Ullekha

New Year Day - From Darkness to “Light”

2010-01-04T00:59:00.001-08:00

January 1st 2010, a start of new decade, a day to celebrate & of-course time for a new-year or shall I say “new-decade” Vows, all in all a special day for some; for the rest it’s just another day. For me the latter proved true this year but it wasn’t simply just another day, a bit more too!

Weather seemed gloomy & nothing exciting happened through the day, except for some phone calls & sms for the New Year wishes & Thanks to the Bangalore weather which made me “feel” sick even early in the morning & literally “fell” sick by noon. My 1.5 year old son was also not having a great time, struggling fighting with cold & blocked nose. What a Day! Can it be worse than to see your kid fall sick & not to forget that you too fall sick on the so-called “special day”? In my mind I asked to god “why do you do this to me only every time?”

I then decided to leave my son with some toy and TV in the drawing room & I tried to keep myself busy by doing some household work. It was then that I decided to go to the balcony to collect the dried clothes. I heard some short shrill cries in “child-like” voice, it made me curious that I peeped to the ground floor, from the third storey, to get a view of the scene. The first ever eye-witnessed & heartening scene – for me it was a horror- to see a human being caught with fire on back half of the body & running around helplessly in front of her shack. The worst part were the kids playing nearby terrified with scene & themselves escaping from the vicinity, forget helping. Kudos to a brave lady, who bought out a huge blanket, covered the burnt body thus preventing the fire from spreading further. Had she delayed by a few seconds, everything would be finished into ashes. I wanted to sun & help, but all I could manage to do at that point of time is to scream & call-out loud for my husband. I managed to run back to my baby & hugged him tight & prayed to the lord for the safety of the life of the lady. Later, came to know that it was a lady, a mother of 2 kids who was the victim, with half of the body burnt, was it right on my part to ask to lord for her survival ? I was unclear.

Ten minutes past this incident, the lady still lay on the ground - untouched. Slowly crowd gathered, some ran around acting to offer help, but no much use. Another lady ran shouting to bring an auto & disappeared forever. Next ten minutes passed away in no time & yet no action was done. All people in crowd sounded advising each other to call the auto, call the relatives of the lady, call the doctor etc, all talks & no acts. Then sprang a lady shouting at all in local language & giving a clear message to all telling “who ll accept this poor lady, everyone needs police case registered for everything, no matter if the life is in danger or no”. I had then realized how helpless all were, tied so much by Laws & regulations of the land rather than the humanitarian ties. The wounded lady laid silent, still & lifeless; drinking water poured by her neighbor from almost a height of 2 feet from her face! I then looked at a small burn on my hand, caused due to my accidental touch of a hot steel vessel & the care I took applying ointment etc, was nothing at all.

Later, after 30 minutes of the incident, came 2 men who carried her away, far from my sight, I presumed it to be to an auto waiting on the main road, at least 50 steps away from the shack where the lady stayed. Soon the gathered people began to gossip & nonetheless they got the much awaited “Hot topic of the day”, this time it was literally a HOT one!
I walked down to the ground floor & tried to get the notion of the incident. My watchman & his wife were the only people whom I knew there, telling “More than half of the body gone Madamji, No one seems to know the reason, infact each one are telling their own version of the story”, was it that hard to explore the truth? Some said it was her kid who playfully threw a match stick on the lady, others believed it was an accident while lighting the kerosene cooking stove, some other gossiped that the lady lit herself, which meant suicide or my TV & newspaper knowledge made me suspect if it was another dowry killing incident.

I could have gone & immediately taken some action like to call a doctor or arrange a vehicle, but did nothing than the most of the viewers – simply a spectator. I was extremely disturbed by the incident & felt so helpless that I did nothing more than shedding tears, which were worthless I know. All I did was prayed to god to give me more courage & make me responsible – as a social being of the society. Nonetheless I thanked him a zillion times for “whatever he has done for me & my life”.

Satisfaction is the key to happiness – was the line revolving my mind, it was then that I understood the real meaning of this famous saying. Thus, for me the New Year’s Day ended with a lesson which I shall never forget.

Simple steps to prevent global warming

2009-10-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

Below list might seem like “Tips” to prevent global warming but I prefer to call it as “duties” -which MUST be followed by we humans– supposedly the most intelligent of all – to prevent withering & decaying of resources of mother earth.

1. Switch on/off lights/fan before/after you enter/leave the room- Best method is to switch off your PC-monitors when unused.

2. Save paper - Do not take unnecessary print-out, use back-to back option of prints whenever possible, and Use soft copy of documents as much as possible.
3. Spread awareness in people to use CFL lights than normal incandescent light Bulbs.
4. Switch off water in wash basin in between time while teeth brushing activity carried out each day.
5. Avoid plastic Bag usage – carry your own market bag whenever possible.
6. Have your own home garden – with plants of your choice. It increases the greenery of you home environment making it clean & fresh, also relaxes your mind.
7. Avoid motor vehicles to go to a nearby shop – a bicycle ride / walk will keep you fit, indirectly you save fuel/pollution too & thus save mother earth
8. Use recycled paper – for your personal rough work/study purposes.
9. Replace old/faulty electrical/electronic goods with new ones with good power ratings & Unplug unused electronics.
10. Use Mass transportation as much as possible.

Swine Flu:house hold remedies

2009-08-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Scientific prevention of Swine Flu using house hold products
1) Inhale Clove (lavang) oil for 1 second.
2) Chew 1 clove in a day.
3) Eat raw garlic (lason) onion (kanda), ginger (aale) – (0.1 to 0.5 gms)
4) Drink hot milk with 2 gms turmeric.
5) Consume plenty of vitamin C Fruits – Lemon / Avala

One of the preventive measures against Swine Flu Use “Nilgiri Oil” (Eucalyptus oil) drops on handkerchiefs and masks as one of the preventive measures against Swine Flu (NIV) National Institute of Virology. Not just Tulasi, Vitamin C rich substances are known to boost immunity. So taking hot Lemon or Amla (Indian Gooseberry) powder mixed with hot water would be very helpful.

Indian herbs Tulsi can help keep swine flu away:
Ayurvedic experts Lucknow, May 27: Wonder herb Tulsi can not only keep the dreaded swine flu at bay but also help in fast recovery of an afflicted person, Ayurvedic practitioners claim.

"The anti-flu property of Tulsi has been discovered by medical experts across the world quite recently. Tulsi improves the body's overall defence mechanism including its ability to fight viral diseases. It was successfully used in combating Japanese Encephalitis and the same theory applies to swine flu," a herbal medicine practitioner says.
Apart from acting as a preventive medicine in case of swine flu, Tulsi can help the patient recover faster.

"Even when a person has already contracted swine flu, Tulsi can help in speeding up the recovery process and also help in strengthening the immune system of the body," he claims.
A lecturer at Gujarat Ayurved University is also of the view that Tulsi can play an important role in controlling swine flu.

"Tulsi can control swine flu and it should be taken in fresh form. Juice or paste of at least 20-25 medium sized leaves should be consumed twice a day on an empty stomach."
This increases the resistance of the body and, thereby, reduces the chances of inviting swine flu," he believes.

What happened to Rediff.com?

2009-08-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

If you are a fellow net-zine like me who spends time browsing, then i am sure this is a question that is popping in your mind currently. rediff.com one of the most popular Indian portal decided to go minimalistic(googlish?) sometime in July and now comes with a homepage thats attractive but not entertaining for readers like me who are random readers.

If we open the portal now, we are presented a plain vanilla home page with a prominent search button followed by some popular icons and a small tab of articles. This would mean more work for a casual reader like you and me, who have to now open more pages and more searching to get to what we are interested in, a major turnoff!!

I used to visit rediff.com daily and spend average 30mins a day browsing through the contents, but thanks to new look rediff, my productivity has increased and now i hardly spend average 30mins per week. So what could be the reason for rediff to come up with a drastic change that can very well prevent casual readers like me from visiting often?

Thinking about how popular it was(not sure if it still is) i am sure there must have been alot of theories which made them change it to look like what it is now.

1. More Mobile friendly
2. Prominent search bar: Let users search contents, and help identify trends(Big gamble!!)
3. Haven't you noticed the large advertisements!!(Bigger ad,more page views, more money)

Like all things change, rediff has changed too but i am not finding this change good though, what i am keen on seeing is the rational behind such a change when the USP of rediff was its home page filled with A-Z and letting casual readers choose what they want to read. Its only a matter of time before we will know what will happen to rediff in coming days.

Linux vs Windows:Ubuntu way

2009-07-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista and now Talks about Windows 7, Surely Microsoft is trying to provide great PC experience for the end users, After all it made PC easy to use. Microsoft Windows is the most widely used Operating system leaving behind the competition by and far.

Ofcourse we have Apple Mac, but then its targeted for niche customers who don't compromise paying a premium for the quality.

That leaves people with cash crunch without many options but to pay for the OS, or worse, fall prey to the pirated Versions of your favourite Operating system just to save that pocket money.

Pirated Versions of the OS that are available on the internet may seem very tempting to many as its free but many potential downfalls go unnoticed. By installing such versions the PC could be open to threats like Trojans, bot-nets and spy-ware and what not. And off late Microsoft has been proactive in cleaning up this piracy mess by popping up adequate warning messages that makes people think twice before downloading pirated Versions as sooner or later Microsoft will catch it if you connect the PC to the internet.

Before you start cribbing for lack of options, take a look at Linux as Operating system for your PC or for that matter even laptops and net-books.

For those of you who feel linux is meant for only geeks with stone age black command prompt based shells, its time to get yourself updated with some cool User interface that modern Linux has to offer.

Today there are multiple Vendors who "sell" customized Linux flavours each built on top of the core linux kernel, and most of them are not free(Still 90% cheaper than the Windows)

Now for those of you who are still thinking of that 10%, there is happy news. Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', And the Ubuntu community feels the Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world, which is what made them set policies like "Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates" and "Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on."

Ubuntu provides security updates free of cost which means you have peace of mind without having to bother reinstalling time and again.Ubuntu comes loaded with a great Graphical user interface which is as cool as Windows and easy to use.

Today most of us have already come out of Internet Explorer as the default browser and started using Mozilla Firefox which is known to be faster and safer. Yes, Mozilla is also available on Ubuntu, so the browsing exprience part is taken care of

Then comes the next important use, Documents, presentations etc. Ubuntu comes loaded with Open office which is already available on Windows as a free alternative to Microsoft Office.

