Mysooru ( Mysore ) Majaa Maadu

Location- Gokulam Residential Area, Mysore, Karnataka, India
Subject- Fourth Semester B.Tech student
Combat Update- Close Range Encounter Accomplished
Head Count- 4
Inflictions- 2
E.R.S(expected result for the semester)- 2 Backlogs
POW s- In accordance with the declared war on the evil forces, the extermination team CS/GEC0610 reported at the combat zone at 0930hours. The battle for final stronghold continued for 180 minutes, at the end of which the team yielded to unconditional surrender. Expected POW count stand at 30 with more left stranded and on AWOL.

POST COMBAT BRIEFING:
As was planned, seven of us started out on a tour of Mysore on 9th April.

Our last exam screwed up totally though it couldn't achieve any merit in demoralizing our spirits. We started from Thrissur that evening itself, reaching Mysore in the early hours. The gang included Ashith, Arun, Raman, Rogen, Rohit, Sailesh and myself. Three days we had in our hands and to make the most out of it. And thus started our Mysore Tour.

Day 1:

After accomplishing a primary objective of our existence, sleeping, we got ready for the first day in Mysore. Our first destination was, S.G.S Ashram, a less known tourist spot, more of a spiritual center, about 6kms from the town.

Sree Ganapati Sachidananda Ashram, Ooty Road, Mysore
The Vishwam museum here, was swarming with rare collectors item from across the globe, which included various ivory carvings, exquisite and intricate works on precious gems and stones.


Our senses reached saturation in no time, unable to comprehend the volume of knowledge the place emanated. The Nada Mantapam, which could accommodate over 4000 people was a wonder in itself. read the Flex below to know more.


The next stop was the Jayachamarajendra Zoological Garden, simply called the ZOO. As seen in every museum across the country, there were animals, and there were BIRDS, and there were more animals and more birds. We finished with the zoo pretty soon, being tired of the 4 km long walk.

The final destination for the day was Karanji lake, a wonderful place to be at, with your loved one, as we could observe. Karanji lake and the park adjoining it is home to migratory birds from as far as Siberia. The aviary had the uniqueness that you could actually touch the birds on exhibition which included white peacocks, swans, strokes, and pelicans.

We stayed there until the park closed, around 6pm. The day ended with a Tonga ride from there to town, a first time experience for many of us.


Day 2:

The temple of Chamundeshwari atop the Chamundi hills(1150m), about 15 km from the city was our first destination on day 2. We had decided On utilizing local transportation for the whole tour. The trip to Chamundi hills was, therefore made in a VOLVO B7R.
Volvo B7R, Centralised A.C, equipped with Mobile Charging points and Rear-view T.V
Yes, the authorities of the district were generous enough to provide Volvo luxury buses that ply from town to Chamundi hills every half hour. We were the only passengers during the onward journey and while returning as well.
Mahishasura statue at the entrance to Chamundi Temple
The temple Gopuram is seven stories high.

A mortar statue of demon king Mahishasura welcomes visitors. After a quick darshan of the royal deity we started climbing down the 300 steps which lead directly to the rock cut Nandi, the holy bull.
Nandi, Chamundi Hills
There are about 1000 stone-cut steps leading from the temple to the foot of the hills, and we contained the temptation to walk all the way down for safety reasons( :), ya, I was lazy and others had to follow!!).

Next stop- Jaganmohan Palace and Art Gallery. The visit, as none of us were of the category "Art-enthusiasts", was primarily to see the 14 or so Raja Ravi Verma paintings exhibited here. This palace was built for the wedding of Krishnaraja Wodeyar in a short period of 70 days. The structural magnificence of the palace is beyond comparison.

That done, next in the day's menu was lunch at Hotel RRR. One of the busiest hotels in Mysore, RRR provides excellent Andra-style Biriyani and other delicacies.

Tummy full and ready to continue, our destination was the mighty Mysore Palace itself. The majestic structure in the heart of the city, was completed in 1912 to replace the one that was partially burnt in 1897. The palace wears mind blowing festive look during the Dasara celebrations, when it is brightly illuminated and processions take place.

Mysore Palace as Seen from the direction Facing Chamundi Hills

The palace bears exhibits from the golden times of Maharajah's rule, the remnants of a vibrant past. The interior consists of vast pillared corridors and stately halls, elaborately carved ceilings, with antique mosaic floors. Lush garden around the palace is well maintained and is occupied in the evenings by people waiting for a glimpse of the palace illumination.

Palace Gardens

At about 3 P.M, we reached the fourth spot- St. Philomena's Church(St. Joseph's Cathedral). A Gothic structure with two spires, standing about 180 feet high, the cathedral is said to be modeled on the cathedral at Cologne. The church was built by Maharajah Krishnaraja Wodeyar in 1933.




