Back again for sometime...

Had been thinking of updating the blog for past few days, but either its work or its laziness which stopped me from doing so. Work has been pretty tiring for last couple of months; tiring because I am doing a work which I wasnt supposed to do! I feel my time is getting wasted on this piece of work. I dont have any other choice but to do it cause my guide wanted me to do it and the other person who was supposed to do it is has happily avoided it! Not that I dont have any interest in this work, but its about time. In my fifth year of PhD, I dont want to do some work which is not going to help me in my thesis! It is as simple as that...

Though am not in my best mood, there are few good things I want to write about. First one is about my family's visit here. Had been asking my father to make a trip to bangalore for quite some time and finally he did it. Parents, younger brother, sister-in-law (elder brother's wife) and nephew Abhinav were here for about 10 days this month. Had a wonderful time with them, specially with Abhi who will be two years old in coming Feb. He is extremely naughty but cute and sweet also. Have taken lots of pictures and movies. Wil be a great present for him when he grows up...

Got another great news yday... my friend swagata gave birth to a baby boy. She sounded so so happy when I called her today. sometimes its hard to imagine that that old friend of mine is a proud mother now... when i told this to a friend of mine today, he said that whenever he hears one of his friends is getting married, he thinks that he is getting older (he is not married by the way). yes, of course we are getting older. but again its a question of whether one wants to think about it or not. and i think it also depends on ones mood. in a happy mood one might not think of getting old but a sad one may make u think like that.

Have been in the lab the whole day without doing a single thing. Suddenly I feel my heart is completely empty! I feel like crying out but that is not going to help me. There are so many good things happening or about to happen but cant get rid of that feeling. I know what it is all about but donno how to take care of that. havent learnt it in all these days! I try not to do it but suddenly in a moment everything goes out of my hands before I can even realize. I do try to understand but at the same time I want someone else also to understand me. Sadly, that sometimes doesnt happen and I am asked to be content and not to do certain things which I cant help! Its like a circular puzzle, it goes on and on and on... and it is probably going to be solved only when I am out of my present place! Well, time is the best healer and it will tell me whether my puzzle has a solution or not.

Movies and miseries

Watched two nice movies last week: Motorcycles Diaries and and Philadelphia. The first one is about motorcycle road trip of Che Guevara and"two lives running parallel for a while." The second one is about a man with AIDS who is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition ! Tom Hanks is really awesome in this movie. He obviously deserved the Oscar. This movie touched me ! I guess no time would have been better for me to watch this movie. It helped me see that my miseries are so small ! For sometime I was just thinking about Andrew Beckett, the character played by Tom Hanks. Anyway, soon I realized that though we become sad with this kind of stories, our personal agonies take upperhand sooner and take us back to the miseries of our lives !

USA trip photos

The photos from USA trip are @ http://phansia.fotopic.net/ and @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/therider/sets/72157594240243639/

I know I had to complete the write up of the trip but right now dont have the energy to do that ! And its becoming difficult with each passing day so its like now or never and am not choosing the 'now' option ! I guess photos will tell the story...

Expectation !

Being a little low, was trying to lift up my mood by reading some quotations. I found the following to be interesting and some of them contradicting:

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. - Alexander Pope

Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation. - Charlotte Bronte

Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations. - Edward de Bono

Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. - William Congreve

Anger always comes from frustrated expectations. - Elliott Larson

Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. - Brian Tracy

A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes. - Mark Twain

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn. - Henry David Thoreau

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event. - Brian Tracy

Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be. - Goethe

It's important to remember that feminism is no longer a group of organizations or leaders. It's the expectations that parents have for their daughters, and their sons, too. It's the way we talk about and treat one another. It's who makes the money and who makes the compromises and who makes the dinner. It's a state of mind. It's the way we live now. - Anna Quindlen

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian. - Dennis Wholey

Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway. - Mary Kay Ash

As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly. - Samuel Johnson

Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality. - Ralph Marston

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only what you are expecting to give. - Katherine Hepburn

High expectations are the key to everything. - Sam Walton

Life is largely a matter of expectation. - Horace

We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting. - Samuel Johnson

It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any effect other than that of producing a moral sentence or peevish exclamation. - Samuel Johnson

