The Munnar Bike trip

To all those who expect to read an itinerary on places to visit in Munnar and the like, this article is strictly not for you!

The sleeping valley

Am back! :) Its been some time since anything has been put up over this vacant lot of mine, my garage where I tweak with what I like, I don't, I would die for and I would rather kill for!! :P And yea, I had started missing this crank shop! :)

Its been about 3-4 months since I have left college. Graduate, that's what they call me now!! ;) Devidas K, B.Tech in Computer Sciences and Engg.!! It had been a twisty journey up all along in the past four years of under-grad life, and bless me, I scrapped out unhurt! phew! :)

Struggling to find the normal flow after months of inexplicable silence, I am directly coming to what I had intended to write upon here without much ado: My last and probably the best bike ride till date on which the six of us: Sailesh, Ashith, Rohit, Raman, Rogen and myself had embarked upon in March, 2010. The plan was quick and the trip was sudden! But hey, thats what always happened the past four years! :D

The itinerary just included Munnar, the beauty spot of God's own Kerala :). Though we had been to Munnar in the first year at college as a class trip, Hitting the tarmac with bikes has an entirely different feel to it that a bus journey can just simply can't give! ;)
Destiny lies here within....

Coming back to the team, It was going to be the first ever long trip for Sailesh's babe : a glamorous and sexy black UNICORN, which, thanks to the endurance and patience of Sailesh, was finally delivered to him just a week or two before after a prolonged wait of over 4 months! Riding on the black babe were Sailesh and Ashith ak.a Lt. Ashith Krishnan now, Rohit and Raman on Appu a.k.a Apache RTR 160( yet another dark horse from the TVS ranch) and finally, the ultimate ride that was ever built(exaggerated, I know :P ) my red hot Discover 135!! My trusted friend, companion, partner in crime and what not for the past 3 years= 60,000kms!! :) Riding with me, was Rogen, buddy and friend since the day we met!
Miles to go before he turns me off ;)
We had a big trip to make and 3 days to make it work! The journey started off early in the morning from Thrissur. The route in plan was : Thrissur-Perumbavur-Munnar-Marayur-Udumalpet-Pollachi-Govindapuram-Nemmara- Thrissur.

Lesson learned : Map reading skills are quintessential.

Circumnavigating the forest ranges along the way, the route would take as heights in the Ghats of Munnar, a treacherous journey thanks to the altitudes and mist falls. The otherwise smooth start to this amazing trip was at around 5.30 6 a.m in the morning at Mannuthy. Trip meters were zeroed in, helmets pulled on, jackets and backpacks ready, we were all set for the journey! :)
We stuck to N.H 47, calmer except for the occasional high beam lorries that would whoosh by with the constant humming of tires rolling on tarmac. The roads have been made beautifully apt for us bikes with 4 lane safe driving assured. We did not halt except to take a leak, and were covering good distance in the very first hours itself.

The first major stop was at near Kothamangalam where we halted to correct our directions. The locals were pretty helpful and thanks to the glittering green roadsigns which we blissfully overlooked, we were back on track to Munnar, now about 80 kms away.

Yea, yea we saw it! Its just another 80 kms!!

Then it was time for breakfast, tummies making that ever so familiar grunt. Had some real good typical Malayalees breakfast, nerves pulsating to get the first glimpse of, what would ultimately be, the only thing that we would see for the next 2 days- the mystique hills and ghats! :)

And then finally we were there! the climb started gradually, then drinking in more fuel than what my bike would have ever experienced. The climbs were often steep, accompanied with crooked turns at unexpected points. At one time you would be tempted to charge the throttle high and soar, and ships ahoy! there comes the next pestering turn!! :(
The beginning stretch

Climb went on and on, til the sun was right over our heads and the town was MUNNAR!!! :) Took the first big stop for lunch, before which was the photo session in the woods near the bus station.
The jockies, the stallions!

The next requisite was to find a shelter for the night, which we was gotten even more easily than we expected.

