Sorry birdie.

A pigeon had been frequenting our balcony from past few days. Today I found that in one corner of the balcony, there were grass and twigs. So the birdie had been gathering things to make a nest. I felt bad while cleaning the balcony today. We can’t let the bird occupy a part of our balcony. Sorry birdie there is no place for you in my home.

He has been there for me when I had no shoulders to cry. I have shared my joys, sorrows in plenty with him. Danced with him. Hugged him in happiness. Talked to him many times. He is a witness to many of my life’s happenings. I love him a lot.



Picked him from a road side vendor, 7 years ago and he has his place on one side of my bed from day one. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him. And the affair continues.

Summer holidays

Summer holidays have begun for School children. If were a kid I would have got to enjoy next two months.

Summer holidays at Granny’s place meant lotsa fun and learning. I remember that during holidays I would wake up on my own, early in the morning. I used to take up the responsibility of drawing rangoli and plucking flowers for puja.Also watering the plants. Later I would help granny in kitchen. I would move around the house helping everyone to get ready. After everyone left the house, she would make me read Kannada newspaper and write down all the headlines in neat handwriting. This was her way of teaching me Kannada as I was very poor at it. This was something I hated doing during holidays-studying/reading/writing. I am pretty comfy with Kannada now and all thanks goes to granny. During summer she would make papad, pickles and balaka(chilli with masala stuffed into it). I would help her along with my aunt(s) to spread it for drying in the portico. It was my job to keep an eye on the papads and as I would sit shooing away crows and sparrows, one of my aunts would join me reading out Aesop’s fables or any story. I would fall sleepy half way and ask aunt to continue later after a nap.

Summer time also meant I would get access to the book-cupboard. Granny would open the lock and the cupboard would smell of DDT and naphthalene and there was a huge collection of books there…a treasure passed on for generations. It was a rule to take out only one book at a time and I had to keep it safely back. Initially I would take the books and ask any of the aunts to read it for me. What they would do is, they would read a bit pf the story and leave it unfinished. Out of curiosity I would make great effort to read out the story on my own. Granny and her tactics to make me a reading buff….:).I still consider that my affair with books started on those summer holidays at granny’s place.

Evening was meant for playing. Till late evenings we used to play all sorts of games. At nights granny would make us(me and my cousins or aunts) sit together and give us kai tuttu outside in the portico. Those are the days I will never forget.

I miss being a kid. I miss summer holidays. I miss granny. I miss those days.

Details of trip

Back from trip yesterday. Slept like log for 16 hours yesterday. Had to empty the bags, keep things back in their places. Had lotsa work at hand this morning. Pics will be uploaded sometime later. Had lotsa fun in trip. Visited some of the most beautiful places.

Calcutta: Calcutta oops…Kolkata was a great disappointment. There is so much of dirt in the city that I feel it can be called slum capital of India. Our hotel was in Howrah so we passed over howrah bridge (symbol of Calcutta) many times. We started with the city sight seeing by first visitng Kali Ghat. The place is so dirty that all you can think of after going inside is about coming out. Our next destination was Science City. On the way to Science City we saw Eden Garden, Victoria Memorial Hall. We all enjoyed our afternoon in science city. It is very much like Vishweshwariah museum here in Bangalore. Later in the evening we proceeded to Dakshineshwar Temple and Belur Mutt, where Goddess Kali appeared before Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. We also meditation hall of Sri Ramakrishna. This Mutt is superior of all the Ramakrishana mutts. We did some shopping in Bada Market which is like market in a slum.

The most surprising thing I noticed in Kolkatta was that there are still Ambassador cars plying on its road!


New Jalpaiguri(NJP): This is called the gate way to East. All those headed towards east should pass this route. We took train till NJP and boarded bus to Gangtok form there. Gangtok is around 4 hours from NJP.

