Coorg Trip

we colleagues had been to a Trip recently to Coorg,Nagarahole,Kushalnagar,Mysore and few other near by places.

Actually our colleagues had decided to hire vehicle but without driver so that we only could drive & enjoy as per our trip.Trip was awesome and memorable in many ways..may be free from regular office work, enjoying nature & outing,pulling others leg, nice drive,enjoyed friends vehicle drive .............

We were able to see a beautiful , nice morning view from Raja Seat in Coorg,excellent golden temple in Kushalnagar,Nice bath in Irpu Falls,a natioal park in Nagarahole.Nice swim and water play in Dubare Forest (but we could not go for Elephant safari as it had closed at 12:30PM),Mysore palace along with food in Mcdonalds & KFC..  

Trip was memorable in couple ways as for the first time I saw actaually witnessed travelling in a vehicle reaching upto 160km/Hr  on Road , thanks to nice highway although its little  risky to reach with that speed ,unless anybody knows driving well & has a nice control over it, thanks to Sanjay.Then Nadeem who knew basics of 4 four wheeler driving, driving with confidence , Sahoo with nice questions & answer session, Shafi for his awesome talk, Sam for his full energy filled inspiration to all, Shashir from his unique style,Pravash with nice causal talk to all of us & especially with shafi ..!

We enjoyed the trip overall..! :-)

Foriegn Notes

From my child hood that is from my primary School i started collecting Stamps.Later as i grew up started collecting variety of coins of our own country India & abroad. In recent years I started collecting foreign notes(Currecny) whenever I get an opportunity ..

Although it requires time & patience and of course interest to post detailed blog of these collections , i thought to post a blog to start with a couple of foreign notes.

I used to ask my close friends if they have these notes or coins ,if they have visted western counties or any country.I am lucky to collect some of them from friend Sandeep who had visted Bangaldesh, Nigeria couple of years back & my younger brother Arvind who got an opportunity to visit US,Korea,Hongkong,UK..

Here are some of the notes.

Bannerghatta National Park

Today I had been to Bannerghatta national parkwith family members.Here are some of the photos and details.. 

                                                     

Bannerghatta National Park is situated 22 km south of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The journey to the park takes nearly an hour from Bangalore. This hilly place is the home for one of the richest natural, zoological reserves. The 25,000 acre (101 km²) zoological park makes this a major tourist attraction of Bangalore.

Travel Info

Altitude: 1245 to 1634 meters above sea level
Visiting hours: 9am to 5pm
Holiday: Closed every Tuesday

There is a small museum in the zoo which showcases zoological exhibits. The zoo, which is a major attraction in this area, also has a reptile park and a small theatre.. The Zoo closes on Tuesday (weekly Holiday)

The zoo has separate charges for weekdays and weekends (or Holidays). The prices currently for A Grand Safari — of Lions, Tigers & Herbivorus costsRs. 100 on regular days and Rs. 125 on weekends (and other holidays) where as, to move around the zoo would cost you Rs. 25.00. The Tiger and Lion safari is the most interesting and one can avail tickets only for that at a lower cost.

The entire month of May has holiday fares as that is the time when children in India have summer holidays.

Bannerghatta National Park contact phone number: +91-80-27828540

Butterfly Park

The country's first Butterfly Park was established at the Bannerghatta Biological Park couple of years ago..

Barack Obama -Man of the moment

Barack Hussein Obama ( born August 4, 1961) is the President-elect of the United States of America, and the first African American to be elected President of the United States.

Campaigning and the selction of a presidential election started almost a year ago in US.He has beaten Hilary clinton to get nomination for presidential election..

Campaigning attracted people & media not only from US but from all over the world for many reasons.May be United states is one of the largest & powerful country in the world.It has many multinational companies operating in different countries and Barack Obama will head the counrty who can make rules and take any strong decisions in this time of financial crisis.Many countries and their heads and thier country men are eagely waiting as US has always played a major role in terms of Worlsd politics,international affairs..

Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 3, 2005 until his resignation on November 16, 2008, following his election to the Presidency. His term of office as the forty-fourth U.S. president will begin on January 20, 2009.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of theHarvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama was elected to the Senate in November 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama helped create legislation to control conventional weaponsand to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change,nuclear terrorism, and care for U.S. military personnel returning from combat assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When I spoke to many people from United states right from campaigning till his election to President I got varied opinions and respnse like , politicians give lot of assurances and they dont do as in other countries , few pepole were least bothered about the person whoever is elected, some are having hopes that he will do good job..