There is no greater challenge than to have someone relying upon you; no greater satisfaction than to vindicate his expectation. - Kingman Brewster

My first conference in USA

Time flies so fast. Its almost unbelievable that I was in USA with my husband for a month. It feels like I was there only for a couple of days. I was planning to stay there till the first week of September. But had to cut the trip short by 2 weeks because of some immigration problem. Since I went for a conference I was given B1 visa only for a month at the port of the entry in USA though my actual B1/B2 visa is valid for 10 yrs. And neither Joy nor I noticed that until one week prior to the expiry of it. I was very lucky to have seen that in time. Though it could have been extended we though it would be better to go back since I was able to prepone my ticket. We had to cancel our plans of going to lake Tahoe which we were supposed to do in the last weekend (I was in India by that time). However, I had a very nice time there for howmuchever time I stayed there.

We drove down to San Diego to attend my conference. This was first big drive for Joy too. We started on Friday night after he came back from office. we were supposed to start by 7pm but sadly we was caught by his boss in the office and came home late. So it was almost 10pm by the time we started. We had to take some rest in between in a rest area. Then we started again the next morning. By the time we reached near Los Angeles it was noon. San Diego is onnly 100 miles down to LA and took us more than 3 hrs to reach SD because of the horrible traffic from LA to SD. After reaching first thing was to reach at the hotel (Manchester Grand Hyatt) and finish the registration for the conference. Once that was done I had to put up my poster by 6pm for the presentation next day. Suddenly I remembered that I didnt bring push pins and the conference site had already said that they wont provide them. So we roamed about the city to find a Office Depot where we could get some push pins. After some time with the help of Joy's GPS we were able to find one and soon we were back at the hotel and finished putting up the poster. Next thing was to look for a hotel to stay since we hadn't booked anything beforehand. and that turned out to be a disaster. Every hotel we went in, it was full. We searched for some hotels in GPS and I called them up. Everytime the answer was NO ! We went to some 10 hotels and called up some 15 without any result. Called up Joy's online biker friend Venkatesh to help us out. He gave us directions to some hotels where there was vacancy. But by the time we reached it was also full. We had started looking for a hotel at 5.30pm and till 9.30pm there was nothing positive. We did get one hotel where one room was vacant. We asked about the charge and the person said $329 ! He said within 40 miles of SD all the hotels are booked. We didnt know that SD is such a hot tourist place and added to that it was weekend. We decided we can sleep in the car only but before that we at least needed a bath. Finally Venkatesh helped us out by inviting us in his house. We ended up at his place shortly after 10pm. But that time I was so tired, I didnt even have the energy to take bath. So after some small chat with Venky and his wife I crashed...

Got up around 5.30am next morning as I had to be at the conference venue (~25 miles away from Venky's place) by 7am. I went ahead to attend the lectures while Joy was happily accessing internet in the hotel. I came out at 10am to tell him that he could take a walk around the harbour area while i am busy listening to talks. Asked him come back around 12. My poster presentation was from 1.15pm to 2.30pm. Joy was there with me to take some snaps. my presentation went well... after that we went out to eat at Denny's. In the evening we went to Point Loma to watch the sunset. Dinner was already planned. We treated Venky and his wife at an Italian restaurnt for their nice hospitality.

Next morning we took a drive to La Jolla to enjoy some beaches. We saw a lot of surfers there. We also kind of took bath in the sea and since there was no hotel to go to take bath afterwards we were full of sand the whole of the day :) We rhen went to see some museum of navy ships and planes. The whole experience was very nice. We started back for Sunnyvale around 7pm. Around 10pm we stopped and checked in in a hotel as we were very tired. Next morning we started very early and before 10am we were back to home :)

Photos and the rest of the write up will follow soon....

Got visa :)

Finally the wait is over. Can't believe I am going to USA after 2 weeks only ! Visa interview was so cool... the lady interviewing me didn't ask too many questions. And what more, she gave me 10 yrs multiple entry visa :) What more can one ask for ? The two weeks will go into the preparation of the trip. Also need to make the poster which I am going to present in the conference. I guess time will fly now...

