Of testing times..composure..patience and success

US F1 VISA....thats what i had been waiting for such a long time...the interview was scheduled on 2nd june monday at 330 PM..

230- i am at the consulate...was sent back...and asked to come at 3:15...so me and my parents wait in the hot sun till 315...sweat dripping like a mini waterfall...

315-i undergo initial security check...

345-the person who verifies the docs b4 the interview gives me a big shock...he asks me where my SEVIS fee paid receipt...im totally blank...i had no idea i had to pay that 100$ fee cos wherever i read, it said it was IF APPLICABLE...nonsense....however he still asks me to lineup for the interview...im cursing myself for being so careless...now i meet Cherian...from bangalore...who is a BE graduate from VTU...who has come for his F1...hold on..the similarities dont end there..he sees my DS-156 being marked with a jet-black permanent marker...and asks me if even i havent paid the SEVIS fee...i say a curious "yes" anticipating that hes also travelling in the same boat as mine....and it indeed turns out that he too hasnt paid his SEVIS fee..we exchange a few words about this thing being IF APPLICABLE...hoping to get thru the interview...however we knew that wudnt happen cos the US consulate is pretty strict about missing fees and docs...so we 2 are almost certain that our VISA would be rejected on the basis of incomplete docs.. UFL seemed to be in another galaxy and far-fetched...it is in these kind of situations that 2 things can happen...either
1-all ur sense organs become hyper-active simultaneously....
2-or they become passive simultaneously...
You have to keep ur cool and make sure that 1 happens and not 2....i kept my cool...

415 PM-Cherian's turn for the interview...there is one more guy after cherian and then it would be me...was wondering what would happen to cherian's fate...the lady interviewer tells him that he hasnt paid his SEVIS fee...and handed over a blue and white sheet of paper to him...cherian and the lady exchange a few words which werent quite audible...cherian leaves...the next guy's interview goes off smoothly...now its my turn...the anxiety is killing me...even then i managed a big smile on my face throughout and held my nerve....the lady handed the same blue and white sheet of paper to me...i come out of the interview counter...i sit back and chk out whats written on those 2 sheets of paper of fate...

430 PM-the sheet of paper said that my SEVIS fee recipt was missing and that i could come back to the consulate on any tuesday, wednesday or thursday between 10 AM and 12 noon...both me and cherian and relieved...however, the lady had taken back our DS 156,157 and 158...

445 Pm-out of the consulate at madras...my parents are anxious cos of the postponement...

we had planned to leave chennai in the 930 train..but plans needed restructuring now...train tickets were cancelled...our stay at the RBI quarters were extended...and in the meanwhile i managed to pay the SEVIS fee and collect the receipt of payment from a cyber cafe nearby....rest of the day was as insignificant as any other day...


The next day-3rd june 2008-tuesday

930 AM- im in the queue at the consulate for the routine security check...was let in by around 945...my turn for docs verification...remember the fact that my DS 156...157 and 158 were already taken back by the interviewing lady...

10 AM-the doc verifier looks at my docs and asks for my DS forms...im in for a shock again...in the meanwhile...cherian in the next queue is in with shock...we both had given back our DS forms the previous day and thot the same wud be used again...but not to be...such a coincidence that we 2 are travelling in the same boat all along since the previous day...we were aksed to go to the VFS office which we were told was just a few blocks away and that a cab wud be arranged for us...the cab was waiting by the time we came outside...

1030-the cab raced to the office in about 5 mins in the heavy traffic...we were asked some basic questions about being brought to the office...and then were asked to fill in the 156 again...that was done and printouts of DS 156 were taken...but for the 157 and 158 printouts we had to go to the nearby cyber cafe...download them from our accounts and get a printout...and i think i ran faster now than in the marathon just a few weeks ago...i pity myself for that considering chennai's ultra hot weather...finally we hit a cyber cafe...took a printout..took an auto and reached the consulate at 1115...

1115 AM-it was the third time i was entering the consulate and the third time im being sent for verification of docs...this time it goes off smoothly at the doc verification counter...the volunteer guided me to the shortest queue for the interview...the interviewer asked me some basic questions which i answered...and then after a minute of typing something on her computer she says "visa approved" in a tone which seemed melodious to me...

I thanked all my stars...and i come out...my parents and cherian are waiting outside...i do a thumbs up to both of them...and so did cherian...everyones happy...no wonder they say alls well that ends well....


And well the blog doesnt end here....i ll give some gyaan shortly for people so that no one else faces any probs when they go for a visa interview....

Its a physical day...

May 18th,2008
A hot summer day..My day started off with the 5.7k majja run which was a part of Sunfeast Marathon,the richest marathon of the world.

Started the race at 945 sharp...finished the run in 30 mins(too long).But considering the number of people running it,30 minutes isnt a bad timing.I guess there were more than 10k participants cos even while riding back home on my bike i could see people still running..!!

10:45 and and i was on my way to the Railway cricket grounds to play a match against Wipro.This tournament was organised by G-events group.My legs started giving minor problems in the beginning as we were put in to field first.My fielding was exceptional this day.Took a good diving catch too.I was impressed with that :) . And just after a few mins while stopping a ball i twisted my calf muscle.So, wasnt able to run much after that.Had a chance to open the batting also this time.Got out making 6 or 7 runs.Other players sealed the match for us.
We won by 5 wickets.