For the music buffs, ubuntu has support of some cool music players as well and supports known free video formats as well.

With this, most of common mans PC needs will be taken care of.

It is these feature sets that is slowly making Linux win hearts of same people who once termed Linux is for Geeks and recent benchmark comparision studies have shown that Ubuntu fared exceedingly well and Windows was ahead only marginally.Also It hogs much less disk space, reads and writes files faster and takes less time to install compared to even latest windows flavours like Vista and 7.

The very best thing about Ubuntu, in my opinion, is the LiveCD option where one can boot the CD and try it out in a totally non-destructive way. So those who are skeptical about linux can try this option just by downloading the iso image that Ubuntu offers as free download and burning a CD. No need to install the stuff, just boot with the CD and you can continue to start using the Ubuntu Linux(Of course this has limitations like some settings might not get saved across reboots)But this gives an option for trying out stuff, and Switch to Linux only if you are happy with the user friendliness . Still lazy, Ubuntu even gives an option to request a free CD which will be shipped free of cost(takes 6-10 weeks) which is a small wait as how much more we can expect for free(Door step delivery)

So if you are interested, please try out Ubuntu website

iGoogle: google personalized

2009-07-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

iGoogle is a personalized homepage that makes web browsing more personalized. Containing a Google search box at the top,rest of the homepage is left for us to customize and personalize.iGoogle helps you doing this with the help of plug and play components called as Gadgets.

You will be spoilt for choice among the thousands of cool gadgets which you can search for and add to the layout based on your preference(left, right or center)

Some of the features are like viewing Gmail,chat, News headlines,Weather,Calender,Bookmarks, Quotes,Jokes,Comic Strip and the list can go on. If you are not satisfied, Google allows you to design your own gadget as well.

Logon to iGoogle and try it out yourself

Innovative Film City

2009-07-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

Innovative film city is the latest attraction that Bangalore has to offer. I only found mixed reviews about the place so decided to give it a try. Next step was to go with the right kind of audience(Small kids, Ladies, Elders) and started driving towards the place.

In terms of the distance, the place is not very far from Bangalore but the amount of traffic on the Mysore road makes the travel Hell

Once we cross the Kengeri, the drive is smooth but hey our destination is already there. So driving fun is almost ruled out as most of the time we will be stuck in the Traffic jams.

Once you reach the place, you will be greeted by the scorching heat of the industrial area and the pain of having to park your vehical in the open on road side as there have not provided any sort of parking whatsoever

The best part about the Film city is its Entrace and the main street, which resembles a typical Europian city street. Though IFC mentions this to be a place where one can go for almost anything one wants to experience and housing an exclusive, lifestyle zone, a fitness zone; fine dinning restaurants, a cluster of bars and dance floors and a collection of attractions. I rarely found anything as inspiring as the architecture of the street. Perhaps they plan to introduce all these shortly.

Soon after you enter you will also find a "Tent Cinema" which is how our older Generations enjoyed the movie experience. So you can experience the same and let them relive those days here. Classic Kannada or hindi movie scenes are played for 10 mins in a dark room where the seating is either Metal chairs or wooden flat benches. Experience it!!!

While hunting for the so called attractions i also found a paint ball arena, which is surely fun as many of us have not had a chance to experience it before. Worth a try if you are in a group.

None of the IFC attractions are free except for the free sight seeing and the long walk, and this makes the place slightly expensive compared to Indian standards. Though IFC offers a Package deal where you can pay at once and visit all attractions at a discounted price, i feel for most of us, its best to pay for only the stuff we would be interested and save the money for recession.

Coming to the real attractions of the place, i feel we should not compare them with the likes of other studios like Universal or the famous wax museums. For the people from small towns and for kids, it is still a unique experience. For me Wax museum felt cheap and unreal and well we are not allowed to go even 3-4 feet near the statues. Mirror maze is meant for only kids,Ripley’s Believe it or not is well,seen better on AXN. Cartoon city is created by some characters which you realize even before entering. Aqua Kingdom is basically a pool of stagnant water and when i went there were no waves as well. Imagine being there on a weekend along with a crowd of over 150-200 with hardly any place to stand. Then there was miniature city which looks good only in pics and a scary house which never looked scary to me. Not to forget about the Dinosaur park and a fossil museum which are again, waste of money unless you have a school going kid who is crazy about these creatures.

Wild Wild west is a total timepass only because its free and gives that movie set experience and makes you feel like a quickgun Murugan saying "Yenna Rascala"

4D Movie is once experience you might like.For most of us its surely a first time experience and a pleasent one. Worth watching but sadly is for very short duration(7-8mins) for the price

Then there is gaming zone "Funplex" with some cool looking stuff but no one was bothering to pay for them, and people were just happy to touch and see whatever was being displayed. There is also a two lane bowling ally which is not functional. Question that came into my mind was why come all the way here to play video games when you can rather go to Amoeba?

Food stalls are OK types, though there is variety of stalls, all the food looked same to me, Except for McDonalds which is just a block away.

Be prepared to face hot sun most of the time unless you go in winter or towards evenings.

Overall, I would say the place is worth a try. If you are in a group then definitely some of your group members will make the experience more entertaining.

For families too, i would recommend this place as "Ek baar dekh lo" as your kids might enjoy it.

They also have prams for the infants and the IFC is friendly enough so that you can carry the pram all around.

Here is a route map which you can refer if you have made up your mind to visit the place.

only advise is to avoid their so called packages and take your stuff to avoid the sun tan

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Mysore-Foodie guide

2009-07-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Mysore is well known for the rich cultural heritage that it has to offer,and hundreds of thousands of tourists across the world put this place in their travel Itenerary. As a foodie, the first question that pops up is what's in store for the food lovers here

Though the typical sight seeing information can be found everywhere, the authentic Mysore food information is at times tough to find well in advance. Being a popular tourist place since the time of Maharajas this place has its share of eatouts which have rich history and based on pillars of tradition.

Some of such places are mentioned below

RR Restaurant: Popularly known as RRR(No one knows the expansion for RR) the place is well known for Andhra style cuisine and famous for the Biriyanis. Even veggies can relish the meals served on Plantain leaf with fair share of Ghee poured on top

GTR(Gayatri tiffin room) One of those rare places which opens early and closes even earlier as customers storm like bees. Famous for the Idli, Masala Dosas and authentic south indian tiffin items(Timings 7.30 AM to 11 AM and 3.30 PM to 7 PM) but food gets over much before the scheduled timings

Mahesh Prasad: Homely food served here, Which is quite obvious as the place seems to be a transformation of a big house. Always crowded during lunch time and for evening snacks. well known among the working population and the students for the midday meals
Mylari(Kuvempu Nagar & Nazarbaad): No these are not branches of a chain, Though both find a very special space in foodlovers heart.One serves the Famous Mysore masala dosa at its finest and the other one is known for the spongy butter dosa(Benne dosa) apart from Mysore masala dosa, we also get idlis, with some very delectable chutney to go with it

Le Olive Garden: If your question is about What the are Fresh doing in Mysore? Answer is no, Situated on the foothills of Chamundi hills and close to the Youth hangout Planet-X,This place serves some great indian tandoor cuisine.Part of the resort windflower, this restraunt is known for its ambience and famous among the local crowd for get-togethers and parties

Bombay Indra Bhavavn:Situated on Sayyaji Rao Road, This place Offers you pure vegetarian delicacies of South India. Mind blowing variety of dosas to choose from,this place surely finds a place in best eat outs of Mysore.

Not to forget the great taste of frothy filter coffee that almost all the eatouts has on offer. No breakfast can complete without sipping this coffee served in a typical Lota(Steel cup and a steel bowl). Bisi Bele bath has its own share of fans as more of a main course item

Another great offering of Mysore brand is "Mallige Idli" Though not perticular to any eatout, typically it is available early in the mornigs in some of the Tiffin rooms. What's unique about this idli is the soft and spongy texture and the size compared to typical idli that is served across south india.Tastes best with the chutneys served alongside

Thanks to the tourist boom, today one would find even more number of eatouts that have mushroomed across the city and some are really great as well. But this blog is dedicated for the places which generations have known for.

View Mysore FOOD in a larger map

Barbeque Nation (BBQ yourselves)

2009-07-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

If you are a foodie and if you have not yet visited Barbecue Nation, My humble request is to try the place once to justify the tag of "foodie". Truly a heaven for those who appreciate quality at a very reasonable price.

The decor resembles a typical western pub with wooden+stone combination, and the theme here is DIY(Do it yourself). A Charcoal Grill is provided for every table and the choice of Barbecues(or Kababs as known in india) are provided, letting the chef in you to do the rest.But most of the times, its for your pleasure only as the BBQ would already be in a ready to eat condition.

Typical menu ranges from 3 or 5 Vegitarian starters and 2 or 5 meat/fish Items depending on the meal option chosen(caveat here is that all the members of the table will have same option of the package).The rates are either 275+tax or 450+tax when this blog is written.

Not to forget the buffet spread which is common for both meal packages and pleases both vegitarians and non vegitarians equally with soups, salads, cut fruits, bread, rice, Roti, Gravy (chicken, veg,mutton and sea food) etc.. Also to pamper your taste buds there is lavish dessert table with wonderful variety.

They also serve a complimentary beverage to top it up, so for no extra cost you can say cheers

Some of my faviourites are the Grilled prawns and the chicken legs and for the vegitarian brothern, it has to be the paneer and assorted grilled vegitables

Though some of you feel the price would be tad steep, considering the unlimited ammount of BBQ that is served on the table(Until you lower the Flag kept on the table, they keep showering on your table) it is a value for money which both hoggers and the foodies will appreciate.

Overall, For the veggies groups i recommend the 275+tax and for the people like me who can eat just about anything on plate, it has to be the complete meal

Location map for Bangalore is included below(click to get the phone numbers and driving directions)

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Street View by google

2009-07-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

All right, we all know about google maps and some of us use it for daily use for all sundry reasons. But how many of us knew about the street view feature ? Launched couple of years back, street view has gradually expanded to include more cities, and ore streets
Currently we have street level pics for some famous places in USA, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and i am sure it wont be too long before google rolls this out worldwide

Using google maps one can jump to the streetview using the so called "pegman" from any position to a map of any scale(where the feature is available)

Here is the street view of The Roman Colosseum,Italy

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View from top of Golden Gate bridge,San Francisco

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So What are you waiting for, explore your neighborhood and do comment if you notice anything weird and wacky which is worth sharing with all readers

Pyramids of the world

2009-07-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

Most of us associate pyramids with the egypt and picturize the pyramids of giza when the word pyramid comes to our mind. Said to have been build as a tomb of Egyptian pharaoh khufu,these are supposedly build in 2584-2561 BC. Most recently one can recall the fighting sequence from the movie "Transformers 2:Revenge of the fallen" with these pyramids. But do we know about the "other" pyramids?