Visa power !

My visa interview for USA trip is on 13th next month. All the documents are ready except visa photos, which I am planning to get done in this weekend. I wish the interview would have been over earlier. I donno why I am so scared of this interview. Having nightmares every night. I just can't think of the consequences if for some unforseen reason visa is not approved. I am looking forward to this trip so that we can improve our relation. We are not going through a very good time. So the fear is that if I can't go then probably the relation will see even more bad times !

Exercise time again...

Had not been doing any exercise for quite sometime ! Joined yoga classes last month but had to discontinue for some muscle pain. Swimming was out of question in this weather at this time in Bangalore. So it was the best thing to start some indoor game. And what could be better than badminton ? Though it's not as good an exercise as swimming but I am enjoying it. Spend 1600 bucks to buy a racket ! And I hope this will keep me motivated to go and play baddy regularly...

New room...

I shifted to another room in the same hostel with another girl. My previous room was not a good one and in the rainy season it became damp ! And with my breathing problem few months back, it was not a good idea to keep on staying in that room now that rainy season is almost here. The present room in the second floor is far better with lots of air and light compared to the previous room which was in the ground floor with not much light. My roommate Debaleena is quite younger to me. She joined IISc last year and is doing her Integrated PhD in Physics.

This year is not a good one for me ! Having lots of physical problems. Not to mention the emotional ones. Room shifting caused some breathing problem again because of dust ! Whole night couldnt sleep bcoz of the breathing problem. Was very tired the whole day. Both physically and emotionally I am drained out. I think I have forgotten how to enjoy life. I keep on saying that one should get the best out of any situation one finds oneself. I have been doing the same. But lately it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to do that. I have forgotten how to be happy. I am unable to concentrate on my work. Guess I need a change but donno how to take that ! So moving on with life as it is presenting itself to me...

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2006/jun/08mar.htm : came across this while reading rediff. People who are planning to get married probably will find it useful. Being myself married, I think it is worth going through at least. Lots of things change after marriage. But people like me want to keep it the same way ! At least in a broader sense. But change is in nature. How can I stop it ?

My husband said today 'what dont kill ya makes ya stronger' and all the hard time we are going through will ultimately help me. The truth is I am beyond my capacity and I don't understand or believe these things anymore. I admire him for what he has done for himself. He has gone a long way and I wish his dreams come true. Professionally he is successful and of course doesn't want to leave all these things just for a relation. So for a better priceless future we are living in two different continents ! Thats how our generation wants to live. Sacrifice the present for a so called better and secure future ! A future which nobody knows... and one might not be there to live in that 'better future' ! Thats the irony with our generation...

Reasons or feelings ?

Why and what ? These are two words which are haunting me for sometime now. I dont understand 'why' I am still expecting and if at all I can, 'what' to expect ! Feeling so tired with all these... donno what to do to get out of this state. Was chatting with one of my friends yesterday... she was also very upset and we ended up talking about life. She is also very much emotional like me, maybe more than me. We both don't understand who is correct: people who are practical and deal with reasons or people who are emotional and deal with feelings. I think both reasons and feelings should be there. But what dominates ? The problem comes when a person from one class has to deal with a person from the other class. And it becomes a real bad problem when one person doesn't understand the other. And the battle of reasons and feelings continues for ever...

Himalaya

Yesterday I was getting bored and browsing through some of pictures. One link was pictures of a trek to Himalaya that some of my friends did last month. That reminded me of a bike trip to Himalaya last year by some guys from RTMC (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club), Bangalore. Prashi (one of the RTMC guys) had sent me the link (http://www.roadhogs.org.in/HT/) long back and I had only seen the photographs at that time. They were simply amazing. Yday I retrieved the link and started going through it again, this time even the write up. The experience was a new one for me. I just got addicted and finished the write-up with only one break. I know, you can't experience the true beauty of Himalaya unless you see it yourself. But even the experience of enjoying it through others' eyes is not a less one.