Gangtok: we were accompanied by river Teesta, flowing on one side, half way through the journey to Gangtok. We traveled through zig-zag roads to reach Gangtok by afternoon. It was very cold. The view outside the hotel window was marvelous. From the terrace we could get a peek of Kanchenajunga. We stayed in gangtok for 3 nights. We visited Rumtek Monastery, where the monks were busy in their prayer. we had to climb a min-hill to reach the place. We all were tired by the time we reached monastery. We also went to Dordul Chorten Stupa and Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical gardens, which you can skip if you have been to Ooty Botanical Garden. Of course there was nothing much to see there as we were there in the wrong season. We also visited Namgyal Institue of Tibetology. There is a display of various Gurus of Buddism including Gods and Goddess. Also the 12 teachings of Buddhism pictorially represented on mats. Ancient manuscripts are also on display. We all got the opportunity to dress up in traditional Sikkim costume at Gangtok View point. We also went on ropeway on one of the afternoons and the view below was breath taking. We also happened to see Assembly hall which was very close to our hotel. We started off one morning to see the famous Tshangu lake. The roads that took us 12400 ft above ground level were too narrow. It requires lotsa skill to drive on such roads. The view outside was simply amazing. There were thick canopy of trees, snow clad mountains…. Since it happens to be border area(Indo-china border) we have to take a special permit to visit the place. We also visited Baba Mandir, made in honor of a sepoy Harbhajan who passed away in 1962 Indo-China war. There is a belief that he still guards the border. We played in snow for a while. And saw Indo-China bordero Nathula Pass from a distance. We couldn’t go there as we didn’t have permit. Every now and then one could hear bombs being fired in the mountains from tankers. Military bases could be seen as we along the journey to Tshangu lake. The view of the lake is simply awesome.

Gangtok is such a beautiful place. Of all the other places in tour, I enjoyed our stay in Gangtok the most.


Dajeeling: we visited-
Himalaya Mountaineering Training Institute.
Tensing Rock –we could climb a rock here at the mere expense of 10 bucks per head.
Tea gardens- the famous tea gardens of Dajeeling.
Gangamaiya Lake- we enjoyed boating here.
Rock Garden.
Padmaja Naidu Zoo.
Tibetian Refugee Camp.

I didn’t go to watch the sun rise at 3’o clock in the morning as it was very cold. But I have got pics to share.

Bhuvaneshwar: It’s a clean city. We went to Dhauligiri, Khandigiri,Udayagiri caves.

Visited the famous Sun Temple at Konark which is around 60 kms from Bhubaneshwar.

Visited Jagannatha Puri temple. It’s is around one and half hour journey from Bhubneshwar. Puri is one of the 4 dhams. I have visted 2 Dhams- Rameshwaram and Puri.

All in all the trip was good. At the end of 11 days we were so happy to get back home but as luck would have it our plane to delayed an hour and half . Feels good to be back home after a long trip.

Our trip was arranged by Indian Holidays. The accommodations provided was not so good though they charged 45000 per head. Plus AC coaches we not booked for travel by train. Think before you opt to travel by Indian Holidays. Any day, I would still prefer Vikram or Nirmala Travels.

Tags: east india, travel

Dream world.

Have you ever dreamt a dream that made you linger about it for couple of days? A dream, that made you smile when you woke up. Made you stay in bed longer with your eyes shut so that you could follow the dream again. Slept again the next night with a hope to see the sequel of the dream.

I had such a dream two days ago. For the next two days I kept wondering ‘what if…whatever I had seen in dream had really happened? What if….what if….’ youn hota tho kya hota If not in real, at least I saw those days and that someone in dreams.

I wanna dream such dreams often.

The Chennai experience.

Chennai trip was wonderful. Though the trip was decided very late, we had a comfortable and joyous journey. The drive from Bangalore to Chennai is unforgettable. The road is constructed and maintained very well. It reminded me of another unforgettable road journey- Pune to Mumbai. The weather in Chennai was very pleasant. I didn’t feel hot at all. It could also be because I spent most of the afternoons in AC. The main attraction of the trip was beach. We went to beach right after dinner on Saturday. I enjoyed walking on cool sand in barefoot. It’s romantic to watch sea at night. It is like a sea of milk gushing towards shore. Clouds, mist and there was half-moon too making the atmosphere damn romantic. Went to beach next morning too. Visited Parthasarathy and Kapaaleshwara temples. Went to Spencer’s Plaza in the afternoon. Loved that place absolutely. Went to crocodile park in the evening. On Sunday, we shopped in T.Nagar. I had delicious appam. Left Chennai on the same afternoon. On the way back, we saw the place where Rajiv Gandhi was killed by LTTE. Sang all the way back to Bangalore with Pooja and Namru.