The windows of the church are made of stained glass from France.The aura here was quite soothing and pleasant inviting to spend more time in the altar, to pray near the feet of the crucifix.





The final stop was at the Railway Museum, only one of its kind in South India. The engines and wagons kept for display here were used well before our country's independence and thus hold great emotional value.


Interesting to note here was the Maharani's Saloon- 2 coaches that contained all the luxury for the queen of state on her rail trips. Read below for more detailed description:





A drop at Pizza hut summed up the second day's journey through the heart and essence of Mysore.

Day 3:

The long walks had started taking toll on our legs and body by now. Since we had covered five places the previous day, day three was entirely for the ultimate Vrindavan Gardens in Krishna Raja Sagar Dam. A quick trip to Mysore AIR Station, the very first Akashavani in India with its parliament like structure and palatial interior, adored equably with machines from earlier periods of communication such as valve tube and crystal oscillators to the advanced F.M transmitters was, frank to admit, a new experience.


Under the F.M Antenna tower

We boarded the afternoon Volvo to Vrindavan gardens, passing through lush greenery and then the industrial suburbs which included the training facility of Infosys, largest of its kind in Asia, and other major MNCs and were among the first batch of tourists to reach the garden.


An evening in Vrindavan

The beauty of sunset over the seemingly endless horizon across river Kaveri is definitely a heavenly pleasure.



The illuminations and fountains started at 6 P.M. The mist that rose as water fell on marble tiles created a foggy shade around.



Musical fountains where water sprays seemed to dance to popular tones of bygone era was definitely worth the applause it received. The gigantic variety of shrubs and plants cleansed the air and elated us to newer levels of spirituality never reckoned before.
( Got ya!! nothing of that sort, it was all together quite cool and pleasant thats all!!)

And that was it, three exhilarating days spent in the lap of culture, the birth place of Carnatic music and the abode of love. Three days that passed in a blink of eyes, three days, that will stay in our memories for a long time, among the first thoughts while contemplating the good times we shared...

This article is, as I intended it to be, a mini-tour of Mysore, the Pensioner's paradise. A visual and verbal journey through the royal city discovering roots from a rich past. Do comment on my success or lapses...

The greetings bell at Pizza Hut

Rain Rain Go Away!!

stuck and still waiting...

A week more to go.

I'm at my home in Mysore now. Came over

this Sunday(16th morning). No particular

reason. Its been over two months since

I've been home so felt like getting

back.
The state of Kerala is facing the

heaviest showers of recent times, quite

unexpected at this time of the year.

television news report describe sever

loss of grains and other crops to

farmers for whom this was the harvest

season. The 15th of march was no

different.


Kuttimukku fields on 14th, the first foggy morning in two months

I woke up by 10a.m. (pretty early for my

holiday standards). Went to college

after(??) cleaning up. Booked my tickets

and came over to pack my bags for the

trip. Hari (my brother) had asked for the

computer to be brought back home as he

would be finishing off with his C.B.S.E

board exams next weekend, only to enter

a long vacation of roughly three months.

I had bartered Sethu's L.C.D monitor for

my CRT one, thus reducing the bulk of

load drastically. It was quite easy

packing up the whole computer and

peripherals and I finished in about two

hours...

It had started drizzling by 3p.m. There

was a time about a week ago when we had

prayed for a little of rain, but "

ooparwala jab bhi deta hai, chappad

phaad ke deta hai" and thats centum true.

Its been raining for three days now,

with continuum.

My bags and the card box got wet and the

papers were peeling away from the Box by

the time I reached home(at 5a.m next

morning).

The journey home was pretty

eventful. First to mention is about Mr.

Shajahan, a logo and web designer from Ernakulam on

his way to Nilambur. He had had serious

troubles the whole day, missing the

train for which he had booked a ticket,

getting out late from a crucial meeting

and finally ending up next to me en

route! We had a nice little chat midst

of which he laid out a proposal to do

some off-campus web designing for him whilst

carrying on my studies. Seems

interesting, novel, unexplored field

from my point of view. Shall be giving it a

try soon.

Then at about 40kms from Mysore, the

bus had a punctured tire. The

driver soon set off to change it with

locally available tools and some which

he had carried with him( obviously, he

should, its Kerala R.T.C anyway!)


A patient wait for about 2 hours and I

was home at 5 against the usual 3a.m

arrival.

Shall be returning to Thrissur in

two days. Still hoping positively that

the university may postpone the exams

buzzing off

Book Review- Swami and His Friends

Swami and his friends is an exquisite work of literature by India’s renowned writer R.K Narayan.
An amazingly fluent story line, pictured in the wonder world of Malgudi, an not-in-atlas-not-on-globe place, grips the reader's interest from the very first page.