All of us had just backpacks to carry which were kept of at the room, spacious and comfortable for all six to pull rug up together, before we rode down to perhaps the most beautiful view point I have ever seen so far in my entire life as a biker-tourer. The stunning view of the valleys at Top station view point was simply, to put in the least words, breath taking! The sunshine seeping out through the clouds, casting a golden gleam on the green patches down below in the valley was a rare spectacle for the eyes. It was a dreamworld all together, and we stood mesmerized for a few minutes before returning to our senses! :)

Snaps and snaps again, I swear we ought to have had an SLR with us to capture some of them beautiful scenes visible to our naked eyes and contented hearts!
Spell bound...
The return trip included a run over Mattupetti dam, Echo point, deserted completely as it was almost sunset, thereby making sure that the only people shouting for echo would be us!!
At Echo point, the sounds reverberate from hills/ opposite river bank and echo back to where you stand, low yet clear.
Was a nice experience, calling names, making weird sounds and being merry!
Back at room, it was time to catch some sound sleep and to rest those aching limbs which had seen numerous gear shifts, mud tracks, uphill(and a corresponding down hill) climbs all in a day's work!
Early morning the next day we were up and ready to hit the roads again. It had been intended to be a purely ride for pleasure trip and thus, as is obvious, the lion's share of tim was to be spent on the road.period. To make things better, the return route was through the other exit point to the hills, the roads that wind down and down into Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu, crossing the Marayur sandalwood forest and sugar cane fields.
Above: A local jaggery plant at Marayur.
Engines revved and heated up for the day long ride back home, we embarked on yet another 12 hour ride, inquiring directions intermittently until we were put on the route downhill, and by downhill I mean reaaallly down the hill for kilometers together, to Marayur.The rounded vessel which is used for extracting jaggery from the sugar cane juice.

The ride downwards from the altitude was riddled was surprises. There were long stretches of path where the throttle remain untouched. The steadily dropping heights saved a lot of fuel which could actually compensate for what we lost during the uphill climb. It being the off-season at Munnar, traffic was not heavy and with engine shut off, we were, at times, cruising at excess of 60kmph!!
Along the road side were flowering trees local to the place. It was definitely a pleasant sight to see them blossoming, and the fallen flowers spreading a magenta, violet, yellow or blueish tint on the ground below.
The regular pee/tea perks were the only time when the vehicles actually halted, and often otherwise when Sailesh would call for some picture perfect shots en-route. :) We were really having a good time!!!

Though not in our chart and definitely not in our already late running schedule, we decided to take a halt near Marayur, at a place called Muniyara( the burial chambers of saints). The place is supposedly belonging to the Megalithic age, and is surely a surprising sight.Atop the hill at Muniyara, we could see fumes rising from a distant forest fire in ghats. It definitely is a sad thing to find such serenity being destroyed by man and, sometimes nature.
We were way behind our scheduled time, and it was time to hit the roads again. The usual citing of elephant herds, a group of which was blocking the roads, welcomed us near the TN border! :)
after some skillfully mastered snaps of the wild parade, we were racing speeds to reach Pollachi Govindapuram state highway.
One good thing that I admire of TN roads is the way they have been maintained over the years, once built. The speeds gained on these routes were enough to put us back in our time frames.
As always, it was easy to identify where in we crossed back into the Kerala state borders as the road conditions soon turned worse. ;)
The last leg of this enticing, thrilling, and albeit superb trip was less eventful, skillfully making our way through the clogged NH 47 stretch from Mangalam bridge to Mannuthy. The final readings on odo stood at about 55okms.(don't remember the exact number! :) )

Must say it was truly a memorable journey, a ride which definitely made the urge in me to make even bigger, longer and riskier rides stronger! ;) Heard there are some real good places near Bengalooru worth exploring! ;)
P.S: For all those lazybones out there, get a hold of yourself, or atleast, a bike! Wander the roads, feel what it really means to be an Indian! The diversity of virtually everything, bonded by the strand of oneness, of being brothers of same blood and flesh, the sons of one motherland, India. Where else can you find such marvels under the blue sky?!! :)
Current feeling: Nostalgic. Slightly desperate... :)

Winamp @ fingertips

the circuit

Well, been seriously thinking of writing something geeky( or atleast semi-geeky :) ), and here I'm with something that's totally so un-geekish.

The following circuit is to control the Nullsoft Winamp media player using push switches connected via Serial-port. I had an estimated expense of 30-40 rupees in setting up the whole circuit and getting it to work.

The idea is to control the basic functionalities of Winamp via external control. I was searching for the same for amarok and landed up with a plug in that allows interaction with Winamp directly from serial port.

