGGIN BIKE! an awesome 500 Km journey awaits me! and... the Indian fields, Highways, villages... man its gonna rock. I'll be leaving on Monday Morning. So I'll prolly be able to write up another blog.Pop will accompany me on the Chennai-Mysore trip though, sucks to that... but I'll do the return journey on my own. I've been a bit busy packing a torch,Swiss Army Knife, camera, batteries, books, clutch cable, accleration cable, spark plug.... man it goes on.

You cant really just jump on the bike and ride away. I've planned this for two weeks(When I was.... ahem... studying). Man, I've serviced the bike, biught spares, packed stuff, mapped, and a whole lot of other things. I'll be off now, wish me luck.

Orkut News: I met my old buddies, from Cochin, on orkut recently. man it just doesent seem to stop amazing me. Lets see if I can find my old crushes there.. ;)