Getting bored

Weekends are very boring in IISc. At least for me. Even if I want to go out, sometimes I can't because of The Monday morning discussions with my guide. Came to the lab in the morning and finished some work for tomorrow's discussion. Some more is left but dont feel like doing it. Probably will do it after dinner.

My husband has gone mad I think. He told me that he plans to go to his friend in Portland, Oregon over the weekend. That would be around 700 miles from Sunnyvale. He said we would start (on his bike, mind it) on Friday afternoon. He is mad becuase he didn't stop for the night in any hotel and kept on riding the whole night. Told me over the phone that he has broken his own record (<700 miles in January during his eact-coast to west-coast trip). I was shocked ! Not because he broke his record, but because he did it in the night all alone ! I wan angry with him and didn't want to speak. Finally he said that he also realized that what he did was not something right and he would not do it again. I mean, if you have somebody with you then probably its alright. But not alone... It's dangerous !

Live and let live...

You work and let others work. That is the way now you can 'live and let live' ! Everybody is busy working and running after something. And they ask you also to be like them. And sometimes you DO become like that even if you don't want !

After a long time I opened my diary today. I started writing in this when I was in Santiniketan. Initially used to write almost everyday. Then slowly the frequency decreased. And after coming to Bangalore actually I almost stopped writing. Last page was written almost two years back... I have named it 'My Sudden and Irregular Thoughts' which is quite appropriate in the way I have been writing in it.

I have joined Yoga classes after postponing it for a long time. Donno how long I will continue it. Problem with me is I don't continue any kind of exercises for a long time. Two years back I had joined for the same class and practised only for two months. After Yoga it was Kungfu and swimming. I love swimming but due to health reasons can't do that now. Yoga is the best exercise I can do.

Have got lots of work to do. Yesterday was there in the lab till 3.30am (generally I sleep by 2am max) and couldnt sleep after that properly. Got up several times in between and finally it was 10.30am when I came to the lab. Head was aching badly and I wanted to have a cup of strong coffee. But instead started chatting with Joy and one thing led to another which increaed the headache ! Went to room at 12.30pm thinking that I will sleep for sometime. But couldnt sleep in that mood and got my diary out and started reading it: both happy and sad pages ! Added one more sad page in the diary today after almost two years. After lunch tried to sleep and didnt come to lab. When I got up it was raining and weather bacame very cool. However as expected this sudden change in weather was not good for me as I can feel my itching throat now ! Feeling really bad with throat pain and constant headache ! Will try to sleep early today...

Now back to work (there is nothing better to do than that) !

Twelve red roses...

What a surprise ! I received a bouquet today :) and that too from my husband. First time in my life. It definitely makes you feel better. And there was a message also in Bengali sent by him. It was written on a small card in English, probably written by the delivery person. Took me some time to understand what was written ! Actually this is the second time I am getting flower from him. Some years back he gave me a rose on my birthday. Probably it was in 1998 !

There was time when we used to send cards and all those unuseful things to each other. Then we were over that time and gave only useful things. And that makes sense as you grow old. So, getting flowers after all these years of useful and meaningful gifts was a real surprise. And I am going to keep it in my room as long as possible... probably wont throw even when it dries out :)

Fighting, shopping, surprises...

All the days never go in same way. Sometimes you are happy, sometimes you are extremely sad. And sometimes you are in an indifferent, nonchalant mood. And you get really surprised to see the fast changes between these emotions! I know, I have gone through this. He makes me sad, and he makes me happy. And days go by. But being so far makes going through it difficult. I should feel a little happier now, but donno why I cant. Am I still expecting something ? I tell myself not to be so stupid. But my heart never understands.

Things are different when you are together. But when you are not, they can be very very difficult. I remember our days in Bangalore. Together. In a way that we used to meet everyday. That was the first and last time until it happens again. We had misunderstandings, fights then also. But as I said when you are together things are different. We always could sort out the problems in little time. Then we would go shopping to celebrate our victory over our problems. But things are so different now. We fight now also, it drags for days ! And no celebration !

