a short trip to hesaraghatta

This is definitely one of my favourite place to visit during weekends. This time it was Manju's car.I know that he had a tough time driving through the crazy crowd but it was worth the experience.

I have been here so many times and I still find something new each time I come here.As usual we started off with the lake, but things got interesting later on in the day.We visited Rohith's farm and the jowar fields.Picking the corn right from the plants was some kind of experience.By the time we learnt to pick up some good ones we had already picked quite a lot of them, most of which were good only to make popcorn.We forgot to take our camera and had to makeup for it from my mobile.The link to the pics is http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2117746102&code=19232938&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite.Since the photos were taken from my mobile phone, the quality of the pics are not so good.

Honnemardu

My trip to Honnemardu has been my favourite for many reasons.You normally tend to remember and visualize any thing happening for the first time in your life.Honnemardu gave me many such incidents and memories.

We were about 8 people out of which I knew only four. We had to catch the train at 11 pm and were already getting late. After reaching the station,both me & Anil realized that we didnt know the train number and also did not have the phone number of my friend Madhan, who had booked the ticket. We somehow managed to get the train number from a hawker and ran to the platform.Now the task of finding our seats was in front of us.We got it from the TC & sat in our seats.The others made it in time.

At about 6'O' Clock, we reached Shimoga. From here we had to take a small train to Sagar.This train was very small.It looked more like a minibus than a train.If anyone from the fields nearby would wav his hand, this guy would stop the train for him !!! After about 2 hours of travelling we reached Sagar.We hired a jeep from here to Honnemardu which was 6 kilometers from here.

"It is a place out of this world" . This was my first impression of the place. I could see miles and miles of placid blue water right in front of me.There were small islands in between with lush greenery, something which I had never been to before.We had our breakfast & a short information session on the itenary for the next 2 days.We then put on our foam jackets and took a dip in the water.I had never done swimming and this was another first time thing for me.I just loved it eventhough I did not know what to do or how to go ahead.We got a small game going with the target being who would reach the island around 1 km away , first. Well , I honestly gave it a try but gave up after 15 mins or so when I realised I was far behind the pack.We spent the later part of the day boating, exploring nearby islands and enjoying the ambience.

We set out to a nearby island just before dusk for camping through the night.We collected some firewood and lit up a small campfire.We had antakshari , some small games and a very good dinner.After this, we went through the woods to see the Linganamakki dam far away on the horizon.We spent some time gazing at the stars in the cloudless sky. It is so difficult to observe all the stars in an city like Bangalore because of the streetlights and the lights at night, but here it was pitch dark and all you could see was millions and millions of stars.Within a few moments I saw a falling star ( a meteor ) but no one believed me..So in the process to prove this, we saw one more & then everyone was convinced :-) . Eventhough I used to look at the sky, in the past 23 years never did I see such a thing before..

The whole night, we had this hostile feeling in the tent because of some sound .We could hear something moving in the woods & we also heard the sound of a bell. Some felt that it should be a ghost where as others felt this may be even worse.. cud be some witch .. But our guide came to us and assured us that these were just cattle from a neighbouring village which swam all the way to eat some shrub.Well, my take on this is that either these cattle are maniacs or they are insane. Why would anyone swim for 1.5 Kms just to eat some shrub in the night? They seem to have it in them to win a gold in the next olympics !

I woke up pretty late the next morning only to find out that everyone has gone out in the bushes to answer the nature's call. Well, this is also a first timer for me as I never ever did it in the bushes. I managed to find one of the guys and with his instructions found a suitable bush for me( without thorns). In the process I saw some beautiful birds perched on a rock at the end of the island . I went there and got some good feathers ( A peacock feather & 2 hawk feathers ) .I was mighty pleased as these would be mysouvenirs for the trip.

We got back to the banks of the river & started one more round of photo sessions and also did some swimming.We later packed up and set back to Bangalore.. :-(

This was a special trip in more than one ways. I had done many things which i didnt do till then and such things leave sweet memories in your mind.

For any person who is bogged down with his daily routine & who wants to break away from this world, Paradise is after all not so far away.....

The link to the photos is :-
Sorry photos are yet to be uploaded

Gokarna, Murudeshwara, & Karwar

This was the my second trip with the "Boys" and as many thought was the last of a series of trips to various places in and around karnataka.It was also termed as "Now or Never" trip and the tagline was very evident that it could very well be the last....