Bought the necessary components and the soldering session began. Its my first attempt at soldering and thus it ain't looking all that good. But then what's insulation tape for! Assembled the switches on an old CD box and let the cables long enough so that the box can be placed conveniently at any location near my table. Test run came out succesful!

The circuit is as follows. One terminal each, of the four switches is connected to port 4 of the serial port connector.. Rest is shown in the circuit diagram.

Then comes the time to configure the plug-in which is, in my opinion, quite an easy job.
This is how the plug-in window looks.

And, there I have my own private music buttons to control my favorite music player!!


comment!!

Tagged at last!

Here is the reply to Priya's tag; Thought it would be boring but seemes interesting as I started doing it:

*Last movie you saw in a theater - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Good movie in terms of Sets and camera, and some comedy scenes.


*What book are you reading - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho..


*Favorite board game - My favorite would be Scrabble,then there is the native game of Kavidi played with shells and stones..

*Favorite smells - the aroma of fried fish.. preferably Karimeen pollichath(Pearl spot flamed)..


*Favorite sound - Back in Mysore, my day begins with the record " Thava Suprabhatham" by M.S Subbalakshmi.. I am quite fond of the whooshing sound produced by the tires on wet roads.. ever heard it, if not try next time!

*Worst feeling in the world - Loneliness/Boredom/Loss... Loneliness and boredom-two feelings that are quite interconnected. Former leads to the latter.
Loss of someone, something I like jostles my mind for a pretty longer time and than usual.

*What is the first thing you think of when you wake up - Am I early?!

*Favorite fast food place - Mukund Sweets Shop,Gokulam Mysore. Excellent Bhel puri and sevv puri!!
Hari(ma bro) at Mukunds'...

*Future child's name - something that starts with letters M or N... or S.The letter A is too risky( would be probably the first ten names of roll call in the class he/she joins and that means inviting trouble!!)

*Finish this statement. "If I had a lot of money, I'd" - pick up the best cruiser bike available and go on a world trip. And when that's done, Its time for a beautiful villa on the Atlantic shore with windows overlooking the sea, where in I sit on my recliner reading some books, taking sips from a mug of Cognac or Gin. For long term, I would invest some in shares of Google.

*Do you drive fast - Do I? Well, hmmm... yes! I do!! And the adrenaline rush that accompanies gives me the high!

*Do you sleep with a stuffed animal - how dare someone call my brother a stuffed animal?!( We share a bed..) :)

*Storms - Cool or scary - Cool.. and specially when I'm on my cruiser..

*What was your first car- Owned?- Not one yet!

*Favorite drink - Strong tea( Canteen special :) ), Gin

*Finish this statement. "If I had the time, I would..." - waste it so that I have just the needed time for the purpose of life.. I keep my spirits high, and believe that anything and everything is achievable even if the step towards it is taken at a late hour. But the success would come only where hard work shows!

*Do you eat the stems on broccoli? - What a question! I eat everything except Cabbage..

*If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice? - A light brown.. preferably near ear and temple.

*Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in - Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore.

*Favorite sports to watch - Football and Snooker.

*One nice thing about the person who sent this to you - A charming lady and a great friend to be..

*What's under your bed? - poltergeists!!

*Would you like to be born as yourself again? - Yup no doubt.

*Morning person or night owl - Night owl, more of night watchman!

*Over easy or sunny side up - Over easy.

*Favorite place to relax - My warm bed.

*Favorite pie - Greek.. sounds romantic..

*Favorite ice cream flavor - Vanilla with chocolate wafers.

Of all the people you tagged this to, who is most likely to respond first? - Wild guess, perhaps Remiletan, Bristow or Rohit..

Note: Photos are copyrighted to the respective genuine publishers.

The Duck Tales

Set for the leap..

It had always been among my simpler dreams to rear a paddle of ducks. Its something of a wish that you tend to procure wacthing all those lush green fields and ducks swarming into water pools in unison, often a sight from some movie. A few days ago, the day after my lab exams to be precise, I had a chance to be with such a paddle.
A rather peaceful lot

The ducks were reared through a feet deep muddy fields, now water-logged owing to the monsoon rains. I stepped off my bike and went with the paddle for about a kilometre or so. It was pure fun, making the ducks run one way to the other, always doing so in a group. Two men on both flanks assured that the gaggle always moved in single general direction despite their helter-skelter runs.
Can you see the other end??