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Chichen itza The Temple of Kukulcan

In Mayan, this means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." Itza is nothing but an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern peninsula. these can be related to the movie "Apocalypto", movies are best way to remember as they leave a visual print on our mind.

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Chinese pyramids

Did anyone expect pyramids in China? Yes, we have "Made in China" pyramids as well. These pyramids of China are actually ancient mausoleums and burial mounds. About 38 of them are located around 25 km radius in Shaanxi Province.They have flat tops, and thus are more similar in shape to the mexican pyramids(you can zoom and pan to sight similar such pyramids in the vicinity)

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Indian Temples

If you thought this is the end, hold your horses. Many giant granite temple pyramids(Gopura)were made in South India during the Chola Empire, many of which are still in religious use today. Examples of such pyramid temples include Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur in Present day Tamil Nadu, India

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And the list continues, pyramids are sighted across the globe and even in places where you never expected them to be. in Europe we have ancient burial grounds in greece and france, further down the river nile we have Nubian pyramids which were suppose to be older than Egyptian ones and aham, inspiration perhaps!!

There has been alot of study behind the shape of these pyramids and very deep scientific reasoning that justifies the shape for concentrating the energy. It is for you guys to dig this more deeper

Bhastrika Pranayama

2009-07-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Bhastrika in Sanskrit means Bellows(A device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location, used by blacksmiths in olden days) ThisTechnique uses our lungs in a similar manner to control the breath and hence the name. Typically Ujjayi pranayama acts as a prelude to this breathing technique.

Bhastrika breathing is a dynamic and highly energizing abdominal breathing exercise requiring a large expenditure of physical energy. It is accomplished by breathing abdominally with inhalations and exhalations equally emphasized and equally active.

The Bellows breath activates and invigorates the liver, pancreas, spleen and abdominal muscles, thus toning the digestive system and improving digestion. However use of this technique is not recommended for people with high blood pressure or people having hernia)

Bellow Video shows a large group practicing Bhastrika pranayama

Ujjayi Pranayama

2009-07-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Ujjayi Pranayama is a breathing technique which means Victorious Breath or sometimes Ocean breath due to the hissing sound that one hears during practise. The main benefit of this breathing technique is to concentrate and to focus mind, The sound vibrations calm and focus the mind and Enegergize the body.

Ujjayi is most effective for asthmatics as it corrects and strengthens the condition of the lungs and bronchiole linings.

Sit in Vajrasana or Padmasana or even sukhasana(comfortable cross legged position) would do for this simple yet powerful yoga technique

1.Close your eyes and take couple of deep breaths through both your nostrils.
2.Slowly begin to let your breath flow through the throat during inhales(This sounds like the sound of the ocean, and hence the name) you can exhale using nostrils
3.Once you are confident, now slowly start exhaling the same way directing the breath via throat.(If you find steps 2 and 3 tough in the begining, you can open the mouth to start with and once you gain confidence, close the mouth and use the throat and nostrils).

Following video gives you a visual glimpse of how to practise Ujjayi Pranayama

North Sentinel Island - Andamans

2009-07-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

This little known island of andamans,India is home to what is probably the last tribe on Earth that is yet to be contacted. DNA analysis of related Andaman tribesmen suggests that the Sentinelese could well be among the world's oldest communities, with generations going back 70000 years.

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google seems to have not updated the maps as this island was hit badly by the 2004 tsunami that hit indian ocean(Watch this space,google updates the maps often). European Space Agency(ESA) satellite images have shown a drastic change in the way the island looks currently

The formerly submerged coral reefs that ring North Sentinel Island are now exposed to the surface, as the entire North Andamans group has experienced tectonic uplift. Circumstances were reversed to the south in the South Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where large land areas were submerged down to between one and four metres in depth.

The Indian government, worried that the North Sentinelese had been wiped out by the disaster, dispatched a helicopter to investigate. They found that at least some of the islanders were still alive and kicking - and when the chopper got too close, it came under attack from a hail of rocks and arrows. How the islanders will cope with the damage to their ecosystem remains to be seen, but they will at least be left to do it in peace: India’s official policy is now to make no further attempt to contact or “assimilate” the islanders, so although they remain notionally “Indian”, they are still essentially untouched by the outside world.

Strange but true!!

Eye in the sky - online maps

2009-07-10T00:16:00.000-07:00

Our world is full of wonders, some natural, some man made marvels, some big cities which just look magnificent from the sky, then we have the seven wonders, islands, tall towers, well the list is almost endless.

We all know about the online map based tools that are on offer, Google earth, maps, yahoo maps are the few ones that comes to my mind.One fine day, while browsing through the map it just struck me that how wonderful pass time the map can be when you are bored

Here comes the next question. Wow much have you explored the online maps you use, or rather, how much can you explore further? answer to this only depends on how much curious you are, and i am sure the curiousity will only increase exponentially as you start doing this

Here is something to start with: i am Sure we are aware of the palm islands that Dubai is building

Here is one of the islands "Palm Jumeirah" if you can scroll left you can also explore the bigger palm on the left called Palm Jebel Ali (under constuction in the map) and on right you will see "the world" further to your right is the biggest of the palms called palm Deira, 8 times larger than the Palm Jumeirah, and 5 times larger than the Palm Jebel Al, is at present not visible in google atleast(but watch that space, google might update soon)

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Google sans the BETA

2009-07-09T06:29:00.002-07:00

People who use google applications are also used to the beta tag associated with most of its applications like gmail, gtalk etc.

After its Beta launch in 2004, gmail has remained this way for last 5 years letting people experiment and helping google constantly collect statistics and give updates on this.

Here is a news from google, starting July 7th the Beta tag associated with Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk both enterprise and consumer versions are now out. And for those who still like the look of "beta", google has made it easy to re-enable the beta label for Gmail from the Labs tab under Settings.

War of web Browsers

2009-07-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many of you are aware of the Netscape navigator of the 90s, browsers have come a long way from there to current day when we have a number of browsers competing for their share with Microsoft internet explorer

With respect to the browsers, what we are seeing currently is like the world war 2 of the browser wars, so before going further lets take a look back at the world war 1

The browser war 1 was mainly between Netscape(from the 90s),Microsoft and later Mozilla which came to an end in 2001 when Microsoft released Internet Explorer (IE) 6. This browser captured around 90 per cent of the market and by then Netscape Navigator users had almost disappeared

Development of Netscape Navigator was stoped on 28 December 2007, and security updates and support was available then extended until 1 March 2008, when AOL canceled technical support

Year 2009:
Today we have five major browsers fighting for marketshare — Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera.

Microsoft continues to dominate the market share followed by Mozilla firefox and Apples safari. With more focus on Web2.0 and recently announced HTML5, browser war is now in the open and Microsoft is here for a tough fight due to some exciting and cool features provided by its rivals

Microsoft has announced IE8.0,Mozilla has come up with firefox 3.5, Apple is aggressively marketting safari(thanks to iPhone) and chrome is winning its share of customers as well thanks to google

rumor has it that IBM is coming up with its blue spruce soon

Only thing common here is every vendor markets the browser as faster and safer. Who will eventually win this second browser war is an open question and will be decided by netizins like us. But looking at the number of options i can only say that exciting times are ahead so keep browsing

HTML5 - Let there be speed

2009-07-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Protocols are the backbone of the internet and have made the web truly world wide. networks have been evolving since past two decades and have surely become much faster thanks to HTML and TCP/IP

HTML changed the way one can imagine networking and brought internet to our home. With the advent of web2.0 internet browsing experience now includes rich graphics and web applications such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft silverlight and Java scripts

In comes HTML5, the major release of the famous hypertext markup language or popularly known as HTML was drafted on 22nd Jan 2008. It attempts to solve issues found in previous iterations of HTML and addresses the needs of Web Applications, an area previously not adequately covered by HTML

Some of the key features of HTML5 in addition to specifying the markup are the scripting APIs and features such as drag-drop,browser history management,and App cache thanks to these features developers are now able to write JavaScript-heavy web apps that run instantly and work and feel like desktop applications.

While there are now more than 400 million broadband subscribers worldwide, broadband penetration is still relatively low in many areas of the world. Bringing the benefits of cheap reliable broadband access around the world should be one of the primary goals of our industry.

With HTML5, we can surely enjoy media rich web browsing experience in the coming times

FIAT - Logo Italiano

2009-07-07T21:55:00.002-07:00

How many of us know that FIAT stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin)

FIAT was founded in 1899 by a group of people, including Giovanni Agnelli who later became its Managing Director.

Supposedly, the famous Fiat "scrabble tiles" logo of the 1960s was designed by the company’s Chief Designer who was driving past the Fiat factory during a power outage and saw an outline of the factory’s neon sign against the dark sky

In 2006 FIAT came with a logo that can be seen in all their new launches

Free domain names

2009-07-07T21:55:00.001-07:00

If you are reading this post, you are either interested in creating a domain name for you or else you will end up creating one for yourself. Domain names are like the identity for domains and thats how we know google(google.com) yahoo(yahoo.com) etc

But domains names are not free either and typically needs to be kept active by paying a nominal ammount

Here comes a good news for people like us, who have just started exploring the web and wish to have a presense on the web without having to make any investment(atleast to start with)

A Remote island in the pacific, Tokelau is providing free domain names which are country specific(like .in,.kr,.uk etc) dot.tk is a joint venture of the Government of Tokelau, the country's communication company Teletok and Taloha, Inc., and provides absolutely free domain names with .tk extension.

Though it has an option where you can pay for the domain names and some premium services, but then typically you would want a .tk domain because you either like it to be free or you like to have a presense in all the TLD(Top level Directory servers) such as google.co.sg and google.co.in etc

So why dont you take a look first and then decide to go .tk way or the usual godaddy way

Surya Namaskar

2009-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Salute to Sun, This powerful Yoga technique performed during sun rise can do a world of good for a healthy life. These exercises are ideal warm-up and conditioning exercises for the entire body and the mind.