We started off late and just as we reached Nelamangala, we found out that we had one seat less in the van and there started the confusion.Small Praveen had to give way for the big and bulky Chetan ( As mentioned in Darwin's theory he had to !) amidst sour feelings and an aching bottom...Praveen had to compromise and adjust with the backseaters... Size Matters !.

The driver was good. He was extremely careful while driving and we had a nice journey.We reached Karwar at around twelve noon and decided to go to the beach before having lunch.The beach wore a deserted look .There was no one except us.We started to play some frisbee & the boys started to play some pranks on one another. Suddenly, Harish from nowhere jumped on Anand and there was a big collision. Harish had bit Anand on his head and Anand was bleeding.A bad start to a tour one must say, we had to pack up and go for lunch after this.After lunch, we set out to go to Gokarna.

Everyone was exhausted as we spent more time in travelling than having fun on the beach..We reached Gokarna at aroung 4 PM in the evening.Since it was still a bright and a sunny day we decided to go to the OM beach. After manouvering through the rough terrain & criss cross roads, we finally reached Om beach. This place seemed like heaven.Lots and lots of people on the beach and a wonderful destination in between some small hillocks.The most fascinating fact was that the beach looks like an OM written in Indian script. I started out my routine work of collecting shells and catching crabs on the beach.So habits never change no matter what age you are & this was one of them.I wandered along the beach and along the extreme end of the beach were big rocks & in the crevices of these rocks were the most beautiful crabs I had ever seen.These were the hermit crabs.I tried to catch them but u see they arent so dumb after all.

The other guys also had a good time.Some guys suddenly started to think seriously of photography as a career option.Some had plans to stay the whole night at the beach.There was a small beachside hotel here which had a party starting after dusk.It was a hard time persuading them to get back to the vehicle.We all took some time out to watch the sunset & got back to our vehicle. We reached Gokarna by 8 PM and started to settle down.In the hotel room we played cards till late night and scanned through the photos taken on the beach..The day was not so bad after all..

The next day, we took some time to explore Gokarna. This place had some very good temples and was worth a visit. I had also heard the famous story in which Ravana had a Shivalinga which he gave to Ganesha to hold for sometime whilst he took a bath.If the Linga was to be kept on the ground, then there was no way anyone could have lifted it. Ganesha cooly accepted it and kept it on the ground and escaped :-) .

So I reached that temple where these things happened.On the doorstep I was welcome by a pujari.He started to say a lot of things about the temple and we started to smell something fishy.We were able to see the salesman within him quite clearly & tried to escape. But Suddenly he started to spray question on us like ..

Puj: " Where are u frm ..Bangalore ? "
Rit : " Yes"
Puj: " Infosys, TCS,Wipro,IBM....(some names even i didnt know ) ?
Rit : Siemens..
Puj: @#@#%^^&34346teF%^$%...Namaha.. 50 Rs please..
Rit: ???
Puj: 50 RS PLEASE...
Rit: ok here u are..
Puj: u r 4 ppl 50 x 4 = 200 Pls..
Rit: sorry I dont hav the cash...
Puj:@$#%^&&$$&#$@%$..
Rit: ok I understand.. Here u are...

after this encounter, he handed us to a team of small pujaris and they started out with the technical formalities..
I got the " Topi haki bitta" feeling. :-(

After this I was left with Rs 1/- only in my pocket.A deep hole ...


We later packed and started to go to Yana. It was a good trek to the top.We managed to have some good photo sessions on the rocks at the top and explore the hill.Later on we started off to go to Murudeshwar. In Murudeshwar, There is a pretty big Shiva statue along the beach . We spent some time in the temple and later played football on the beach till sunset.I again started collecting shells and other things on the beach as usual. I got a pretty big fish on the beach with its eyes gouged out ( Maybe a crow did it..) . But still it looked pretty good. I took a photo with it.

Our trip ended with this and we started our journey back to Bangalore. On the way back the usual fight for seats started yet again . There was a truck carrying sugarcane in front of us. Every 200 meters it was dropping some sugarcane & our driver was happily collecting them. By the time we reached B'lore, we had more sugarcane than those people !!!.. jus joking..