Upon being asked how they could manage to cage every single duck everyday, the men confessed that its damn tough to get near ducks if you are a stranger, but not so once they know you. Ducks have a tendency to follow the one in the front, and hence, marching the leader in the direction the men decide gets the others humming to the same tune as well!!! Interesting, isn't it??!!

Just another view, nothing big!!

There were about 200+ ducks in the swarm. The men walk with them everyday from noon till twilight before closing them in the pen. It was a remarkably unique experience and a bouquet of everlasting freshness..

One Dream fulfilled...
Many to go...
Buzzing Off...
P.S: being a stranger to the ducks, I couldn't get close enough to take better pics.The above pics are good when seen in zoom mode.

A Giant Leap Year ahead!!

The day was 29th February year 2008. The only leap year in our b.tech life.
As decided before hand, almost all of us had worn black attire to mark this auspicious day.

(It is said that leap year is the time when its girls' turn to propose. At least I'm sure I wasn't proposed neither on this day nor on the valentines day that preceded it!!)

We were smoking our brains out deciding what to do to make the day memorable. There were suggestions of mass bunking(as usual!) for the entire day and going for a movie, having a gigantic snack-time at Wimbies and many more. As I could remember, It was our ex-rep Sailesh who came up with the idea of going all the way to Kaiparambu, where Vidya Engineering College is situated, to attend Perizia, the tech cum cultural fest organized by the computer Sciences and engineering department.

Despite some initial hesitation, we finally decided to give his plan a try. Soon a crowd, numbering between 20 and 30, stepped out from the ongoing Environmental Studies class( yes, we do have this!!).

As was obvious, the gathering of "blacks" caught everyones' attention en route. It so happened that, at Shakthan Thampuran Bus Stand, three people from our group strayed off to have some snacks. Not realizing their absence, the rest of us boarded a bus to our destination. The trio, upon their return were making frantic inquiries about us, when an elderly looking man asked them(obviously noticing the dress code)," Are you among the black cats who just left now??"



We reached Kaiparambu by 12 and waited for the three individuals to catch up. Getting to the college was no piece of cake as we walked the 2 km stretch leading there under the scorching sun. A cargo jeep soon came by and some of us could manage a lift in it till the college. The rest, however, continued tirelessly.

Events at the college were ion full swing as we reached. Hiran came to meet us upon informing. Some of our seniors were already present, participating in various technical and otherwise contests. The participation was free and so I gave my name for Quiz, Programming in C and Mobile Photography, along with others.

Quizzing was never this easy. I was in and out of the lab where the event was being held even before I realized. One or two correct answers and that was it!! The words " You are terminated Mister" beamed at me!!

Next in line was the Programming Contest Preliminaries. Almost all of us took part in it. Vinu, Raman and myself were lucky enough to get through into the finals along with our seniors and some other guys. The final was a nightmare and the question was waaaaaaaaay out of my logics!! Sat for about 3 quarters of an hour and finally wrote the following and came out:

#include
main()
{
printf(" good luck with the event! with love from GEC Devidas\n");
}

:)


It was for the first time that I was participating in a photography contest. This event was more thrilling than the rest, frankly. The task was to click few snaps and present any two that were related to the event "Perizia". Here I include the photos I submitted:





Meantime Rushdie and gang were busy preparing for the Ad-Zap event. While we were "busy" with the programming finals , rest of our company left the place to Neetha's home. We soon caught up with them for the photo session that followed. Neetha's identical twin sister, Neema was also present.

The day had , unknowingly become, memorable with all these unexpected turn of events. There were certainly some newbies among us who would other wise restrain themselves to the class. And surprisingly, there were more girls in the group than us!!


Not all are here!

Another page added to the diary of GEC memories, bookmarked to cherish!!

National Crisis!!

View the following photos and etch your comments. The pictures are self-explainatory.


Notice No. 0 : Stars which vanished into oblivion


Notice No. 1


Notice No. 2 : Anxious Parents


Notice No. 3: Them again!!


Notice No. 4 : Primo facto

The creators of the notification are Chacko and Rushdie, the bereaved friends of the missing individuals.

Notice No. 5 : Hoping for the Good

Require Immediate response. All you people out there.......

Helppppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!

Hopes Alive...Again!!

Seriously, I don't believe in these online calculators that churn out computed oututs based on answers to multiple choice questions but of course what just came over as a result for one particular test is highly encouraging!!!

Check this link out if interested, and post the results as comments....