R.K
The story, starting from the childhood chronicles of Swaminathan, then a kid of first grade, travels through a world of thoughts, that belongs to the innocent mind of Swami which clogs his path on every venture he takes up with infinite doubts and counter-questions. The description of a kid's world by an adult writer in near approximate accuracy is worth applause. Swami, shy and fearful in nature, is overcome by numerous flows of emotions in different day to day situations we often come across. The story clear casts mind’s unpredictability and a kid’s ingenuous attitude along with his sincere attempts to display equitable support to his friends who are on heated grounds.
Rajam and Mani are Swami's two inseparable-at-heart friends. The trio plan up for very many adventures, that every teenager of their age sincerely wishes to do ( if not possible in reality).



R.K Narayan sketches a world that whirls around the indecisive nature of Swaminathan, who is easily carried away by momentary notions of mind, thereby finding himself in grave peril that puts a question mark on his very existence. The story however takes an abrupt ending, much to the disappointment of the reader at a scenario of mixed feelings.
to know what adventures " Swami and his friends " got themselves into, how their bond of friendship became all-the-more strong after every enthralling event, and finally to know what happened in the climax that gets the reader in dismay, go grab this book from your library or a shop nearby, sooooooon.........

Its Back , Its here!!

The bells have rung. The clock strikes Twelve. Its time to battle!!

Calicut University yet again in action. This time its us, the Fourth Semester B.Tech students who have to battle against the University in the war where the only principle valid is " Survival of the Luckiest".

Third Semester University Exam notification has been released. It "ensures" that the exams may commence from 25th March. Thats just Eighteen days from now. No, I'm not frantic, just a bit agitated that the time given is so less.

18 days are to be spent for split attack on the heavy metal barrage of syllabus. Covert operations like "bits" or "exchange" is seemingly impossible in this battle field. Only way is to fight tooth for tooth , eye for an eye!

Now frankly, I've just got two eyes to give off and there are 6 exams, which ensures the fact of messing up the rest 4 papers, and probably the first two as well, guaranteed. :)

There is DSA( easy to type on a keyboard! ), i.e, Data Structures and Algorithms, STLD ( Switching Theory and Logic Design) and ECS( Electrical Circuits and Systems!). The most dreaded subjects of the Semester. These enemy fighters have been awarded the medals of " Largest Supply Provider", " Minimum Marks Mera Hai" and various other ones.



Our brave comrade Gabbar Singh, who fought against the universities of North India long time ago stated this quote in his movie Sholay " Jo dar gaya, samjho wo mar gaya". This is what my policy is going to be. Nopes, my knees won't buckle, my hands won't shiver and definitely I wont stink from sweat.

If not as mighty as the University, we aren't feeble either. The pre-war prep has begun. The trumpets have been blared, and the sirens are waking up every dozing brain in the vicinity. The hands that carried cigarette butts and "uppu soda" glasses during the entire semester, while idle chatting at Pallimoola, shall now bear the mighty pen and shed one's own blood into the waiting answer papers. Oops, getting way too carried away with the campaign.( Mental note: Play less of "Rome: total war". :) )

I had been to college today. Our hang out, Appachan's corner, was devoid of almost all the Second year guys, the regulars. As my feet took me towards Mech tree, the situation was no different. CCF(Centralized Computing Facility ) was in the clutches of First years and MCA people who were relishing the fact that we are about to face our doom. The sarcasm showed when they beamed at me.

Only people I met who belonged to the same rein were Sailesh, Tony and Merlin. Alas! what was happening to Tony! There he was, sitting with the DSA text by Ullman, concentration heavy on his eyeballs, as though burning the papers with this intensity. The three did not notice me as I walked towards them. It was Sailesh, taking a break( for a brief yawn) who saw me first. His face was devoid of the pleasing smile, and wore a sombre look. Teaching them both was Merlin, looking up at me over the rims of her glasses with dispassionate interest, probably perturbed by my interference.



Wars have psychological influences, they say. The aura was intimidating. My hands reached for the hereditary DSA textbook passed on to me from elder brother...

Guess I won't be here for a brief period from now.. Until we meet, pray that I survive the shelling and encounters with the University and return home, my bloggerworld, with all physical organs intact!!

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!!

B.R.A.I.Ns- Lost in Transition??