Art of breathing - Pranayama

2009-07-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

We all know that the essence of breathing is to bring more oxygen to the blood and to the brain. One of the most vital functions of our body is breathing and some of you might be already thinking whats the big deal about it; we all breathe and perhaps that's the first thing human body learns at the time of birth, But have we ever thought about the power of breathing and how it can help us ? No wonder the ancient people have termed air as the vital source of energy or life.

By learning to control our breath, we can control Prana or the vital life energy that flows through our body and this is the key for a vibrant and healthy body. This art of breathing is dates back to thousands of years and rightly named in Yoga as Pranayama which is a very meaningful sanskrit word that can be spilt into Prana (life force) and Ayama (control).

In short Pranayama means breath control and since ages the pranayama goes hand in hand with the basic Yoga techniques that we do mainly because by controlling the breath we can control our mind and this basic technique can help people meditate and relieve stress which is the enemy of most modern people living a hectic life in the city

How many of us know that most of us usually breath from our chest, using only a fraction of the lungs, not knowing that this unhealthy and unnatural way of inhaling may lead to several complications.

Pranayama teaches us how to use to the capacity of our lungs, bringing in more prana or energy supply to the body to function well.
Reduces the toxins and body wastes and helps cleanse our body.
Helps improving our metabolism which will benefit our health
Develops us concentrate and focus,and brings peace of mind which is what someone us loose very easily due to the stressful lifestyle.
Offers a better self-control. Mind can function clearly, avoiding any hasty decisions. Moreover, self-control also involves control over one's physical body.

Micro USB: Now EU standard

2009-07-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

Good news for all of us who suffer from low mobile battery syndrome

Across EU, mobile phone makers have agreed to supply a standard phone charger from next year which is based on the Micro USB connector

Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Texas Instruments signed a memorandum of understanding submitted to EC

This move came after European Commission raising its voice over the issue of thousands of tons of waste each year due to the mobile phone market in Europe.

Indeed a welcome move that will let people also charge their mobiles on the go and what is started by EU might soon adapted by the world atleast for the newer models

History of Xerox

2009-06-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today the word photocopy is almost synonimous with Xerox.
Xerox Corporation can trace its lineage back almost 100 years ago to the Haloid Company, which was founded in 1906 to manufacture photographic paper and equipment.

In 1938, Chester Carlson invented a photocopying technique called electrophotography, which he later renamed xerography (Carlson was famous for his persistence: he experimented for 15 years and through debilitating back pain while going to law school and working his regular job). Like many inventions ahead of its time, it wasnt well received at all. Carlson spent years trying to convince General Electric, IBM, RCA, and other companies to invest in his invention but no one was interested.

Until, that is, he went to the Haloid company, who helped him develop the worlds first photocopier, the Haloid Xerox 914. The copier were so successful that in 1961, Xerox dropped the Haloid from its name.

In 2004, fresh from a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for cooking the books, Xerox tried to re-invent itself (complete with a new logo). Four years later in 2008, it tried to get away from the image that its only a copier company and adopted a new logo resembling more like a beach volleyball.

Korean Trio history

2009-06-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most famous brands of Korea today are the Samsung, LG and Hyundai.
Each having a very inspirational history with a humble begining and reaching great heights.

It all started in 1938 when Lee Byung-Chull founded his small business as 'Samsung Store' at Daegu. Started as a small trading company. It flourished until the korean war when he was forced to move his base to Suwon. Then came the Korean industrial revolution and it proved as a boon for Samsung which now symbolizes the economic might of south korea after diverifying their business across the industries. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Samsung Electronics invested heavily in research and development, investments that were pivotal in pushing the company to the forefront of the global electronics industry.

The 1990s saw Samsung rise as an international corporation and most of us know Samsung for the wide range of electronics items that they manufacture one can notice the 3 stars in the original samsung logo which is what the name means(3 stars) this was changed later to the current samsung logo which we all are familiar

LG began its life as two companies: Lucky (or Lak Hui) Chemical Industrial (est. 1947), which made cosmetics and GoldStar (est. 1958), a radio manufacturing plant. Lucky Chemical became famous in Korea for creating the Lucky Cream, with a container bearing the image of the Hollywood starlet Deanna Durbin. GoldStar evolved from manufacturing only radios to making all sorts of electronics and household appliances.

In 1995, Lucky Goldstar changed its name to LG Electronics. Actually, LG is a conglomerate having whole range of LG companies that also changed their names, such as LG Chemicals, LT Telecom, and even a baseball team called the LG Twins.

After the imperial Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula, in 1946 Hyundai Auto Service was born founded by Chung Ju-yung to repair trucks for the US Armed forces in South Korea. The business helped create and financed The Hyundai Civil Works Co. (known as Hyundai Togun), which was later merged into the Hyundai Engineering and Construction. Hyundai becomes the U.S. Armys favorite contractor during the Korean War.

With focus on Automobiles and Construction hyundai had no looking back. Post korean war much of modern South Korea's infrastructure was built by Hyundai. Ranging from Dams, expressway,Shipbuilding yards to even nuclear power plants. while Hyundai Motors produced cars made primarily from Japanese components. Hyundai's influence stretched far beyond the Korean peninsula as the company started winning contracts overseas

By the 1970s Hyundai began to build ships and in 1986 Hyundai produced its first vehicle made entirely from Korean components.

This Korean construction and Automobile gaint helped bringing in the industrial revolution in the country and now is a truly global player

DUM BIRYANI

2009-06-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

Dum biryani , Preparing a nice spicy one is no more a "Rocket science". You just need to follow the below mentioned steps & you’ll be amazed to see the results. Mouth watering, spicy hot food is ready for you to relish.

Step 1:
Wash & Soak the rice (30 minutes prior to cook), keep it aside.
Step 2 :
Prepare a fine paste (Masala or kurma) by grinding the coconut, a onion, tomato, green chillies, coriander leaf, cloves, garlic, ginger, garam masala – Keep the paste aside.
Step 3:
Prepare saffron water – mix the saffron petals with half glass of milk. Keep it aside.
Step 4:
Meanwhile, you can keep the rice to cook on a medium flame (add 3 times water). Also add some salt, pepper corns & cloves to this rice. Do not over cook the rice. Note that it must be 70% cooked (Approx 15 min for 1.5 cup of rice). Drain the excess water. Add some raisins & keep it aside
Step 5:
Now, fry 2 finely chopped onions to golden brown, keep it aside.
Step 6:
In the same pan fry the finely chopped vegetables (carrot, beans, potato & cauliflower), until they get cooked & then add the grinded paste to the same. Make sure you do not add too much water. The consistency should be just like that of a thick Curry. Add salt, turmeric powder & chilly powder.(Pic shown below)
Step 7:
Place an aluminum foil at the bottom of your rice cooker, spread a thin layer of half-cooked rice, and add some saffron milk which you prepare in step 3. Spread some fried onions & the paste you prepared in step 2. Keep repeating step 7. Remember that the top-most & bottom most layers are made of rice.
Step 8:
Pour a quarter glass of water to the entire set-up & keep it for cooking on your rice cooker.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice – 1.5 cup
Grated coconut – 1 small cup
Onion – 3 large
Tomato – 1
Carrot – 1
Potato - 1
Cauliflower – 100 grams
Beans – 100 grams
Green chilly – 3
Coriander leaves – 6 stems
Cardamom – 2 seeds
Saffron – 4/5 petals
Curd – 1 small cup
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Cloves – 4
Garlic flakes – 6
Ginger – small piece
Pepper corn – 6
Garam Masala leaf – 2
Raisins - 20
Cooking oil - 6 tea spoons
Salt to taste

Preparation Time:
50 minutes only

NOTE:

1. Instead of rice cooker, you can use a big vessel covered with a plate, seal the entire set-up with Chapatti dough (used as a sealing agent)

2. Keep a count of the salt you add, as you add salt to the masala in step 2 & rice while cooking in step 4.

3. The above measures & ingredients serves 2 people

History of Apple logo

2009-06-29T02:33:00.001-07:00

The first Apple logo was a complex picture of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. The logo was inscribed: "Newton … A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone." It was designed by Ronald Wayne, who along with Wozniak and Jobs, actually founded Apple Computer. In 1976, after only working for two weeks at Apple, Wayne relinquished his stock (10% of the company) for a one-time payment of $800 because he thought Apple was too risky!

Jobs thought that the overly complex logo had something to do with the slow sales of the Apple I, so he commissioned Rob Janoff of the Regis McKenna Agency to design a new one. Janoff came up with the iconic rainbow-striped Apple logo used from 1976 to 1999.

Rumor has it that the bite on the Apple logo was a nod to Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science who committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple. Janoff, however, said in an interview that though he was mindful of the "byte/bite" pun (Apple’s slogan back then: "Byte into an Apple"), he designed the logo as such to "prevent the apple from looking like a cherry tomato." (Source:apple2history)

In 1998, supposedly at the insistence of Jobs, who had just returned to the company, Apple replaced the rainbow logo ("the most expensive bloody logo ever designed" said Apple President Mike Scott) with a modern-looking, monochrome logo.

Canon Logo

2009-06-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

In 1930, Goro Yoshida and his brother-in-law Saburo Uchida created Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Japan. Four years later, they created their first camera, called the Kwanon. It was named after the Kwanon, Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy. The logo included an image of Kwanon with 1,000 arms and flames.

Coolness of logo notwithstanding, the company registered the differently spelled word "Canon" as a trademark because it sounded similar to Kwanon while implying precision, a characteristic the company would like to be known and associated with.

Nortel Logo history

2009-06-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

We all know about the recent financial slowdown and its impact on nortel, but this canadian icon has a rich history worth mentioning about

In 1895, Bell Telephone Company of Canada spun off its business that made fire alarm, call boxes, and other non-telephone hardware into a new company called the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company Ltd. It began by manufacturing wind-up gramophones.

In 1976, Northern Electric changed its name to Northern Telecom Ltd. to better reflect its new focus on digital technology. Nineteen years later in 1995, it became Nortel Networks "reflecting its corporate evolution from telephoney manufacturing company to designer, builder, and integrator of diverse multiservice networks."