We all like some surprises in our life. We had our surprises too. But its no more there. I remember his surprise visits when I was in Santiniketan. He taught a boy for sometime to collect some money so that he could buy me a watch. Didnt want to use his father's money for that ! Thats surprise, thats sweet. I also gave him surprises, but some he didnt like. Because I was using my father's money to do that. And probably what I was doing was unnecessary. But I wanted to surprise him in my own stupid way. Because I thought something like that would make me very happy. But now I understand. He is more practical than I am.

Some days ago my senior in the lab got a surprise from her husband. She received a bouquet and busket of fruits ! When asked what it was about, she said her husband had proposed to her on that day six years back. She was saying her husband shouldnt have spent so much money just on these things ! But I know she was very happy. Because that was a surprise to her. It doesn'r matter in what form it comes, but a little surprise makes your day. My friend Soma's boyfriend gave her a surprise last year by not telling her and coming to meet her on Christmas Day. She was waiting for pizza boy, and there was her boyfriend standing in front of her door with pizza in his hand. She was ecstatic. Anybody would have been.

Surprises from my life for the time being are gone. And that makes me sad. I myself tried to surprise him in my own way, but couldnt work it out. Golden days of Santiniketan are gone. Life as it was in Bangalore is also gone long ago. Donno when I am going to be a little happier ! This life makes me tired. Sometimes feel like leaving everything ! But cant do it because I need to finish PhD. Not for myself, I can be happy without it and doing anything to keep me occupied as long as I am happy. I will finish it cause others want me to do it. And one of the 'others' is very close to me. I can't refuse him. I am here because he has been with me in all my difficulties. I am with my husband because he has taken all the trouble to support us. He is my father. And I am going to finish it only for him. But I curse the day when I got selected for PhD here. I seriously believe life would have been better. We could have worked out to be together. Being not together has made my life complicated. Got the things I never wanted. Lost friends. Have come close enough to lose the person I love most. But still hope for the best. I wish I could reverse the time and choose to be with him. Everyday. For a better and happier life.

Monami !

Finished reading the book I wrote about in the last blog. It's a bengali story 'Monami' by Narayan Sanyal. It talks about lives of four persons and the misunderstanding among them. Couldn't stop reading it until it was over. By the time I finished reading, it was almost 3am in the morning. Couldnt get up early the next day. Have started reading a collection of bengali short stories by Suchitra Bhattacharya. After a long time am reading bengali stories. Have been reading english novels only. Its true that one can relate more to something written in ones own mother tongue. And though Bengali is not my mother tongue, I have been learning this language from my childhood and can easily relate to it.

Reading calms me down. But still the thoughts that have been torturing me for past couple of days come back ! What should I do ? What can I do ? Can't change the line of thoughts even if I want !

View of life...

Life sometimes comes as a cruel surprise. Within a second it can change all your beliefs, can shatter all your trust on which you have been building your future. I am in a state of surprise or should I call it a shock ? And have never been so suprised/shocked in my whole life. Donno anymore what else to expect from anyone. I dont feel like doing anything. Anything at all. Trying to work becuase thats why I am here for. But how can you work when your mind is constantly occupied by a single thought ! Nothing helps in this case. And something that can help, that you expect can help, never happens. Right now I feel rejected, dejected ! The whole faith in life is gone, vanished ! The whole trust is betrayed ! I donno what I did to deserve this. You can not take back everything you say, even if you want. The damage is done. How many times can one bear the rejection ?

For me the best friend is a book. I try to forget things by burying myself in a book, whatever it is about. And the book I started reading today could not have come in my hand in a more proper situation, in more proper state of my mind. It talks about an individual's view towards life. I see it in one way, you see it in a different way. But both are ways of life.

Again after a long time...