Here is a diary excerpt from the days when I joined GEC. I was just glancing through my old entries and found this worth putting up. Execuse the vocabulary. These entries were enerally written in night (about 2 A.M.). So here it goes....
""
Its been some days since the last time I wrote anything here.. I'll try to brIefly explaIn what all happened In the last four months of my college lIfe:

I joIned the college on 9th october,06.As Is my character I made some frIends on the very fIrst day Itself. Jeevan was my fIrst mate here. He Is a nIce dude wIth good attItude.I dont have much to say about hIm as he left the college soon to pursue hIs Interests as a commercIal pIlot.Soon I met wIth Rahul and Arun RushdIe tallest IndIvIduals of my class who shared common frequency of thought and thInkIng as me. They had become my good company tIll the cultural fest of the college began-Confluence 06. These two were partIcIpatIng In a dance and they made new frIends whIle the practIce sessIons were goIng on.The brIef perIod of solItude.That was when I had close encounters wIth the thIrd kInd- back benchers. The prIced posItIon In any class where the brIghtest braIns are found. A place of hIgh rIsk actIvItIes IncludIng graffItI work on benches, readIng novels and magazInes whIle the class Is In full swIng, and at some raretImes, studIes...
The people I met here were Arun s always called "ArunS", Raman or RamakrIshnan, RohIt Rajesh, Jerry BrIstow and last but the best among all-Sethu.We constItuted the last two benches of the class.One fIne day, whIle on a tedIous work of graffItI, Sethu suddenly saw an already etched word on the bench-B.R.A. whIch stood for Back Row AssocIatIon. ThIs acronym sparked a lIght In us thus leadIng to the formatIon of the group. But sInce the name of the group had a multiple meanIng which was more popular, I came up wIth a suggestIon of addIng an addItIonal term to the name -"INcorporated". TakIng the fIrst two terms of the newly coIned word we thus had the fInal name of the group as B.R.A.I.N; thus levelIng wIth Abdul Kalam's popular quote about the braIns of the class.
We the founder members had veto powers, meanIng that we can decIde on selectIng new members to the group and decIdIng objectIves and operatIons and all..
Soon enough the membershIp of the group rose from 6 to 11 and from 11 to 22 where as the onlIne communIty opened In the same name has 26 members as on 12:47 AM 1/27/2007.
FollowIng our lead two other groups were formed In the class; frontbench Intellectuals or FBI, and cenral bench IdIots or CBI. InterestIng event to mentIon here Is that CBI soon merged Into BRAIN and thus the next objectIve at hand was to merge the front benchers In the league of these last benchers!!!
We have been partly successful In thIs venture as can be seen from the omnIous drIft of people from fIrst benches to the last benches durIng the dry lectures of graphIcs and other sImIlar hours.ThIs Is by no means a groupIsm In classrooms as we Intended the formatIon of thIs funky group purely for fun unplugged.
One abIlIty that braIn apprecIates Is of crackIng poor pathetIc jokes popularly known as 'pj's or chalI's. As In fIle, Raman holds the record for beIng the most entertaInIng chalImaster for three consecutIve months(onlIne statIstIcs).


A recent picture of hard-headed brain members

SpeakIng of the members of the group, the person to be mentIoned prImarIly Is Sethu.He Is a gIfted graffItI maker wIth a unIque knack for creatIng excellent quotes and onelIners. To revIew hIs artworks, a vIsIt to the last benches of the class Is necessary. He has already fInIshed total graffItIIng of a bench and handed It over to the FBI to realIse the artIstIc valour. He's currently occupIed on another sImIlar project and Is scheduled to release It before "february 14th".

Arun s Is an InterestIng character wIth lots of enthusIasm for learnIng newer thIngs In the new atmosphere. He had complted hIs studIes In Jamshedpur In BIhar.Though born wIth the gene of an Intellectual, he's an ever charmIng character radIatIng an Innocent smIle which were, untill recently, been furnIshed wIth braces.Me Raman n Arun sIt In the second last row of the class.


a rare sight..

Jerry n BrIstow are two characters who need to be mentIoned together. They are cousIns and good frIends and have been In each other's company from class 8th onwards. BrIstow In case I havent mentIoned here yet, Is a bombastIc character In short. a rare collector's Item Is what I would call hIm as. He's got a charmIng personalIty and Is surely a man of ladIes, rIghtly called PUSHPAN meanIng flIrt!!
He's been nicknamed "Pushpan " as he's seen constantly In the vIcInIty of beautIful ladIes wIth hIs copyrIght protected seducIve smIle.Jerry on the other hand, Is bIt more composed character, nevertheless competItIve.In the short tIme we have had together whIch Is actually InsuffIcIent to judge hIs character I have started consIderIng hIm as a man of word, adequately composed of the x factor necessary to be a braIn.
RohIt Rajesh n me myself have got many a thIngs In common. We have had an almost equal academIc career and have got settled wIth almost the same rank. He's got a brother and lIves near mannuthy about the same place where I lIve. And importantly, whenever there is a chat we almost say the same thing together( you know, it gives goosebumps!!). An acad by nature as I presume and stIll contInues to tIckle the funny bone.
I suppose thats It, thats us the braIns!!!! hear it world, we RULE!!!!
"""