What happens next? it is for all of us to see in coming days

Nokia Logo history

2009-06-29T02:20:00.001-07:00

In 1865, Knut Fredrik Idestam established a wood-pulp mill in Tampere, south-western Finland. It took on the name Nokia after moving the mill to the banks of the Nokianvirta river in the town of Nokia. The word "Nokia" in Finnish, by the way, means a dark, furry animal we now call the Pine Marten weasel.

The modern company we know as the Nokia Corporation was actually a merger between Finnish Rubber Works (which also used a Nokia brand), the Nokia Wood Mill, and the Finnish Cable Works in 1967.

Before focusing on telecommunications and cell phones, Nokia produced paper products, bicycle and car tires, shoes, television, electricity generators, and so on.

Source: e-mail and web

History of Logos

2009-06-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a world without brands ? and on the same lines can you imagine the brands without a logo ?

Answer to both the above questions is a plain "No"

Today most technology companies are known by their logos (or identities).

But the logo that we associate with any company today might not be the one that was first drawn for them.

Apple Inc. had Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tre. Now would that be as cool as the one you see today?

Did you know that the first logo of “Nokia” was a fish – Wouldn’t that be a little strange thing to have on our phones today ;)

So what is it about these logos that make them a must?

I guess its because of the fact that Logos let the people differentiate between you and the rest by symbolizing your brand in a easy to associate impression in mind.

So i decided to hunt the web for hunting down the brands and their logos, read on as i try to cover some of the interesting brands and the history of their logo

McDonalds Big mac of 1978

2009-06-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

Big Mac from the late 70's all set to tickle your taste buds

1984 Apple macintosh ad

2009-06-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

Classic, this ad was out in the 80s ..take a look

Pulsar mania

2009-06-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

Original Pulsar mania

Nike iPod tune your run

2009-06-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nike + Apple iPod Deadly Combo

David vs. Goliath -Coke way

2009-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Mazda German

2009-06-26T22:03:00.001-07:00

Mazda Deutschland tickling your funny bone.

Milwaukee tools - Clever ad

2009-06-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Now this is clever, no better way to demonstrate the power of your product

McDonalds FUNNY AD

2009-06-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

MCDonalds Egyptian way

MIcrosoft Windows 7

2009-06-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

After the great success of windows-XP,microsoft just couldnt manage the same wow factor in the "Vista". I am not here to do a Vista bashing as i feel its a very able Operating system but somehow just didnt click(Perhaps Microsoft released it bit too early as the minimum performance requirements are tad steep for a poor mans computer)

In comes the "7" Windows7 which is the 7th version of the windows operating system which made the computer usable for the common man

Code Named "Blackcomb" this was suppose to be the true successor for the windows XP with major features but an interim minor release was announced as Vista(which we all know, but seldom use) This delayed the offical launch of the Blackcomb which later code named Vienna and now officially Windows7

Studies have shown that Windows7 is promissing and has beaten XP and Vista in terms of the performance though following the likes of Vista in several benchmarks.

Available both in 32bit and 64bit versions the "7" is officially out on October 22 and the prebookings are already open online offering the new windows at a discounted rate.But this holds good only till supplies last so hurry.

Girls vs Boys

2009-06-26T04:02:00.000-07:00

Girls and Windows

Both have a great UI.
Both consume large resources and do less work.
Both crash unexpectedly. Both are not easily portable on different architectures (environment) .
Both can't work on low resource architectures (environment) .
Both are costly to maintain. Both give mostly unexpected outputs.
Both's working often contradicts with their documentation.
Both are easily prone to viruses (rumors and doubts) (and they (viruses) do spread very fast in windows based networks).
In spite of all above disadvantages, both are liked.

Boys and Linux

Both have an average UI.
Both are robust.
Both are highly secure.
Both can be easily modified to support new concepts/features.
Both are efficient.
Both are easily portable to any architecture (environment) no matter how low are resources.
You can easily guess the output for your input (in Linux just open its code, for boys they are mostly transparent by nature J).
Both provide large support for development (work environment) .
Both are poorly documented.

Water - a Boon to mankind

2009-06-26T03:48:00.000-07:00

Best medicine ever H2O…..drink liberally. You can cure and stay away from most of the diseases

Introduction
Drink six (6) glasses of water (1.5 liters) everyday and avoid medicine, tablets, injections, diagnosis, doctor fees, etc.
You can never believe before practicing.
List of Diseases That Can Be Cured By Water Therapy

Blood Pressure / Hypertension
Anemia (Blood Shortage)
Rheumatism (Pain in joints / muscles)
General Paralysis
Obesity
Arthritis
Sinusitis
Tachycardia
Giddiness
Cough
Leukemia
Asthma
Bronchitis
Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Meningitis
Kidney Stones
Hyper Acidity
Dysentry
Gastroenteritis
Uterus Cancer
Rectal Piodapse
Constipation
Hostorthobics
Diabetes
Eye Diseases
Ophthalmic Hemorrhage & Opthalmia (Reddisheye)
Irregular Menstruation
Breast Cancer
Laryngitis
Headache
Leukemia
Urogenital Diseases

Therapy Procedure
1. Early morning, after you get up from bed, (without even brushing your teeth) drink 1.5 liters of water i.e., 5 to 6 glasses. Let us all know that ancient Indians termed this therapy as "Usha Paana Chikitsa" . You may wash your face thereafter.
2. Here it is very essential to note that nothing else, neither drinks nor solid food of any sort should be taken within 1 hour before and after drinking these 1.5 liters of water.
3. It is also to be strictly observed that no alcoholic drinks should be taken the previous night.
4. If required, boiled and filtered water may be used for this purpose.
5. It is difficult to drink 1.5 liters of water at one time, but you will get used to it gradually.
6. Initially, while practicing you may drink four glasses first and to balance two glasses after a gap of two minutes.
7. You may find the necessity to urinate 2 to 3 times within an hour, but it will become normal after quite some time.

By Research and Experience
n The following diseases are observed to be cured with this therapy within the indicated days as below:

� Constipation - 1 day
� Acidity - 2 days
� Diabetes - 7 days
� Cancer - 4 weeks
� Pulmonary TB - 3 months
� BP & Hypertension - 4 weeks

Note:
It is advised that persons suffering from Arthritis or Rheumatism should practice this therapy thrice a day, i.e. morning, midday and night, 1 hour before meals for one week; and twice a day subsequently until the disease disappears.

How Does Pure Water Act?

Consuming ordinary drinking water by the right method purifies human body. It renders the colon more effective by forming new fresh blood, known in medical terms as " Haematopaises". That the mucous folds of the colon and intestines are activated by this method is an undisputed fact, just as the theory that the mucous fold produces new fresh blood.

If the colon is cleansed then the nutrients of the food taken several times a day will be absorbed and by the action of the mucous folds they are turned into fresh blood. The blood is all-important in curing ailments and restoring health and for this water should be consumed in a regular pattern.

Life is Short, Just go for it. Please spread this message to your friends, relatives and neighbors. It is a great service to the cause of humanity.

10 Easy steps to Lose weight

2009-06-26T03:33:00.000-07:00

Obesity & excess fat storage is a biggest threat & the cause for worry for most of us. It’s nothing less than a challenge to remain healthy & fit. This needs slightly more effort than normal, but here I define some “really possible” easy to follow steps for the same.

1. Have early dinner, at least 2 hours before you go to bed.
2. Drink plenty of water – good for improving your metabolic rate & of course very much needed for beautiful skin
3. Have moderate breakfast, heavy lunch & very light dinner.
4. Less quantity of the following will help you not to put on excess weight – Oily/spicy stuffs, rice, cheese, chocolates, bakery products( cant stop totally, at least reduce)
5. Have salads – carrot, onion, tomato, cucumber – before lunch & dinner
6. Walk for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, if not jogging track or park, walk in your house veranda.
7. Do not use lift – use stairs whenever possible
8. Whenever hungry in between the day, eat plenty of fruits – they are good stomach fillers, high in energy & low in fat
9. Eat less, eat Often – is the key. Do not eat until you are full, always leave some room for next
10. Juices with sugar are not going to act like weight reducing technique

I am sure you cannot adopt all 10 of the above, but surely give try to at least 7 or 8 of these, & you ll surely see some remarkable results. If you do not see results immediately, do not worry. It might take some time. But i am sure it will really work. Patience & dedication towards the mission is the key here. Stay healthy, Stay Happy !

Perception

2009-06-23T03:25:00.003-07:00

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered:

"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perception a wonderful thing?

If we all saw everything the same way, there is hardly anything to learn

Life without an e-mail

2009-06-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

A small story:

A jobless man applied for the position of 'office boy' at Microsoft.

The HR manager interviewed him, then a test: clean the floor. "You are
engaged"
he said, give me your e-mail address, and I'll send you the application
to fill, as well as when you will start.

The man replied " I don't have a computer, neither an email".

I'm sorry, said the HR manager, if you don't have an email, which means
you do not exist. And who doesn't exist, cannot have the job.

The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only
$10 in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy a 10 lbs. tomato crate.

He then sold the tomatoes in a door-to-door round. In less than two
hours, He succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with $60!.

The man realized that he can survive by this way, and started to go
everyday earlier, and return late.

Thus, his money doubles or triples everyday. Shortly later, he bought a
cart, then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles 5 years
later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the U. S.

He started to plan his family's future, and decided to have a life
insurance. He called an insurance broker, and chooses a protection plan.

When the conversation was concluded, the broker asked him his email.
The man replied: ' I don't have an email'.

The broker replied curiously, you don't have an email, and yet have
Succeeded to build an empire. Do you imagine what you could have been if you had an email?!!

The man thought for a while, and replied: An office boy at Microsoft!

Poland Travel tips

2009-06-22T00:53:00.000-07:00

Overall the trip was a great experience, enjoyed it thoroughly. One thing I can conclude is that for an outsider all European countries look alike. They have typical architecture for their buildings & even the streets look alike. I think it is a must to visit any one European country.
Few tips to those who have plans to visit the place –

View Larger Map

1. Euro currency is accepted almost everywhere, but of course better to get some currency converted to Zloty
2. Vegetarian folks better carry all the stuffs needed to cook yourself , as you can only afford to get vegetarian pizzas everywhere
3. Polish is the National Language, but the Polish font is more of English alphabets, not very readable though, as their words have majority Consonants, too less vowels. Commonly their names/words have alphabet series like “ski” , “scz” etc etc
4. All typical fruits, vegetables easily available
5. Good news for mobile phone lovers , since its GSM network everywhere you can carry your cell phone, all you need to do is buy a prepaid SIM card
5. Buses & trams are preferred for local short-distance travel within the city
6. Shopping of warm clothes/shoes, Amber/Silver jewellery would be a wise choice
7. Zubrowka – a traditional polish vodka made up of Bison grass is a must try

For me the most memorable places/moments of the Poland visit would be - the “Dluga” street, Neptune fountain & the clock tower at our doorstep; the snowfall –and making of “snowman” – a childhood dream come true,Surely a must Visit Place.