Obama has lot of challenges ahead as Unites states as US is going through tough time in terms of financial crisis.Many country men are thinking that he may put some restrictions on outsourcing job to other countries..

Lets wait and watch as time has come to see his power & his dreams for his country ...

All the Best Obama ....

DR.C.R.Chandrashekar a Psychiatrist with a difference..

Dr.C.R.Chandrashekhar, a Famous Psychiatrist from Kanataka has turned 60 on Friday . To mark this day "Kannada Vaidya Saahitya Parishat "has conducted a function yesterday in Bangalore.

I got an opportunity to attend this useful Felicitation programme yesterday evening.

Lot of Doctors from all over Karnataka had come to attend this function along with lot of fans, writers and  people from all walks.

Dr.C.R.C as he known to readers is born on December 12,1948, in small town of Channapattana in a middle class family.

He is known as the first person to write about psychiatry in Kannada.Till now he has written 159 books.! Out of which 107 books are related to Psychiatry.

I was surprised to know that his books have been translated to few languages like Urdu,English & Gujrathi also.

He is not only a Doctor,Psychiatrist,also a good Speaker  who has given a lot of programmes in Radio & Television. He is very simple living and high thinking person.

Today we can see people suffering from depression,tension & other diseases related to mind.

Psychiatrists are playing a major role in curing these diseases through medicines & counselling.

It was a memorable function as lot of books related to health,sex,Ayurveda,Homoeopathy  were on display and sale.And there was a discussion & lecture by eminent personalites.

Today(On 6th February 2011) to my Suprprise I got an opportunity to meet and speak to DR.CRC in 77th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana,which held in Bangalore ..I could spend couple of minutes with him..He is so great ,yet so simple..He is Simple living high thinking person.

BANGALORE BOOK FESTIVAL 2008

Recently  I had been to " Bangalore Book festival"  along with  my wife, son and sister which held till 23rd November.

It was very good ..Books of different languages like Kannada,English,Hindi,Telugu,Malayalam,urdu,Tamil,Bengali and many other languages ........... were on display & sales.Many publishers,distributors had displayed books of different writers and on variey of topics from Literature,politics,sports,stories,autobiography,religion,health,wealth,mind,soul... Really it was like a festival for readers  & of course for sellers. There was a huge crowd.I could see people buying many books at a time...

We also purchased few books.

Now a days we can see people talking about the downward trend in reading habits in people after the invention of modern media like Television (TV) & Internet.But this has proved wrong..!

I thought untill good writers are there ,untill readers are there no media can replace books which is having their own advantages compared to TV and internet

This type of book festivals should be conducted atleast once in every 6 months not only in Big city like bangalore but also in other districts also so that it can reach all places & even to a common man....

Salumarada Thimmakka - The woman, who has done a lot to preserve the environment

              

 

Today  I got the opportunity to meet Salumarada Thimmakka in Vibhutipuramatha near Basavanagara,Bangalore.

Today she was given with prestigeous ,"Suvarna shree " award for her work from Vibhutipura math.

Thimmaka is so simple and  when I aksed for a photo with her she told , "aparoopada ajji alwa "(I am rare grandmother thats why know)..

Here are some of the details of Salumarada Thimmakka ,which I downloaded from the web...

SALUMARADA THIMMAKKA, (Kannada: ಸಾಲುಮರದ ತಿಮ್ಮಕ್ಕ) the woman who planted banyan trees as her life's mission along the Bangalore-Nelamangala highway, is certainly not a household name in the "happening" metropolis. For, she went about her selfless work for 45 years without any fuss or publicity. And, of course, she never called herself an environmental activist, though she planted and painstakingly watered and nurtured some 400-odd trees, along with her husband, Chikkaiah.

This illiterate woman, who has done more to preserve the environment than many self-styled and seminar-oriented environmentalists, has donated much of the funds she has received as awards to a trust specifically for setting up a maternity home in her village, Hulikal near Kudur, a short distance from Bangalore.
 Thimmakka is a storehouse of knowledge on environment and knows all there is to know about agriculture. This is not unusual in agricultural communities, where the woman not only takes care of the household but also plays an active part in the entire agricultural process. Ask Thimmakka about trees, and she will name some 25 species in one go, and will also tell you why they have to be planted.

