What Calvin & Hobbes character are you?

Well, I turned out to be Hobbes! Heh, heh...the philosophical one ;-)
The first time I took the quiz, my mind was clouded by how Calvin behaves. Hence, I scored highly as Calvin. Took the quiz again more objectively, and there was a 3-way tiebreaker :-O
I could have been either Mrs Wormwood or Mom/Dad. Am I that preachy? :-D

You scored as Hobbes. You are Hobbes! Resourceful, laid back, optimistic, understanding, and able to put up with Calvin on a day-to-day basis. You are the best type of friend, someone who you can get in fights with and look at comic books with, someone who will send prank letter to you through the amil and someone who leds over cliffs with you. What more could anyone ask for? Mrs. Wormwood 57% Mom and Dad 57% Hobbes 57% Susie 50% Calvin 43% What Calvin & Hobbes character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Pj time...

Precious little interesting happening in my life. So nothing much to blog about :-DSo to fill up the space, will put up some PJ's that I thought of recently.

If R K Narayan was to write about the days and times of Barbie (or Mallika Sherawat), what would he title his book?

Maal-gudiya Days


If R K N was to write about Abu Salem, then....?

...Moll-Ghoda Days


And a book on Jaya Bhadhuri's film career?

Small-Guddi Days!


And what is this! Shah Rukh is DON???? I say, DON'T!!!!

A long wekend in Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram...

Well, the blog's been due for an update but haven't got the time or thought to fill it up. The travelogue on the Pondicherry-Mahabalipuram trip is still pending. Umpteen reminders from friends have got me down to penning that down now.

It was after a long time that the gang boys decided to et out of town and this wasn't a chance to be missed. So off we were to Pondicherry on a sultry June 21st night - Vikram a.k.a GA, Sathwick, Sudhakar and myself.
Reached Reached Pondicherry at about 5:30 in the morning and could immediately feel the coastal stuffiness hit us. We packed into a city bus and were off towards our abode - St James Beach Resort. Landing there we found the accommodation not bad at all. The last room before the beach begins and tall, shady coconut trees swaying in the coastal breeze.


Soon we were off to explore the city that was a French colony not so long ago. First stop was near Auroville where we rented 2 scooters - A Kinetic and an Activa for the two days. Had breakfast at a cozy little bakery which served some really good bread-based stuff and omelettes.
Then took a walking tour of Auroville. It was a disappointment to say the least. First the caretakers weren't helpful in room enquiries (the thing is unless one has a guest pass, one cannot visit all the places inside Auroville, like the kitchen). When we went to the Matri Mandir, we saw that it was under renovation and could not go inside it. So effectively, there was nothing to see inside Auroville. After the disappointment in the first half of the day, we then went and had a hearty lunch at Saravana Bhavan. Almost completely wiped the plate clean off their Special meals :-)
Still, we were in the dark as to what to do in and around Pondicherry. So we headed straight to the tourist office on Beach Road where we collected brochures and maps of all the tourist attractions in Pondicherry. Beach Road in itself was a good sight - a scaled down Queen's Necklace-kind of road. Then we sat down to tick off the tourist places one by one. The vast expanse of the sea was a treat to watch!

Pondicherry as a city is a planned one by the French. You can see the clear demarcation between the French section and the local section of the city which is demarcated by a long moat-like drain. On the French side of the moat, you find all the French style buildings while on the other side, it is the typical Indian look. We decided the tour the French section first. Having a beach on that side helped pretty much to favor that decision.
First we were off to the Chunnambar Boat House which boasted of adventure sports and a tree house to stay in. When we reached there, again, it was a major disappointment. The only adventure sport they had was a motor boat ride which was pretty worth it. The only other attraction was a swing tied to a tree on which we tried all kinds of stunts!
Then we were back on Beach Road. Sat on the beach for quite some time and made use of all the photo-ops. There is a Gandhi Statue, A Nehru statue, a Indian army war memorial, a French WW1 war memorial, and an imposing lighthouse. By then it was darkening already. We just rode around till dinner and decided to catch the live football action (it was a Czech Republic match, I think) at one of the French ristorantes. We reached our resort pretty late around 12 and then almost immediately went off to sleep. It was an early morning for myself, Sath and Sud as we wanted to catch the sunrise on the beach. Ga didn't want to give up his precious sleep so he stayed back :-D

After clicking a lot of sunrise shots, we decided to play footer on the beach. Good fun to do it early in the morning. Soon, we were pretty tired and headed back to the room the freshen up and begin day number two at Pondy.
First, we zeroed in on Hot Breads for our breakfast, and what a spread they had! Each item at the bakery was delicious and fulfilling. After stuffing ourselves properly, we were off to the famous hand made paper factory. After browsing and buying several items at the retail outlet, we toured inside the paper factory awed by both the manual and mechanical process that goes into making this paper. It was a great sight to watch. Lunch was at another popular hangout, La Tasserie. Post lunch we visited the Vinayakar temple and Aurobindo Ashram that contains the samadhi of Aurobindo.