Its been almost two months since I last updated the blog ! Part of the reason is my laziness, but mostly it is because of my health. I have been staying in Bangalore for more almost 4 yrs now and right from the beginning the weather here didnt suit me. Always got cold very easily. But it never was anything serious. However this year it was different ! One fine sunday in February, after a nice lunch in my guide's house and dance party in the lab, both courtesy to our senior's farewell, I found myself having a bad sleep the whole night because of cough and breathing problem. Went to doctor the next morning and got some medicine. However, since I was having frequent cold, my friend advised me to check with one ENT specialist nearby. He checked and told me I have 'deviated septum', whatever that meant (later I came back to the lab and checked it out in google). Gave me lotsa medicine including nasal drop and spray (drop was helping temporarily but spray made me feel nauseated, so couldnt take it). However, his treatment didn't help me for almost 2 weeks and I kept on suffering from breathing problem and cough ! It became so bad that I couldnt even come to the lab. Finally I decided to go home and magically I was felling better within a day after I reached home. Stayed there for almost 2 weeks and decided to come back to bangalore thinking I was better. But to my horror, within a couple of hours of landing in Bangalore, the problem came back and there I was, suffering again ! This time another friend of mine took me to another doctor, whose diagnosis is supposed to be good. I had been to him before also. He checked and told me that I have "asthma" ! I almost fainted there listening to this ! Asthma ! I couldnt believe that ! However, he gave me inhalers and that helped a lot. Within 2-3 days I was able to come to lab regularly. Now I am feeling a lot better even without the inhalers. One of the professors in my department has been suffering from same kind of problem and she told me that this happens to quite a few people in Bangalore, specially in March-April and again in August-September ! There is nothing you can do, except going out of Bangalore !

So practically I have done nothing for last one month expect for suffering from breathing problem ! Now that I am feeling better I thought of taking some time out of my work and updating the blog ! My work has suffered a lot because of my health and I have to finish lots of work before I go to usa in August. So taking no leave at all ! This Friday is our house warming ceremoby back in West Bengal and I am not going to attend it :( Next month my trekking group is going to Himalayas for one week and I said 'NO' to them because of my health as well as my time shortage ! For the next 3 months only work and work for me ! Have to finish my PhD as soon as possible. Its costing a lot, 'both physically and mentally' as my husband says !

A good day...

Writing again after more than a month's gap. Was planning to write after I was back from home. But for some reason or the other didnt feel like writing anything. Wasn't in a very good mental or physical state for past few days. Today, feeling better both mentally and physically :) The Fight (some might understand what I mean) is finally over :D

Finally a good day for me since I am back from home. There is another reason. Had a hearty talk with Vasanta after a long long time. She submitted her M.S. thesis today and came to my room in the evening to give sweets. We then started talking... I was not in a very good health and mood but talking to her after a long time at least lifted my mood up. The talk streched up to a not-so-good dinner at Chung's restaurant in Malleshwaram.

Now I think why we screw up our mood over small things? Maybe because they appear to be small after the crisis is over. Anyway, I believe there is always light at the end of the tunnel. So, no matter what, I am going to cross that tunnel and see that light. But sometimes that tunnel turns out to be very very long :(

Last Sunday I, with few other friends, went to Sawan Durga for a rock-climbing plus trekking trip. Sawan Durga is the biggest monolith in Asia,There are several routes in monolith at Sawana Durga, rising to the height of more than 1000ft . We took the steepest climb and the experience was AWESOME ! THE BEST for me till now. Will write about it in detail pretty soon. The scenery was beautiful from the top of the hill. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos becuase none of us took a camera. Maybe just for that reason I will do the same trek again :)

Going home :)

Just one more day's wait ! The day after tomorrow I am on my way to home (to attend my cousin sister's wedding on 2nd feb). I was quite apprehensive about this vacation though ! Just three months back I had taken one whole month's holiday when Joy came to India. So I was fearing that my guide might turn down my request of this leave ! But somehow she agreed. Maybe becuase I asked for only 10 days leave. It takes almost two days to reach my home by train ! So she might have thought that leave of just 10 days is okay. Four days are wasted in the journey only in one travels by train. So I booked my tickets in flight. That way I can save the journey time and spend more time with family. I will meet my in-laws in Calcutta the day after tomorrow and from there will go to Santiniketan (Joy's home) with them. After spending two days there I will go home on this Saturday. Talked to Joy's sister few minutes back. She is also waiting for a 'adda' :) Pure gossiping with her and my mother-in-law :) and of course sweet little Juni's blabberings. She is Joy's niece. She will be five years old in this June. I am also waiting to see my cute nephew :) He'll be one year old in Feb. Can't wait to see him walk to me. Last time when I saw him he was trying very hard to stand on his own feet :)

Though I am going home after three months only, I just can't wait ! Don't feel like working tomorrow. Half packing is already done. I am travelling light this time. Everytime I end up having a big and heavy suitcase ! But this time I kept it in mind that I shouldn't make it heavy. And I have succeeded in doing so :)

Going home is a great time. But I will greatly miss one thing: chatting with Joy ! But it's only a matter of ten days this time. At least I can talk to him over the phone. Don't know if I should expect him to call me everyday, though it will be nice.

