The countdown has begun for an announcement....
24 Days to go.....
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Updated 19/06/2007 : FF >> to Day "0"
Now that my decision has been made public, no point in keeping this under wraps any longer. So after 13+ years in my current organization, i have decided to look at an opportunity outside, July 4th is my last working day here. It was not a easy decision to take when the organization is a part of you and in your blood. But then you got to do what you have to!! After a lot of deliberation, I have put in my papers and here I am serving the notice period. I dunno how I will react on the last day, having come so far, I guess I will cross the bridge when I come across it....
Updated 02/07/2007:
I am leaving this place with a heavy heart and lots of sweet memories. I still cannot come to terms that I am marching ahead, leaving behind a real long association with a couple of people whom I have known since day one way back in Dec, 1994.
And it's payback time - I owe everything that I am today to this organization, which has given me so much. I dunno what I would have been otherwise.
Thank you every one for being part of my success and touching my life.
adiós and asta la vista until next time!!!
+++++
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Holiday sans friends & tripod
My better half has been ranting and whining about all our holidays for the last couple of years - you know where... if not, then see my earlier post labeled jungles, wildlife etc. Not that these holidays were bad, I did enjoy them, she did not. Whose loss????
Now, having decided to make some amends I planned a holiday to a place which would be more to her liking then mine. After some research on the web and help from fellow bloggers, I zeroed on a homestay in a coffee estate near Hanbal 20 odd kms from Sakleshpur. Being a "social animal" [best read bold & underlined] I have always gone on holidays in a group of 5 people at the minimum and couple of hours to start time, Vids and Suds backed out making it difficult for me to digest a holiday already without the prospect of jungles, animals and now friends. The prospect of
just the three of us going on the holiday was not making it interesting to me. My wife coaxed, cajoled and finally put it out as a dare and did I bite it??? BTB, she doesn't drive and the thought of me behind the wheels for the entire trip, on god knows what kind of roads was already giving me creeps. With no excuses up my sleeve to call it off, I took the dare - I owe it to her lah!!!
Now, having decided to make some amends I planned a holiday to a place which would be more to her liking then mine. After some research on the web and help from fellow bloggers, I zeroed on a homestay in a coffee estate near Hanbal 20 odd kms from Sakleshpur. Being a "social animal" [best read bold & underlined] I have always gone on holidays in a group of 5 people at the minimum and couple of hours to start time, Vids and Suds backed out making it difficult for me to digest a holiday already without the prospect of jungles, animals and now friends. The prospect of
just the three of us going on the holiday was not making it interesting to me. My wife coaxed, cajoled and finally put it out as a dare and did I bite it??? BTB, she doesn't drive and the thought of me behind the wheels for the entire trip, on god knows what kind of roads was already giving me creeps. With no excuses up my sleeve to call it off, I took the dare - I owe it to her lah!!!We started early next morning to beat the morning traffic en route. The NH to Mangalore is real nice and delight to drive, it
was. 2 kms after Sakleshpur I need to take the right fork and proceed towards Hanbal. I was surprised to see smooth table top kind of road all the way till Hanbal. Me thinking - okay! this is turning out pretty good for starters...but soon I was jolted out of my dreams with the road from Hanbal to Coffee Valley bringing out all the wrong notes from our car.
Around coffee valley, there are a lot of good places almost for everyone - If you want to trek, this is heaven, if you want to do a
pilgrimage - Horanadu, Dharmasthala, Kateel, Kalasa are just about an hours drive away. There is also a peak close to Devaladakere village which offers an excellent view of the horizon and beautiful sunset - so said our host. So, we spent two evenings waiting for that "picture post card perfect sunset" but then lord Surya had different plans for the evening. BTB, you can either trek or take a 4WD to this place. Don't try it on a bike or a FWD only car. You might not get back your bike or car in working condition!!! and don't tell me i didn't warn, ok!!!
Having spent day 1 & 2 recharging our city tired soul and body, we decided to drive out to nearby place on day 3 & 4. Bababudan Giri was a damp squib, my wife had never seen this place and having heard a lot about this place from the saffron brigade, she wanted to see it. Having decided to go ahead and do a holiday as per her wishes, I mutely drove her to the place and having seen it she was disappointed very much. Though we were supposed to start back to Bangalore next day, on the last minute we decided to visit
Horanadu and make up for the dull previous day. The drive to Horanadu was back breaking and I was worried about the another 300 odd kms back. On our way back, we stopped at a coffee shop for refreshments and owner offered us suggestions which turned out to be a gem of an advice. The road from Kalasa to Kottigehara, via Maagundi, Balupet was just what the doctor ordered. The road is nice with thick forest on either side and absolutely no traffic - Only ONE bus crossed us from the opposite direction in 40 kms - GREAT!!!! However, one word of caution - this road should NOT be attempted at night not because of the thick forest and no traffic [no help, in case of a problem] but also because of the presence of the Red Brigade in this area.