Finally, Dziekuja (spelled as Jinkuyea - meaning Thank you in Polish) for sparing time in reading this.

Poland part4 : Visit to Sopot Beach

2009-06-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

The visit to Sopot Beach is also worth mentioning. It was on a windy, less snowy day, but everything around was quite freezing due to very low temperature. It was a fine place with crystal clear blue colored water. Amazing fact of the beach was the “Pier”, A pier is a raised walkway over water, supported by widely spread piles or pillars. It was the longest wooden pier in Europe, 450 meters from bank, 650 total.

Skiing area besides the beach was major attraction to the kids. Not to forget to mention the building on a nearby street, which is quite popular, I call it the “Drunken House”, later came to know that it is known as Krzywy Domek (Crooked house). The Crooked House in Sopot was constructed in 2003 and its character has been based on the drawings of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg as well as Gaudi’s designs. I had seen the picture of the building long back in a forwarded mail & never knew that it was in Poland. It is located in Rezydent shopping center in Sopot. There is a variety of romantic cafes, restaurants, shops and entertainment centers in this area. The Crooked House is the most photographed building in Poland.

The most interesting part of the visit was the weekend venture of some people of the group, who managed to travel to Zakupane in southern Poland, an amazing place for skiing freaks. Not to forget to mention the visit to historical city - Krakow.

Poland part 3: Visit to Malbork Castle

2009-06-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

When you think of the places to visit during the free time all I can say is it has got lot of Castles & being a coastal city we got lucky to visit the beaches too.
Read of castles in books & seen some in movies, but was always excited to visit one. We decided to visit the Castle at a place named “Malbork”, quite close to Gdansk; we preferred trains to reach the place.

The area around the castle seemed unusually silent, deserted & haunted. I had heard from my friends that Castle’s are haunted mansions & thanks to strange atmosphere around there, which made me relate facts & Myths very well. It was indeed a huge castle built of red colored bricks. We dint know from where to begin the visit & which way to go, so we hired a lady guide who Spoke very good English. Not to forget that the lady was quite old, heavy built, extremely fair (white I can say) – with a long black gown & Hat looked even more stranger to us. She narrated some stories related to the castle. It was built across the banks of river Nogat.

The castle complex is actually three castles nested in one another. A classic example of a medieval fortress, it is the world’s largest brick castle and one of the most impressive of its kind in Europe. The castle was in the process of being restored when World War II broke out. During the war, the castle was over 50% destroyed. Restoration has been ongoing since the war. However, the main cathedral in the castle, fully restored just prior to war and destroyed during the war, remains in its ruined state. The castle and its museum are listed as UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The castle was so huge that our legs literally started to ache & we couldn’t complete the entire castle even after 4 hours of continuous walk!

Poland part 2- days Ahead

2009-06-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

Slowly rising in the morning & watching snow “fall” on the window pane right besides the cozy bed was an amazing experience. We then managed to reach our Office with the help of Call Taxi. I must admit the rates were reasonable though much higher compared to the local bus facility. It was an amazing drive of around 30 minutes, amidst the snow capped trees & mountains – indeed the world never seemed so beautiful. The people were extremely warm & friendly, so felt very comfortable right from day 1.

The Lunch time (12 – 1 PM) used to be very tough for the veggie folks in the group , But I thought not bad to manage with some juice cans, boiled beans & potatoes , sticky Polish rice, Pasta & sauce and of course chocolates ! Though, needless to say it used to be like a mini-fest for the Non-veggie folks in the group (Chicken dish was a daily affair).

From the very second day we started our research about the city. For our surprise we were apparently staying near a street named “Dluga” which I presume is the main attraction & tourist spot of the city. Modes of transport like Bus, train & trams were all almost at our doorstep.

I was shocked to find shopping joint like Carrefour, later realized that it is a French international hypermarket chain, with a global network of outlets worldwide. Fast food outlets like McDonalds are also quite common. But a strange thing is that Polish people also consider Pizza & burgers to be junk foods! (Very much like us)

Poland Part 1 : Dream come true

2009-06-19T01:09:00.003-07:00

Pinch me hard!!

My eyes virtually popped out when I heard from my Boss that I had to join a team of engineers who will be visiting “POLAND” for an Official work. Though my history doesn’t prove to be great, I was still able to recall the mention of the name of the city “Warsaw”- Capital city of Poland, Apart from this had no idea of where the country like “Poland” was geographically located. Little bit of googling helped me a lot. I felt it was a golden opportunity for me to visit this territory of Europe, because I bet I would not have otherwise visited this country on my own. All thanks to my company & Bosses!!!

After this shock, another I get to hear the same day is that we will be traveling to GDANSK & not Warsaw ; i had to again search for this city. Never heard of the name, leave alone the way the city name is pronounced (you can the read the name with ‘G’ as silent). GDANSK also known as Danzig and several other names is a city in northern Poland. It is the sixth-largest city in Poland, and serves as that nation's principal seaport.
It is Poland's principal seaport & is located very close to German lands. Thus, I had to mentally prepare myself to get-set for this travel rather I better call it as opportunity for exploration, learning & adventure.

A lot of preparations had to be done, as it was an alien place to us & even for the travel department of our company, since this was the first travel to the city. Since it was peak winter, we had to shop a lot for Warm clothing – gloves, caps, thermals, jackets & shoes. We had done our homework on the options available for stay. The internet era is so advanced that we could search for many options around the place. We settled for a deal with an Apartment which had a rent of almost 80E/per day (Euros- European currency). We had no idea of how the place looked, but kept our fingers crossed & set for the journey.

Our final destination- had no connectivity via international flight. So, our itenary had 3 flights, Bangalore-Paris, Paris – Warsaw, Warsaw-Gdansk (domestic flight). The international flight was with Air-France.

Flight from Bangalore to Paris was pretty good, a long one though – thanks to the option of movies & TV games we had in our flight. Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport was quite huge, couldn’t do much here as we had just 30 minutes transit time before we could board the next flight. Not to forget my shopping of a little Eiffel tower Model for about 10E.

It was in the month of February, 2007 marking almost towards the end of winter season in Poland, though the weather seemed freezing since it was the first time most of us had an encounter with “snow” when we landed at Warsaw (the capital city of Poland) at almost 5 PM.

Warsaw was the point of entry into Poland. After a strict examination of the visas, interview letter & questions like the purpose of visit, place of work & stay etc etc , we were permitted to enter the Polish territory. To reach Gdansk we had to wait a few hours in Warsaw airport, where we got some Euros converted to Polish currency – Its called the “Zloty” ( similar to what we refer as rupee in India, 1 Zloty approx = 15 Indian Rupee).

After a day long journey over various flights, finally landed in Gdansk domestic airport at almost 9:00 PM. Thanks to the internet world - which helped us to make a booking of a good place to stay & above all taxi’s waiting for us at the exit of Gdansk airport! It was nothing less than a warm welcome to all of us to an alien city. Though the language English is very uncommon, through our very good communication skills could manage to reach the apartment destined & that was the end of the first day. Not to forget to thanks the 2-minute noodles dinner which was the best we could mange to cook in the kitchen provided along with the Duplex apartment occupied by us.

The Empty Jar And 2 Cups of Coffee

2009-06-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.He then asked the students, If the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls. He then asked The students again If the jar was full.. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced Two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents Into the jar, effectively Filling the Empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, As the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that This jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter Like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So Pay attention to the things That are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
There will always be time To clean the house and fix the disposal.
'Take care of the golf balls first -- The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked'. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.'

Sona's Kodial - Authentic Konkani food

2009-06-17T04:34:00.001-07:00

View Larger Map
When we talk about Coastal Karnataka food, typical thought that comes to mind is fish and chicken dishes specific to Mangalore area.

But for those who want to experience the rich cullinary delights of coastal karnataka a place to be visited atleast once is a small eat-out called Kodial in Malleshwaram

The speciality of this small place is rich variety of konkani food which is not found any many places even in coastal cities around Mangalore.

For those of you who want to visit the place, the best time is on weekends, when you can experience the rich variety of konkani food for an unbelievable price. But you can always top up your plates with the additional items like chane gashi, dali toy,Kadubu(known as Pattoli) and rava fried vegitable slices(Phodi)

The place also stocks variety of tasty home made pickles and also mouth watering sweets.

So if you are a konkani or a Foodie who wants to explore the konkani food culture do make a visit, and if you have already visited this, i am sure by now u will be too tempted to visit again

Sona's Kodial
No 97, 1st Temple road, 8th cross
Malleswaram, Bangalore
Phone: 23449588.

Wednesday is a holiday

Avg cost per couple:150Rs

Tasty Garlic bread

2009-06-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

On a Chilly rather rainy day, when I felt like eating something hot, spicy & delicious, Unfortunately/fortunately I found nothing lay at the kitchen rack except a pack of Milk bread. I took it as a challenge to make the bread more interesting & the very next thing that stuck my mind was “Garlic Bread”. Yes the name sounds simple but the when you prepare it yourself, its more “Special” & of course delicious. Here’s a simple rather straight forward recipe for all busy people around the globe. The ingredients list goes like this- which will definitely be available at all kitchen racks- milk bread, green chilies, garlic, Butter & pinch of salt. Mixing Optimum quantity of finely chopped Chilies & Garlic in Salted Soft Butter & applying it in equal proportions on the bread, frying it on both sides on a frying pan, until golden brown.

Within no time hot; simple-yet-so-delicious garlic bread was ready to be gulped & the tomato ketchup helped to add-on to the taste. Undoubtedly, I had to thank myself for saving some pennies which would have instead filled up the cash boxes of some Pizza outlet.