Sakleshpur track trek

For a long time I have been wanting to do this trek on abondoned railway track. This track from Donigal to Subramanya is also known as "green route" and its a must-do for a trekker. I have been telling my fellow trekkers to make it sometime but since some of them had already done some part of this trek, they were not quite enthusiastic. However, I kept on waiting patiently and kept on convincing some of them to do it before the tracks open up for use again. The work is going on for quite sometime to open up the track.

My dream came true finally. It was a new year gift to me. Five of us (Me, Kumar, Viswesh, Siddharth and Jayashri) planned to do it on the first weekend of January. We booked the tickets for Donigal on Friday night bus. Reached Donigal next day early in the morning. From there our trek on tracks started. We waited on the Donigal station for the daylight and as soon as there was enough light, we started walking on the tracks. From Donigal to Yedakumeri, it was a trek of 18km. Our plan was to reach Yedakumeri on the first day and start from there on the next day to reach Sribagilu which was another 18km trek. We also though of extending the trek to Subramanya if time permits. Subramanya was another 10km trek from Sribagilu. With this plan, our first day walk started around 6.30 in the morning. Since all five of us were photographers (or budding photographers) as well, we knew we will have to stop a lot to capture the beauty of the 'green route' in our camera in addition to capturing it by our eyes. So, the walk continued with frequent stops for photos. We had enough time in our hands and so we didnt mind stopping so frequently. We got to see a lovely morning sky just after 5 minutes walk and everybody's camera was out. I also took a couple of shots and while I was keeping the camera back into the bag, didnt notice the track I was walking on and fell down on the track. Nothing happend (though next day morning I realized some pain on my right knee and saw some black marks on the left knee only after reaching Bangalore) and we soon started walking again ! At around 8am we encountered our first bridge. From a distance it looked beautiful and green (it was painted green) ! We spent some time shooting the bridge. Another half an hour walk and we saw a nice small river. We all were again ready with the camera. After finishing that I couldnt resist myself from removing my shoes and enjoying the cool water. We spent some 20 minutes there and then we were back on tracks again. Around 9.30am we saw another small river flowing under a bridge and we stopped here, brushed our teeth and did some more photography. Another half an hour walk and we saw the first tunnel. There were altogether 45 tunnels from Donigal to Sribagilu (18 till Yedakumeri) and the length varied from 50m to 572m. Inside the longer tunnels it was pitch dark. One simply cant cross them without torch or some kind of light and unfortunately I didnt have anything ! So throughout the trek, I was dependent on Jayashri's torch. She was my 'tunnel partner' :) So, the walk continued, sometimes just plain railway track, sometimes tracks full of gravels making it painful to walk on them. Sometimes there were bridges and sometimes tunnels. I didnt count the number of bridges or tunnels. I was enjoying the walk, the darkness inside the tunnels, the height of the bridges :) Some of the bridges were scary and we were extremely careful while crossing them. On the first day itself we crossed the longest tunnel, the length was 572m. It was completely dark inside and we could hear the noises made by the bats living inside these tunnels. Sometimes the track inside the tunnels were slimy and slippery because of the bats and we had to be very careful not to slip on them ! We could manage to cross the tunnels and bridges without any accident. We also saw lots of small streams flowing down the hills throughout the way. With all the stops for photography, tiredness, food etc we still could manage to reach Yedakumeri station by 2.30pm. Since the work is going on, there were lots of people in the station and we enquired them about spending the night there. After some conversation with them, we managed to get a old room with broken wooden windows. And that was to be our "apartment", as one the guys told me there, for the night. We spread some newspapers on the floor and immediately crashed ! After about an hour we got up, washed ourselves in the nearby stream. It was almost 6pm by then. We finished our dinner aorund 7pm. Then we spread the sleeping mats and took out our sleeping bags. While the other four went out to enjoy the night sky and some chat with the locals, I happily slipped into my sleeping bag and was soon asleep.