During this holiday, everything turned out to be good and more then what i expected except that I had left my SLR & tripod back home and had only a digital to shoot - I already have plan on paper to make amends soon.....This place offers nice, clean cottages to stay and added to that our hosts were really nice and took good care of us esp. tigress, towards the end of the trip she wanted to stay back for a couple of more days. Not that i would mind but then she is too small to stay at place like this all by herself. A couple of years from now may be.....
And how can any holiday be complete with out seeing at least one elephant - tigress's all time favourite? In between Hanbal and Sakleshpur we caught this tusker with 4 people giving him a bath??? Luxury at its best...can you beat it?? No Spa gives four masseurs for one!!! hah hah hah
PS: Anita thanks for writing about this place on your blog, otherwise I wouldn't have found it.
was. 2 kms after Sakleshpur I need to take the right fork and proceed towards Hanbal. I was surprised to see smooth table top kind of road all the way till Hanbal. Me thinking - okay! this is turning out pretty good for starters...but soon I was jolted out of my dreams with the road from Hanbal to Coffee Valley bringing out all the wrong notes from our car.Around coffee valley, there are a lot of good places almost for everyone - If you want to trek, this is heaven, if you want to do a
pilgrimage - Horanadu, Dharmasthala, Kateel, Kalasa are just about an hours drive away. There is also a peak close to Devaladakere village which offers an excellent view of the horizon and beautiful sunset - so said our host. So, we spent two evenings waiting for that "picture post card perfect sunset" but then lord Surya had different plans for the evening. BTB, you can either trek or take a 4WD to this place. Don't try it on a bike or a FWD only car. You might not get back your bike or car in working condition!!! and don't tell me i didn't warn, ok!!!
Having spent day 1 & 2 recharging our city tired soul and body, we decided to drive out to nearby place on day 3 & 4. Bababudan Giri was a damp squib, my wife had never seen this place and having heard a lot about this place from the saffron brigade, she wanted to see it. Having decided to go ahead and do a holiday as per her wishes, I mutely drove her to the place and having seen it she was disappointed very much. Though we were supposed to start back to Bangalore next day, on the last minute we decided to visit
Horanadu and make up for the dull previous day. The drive to Horanadu was back breaking and I was worried about the another 300 odd kms back. On our way back, we stopped at a coffee shop for refreshments and owner offered us suggestions which turned out to be a gem of an advice. The road from Kalasa to Kottigehara, via Maagundi, Balupet was just what the doctor ordered. The road is nice with thick forest on either side and absolutely no traffic - Only ONE bus crossed us from the opposite direction in 40 kms - GREAT!!!! However, one word of caution - this road should NOT be attempted at night not because of the thick forest and no traffic [no help, in case of a problem] but also because of the presence of the Red Brigade in this area.During this holiday, everything turned out to be good and more then what i expected except that I had left my SLR & tripod back home and had only a digital to shoot - I already have plan on paper to make amends soon.....This place offers nice, clean cottages to stay and added to that our hosts were really nice and took good care of us esp. tigress, towards the end of the trip she wanted to stay back for a couple of more days. Not that i would mind but then she is too small to stay at place like this all by herself. A couple of years from now may be.....
And how can any holiday be complete with out seeing at least one elephant - tigress's all time favourite? In between Hanbal and Sakleshpur we caught this tusker with 4 people giving him a bath??? Luxury at its best...can you beat it?? No Spa gives four masseurs for one!!! hah hah hah
Monday, March 26, 2007
Cricket First...
At last the dust has settled and as predicted by one too many Indian cricket team got the battering they deserved. All the hype and hoopla before they marched to the world cup event was a mere bubble burst effortlessly by cricketing minnows - Bangladesh. While every other cricket team has innovated and come out with new techniques and tactics for the world cup, Indian cricket team had gone in with false and bloated egos thinking they were invincible, boy!! were they wrong?