Ofcourse you can go with toppings like cheese, oregano and chilly flakes to make it taste even better

Ingredients:
Milk bread – 1 pack
Green Chilly – 3
Garlic flakes - 8
Butter – 4 Tea spoons
A pinch of table salt

Preparation Time:
10 minutes only

Thanks Readers

2009-06-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

World is indeed shrinking and Internet is making it smaller every moment. Ullekha blogs are now read across the world from many countries. We thank you for all the support and encouragement and take this as a motivation to do more blogging for the sake of blog lovers.

Help us by spreading the word across your friends

We are more organized!!!

2009-04-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

No more messy blogs and scrolling through the archives and keywords, Ullekha has made your life more easier by organizing the contents in a more user friendly way.

We have added the related articles at the bottom of each post, which is based on what your fellow readers are following.

Just click your favourite topic now to read what you like and keep exploring

Vythiri Resort..in the land of the gods(Wayanad)

2009-03-27T04:54:00.000-07:00

Situated close to 300 kms from bangalore, this place makes the best weekend outing for those who want to be close to nature.

the road is scenic, from the modern bangalore-mysore highway to the country side views that you see from mysore onwards, lush jungles of bandipur national park and the wonderful state of kerala

View Larger Map

i am sure its worth driving on this road with family & friends

When you are in Wayanad one of the best place to relax is vythiri resort which is situated in the middle of a coffee plantation, wonderful place and ideal for a weekend stay with family and friends

The resort itself is divided into two parts separated by a running stream and the rooms are situated in the area surrounded by the stream.

The resort is also famous for the ayurvedic massages so do plan for a session or two, Especially the honeymooners who want to pamper their souls along with their soul mates

Attractions
1. Pookot lake for romantic boat ride
2. Chembra peak, This tallest peak(2100mtr) in Wayanad is a trekkers delight
3. soojipara falls, Amidst deep woods
4. Thirunelli temple
5. Muthaga National park

And ofcourse a free view of majestic tea estates

Address:
Vythiri Resort, Lakkidi P.O, Wayanad 673 576, Kerala, India
TEL : 0091(0) 4936 255366/ 255367/ 255661/ 255662
FAX : +91 - 4936 255368
Mob : + 0 9447055367

Ullekha updates: RSS feeds

2009-02-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

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Ullekha updates: Google search

2009-01-08T01:02:00.000-08:00

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Ullekha for you

2008-08-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

"Ullekha" उल्लेख is a Sanskrit word which perhaps has a meaning that best suits the word "Describe" or "Refer" or "Mention"

The Aim of any Blog is to Refer to people or stuff we like, we loathe or we just like to share with each other

So aptly we choose a word that best suits the contents of this blog "Anything and Everything"

Masinagudi, Nilgiris

2008-06-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

It all started with the plans of going to Yercaud(yes you may think i am crazy, but its true)I was hunting for an ideal weekend destination and had decided to go to yercaud. (28th-29th july)To my badluck(or good), there was some sports fest on 28th and hence all the resorts were running full. still i managed to book a room through yatra.com and i got confirmation as well.(All this was done a week in advance) So i was all set to take my 3 month old Swift to her first trip to Tamilnadu.

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All of a sudden on 27th july evening , i get a call from yatra saying my booking was not possible.I had a confirmation letter in my hand,had done all the packings and preparations(route query etc..) and was already dreaming abt driving my new car.. and these yatra guys were saying as if it was a MTV Bakra show.(sorry sir, we tried our level best!!!. they took money from me,gave me confirmation letter and then say this that too at the last minute!!!) my advise to all of you is never try this yatra.com. I wish to take legal action against these guys..let me see..anyways, after 3 hours of continuous shouting and blasting them, i finally said as an alternative, i dont mind going to masinagudi(as it was in the same radius) and to my luck, i got the booking in Monarch safari park resort(Owned by Mithun chakraborty).So finally i was so happy that atleast my plan was still on.

28-07-2007

I had filled up petrol from Shell, old madras road on the previous day so that we can start early morning. so as per plan, me and my wife started from my house in CV raman nagar at 6:15 AM. it didnt take us long to touch mysore road, and by 7:30 we were having our Mangalore style breakfast in Kamath lokaruchi(after ramnagar).after filling ourselves, we started by 8, and could reach mysore ring road junction by 9:45. Here, we need to take a right on the ring road(towards GRS fantasy park and KRS) and proceed further(around 18 KM to reach Ooty road). For those of you who know about mysore, the shortest route would be to cut through the city and reach Ooty/Nanjangud road.(it starts near the palace and exhibition grounds,Zoo etc.) Having studied in mysore for 4 years, i very well knew about this road, but then, i wanted to try this ring road. so i took right and took a looooooong round of mysore outskirts(crossed mercara/mangalore highway, passed close to infy and L&T and so on...) road was never ending but everywhere the directions were put up(just to make sure people dont loose their patience)so we reached Ooty road and then started towards my destination.

Route:

Bangalore->Mysore->Nanjangud->Gundlupet->Bandipur->Masinagudi town->Bokkapuram

from mysore, this place is around 100 kms, and passes through the scenic Bandipur forests(the best part of my trip) I would say, the best time to visit masinagudi and near by places are in this season. To my luck, there was no rain on both days(just slight drizzle to cool things down)Roads are little bad(5-10 km strech after gundlupet->bandipur) but not very bad( i could manage 30-40kms speed)I slowed down inside Bandipur forest to enjoy nature and i could see deers and peacocks every now and then. not to mention those monkeys. i even spotted few elephants carrying logs. so slowly i reached karnataka border. after you reach tamilnadu checkpost, you have to proceed about 5 kms further to meet a junction. there you need to take a left to go to Masinagudi town(there is an old bridge which can allow only one vehicle at a time)from this bridge, you will reach masinagudi town, and proceed further to find another small bridge. here you have to take second right after the bridge(it is well marked) and most of the masinagudi resorts are located in this area.(place is called bokkapuram)from this second right, hardly 4-5 kms, i could find my resort.So i reached my destination by around 12:30(keeping a steady speed of 80kms, and controlling myself to not to cross 100kms limit,which was set by myself during run-in period of my car)I really liked the view from this place, it is right below the foothills of Nilgiris. and i heard from here, Ooty is just 30 kms away(this place is just before those 36 hair pin bends)My idea was mainly to relax so i didnt venture out into the jungle much. though the resort arranges for a jungle safari at a cost of 1500 per jeep(6 people).If you plan to go to this resort, please make sure you stay in those Machans. since i didnt have much time, i had to compromise on staying in hotel rooms. They were just ok. nothing worth mentioning.There are few more resorts which one can give a try, and they are Jungle retreat(owned by vikram mathias,if i am not wrong) casa deep woods(this one is a new resort) you can perhaps try either of these three resorts.The weather over there was really chilly(alot of breeze) and the view of cloud covered Blue mountains from your window is breath taking. i would say this resort has the best view of the mountains.Ideally you should visit such places in bigger groups as the choice of food was very limited in the place i went.(but food was really tasty)to my luck, there was a big group staying in the resort and since it was running packed, they had prepared enough variety of food.They only have the concept of buffet. so if you are the person who likes to order what you want, this is not the place for you.In the night i could here some people complain about the safari, as they could not spot even a bird it seems.(i was shocked,as i could see many animals on the main road itself). that made me think of dropping the safari plan.

29-07-2007

Since we didnt have much time, we didnt want to travel much. Initially we did have plans to go to Ooty next day morning and reach bangalore by night. but then, decided to relax and enjoy nature. we had our breakfast and checked out by 11 AM, and dropped the plan of going towards Ooty and returned to bangalore.One thing i want to tell is, the tamilnadu roads are pretty narrow and have sharp edges(tarmac and ground gap) so you may have to leave the road partially to make way for incoming vehicles. be careful so that you can avoid hitting the cars bottom with those deadly rocks. I must really appreciate Swift for its ground clearance. it felt like driving a jeep, i never hit any of those rocks due to ground clearance.(touch wood)In Bandipur, Govt. runs Bus safari's(20 people in a van, comes up to abt 30-40Rs per head, turns out very cheap)But we were bit late as it ends by 10AM. so we decided to try our luck again on the main roads of bandipur.Again, we could spot deers and peacocks every now and then and reached mysore at 1:45.(for those of you who want to have food in the jungle, there is jungle lodges, bandipur safari park, which has a restaurant) this place is about 10 kms from Bandipur(towards mysore)Finally, we started at 2:30 from Mysore and reached Bangalore by 6.(there was heavy rain from Maddur till kengeri)All in all a short and sweet experience. and i have no regrets for not being able to go to yercaud.So for those of you who are confused between yercaud and masinagudi(both are same distance from bangalore) and if you are planning to go in the month of july/august. dont think twice and proceed towards masinagudi. as this is the time when you will see nature at its best.And i forgot to mention, road from Gundlupet to bandipur is bad, but full of scenic sunflower fields.. worth stopping your ride, and clicking snaps.That doesnt mean i dont like yercaud. i have never been there. so perhaps this would be my next destination.

Some more shots..

Spiritual getaway....Kotilinga temple near kolar

2008-04-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is one unexpected trip which i felt is worth sharing.
one fine sunday morning we got up and were thinking we should do something instead of wasting time. Since it was already 9:30 AM, i felt the destination should be nearby to minimize travel.

Suddenly thought of the kotilinga temple which is around 90 kms and hearing which, even my parents were happy thinking finally their son is thinking spiritual.

so once plan was made, quickly we finished bath and started at around 10:30.

For those of you who wish to go, here is the directions

Take the old madras road(same road which takes you to tirupati) and keep going till you reach kolar and from here take the bypass to avoid the city and proceed further, you will see a railway crossing and immediately after that crossing, take a right turn which takes you to KGF via bangarpet.

appx distance 65 till the railway crossing and 25 from that turn onwards. you will travel through the bangarpet city and proceed further and a double road will welcome you to KGF, and soon after there is a narrow road leading towards kotilinga temple(6 kms appx.) and there is another place Bangaru tirupati(15kms.) which i didnt go.

Road conditions are manageable and travel should take 1.5 to 2 hours

I recomend having food in kamat which is about 10 kms before kolar (from KR puram, around 50 kms)

for those who want the address

KAMAT upachar
IOC Jubilee Diesel Outlet
49th KM, NH-4 Byrasandra Village,
NARASAPURA KOLAR DIST.
Phone: + 91 815 2244957

if you manage to visit kotilinga in the morning, you can come back by afternoon and have lunch here.(served till 4 pm), the north karnataka meals are worth trying once.