But what egged Thimmakka on to take on the extraordinary task of planting 400 trees?
"I longed to have children, but couldn't. My husband felt that we should make up for it by `parenting' trees. He believed that it was a work of great punya, and would do us good. He used to tell me it would also fulfil my desire for motherhood. Believe me, nobody ever told us to do this. It's our own thinking that put us on to it," says Thimmakka, explaining the circumstances.

But this meant that Thimakka and her husband Chikkaiah had to walk about three kilometres from their home in Huligal to the highway, along which they had decided to plant trees. They couldn't afford to buy saplings either. So, they cut branches off banyan trees and planted them in a row. During the first year, they successfully planted 10. But their task did not end there. The couple drew water from the village well, trudged the three-kilometre distance, and watered the young plants. "I would carry two pitchers, one on my waist and one on my head, and my husband would carry one on his head." They did this round the year, except during rainy season.

Moreover, protected the growing plants from grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs. They actually felt like anxious parents, until the plants took root and began to grow! "We planted more, increasing the numbers to 15, 25, and more." Neither Thimmakka nor her husband ever found the need to keep count of the trees they planted. It was only after she got recognition that the Government started counting them.
Though Thimmakka's vision is blurred, she still has no problem in recognising things and objects close to her.
She has been given a tape-recorder and a radio by two organisations, which honoured her some time ago. While she uses the radio frequently, she does not use the tape-recorder, for she does not know how to operate it. ``If you want you can play it,'' she told this correspondent. The tape-recorder is used only when someone who knows how to play it, visits her.

Why did she plant trees? ``See for yourself. So many birds eat the fruits of my trees and build nests on them. The leaves that fall become manure. And, in summer, they provide shade to tired people.''
Life had never been easy for Thimmakka. Her husband had a tiny piece of land on which they grew ragi. It was barely sufficient for them. She worked in fields, carried stones to construction sites, dug drains, besides other backbreaking jobs. All that she earned was taken away by her mother-in-law.

Towards the late '80s, her life grew more complicated when her mother-in-law had a stroke and brother-in-law took seriously ill. "It was a traumatic phase of my life. I had to give them bath, eed them, and even clean their shit," she recalls. After prolonged suffering, both passed away. Soon, Chikkaiah also took ill. Cousins came and took him away on the pretext of nursing him to health, though all the while, they had intentions of claiming the small piece of land he owned.

Chikkaiah also died soon. "I felt I had been stripped off my clothes," she recalls, tears in her eyes. "There was nobody for me, no money, nothing..." Worse still, her dilapidated hut began to crumble. There was no roof over her head and no walls around her. All she had was a gunnysack to lie on. The few vessels that she had, she gave them away to her neighbour. "This Sankranti, it will be 13 years since my husband passed away. I haven't planted a single sapling since then."

It was not as if she was too depressed to continue the task, but just that there were too many practical problems. There was nobody to help her cut branches and plant them, and with what little she earned, it was impossible to spend money on plants as well.

The story of the couple's 45-year effort, but was far-sighted enough to write out applications to the departments concerned, both at the Central and State level. Several awards and recognition came her way. "I have a whole lot of prizes, I have no place to keep them. I have put them all in a plastic bag and kept them in the attic," says Thimmakka in a matter-of-fact tone. "Life is better than before. Now, at least, I have a roof above my head. 

KEMMANNUGUNDI TRIP

I had been to Kemmanugundi trip for 2 days along with my colleagues last week.

It was a memorable in many ways..may be relaxation from office work,tension free,enjoying nature in our Malnad region.

We left office early morning in Tempo traveller..Journey was awesome except driver who was little bit reserve & not so cooperative..

Kemmanugundi is in Chickmagalore district,a place full of greenery with full of Coffee plant & a Ghat section.Hardly we see people there..As now it is winter it was very cold in Night & early morning.. " I found two main things which may be the reason its attracting less people now a days,road from Kemmanugundi to HEBBE Falls is Worst..We have to hire a Jeep again for that 13 Kms journey to reach that falls for that we have to atleast Rs 100 per head..And one more thing is that there is only 1 hotel ..!" that too we have to give order in advance for dinner or Lunch.then only they will prepare.But Cost wise it was very good..