After that, we visited the various big churches listed in the map as well as the railway station. Late evening and we went to the bazaar part of the city with the huge market (it seemed an exact replica of KR Market). Then we caught up on a play by a Bangalore troupe at Alliance Francaise.
Later, we had dinner at Hotel Mass near the main bus stand. Then we were back to the resort for the night. Early next morning, shopped for some port wine, dropped off the rented bikes and were of the Mahabalipuram on the neat East Coast Road which runs parallel to the beach all the way.

Reached Mahabalipuram at around 1230 and found a pretty good accommodation to stay, again a stone's throw away from the beach. And a very inexpensive one as well. It had a verandah with a hanging chair in it as well. Soon after, we had freshened up and started out by visiting the world famous Shore Temple, a UNESCO world heritage monument. It was amazing to know that this was reclaimed from the sea in 1973 and preserved. The erosion due to the sea water and salts are plainly visible on all the sculptures. This temple is part of 6 other temples that are collectively referred to by ancient sailors as "the seven pagodas". The guide did tell us that the other 6 temples were visible when the sea water had receded just before the tsunami that hit coastal Tamil Nadu in Dec 2004.

After this, we were back at the room to wake up GA, have lunch and proceed on to Arjuna's Penance, a 27m long sculpture marvel depicting the 12 year penance of Arjuna (or is it Bhaaageerath's penance for Ganga?).
Then we walked around the place checking out the Varaha Cave, the light house, the Ganesha temple and Krishna's butterball. The butter ball is a natural rock which looks precariously balanced at the top of a slope, looking ready to roll down a tthe slightest push. Awe-striking stuff!

At around 8, we went and sat at the beach taking in the cool evening sea breeze on an empty beach. Dinner was had at Moonraker's, which seemed to be the most popular hangout in Mahabalipuram. Especially interesting were the photos and news clippings adorning the walls of the restaurant - they were all of our freedom fighters which was good to see. After dinner, we were back to our accommodation to catch up on some well deserved sleep.
Next morning, we visited the Five Rathas, which has different temples carved out of a single rock. The best fun we had was jumping around for 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' type snaps.



Post-lunch, we were off to Tiger Caves, a sculpture which is in the form of a tiger's face. There was a huge rock which provided nice shade and wind just outsie the beach. All of us just lied down there and dozed off on the cool grass for about an hour. After a while, we just walked around on the pristine beach and then we were ready to leave. We went to the hotel, checked out and left for Chennai to catch the train back to Bangalore.
On a parting note, here is a funny board I came across in Mahabalipuram :-D

More pics from the trip can be found HERE


Was watching parts of Neal n Nikki over the weekend...
Seeing Uday's nothing-acting and Tanisha's clothes, guess it should be called "Nil n Naked" :-)

Coorg (Madikeri) trip and other sundries!

Well, the reason for not been writing is that weekends have been generally been spent being out. So not finding enough time to sit and blog!
Was in Chennai for a day, then onto to Coorg.
The Coorg trip was especially good.
(Snaps from the trip can be found here and here)
Spent it at an adventure camp about 30km from Madikeri. It rained almost all the time. Was supposed to be an adventure but ended up being a relaxing weekend what with the rains not abating! We were 8 of us in a Tempo Traveller. So the journey was not too cramped or difficult as each person has enough space to stretch and sit around. Reached Virajpet at about 7 in the morning and then onwards directly to Jungle Mount Adventures near a place called Kakabbe. This base camp is right at the base of Thandiyendamol, the highest peak in Coorg. The Western Ghats lining the horizon was an awe-inspiring sight.


The owners of the base camp - Sagar and Bhavani - were pretty good hosts. The accommodation itself was pretty neat with cottage rooms (with attached bathrooms!) and a thatched hut. We passed on the hut since the rains had really brought a chill in the air.