Photos are lost during my last format of my PC.. So I hope u can visualize all that happened.. :-)

ok some photos can be seen at :=
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119390374&code=21577331&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Back to Bangalore !

Coming back to Bangalore was a fantastic feeling. Never did I feel so good when I was in Bangalore. Bangalore is not so bad after all…..

Hiedelberg

Since all my weekend plans had flopped I thought of going to Hiedelberg on the following saturday.It is about 16 minutes from Mannheim by train.My first impression of Hiedelberg was that it is a very beautiful city, with lots o greenery, old buildings and stone paved narrow streets.My colleagues had told me to visit the castle if I was going to Hiedelberg. I took the steps to reach the castle. By the time I reached the top I was gasping for breath.I realised only then that there was a bus which could have taken me directly to the castle by a different route :(

The castle is upon a hill , very close to the Neckar river. The view from the top is excellent, I could see the entire city spread on both the banks of the Neckar.The castle had collapsed on one side and some restructuring work was going on on some sides.Behind the castle was a route to the city through the woods.I took the route to reach the main marketplace.I did some shopping there and took some time to explore the city.

At about 4 'o' Clock , I took the tram from Hiedelberg to Mannheim. Eventhough this took me 55 minutes to reach Mannheim, it was a nice slow ride passing through the fields on both sides and stopping at stations never heard of before.

A weekend in Paris

I joined my colleagues who were going to Paris on the first weekend of September.We were a group of five.We took the bus at 12:30 AM early in the morning on Saturday.It was nice to see that that there were a lot of Indians in the bus apart from us.We reached Paris at about 8 'o' Clock in the morning.

On that morning, we took a quick tour around the heart of the city. Later we had the opportunity to have an aerial view of Paris from Montparnasse. It is a building well over 200 meters in height, supposed to be the second tallest structure in Paris.The view from up there was spectacular.

Later we moved in to our hotel rooms. The hotel was in Clichy, which is at a fair distance from the centre of the city.In the evening, we went to the Eiffel tower.This is definitely the best place to visit in Paris.Any tourist who visits Paris will surely not miss the Eiffel tower .I seized the opportunity to take some good pics. We took a boat ride on the river Siene.We passed by the Notre Dame church and various historical buildings along the river and as the sun went down the red sky the Eiffel tower was dazzling with colourful lights.

It was a day full of travel and by the end of it I was dead tired .All I needed was a good nights sleep to recharge me.The next morning, we went to the Louvre museum.I must say that this is the biggest and the most splendid museum I have ever been to. Everything ranging from rare coins,replicas of tombs,tools used by the various civilizations to paintings were on display. The biggest attraction being the painting of Monalisa by Leanardo Da Vinci.But frankly speaking, I saw many other paintings which were far better than the Monalisa.Maybe I am wrong, I dont know.We had a problem coming out of the museum 'cos the theft alarm had been raised. So all of us were thoroughly checked before coming out.By then, it was time and we had to rush to our bus to get back.The experience of being in Paris was great and even though it was a short trip, it was a memorable one.
This is the link to the photos
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2118450736&code=19255467&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

First weekend in Mannheim

I arrived on a weekend in mannheim on 27th Aug. Eventhough the journey was short, waiting at the airport was a pain.So I just had rest on saturday.

Sunday was all about Mannheim.I got my monthly pass and set out with a map.As usual i didnt know where to go.Suddenly I cud see something nice , a river and a boat.. So I got out from the tram.

I went to "Museumschiff Mannheim", a museum in a boat. Inside were a lot of surprises in store for me.I saw lots of models of ancient ships, some old boat engines used during the World war II, a country band and a puppet show.Here are the photos http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119266789&code=18872960&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Ritesh & Cooking...[2]

{ MTR Kharabath Ready to eat ..}

see the improvement in cooking?.. this is called smart cooking.

Ritesh & Cooking...

Picture 017
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

I think this is enough to prove that I am not good at cooking... This was supposed to be Puliyogre, doesnt look like that.But at the end it doesnt matter because anyway I will have to eat it.

Please suggest some tips on cooking !