Your True Love Will Find You Eventually

You definitely put yourself out there a little - but you could be doing more. If you're truly looking for love, try doing more things and meeting more people. You don't have to actively look for love, you just need to stay active. Be out there a little more, and the right person will find you!

Will Your True Love Find You?

'Dam!!' Its Gorgeous!! Peechi dam, Thrissur

Peechi Dam( Reservoir) provides for the water supply to more than half the population of Thrissur district. Thanks to the Weather phenomena happening some where in Indonesia, the state of Kerala has been receiving heavy rains for the last 10 days. The water level in the dam has reached the apex thus making it essential to lift its "shutters", which control the level of water stored in the reservoir.

We, a gang of 12, took this as an opportunity to relish in the lap of nature overlooking the region surrounding the dam. Cars, belonging to Rohit and Bristow were arranged for immediately, and congested though we were, made it to Peechi which was roughly 17kms from Thrissur City.

It was drizzling as we reached Peechi. We approached the location directly over the shutter where from one could actually feel the rumble of water gushing savagely through a narrow gap of 20 Inches to the surface 50 feet+ below. It was definitely a view of a lifetime seeing the water in the adjacent reservoir touching maximum level for the first time in 20-25 years. I remembered Samuel Taylor Coleridge's words,"Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink" as in this case we could not reach the actual water body because of restrictions by the authorities.:)

It was followed by a hike into jungle nearby. We went on narrow forest paths, where on only one person can walk abreast,all the time awestruck by the sheer power of water, the force of which hitting rock bottom was deafening. Our trek through the jungle came to an end at a small rivulet where in we halted and took rest. It was getting dark(6.30p.m) and they say, in jungle night falls even before one realises. :)

The trek was loaded with many funny instances of people quoting doubts on a small motion in the nearby bush mistaking it to be snakes and all. We soon returned back to Civilisation and made our way to the bottom of the fall.Jets of water formed mist all around upon meeting with the base ground and it was a wonderful feeling relinquishing all worries of the day and letting mind float over the beautiful waves that were being created and destroyed every moment.
Kerala is truly, the God's own Country.


Everyone chose to stay for the night at my place upon compulsion. Ramakrishnan was given birthday bumps at 0000hrs as he is turning 19 today. As always, we sat around debating on a field of common interest and the talks went on till 2 in the morning when we called it a "day" and went to sleep.

It was one rare experience all together and a real nice getaway from our busy schedules in and after college :).

Girls are Selfish !!

For those of you who don't know, I am undertaking coaching at the popular T.I.M.E MBA/CAT tutors.

I have my classes every Sunday from 10a.m to about 4p.m. The classes deal with various topics, ranging from Intellectual Ability Enhancement to that of Verbal Ability and from Data Interpretation to Logical Thinking.

Though the classes had commenced about 2 Months ago, I started attending them on regular basis only since mid August(You know college habits die hard:))

The reason why i started this post is to share my first experience in attending a Group Discussion or G.D, in short.
Our verbal Ability classes are taken by one of gifted teachers I've ever met, Mr.Joseph.Witty and jolly in person ,he has a unique knack of making us face the audience without fear of shame or without feeling shy.

Coming back to the session we had with him today, he introduced us to the Pros and Cons of G.D and the Do's and Don'ts while attending one.

We were made to stand in a circle and various topics were given.To list a few, we had discussion on "Making Dowry legal","Girls are selfish(how true :) !!!)" and "Boys are Mommy's toys","Subsidizing Junk Food" and many more funny, interesting topics.

People were eliminated after the end of 10 minutes and the discussion would continue with new people filling the gap.There were many funny instances as the discussion heated up,one of which was a comment by a fellow classmate saying that he has had enough bad experiences to say that women are mean and selfish.The whole class erupted in laughter.

Joseph Sir, however, told us that seldom do such topics appear in G.D and therefore asked us to be keen and more enthusiastic in reading newspapers,keeping track of various global events and many other stuffs.

Its been a long time since i touched a newspaper for reading a news article, though I've browsed it infinitesimal times to check out the new movie in town and whether there is a strike in any part of the city.. :)

Guess I'll have to start doing what he instructed in near future.But not now anyway :).

Tomorrow is the big day- the Finals of Twenty 20 World Cup where in India will meet arch-rivals Pakistan in a death battle where only the true savage survives.
buzzing off