It was 5.30am when I got up the next day. The others were also getting up slowly. It was decided previous night that we will start as soon as there is light. It was 6.30am by the time we packed our bags and were ready to leave after freshening up. The scenary in this strech was more beautiful than the previous day. And in this we got the longest bridge of the whole journey. It was more than 200m I think. We were scared sure, but we did spend some time on the bridge and posed for the cameras :) Another one hour walk from here and we were at the last tunnel, tunnel no. 45 ! It was 2.30pm when we reached Sribagilu station. Though some of us were ready to make it till Subramanya, Jayashri and Siddharth didnt agree. So we rested there for sometime, enquired about the exit route from the station. There was a jeep route just after the station. After about an hour of rest, we took that jeep route and started climbing down. It was more than 4km down the route before we were to hit the road. After some climbing down we saw a nice stream. We halted there, had our lunch and took some more rest. Then again, start climbing down... After sometime saw one jeep coming down the trail. The driver offered us lift to the road and we readily took it. Stuffed ourselves with the backpacks on the back of the jeep. The road was still 2km away and it saved us some time. In about 10 minutes we were on the road. We started walking towards Subramanya while attemping to stop some vehicle. Subramanya was 15km away. There were lots of private vehicles going to Subramanya and none of them will stop. After some more walk we got a KSRTC bus and reached Subramanya by 5pm. First thing was to book our tickets back to Bangalore and rent a room for couple of hours to wash ourselves off the dirt accumulated on us for two days. All the KSRTC buses were full. Luckily we got the tickets in a private bus (Kukkeshri travels) and it was to start at 10.15pm. Then we got a room and one by one went on to take bath. By 7pm we all were fresh except Siddharth. There was a clear view of Shesha Parvata from the hotel and to think that we were on top of that hill just three weeks back ! Anyway, memories aside, once we were ready, we thought of visiting the Subramanya temple except Siddharth. He wanted to use the time to take a relaxing bath ! However, the temple was very crowded and we didnt feel like joining the queue to get a glimpse of the God. Around 8pm we had our dinner in the same hotel where we had our lunch after Kumara parvata trek. Same meal and it again tasted heavenly :) We were back to the room by 8.45pm. Boarded the bus in exact time though it started a little late. I was soon asleep and didnt realize that the bus broke down sometime in the night and didnt move for about two hours :) Reached Bangalore at 7am instead of 5am. I was in my room at 7.30am. very tired but very happy...

I was planning to write a more detailed write-up but I am bound by time ! So, dont think I will anything more than what I have written in this blog. One of the fellow trekkers, however, might write it. Also, there are lots of materials available on the net about sakleshpur trek. Give a google search of 'sakleshpur trek' and see the amazing result :)

Photos of the trek

Final day of the Mega ride...

Its going to be a memorable day for Joy. He is going to finish his mega ride from Stony Brook, NY to Sunnyvale, CA. All alone ! It took him 12 days and the distance travelled is more than 4000 miles. I have tried to maintain a day-to-day diary of his ride (which he modifies later as and when he gets the chance to use net) at the end of each day here. Also, he kept sending one or two photos each day (which he took by his cell phone) and everybody I uploaded them at my site so that his biker friends can have a look at them :) He has taken photos in his camera also and uploading them at his site. Finally his dream has come true. He was planning to do something like this for a long time and I am happy that he has done it successfully.

All these days I also became very involved with his site maintainence and my own work ! Not that I have done too much of my own work :) Kept waiting for his sms/call ! Also kept informing his parents regularly about his advances of the ride. They were very worried about this whole trip naturally and they are very happy that he has done it without any problem. Two more hours and he will be at his friend Niloy's place near Sunnyvale, his final destination.