Cycle

Picture 020
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

Would you imagine ? this is a cycle.. saw it near Mannheim on tuesday..

last day in Vienna

Today is my last day here.I have enjoyed every moment here in Vienna.I have visited most of the places in and around the city.There have been some highs and lows but on the whole it has been a wonderful experience for me.

Church at durnstein

Picture 111
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

This is also a nice pic

Durnstein

Picture 119
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

I think this is one of the best photos I took at Durnstein..

Banks of the river Danube

I had been to the banks of the Danube river 2 times.These are some pics I took there.The best pic I feel is of the Duck sitting along with the ducklings just beside me.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

A rainy sunday

It was a rainy sunday.Or is it that it rains on all sundays here ? This has been the case from the time I arrived in Vienna.I thought of going to nearby places like the Belvedre quarter.I have no Idea but some good pics about what I saw there.

Naschmarkt

I had been to Naschmarkt.It is at a walking distance from my hotel.It is similar to a bangalore market with the addition of liquor shops, hotels, cafe and pizza shops. I could find a lot of Indians there selling goods , newspapers.Sadly most of the Indians I have seen here sell newspapers. The Sardars are pretty well to do type of people here. They have a big community here.

Overall it is a nice place to visit on weekdays.But may not be a nice place for teetotallers like me.

Some confessions to make

I had been to a departmental store, I had never tasted beer before. So thought of trying it out.I took a 300 ml og Ottakringer Beer.But after I had a sip I came to know what a blunder I had made. It had the shittiest of shit taste.It was so yucky that I had to throw away the beer.I just dont understand why people have to make their life so uncomfortable .Believe me , there are better things to drink than beer.

20/08/05 Melk To Krems

Woke up at 9:30 in the morning .I knew that I had ruined my plans of going on the boat ride which I am planning from 2 weeks now.I had missed it last week too. But now I was in a "Now or Never mode". Had I missed it this weekend I would not had a chance to be there.So thought of going anyways.

I had to change 2 trains to reach westbahnhof.Waited in the queue for the ticket and finally got one for 26 Euro ! ( For once I thought I will not multiply this amount by 53 . There will be too many digits in it and I'll faint.) Ran to the train.The train was just leaving ,caught it just in time.Finally I arrived in Melk at 1:20 Pm .

I could see the Melk Abbey from the station itself . It is a wonderful building .Melk is a great place in itself. But I didnt have any time to wander around. I again ran ( Yes I have started running nowadays ) to the boat, purchased the ticket and got into the boat.

finally the boat started. To my left was a guy and to my right was a girl. I could not move an inch. There were people everywhere.It was like a bmtc bus without a top. I felt that had the boat drowned, I would still manage to catch hold of someone and survive since there were so many of them.

Whenever I tried to take a photo, someone would lift his hand or come in between.Finally some people got down at spitz , suddenly I could feel some fresh air and space around me.Things got a lot more relaxed.The trip lasted for about 2 hours to Krems and about 3 hours to Melk upstream. I took and kept on taking photos. Even a one GB camera card was not enough!

The Wachau valley is a magnificient strip of scenic beauty.There were a lot of medieval towns on the way.Lots of churches, some ruined castles. Among all the places the best one was the town of Durnstien.All along the valley I could find vineyards along the slopes of the hills.. a very pretty sight. Anyone visiting Austria should definitely go on a wachau valley trip.It is highly recommended.

day 11 : Rathausplatz

Yesterday I set out to seek some entertainment after work. I took the U2 and went to Rathaus. There was a film festival going on at Rathausplatz from July to august. So thought of attending it.Before the show started I was wandering through the food stalls . There were cuisines from every country.. finally I was able to spot an Indian stall. They were serving chicken gravy with basmati. I just couldnt resist anymore. I took some chicken makhni with basmati .. surely was the best food I ate since I arrived here.

After that went to the place where they were screening the movie.It was an open air theatre. It started at about 8:30 PM. I would like to tell you that it was no movie.. It was an opera kind of picture...everyone was singing. Ther was a fat lady who was threatening to jump out of the window, but some other lady was preventing her from doing so.. and both were still singing ...oh god ! there was a guy sitting neaby and was also singing.. suddenly the movie got over.This is no comparision to our Indian movies.I still remember the Rajkumar movie (Kannada) I had seen during Ganesha Festival 15 years ago . That was far better than the opera .So I wouldnt recommend you to go to an opera.

a holiday today !