I was wondering why Goverment is not taking much interest in this , when they can make this place more Tourist attractive & can get more money to Tourism Department of Karnataka..

We also visted kalhat giri falls,where we had a nice bath with play in fresh & cold Water.After that we had Darshan of Shree Veerabhadra Swamy..Although we went to Bababudan giri mountain(Hill) which is the highest mountain Karanataka we could not enter Temple & Masjid which is there due to ongoing work which will take another 4 months to open..We felt sad as we went with great expectation to bababudangiri..

On the way to Trip one of my colleague who is a very good guitarist entertained us a lot.We were so tired on the way back to Kammangundi from Hebbe falls we fall asleep without Dinner unless a person from Hotel came & knocked door with nice Dinner..On the way back we had nice dinner in Hasan at night..Our trip was memorable as we enjoyed a Nature with full of greenery,Coffe plants,shared jokes,enjoyed nice photography,pulled others legs....Hope people will take some time visit this place to keep themselves fresh and active..

ANIL KUMBLE- The cricket Legend

Anil Kumble

India

Player profile

Full name Anil Kumble
Born October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka
Current age 38 years 17 days
Major teams India, Asia XI, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Karnataka, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Surrey ,Batting style Right-hand bat, Bowling style Legbreak googly

It was surprising to know that our Indian Test cricket captain has decided to retire from International Test matches..I never had dreamt that he will take this decision so sooooon..When I read a comment from former captain Dilip Vengsarkar 2 days ago, regarding Anil Kumble's poor performance since couple of test matches, I just read and forgot thinking that he will do his best again as he is known for international Test Matches..He should not have retired so soon as he is the Highest Test wicket taker for India, one of the match winning bowler for India cricket Team ..

On the fiield he never used to show off , less talkative and used to be sportive mind..

I got the opporunity to see him from very near when he came in his car, driving to Chinnaswamy stadium,Bangalore for practice session when India Vs England Series was going on where I was struggling to see our Great crickets outside the stadium..

We have to accept Change... as Change is only the constant thing in this world,as its little painful when we know that he will not be playing International cricket anymore as has already retired from One day international last year.

No bowler in history has won India more Test matches than Anil kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble traded the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacked through the air rather than hanging in it and came off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. The method provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack, and more than one modern-day batsman remarked that there was no more difficult challenge in cricket than handling Kumble on a wearing surface.

Kumble's prodigious capacity to bear pain was proved in Antigua in 2002 when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell, and that to continuously learn in the mid-2000s when, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin and more variation in flight and on the crease.

In a brilliant though always downplayed career Kumble claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan. In December 2001, on home turf in Bangalore, he became the India's first spinner to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he became the first to do so in one-dayers. In August 2007 at The Oval he went past Glenn McGrath's 563 wickets and in January 2008 he broke the 600 barrier, to stand behind only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, emphasising his contribution to spin's golden era. And at The Oval he chalked up what, judging by the pure ecstasy of his reaction and the dressing room's, was perhaps his most cherished feat of all - a Test century that had been 17 years and 118 matches in the coming.

Less than a month after his 37th birthday, he received the ultimate honour when he was named India's Test captain for the home series against Pakistan. He went on to win the series, the first home triumph against Pakistan in 27 years, before playing a big role in holding the side together during the controversial series in Australia. He was also India's leading wicket-taker with 20 in the four Tests.
His form, however, slipped during the tour of Sri Lanka and there were calls for him to quit after a wicketless performance in the Bangalore Test against Australia. A shoulder injury added fuel to the fire and an upset Kumble reacted sharply, saying that he had it in him to continue for a while longer. However, he changed his mind during the Delhi Test and announced his retirement, fittingly at his favourite venue. He finished his career as the third-highest Test wicket-taker (619), behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.

Hope he will be busy with his own plans OR cricket academy OR coaching ,share his immense cricket experience with younger generations in coming days.

Any how all the best from all of us and wish him Good luck for his retired life..

KUMBLE WE MISS YOU A LOT ON THE CRICKET FIELD....... :-(

PHOTO : Anil Kumble with his wife & Children.