All in all, a great destination for a days outing.

Considering the outdoor location, it is preferable to avoid this place in peak summer months of march-april

ಹುಲಿ ವೇಷ .... Tiger dance !!!

2007-10-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

If you belong to the coastal belt of karnataka, u cant say no to to the fact that this is one of the most popular folk dance in this part of the world. Typically performed during the 9 days of the Navaratri, this dance can surely fascinates every young and old.

What makes this unique ? well its the brightly colored "human" Tigers dancing to the raw sound of local drums.

this is a group dance and the group typically consists of 5-10 tigers of varying age(few tiger cubs, few average tigers and a big male tiger) a manager to manage the accounts, drummers and a hunter.

Putting the tiger costume(or paint) is a tedious task and once painted, the group usually don't remove it during Dasara period.

These dancers roam the roads of the cities going from one house to another and performing in front of each door. this is usually followed by the children of the locality, trying to imitate the dancing steps of the tigers.

During Navaratri, people offer their prayers to the goddess Sharada and since the tiger is carrier of Goddess, tribute is paid to both Goddess as well as our national animal(makes more sense in todays scenario).

Some of the other flavors of Huli vesha(or Pili vesha in tulu) are that of the cheeta (spotted paints) and the shardula(sanskrit meaning for lion) which is now a days becoming very rare.

Dont be a tiger....

2007-09-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

You must be wondering what this means.... i have been seeing the ads by tiger woods encouraging by saying "C'mon, Be a tiger", and soft drink ads showcasing indian cricketers as hungry tigers roaming in the majestic cricket field.

So what does it take to win ? well this is a complicated question. so let me atleast narrow down my scope and stick to cricket.

People admire tiger for its strength,agility and presense. Tigers are fierce, wild and have sheer muscle power. all these make the tiger a born winner. But the question is, can 11 tigers play together and win ? well now i can see few raised eyebrows. the answer is not. for winning as a team we need a pack of wolves.

Indian cricket team is full of tigers, we have the royal bengal tiger, and there is a great maratha tiger and a proud karnataka tiger... and countless other tiger cubs which are roaring. still we are no match to even an average side like England. so what is it that matters ?

for winning in a team game, we need hungry wolves which always hunt in packs. The key to succcess here is cooperation, coordination and team effort. It is all about a game plan, the strategy and the execution of the plan which can earn food for the whole family.

we dont need those big 100's and 5 wickets, insteaed we need those last minute 40's and catches, each player capable of taking a wicket atleast, if not bowl, field well there by resulting in run outs. this is what we need to win.

Things are changing, gone are the days when we used to see 100's scored by our batsmen and bowlers taking 5-6 wickets. now it is all about those 30-40 runs and 1-2 wickets and need not say anything about importance of fielding. so in such a scenario, for winning we dont need tigers, all we need is a pack of 11 hungry wolves.

Hey Ram!!!

2007-09-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

It sounds so ironical when our government declares that the legend of Ram was just a myth, and goes on celebrating Sri Ram navami.

I guess only person who can prove the existance of Lord Sri Ram is Sri Ram himself. and perhaps he has to take another birth to come and prove this to us. But Hey Ram, even you would be confused as to what form you can take.

It was so easy for you in all the 10 avatars. but i bet now the times have changed. If you are born now, either you will become a software engineer who will finally end up in some other country in search of greener pastures. You could manage to tour only Sri lanka then, but now, i bet you would be bound to the USA

or perhaps you will be born as a polititian, trust me oh lord, you would have never come across such people in any of your previous births. and only you know(since ur the god) what can happen.
Perhaps you will become a todays college goer, who seems to be completely lost in the world of their iPods and mobiles and completely forget about helping mankind while listening to the tunes of Himesh Reshamiya.
or perhaps you still want to continue the things you have done in the past.. so much determined and focused, if you want to destroy demons, then you will be confused about where to start from, the middle east or pakistan or even bangladesh perhaps. i sometimes feel that the life in those days was much much easier. even the demons had some ethics in life.

People worship you for what you have done. but to make people worship you now, you have to become an indian idol, or perhaps manage to survive inside the house of Big boss with the likes of Rakhi sawant around you.
or perhaps become the next generation cricketer which india needs very badly(please make sure that you will become an all rounder..we are still in search of one) and make us win again with the lankans.( now we also have Aussies who are more dangerous)
Hey Ram, things have really changed.. and going worse... we need not one... but perhaps 100s of Rams to help us out. please do think of us and do something now...

A hill station so close

2007-08-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

Many of us are aware of this so called hill station right next to our door steps (Bangalore residents)

and many of us might also argue that its not at all a hill station.. so why am i calling it a hill station still ?

To find the answer, i suggest you to get up early in the morning and drive towards Nandi hills

(this is the best time to see the real beauty which can never be seen during other times of the day)

Due to the recent developements happening because of Bangalore international airport, Nandi hills have come more closer to the city of bangalore(not to mention that bangalore has bulged outwards)

so it will hardly take an hour to reach this place(if started early in the morning) and i feel this is the best time to enjoy the nature.

And the best part is, you can always be back in home for the breakfast...or still better...carry ur breakfast along with you.

Still cant believe it ? take a look...

have you tried these places?

2007-04-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well guys, i am a person who is born to eat...i live to it and i love it let me just list down few places in bangalore which are good yet light on your pocket. Please note that i am not ranking any of the places. i am just putting them in random order.

1. Kanthi sweets,CMH Road, Indira nagar. this is a very small place, but the parathas they serve will just leave your tastebuds tingling. i feel these parathas are one of the best one can get in bangalore. also you can find a variety of chats and sweets. My favourite is kheer kadam. Average cost for a couple wont cross 150.

2.Bobby dhaba,near gurudwara,ulsoor. No review can be complete without mentioning this place. i am not a north indian, but i have not eaten better north indian food than this. mouth watering parathas with lotz of butter melting on it. and the butter milk/lassi, the sheer size of those glasses will leave you amused. my favourite is baingan ka bharta, do try this with any paratha you order. also the kheer is a must have. Cozt per couple : not more than 150

3.RR,Church street,bangalore. moving to south indian food, nothing can beat this andra style restaurant, with spicy curries and biriyani. though they have north indian dishes too, i would strongy suggest you to try their Biriyani or the veg meals for veggy people.

4. kund,near dominos,100ft road, indiranagar. i have seen so many people writing about this small place. those who love kababs, do visit this place. but dont forget to go a little early as it might become difficult to find a place. their specialities are their kababs. but i found even their biriyanis are good( i have tried veg) a must visit place for all those food lovers.

Best of WORST

2006-06-24T03:34:00.000-07:00

THE WORST HIJACKING
We shall never know the identity of the man who in 1976 made the most
unsuccessful hijack attempt ever. On a flight across America, he rose from
his seat, drew gun and took the stewardess hostage. "Take me to Detroit,"
he demanded. "We're already going to Detroit," she replied. "Oh ... good,"
he said, and sat down again.

THE WORST BANK ROBBERY

In August 1975 three men were on their way in to rob the Royal Bank of
Scotland at Rothesay, when they got stuck in the revolving doors. They had
to be helped free by the staff and, after thanking everyone, sheepishly
left the building. A few minutes later they returned and announced their
intention of robbing the bank, but none of the staff believed them. When
they demanded 5,000 pounds in cash, the head cashier laughed at them,
convinced that it was a practical joke. Then one of the men jumped over
the counter, but fell to the floor clutching his ankle. The other two
tried to make their getaway, but got trapped in the revolving doors again.

THE WORST ANIMAL RESCUE

During the firemen's strike of1978, the British Army had taken over
emergency fire fighting and on 14 January they were called out by an
elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat which had become trapped
up a tree. They arrived with impressive haste and soon discharged their
duty. So grateful was the lady that she invited them all in for tea.
Driving off later, with fond farewells completed, they ran over the cat
and killed it!!

THE WORST INSURANCE

This is the best lawyer story of the year, decade,and probably the
century. A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and
expensive cigars,: then insured them against fire among other things.
Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars
and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy,
the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the
lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The
insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man
had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued .. and won!
In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that
the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated, nevertheless, that the lawyer
held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars
were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire,
without defining what is considered to be unaccep table fire, and was
obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal
process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the
lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested
on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from
the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of
intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months
in jail and a $24,000 fine. This is a true story and was the 1st place
winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

pearl valley

2006-05-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

well, i was slightly surprised to notice that there are hardly any reviews on this cute picnic spot so close to bangalore. this is a place situated about 40km from bangalore near anekal. as the name it self suggests, its a small valley with a stream flowing through it. i had gone to this place about a week back during end of may.

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We started at around 8:30 in the morning(from indira nagar,bangalore) and started on the ring road. you need to go on same bannerghatta road which leads to the bannerghatta park but at the point where you go down towards the park, you need to take a left(actually the main road turns) and go towards anekal. i can say the bannerghatta road has improved alot because a couple of months back, when i went to bannerghatta park, i found that the road was missing in most of the places :-) we were one of the luckiest people as it was a chilly day(may end can you nelieve it !!!) i know it feels odd in summer but thanks to all those rains bangalore receieved previous nights, it was really pleasant. we took left near bannerghatta park(towards anekal) i repeat again, to go to banner ghatta park you need to go off road but if you proceed on the main road(curve to left) you will go on anekal road surprise was waiting for us as there was no road after that turn :-) yeah the road is under construction(or broadening) so it will be a head ache travelling on this road(about 25 kms from this turn) but the weather was really pleasant so we decided to continue on the road. the road goes through anekal town(yes, it becomes real narrow) and then when it ends, we need to take right and continue(can ask any one about pearl valley) there is a resort by name pearl valley so it may be confusing if you ask villagers, they may point you towards the resort(the place i am talking about is real pearl valley) so you need to ask about the small stream in pearl valley to make it easy for them to show you the way i can say its a decent place for one day picnic(make it half day) you can go, have food and come back with your family there is one KSTDC mayura hotel as well as some small petty shop near the place, so i can say( you wont starve to death atleast) when i went, the stream hardly had any water(summer isnt it) but i am sure that once the rains start, it will be a all together different place to be the water was ice cold(at 12 noon) and place is decent for relaxing there is not much to explore though all in all, a good place i would say go there and enjoy