I had a feeling that I will be losing a holiday since I will be in Vienna on 15th August.But as you see today is a holiday here as well.It is the "Assumption Day" , a national holiday in Austria.

Well, I did a google search and this is what Assumption day is all about " A feast commemorating the Virgin Mary being taken up into heaven " . But the downside is that I have not done any food shopping for the weekend and hence will have to rely on the turkish pizza shop for one more day.

Wish you all a very happy Independence Day !!!

day 9 : Schrönbrunn Palace

I was actually planning to go to the boat trip from krems to melk . But after the hectic day in the Vienna woods, I was not able to move around with my sore feet.













So thought of going to the nearby Schrönbrunn Palace.The palace is a very beautiful sight .Near the palace are beautiful gardens, Neptune fountain, a maze garden and a Zoo. I just had a peek at all the locations and came back.

Day 8 : Baden

Here are some pics for today.

Pic of Kurzpark

a lake in Rosarium

Centre of baden

Today I had been to Baden, A small town very near to Vienna.. about 25 Kms from the city.Ther are many things to see in Baden.It has its own stretch of shops, a beautiful rose garden called Rosarium. I got a chance to wander around in the Austrian woods. The is a park called Kurzpark , which leads you to a hill.On the hill you can find some good monuments, Museums and hotels.Ther are also hot water springs n Baden. But they smell real bad.Overall for the average Indian , Baden could seem like heaven.. So make it a point to visit it once in your life (even if u dont visit Vienna).

When I was nearly lost I found a sardarji and a pakistani to help me on the way.On the way back our train was waylaid by a speeding polezei car . They ordered the driver not to open the doors and in full filmi style came running to me. I was really shocked.Then they asked me something which I didnt understand I showed them my tickets.But they wanted to see my passport.I always carry my passport u c. So no problems.

Day 4: Danube & Prater

Visited the danube river after finishing my work yesterday.It is a very beautiful place.it has a piece of land in between the river and what more, It also has a train station on the island.Will definitely go on a weekend danube boat tour. Altogether a great place to be in the evenings.






On my way back I got down at praterstrn and went to prater.Prater is in a way similar to Funworld in bangalore.Apart from the general stuff like the wheel,roller-coaster, you can find, museum,a planetarium, a very huge park for jogging and spending the evening. I was also able to see that there are horse driven carriage rides around the prater.






It was 8:10 PM when I came to my room .. was still sunny outside.

So today is my fourth day in Vienna.It has been a great experience to stay here, mingle with people, move around.Planning to visit the danube river banks and also the Opera at the Rathausplatz Film Festival.The best part is to stay in office till seven and still be able to go out since the sun sets only at 9'o' Clock.Lets see how the day progresses....

Wein in a day !

I reached austria(Vienna ) yesterday.

I had lost my big bag but got it later in the evening.I am not able to call anyone because all calls to india are not reachable on my card. I will try to find out

1) the weather here is a little hotter than India. so I am carrying a great deal of sweaters , jacket and wollen sleepwear.

2) i finished bisibele bath only 3 MTR packs remaining. :o(

3) My friend had told to book in the suite hotel but after coming here I came to know that there are 5 suite hotels in Vienna!!! :o( my mistake..

4) if thats not worse.. heres one more. she told me that SAP isbehind SUITE hotel. the bottomline is I have to go to every suite hotel and check the road behind it. ( This is my trip for today)

5) In germany everyone knows SAP . But here only god knows where it is.

6) I could find only one Indian here in Vienna and that too a sardar.But still I wasnt able to talk to him since he was in an advertising poster !!!


I slept at 6 pm yesterday and got up only at 7 today.

Friday At Last !!!!

riteshkamath
This friday is very special to me.It not about the weekend but today is my last day in training!!! So frm monday I can get back to my cubicle and do something..U c being in training for a month drains u completely and makes u lifeless.

Photos of last day in SIEMENS

For the past one year I was working in SIEMENS.It was a great learning experience for me since this was my first job and I made some very good friends over there.My last day at Siemens was on 15th June.

life Changes....goes on...

Recently joined SAP Labs india, Relocated to malleswaram.... lots of changes in a short span of time.

A start...

Hi,

first time blogger