After a leisurely breakfast, we just lay around the place. There was a river that flows right next to the camp where Sagar had put up a bamboo catamaran and a long strip of bamboo to walk on. Was fun to stand around on that. Since we didn't have much to do because of the rains, just walked around the fields. For some of us, it was an ideal opportunity to test out the digital cameras on the scenic surroundings. Then walked to a small waterfall-cum-rapids place where all of us generally jumped around on the rocks and water. Then we were back for lunch.

After a sumptuous lunch, we were ready to try out kayaking. This is where 2 people sit facing each other on a conical shaped boat and row in opposite directions to propel the boat. It was great fun to kayak in the rains. There was a good flow of water in the river and rowing was a pretty exciting though tiresome exercise.

After kayaking for about an hour, it was almost evening time and we just relaxed around. Then it was time for tea and snacks. As it was about to get dark, we set out on a night walk taking an aimless path. walked along the path which slowly turned into a ditch and finally ended at the bank of the river further upstream. By this time, it was completely dark and almost impossible to see anything. Luckily, we had borrowed torches from the camp helpers with which we could guide our way back to the comforts of the cottages. by now, it was raining cats and dogs. Reached back and Sagar was ready with some hot snacks which they had cooked from home. After that, the girls were playing antakshari while the guys cleaned up Sagar's stock of vodka and beer with the pakoras.

Then it was time for dinner which was had under lanterns as the rains had cut the power off. After a heavy dinner, it was time to retire and after the long walk, everyone almost immediately fell asleep. All night, the sound of pouring rains was the only sound we heard. Next morning, the level of water in the river had risen by almost 6 feet. The catamaran on which we had been standing the previous day had almost submerged and drifted to the middle of the river. It was pretty amazing to see the branches that we rowed under in the kayaks were now completely under water. After freshening up, we were ready to leave. After some customary photo sessions, we were off on our way again. It was past noon when we reached Madikeri and still raining hard. Had lunch at Athithi (they had a good buffet for Rs 30!), decided to skip Abbe Falls as it was no point in going in the rain.
We then proceeded onwards to Bylakuppe which is the largest settlement of Tibeteans in India. The Golden Temple is pretty awesome with all the extricate murals and sketchings on the walls.


And in all possible colors! And the three gold-plated 60-foot Buddha statues were a sight to look at! Spent quite a bit of time around here as the girls were never tired of shopping around the complex for various Tibetean artifacts! We finally left Bylakuppe at around 530 in the evening and then the next stop was the MTR for a late snacks-cum-dinner. Finally reached office at around 1115.
All in all, an unexpected relaxing weekend it was. The base camp was pretty good. Am sure to retun there once more after the monsoons for the rest of the activities like trekking, rock climbing etc, a lot of which is on offer by Jungle Mount. A pretty good and affordable outing place, this!

So this blog turned out to be a travelogue, albeit a bad one :-D
(More snaps from the trip can be found here and here)

This weekend was an all-spoty weekend with football, cricket, Formula-1 and tennis! I hate the West Indian tours because of the time difference. They just don't let me sleep! Now with football World Cup all month, my sleep quota is definitely falling like the Sensex in the past few days! And the electricity bills? Well they are almost competing with my fuel bills! And as usual, I am rooting for Argentina! They have always been my favorite ever since I started watching football and Maradona!
And as is my wont, here is a PJ I made up this weekend!


There is this girl who was first madly in love with Subba Rao. At that time she was all interested in the geeky nature of Rao. but slowly, later she was impressed by the flashy Delhi-ite Shyam Ahuja and broke off with Rao. There she found her true happiness, became Mrs Ahuja and lived happily ever after.
Whenever people speak of her love story, they always have a title for it. And that is...?



Subba se lekar Shyam tak!


Listening to lots of Himesh Reshammiya nowadyas. Donno why, but I relly like that guy's voice! God nose!! :-))

UNIX-ed...

Was sitting through a session on basic Unix skills and were having a discussion on man pages when I came up with this:

If 'man' pages in Unix give information of the different commands, certainly 'woman' pages give gossip about the same command ;-)

On a straighter note, googled and found that there is something called woman in Unix: it is used to browse man pages without man...get the drift? WithOut Man = WO-Man!!
Great thinkers, those! :-)

On the same subject, Unix has a quite a few recursive acronyms:
GNU - GNU's Not Unix
RPM - RPM Package Manager
PHP - PHP: Hypertxt Preprocessor