I think Chennai can as well be called as city of flyovers. There are so many flyovers all over the city. That could be the reason why traffic scenario is not as bad in Chennai as it is here in Bangalore. Most of the time we went below the flyover and not over it :( I love drive on flyover.

All in all going in to Chennai was a great getaway from Bangalore. I so badly wanted to go out somewhere. I’m kind of rejuvenated from this trip.

A bookworm always...

I fear about only one thing- what if I lose my reading habit? From the past one month I haven’t been reading much!!! This rarely happens. There is nothing much to do in office but I get home tired daily. If I were using public transport I could have got some reading time. I wanna be a bookworm always. I have always been the one who used to carry heavy bag with lotsa books in college and same here in office. Girls come to office with a small purse but I carry a big bag so that I can take books and yeah, water bottle too. I usually carry water bottle wherever I go. I grab the little time I get to open book from bag and read. Stopped my afternoon walks to canteen so that I can get at least 30 minutes of reading in the afternoon. I hate it when people around me interrupt me while reading in the office asking me which book I am reading. 23 people asking same question, doesn’t it piss off anyone? I hate those interruptions so much. If somebody is engrossed in reading kindly don’t interrupt and ask what him/her what you are reading. It is so annoying. One more annoying thing is when people ask reviews when you have just started a novel or book. They can see it clearly that you are just few pages through the book but still interrupt and ask,” how is the book?”. People kindly don’t disturb anyone who is reading a book. When reading a book a person slips into another world watching the characters. It’s a great escape from real world.

Some habits don’t die. I have started reading Shantaraam and Two lives.

I met shyam, Vyshnavi and Ashish yesterday.

Drove back in rain. It was fun. The whole road in front of Oracle Office was blocked. As I waited in rain for the traffic to smoothen, I noticed a girl next to me on her two-wheeler. She had not even put on raincoat and she seemed least bothered that she was getting drenched in rain. We started talking to each other. I must say she was beautiful. The raindrops on her face added to her beauty. While moving slowly in the traffic we talked to each other a great deal. Finally it was time to part ways. We came out of that traffic jam; stopped at the turning and I gAve her my mail ID. All night I was somehow sure that she won’t mail me or she will forget my ID or send mail to yahoo.com and not yahoo.co.in. To my surprise there was a mail from her in m yinbox at 7 this morning!!! Must appreciate her memory! We exchanged couple of mails today.

There was an accident today on Intermediate Ring Road. I hope the person recovers soon. There were many people around the accident spot and I was on the other side of the road. There was no way that I could have parked my vehicle and got down. I hope he has got timely help. whoever it was, he/she/they are/were in my prayers.

We had lots of fun in office. The whole afternoon was spent chatting. People talked about their past relationship, affairs, love, crush….and they were imparting the gyan gained from past to others.:)) M is claims he is good at palmistry. He was looking at everybody’s hand and telling what future holds for us and bit about past. He looked at my hand and said, “You have 3 loves in your life”, People burst out laughing and said,” yahan humko ek nahin ho raha hai …isko theen theen!”. I found it funny too. I don’t know in what sense he said. Was it like I fall in love with 3 persons(!!!) or I’m loved by 3 persons(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I just askedhim,” whatever it is tell me if I will get to lead life with at least one of the 3?”. He said that he can’t tell everything. Duh.

In the morning one guy had to speak about his plans for first salary. After he spoke, we were asked if anyone of us want to speak on the same topic. I spoke. I got kind of positive feedback from people on that. I’m happy.

PS:How can you let somebody know that you are interested in him/her?