The biiiiggggeest problem with our cricket team is very simple and only ONE - they play a lot more outside the field then inside. How can anyone expect Indian cricket team to work hard, sweat it out and win matches while they are making easy money with their multi brand, multi million, multi year endorsements???? They practice delivering punch lines and posing for the camera while they actually should be playing cricket and honing their skills. Post Sri Lanka match, Kapil Dev's analysis of our team performance is absolutely on the mark. Our cricketers have become bigger then cricket and that is the problem
And, if you notice ads at all the world cup venues, they are - for INDIA, from INDIA. Even the umpires are not spared, the logo on their shirts is from an Indian construction co. Now that India is out of the world cup, it will be intersting to see how the corporate world which has pumped in millions in hope of grabbing a few million eyeballs and mindshare will respond....
All that back and forth justifications by various talent management cos that ads dont affect a players on field performance is just blah blah blah... gimme one good reason what difference does it make as long as each players is raking it up!!!!
I hope and pray that in the same way a leading telecom service provider dropped Sachin from its ads, a few others too will take the cue and drop all these guys from the high throne that they think they deserve and are untouchable
The RIP note written on Indian team will stay that way for a long time to come if some dramatic and drastic measures are not put in place
+++++++++++
The biiiiggggeest problem with our cricket team is very simple and only ONE - they play a lot more outside the field then inside. How can anyone expect Indian cricket team to work hard, sweat it out and win matches while they are making easy money with their multi brand, multi million, multi year endorsements???? They practice delivering punch lines and posing for the camera while they actually should be playing cricket and honing their skills. Post Sri Lanka match, Kapil Dev's analysis of our team performance is absolutely on the mark. Our cricketers have become bigger then cricket and that is the problem
And, if you notice ads at all the world cup venues, they are - for INDIA, from INDIA. Even the umpires are not spared, the logo on their shirts is from an Indian construction co. Now that India is out of the world cup, it will be intersting to see how the corporate world which has pumped in millions in hope of grabbing a few million eyeballs and mindshare will respond....
All that back and forth justifications by various talent management cos that ads dont affect a players on field performance is just blah blah blah... gimme one good reason what difference does it make as long as each players is raking it up!!!!
I hope and pray that in the same way a leading telecom service provider dropped Sachin from its ads, a few others too will take the cue and drop all these guys from the high throne that they think they deserve and are untouchable
The RIP note written on Indian team will stay that way for a long time to come if some dramatic and drastic measures are not put in place
+++++++++++
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Coming up....
Warning!!
1. I have not been to any saffron rally and don't intend to
2. I have not been brainwashed by the orange brigade and won't let that happen either
3. Anyone reading [seeing] too much between the lines [edges] are doing so at their own risk
++++++
Thursday, February 1, 2007
What a weekend!!!
During the Republic Day long weekend a couple of my friends – Ramesh, Shiv, Satya and yours truly were back to our favorite place – “the jungle” not the concrete type - but the real one somewhere in the delta of Karnataka, Kerala & Tamilnadu. My friends from Chennai – Allen, Danny Jr., Marty, Neet’s, Priya and Shree tired of getting second hand stuff wanted the real experience with their own balls oops… eye-balls of the rich wildlife we have in this part of our great country. BTB, the names are in alphabetical order and should not be construed for anything else.
This place never ceases to amaze me, I have met quite a few people who keep coming back, time and again – “Regulars”. This time around it was Salil, Shobana whom I had last met at the New Year Party of 2002!!!! N’ that was half a decade ago and Ayesha, swear on god I really don’t know where she lost it. Phew!!
Since most of us love wild life, I will stick to it and will not cover in detail other things that everyone did which includes #1. Humming competition – Gavin, thanks for cheering us & starting the whole thing… but then you need to lead from the front by singing at least in chorus!!! Jimmy who did a fantastic job singing partly helped by a couple of ones - you know the dark coke colored liquid type they call XXX - Jimmy, go ahead start a band #2. Swimming lessons at 2:30 in the morning – I dunno who gave it to whom, but someone did take it heh…heh… man, was it cold? ask Shiv….. #3. Learning how to make your job sound interesting… I am a cab driver back in
Now, the actual agenda of this trip was to see wild life, wild life and wild life. So, off we went on a night safari with Sloth “Dan” Bear at the wheels. Let me introduce – Dan, he makes funny noises for a living and has spent the better part of his life in these jungles and he knows them like the back of his hand. If there is anyone on earth I would trust to take us into and out of a jungle in one piece it would be Dan. Think “Mad Mike” of Animal Plant and that’s Dan. Dan has this irresistible knack of scouting trouble but then he is teflon coated and we mere mortals are not. Writing about Dan will make a big post by itself, so more at a later point…
With reports coming in that there was a lot of elephant movement on Moyar road we headed that way and were we disappointed? No definitely not!!! Read on… Our first stop started just outside Masinagudi, to the left of the small bridge - search… search… no pay dirt here
To be continued…..
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