What a day it was...a day that i put my physical abilities to test...and passed with flying colors....!!

4 continuous days of fun

Had fun for 4 continuous days
april 4th 2008,friday - full othla in office...team lunch at the barbecue nation...quarterly division meeting...

april 5th 2008,saturday - my birthday...friends threw me a surprise party...had a night out at datta's place watching movies... one of my best birthdays....

april 6th 2008,sunday - went for a movie and lunch with friends...and night out again at datta's place watching movies and playing x-box...

april 7th 2008,monday - played cricket early morning after such a long time...at BMS college...and slept through the rest of the day...

The Amedhikallu trek...

The starting point of the trek

1st February 2008-friday

10 PM

The qualis starts from Balu's place at Madivala. Picks Srikanth(kaams) from Banashankari at around 1030 PM and Me(Pavan) and Avinash(Gupta) from my house at 11 PM.Next is Shashidhar at around 1115 from the chord road - mysore road junction and subsequently Shreyas and Bala by around 1130.


All set, we leave to a place called Shishila. This place is about 18 kms from dharmasthala.On NH-48 just after a place called kokkada, a deviation takes us to shishila.This place is famous for the Shishileshwara Temple and the fish in the Kapila river which flows right next to the temple.

2nd February 2008-saturday

7:15 AM

We reach Mr Gopu Gokhale's house.

Mr Gokhale can arrange the whole trek for you.including arranging a guide for the trek, providing you with the morning breakfast, packing lunch for the trek, the next day's lunch, and also provides place for all your morning ablutions, bath(hot water too)...!! You can also bathe in the kapila river which flows right next to the farm behind Mr Gokhale's house.

9 AM

We ate delicious puliyogare for breakfast.

10 AM

Mr Gokhale had our lunch packed(chapathis and the gravy which u call 'ghasi' in local lingo). We leave his house in our qualis with our guide Channappa.

10:18 AM

We reach the starting point for the trek which is about 4 kms from Mr Gokhale's house.

The journey up and onward

To reach Amedhikallu a.k.a amedikallu a.k.a amedikkel a.k.a amedhikkel, we need to cross and go around about 2-3 hills...and through the shola grasslands and through dense forests and of course steep rocks...

We cant see the amedhikallu peak from where we start the trek..only after a 2 hour climb over and around the steep hills do we get the first glimpse of amedhikallu peak when the forest opens up into a small patch of grassland. and what a view it is...simply spectacular...This view makes it clear how small man is when compared to nature. and then after about an hour or so's hike through the alternating forests, grasslands and small hillocks we reach the base of the peak..from this place, the amedhikallu peak looks phenominally ominous or you may prefer to call it ominously
phenominal.

From this place onwards, the climb becomes very steep and quite hard. this stretch will make u rest literally every 1 or 2 minutes.for every 4-5 steps u climb up, u feel like resting for 2-3 mins.so much is the incline.

At around 2:30 PM we reach a place which has a huge rock forming a nice shelter.This is where the initial stretch of pretty steep climb ends.We had lunch at this place.We spent around 30-45 minutes in this place since everyone were already exhausted.

Now starts a not so steep climb in the forests for abt 20-30 mins...We now are at a place where the "ame"(tortoise) rock stands to the left of us. An even steeper and a more risky stretch

than the one before lunch starts here. it is advised that anyone climbing this stretch not look behind him/her.u simply should be concentrating on moving ahead than looking back where you came from.about 30-40 mins of such a climb will still not take u to the top of the "ame" looking rock..neverthless u stand right at its base.The time was around 4:15 when we were at the base of "ame".we rested there for a few minutes...from this point till the actual peak, we have only rock to deal with...it is steep, but not very dangerous..about 3-4 minutes of rock-climbing will take us to the final destination...what a place it is...we saw two flags being erected there by previous trekkers...and surprisingly, while one of the flags was just a white towel, the other one was a BJP flag(the plastic small banners u see just before the elections tied perpendicular to the length of the road in your neighbourhood)...Another point worth mentioning here is that the last stretch of rock we need to climb to reach the peak looks more than dangerous...the length to be negotiated is only about 6-7 feet...it is less than a feet wide,inclined at an angle, and there is dead drop to ur left..the safest way to handle this is to walk on all fours like a baby...infact the guide advised us that the best way of going on this path was to simply zoom past on all 4's..!!

2 more groups were behind us..so it was a good choice that we pitch in our tent at the best place..u need to climb down from the "ame" peak and then only can u camp...there is only one camping spot right on the peak...but its too risky since the place is very much vulnerable to strong winds...there are 2 spots to pitch in ur tents in the open..both of them are well protected..one side by a huge rock and the other side by trees...but our guide suggested that we camp inside the forest which adjoins the peak for 2 reasons...one being the availability of water inside incase of emergency and the other being the fact its always feels good to sleep inside a forest...

we need to climb down deep into the jungle for about 15 mins to reach the camping spot.The time was about 5:30 PM when we refilled all our bottles with the trickling water inside the jungle..we started pitching the tent and we were all done for the day by 6:15 PM...only a good night's rest lay ahead of us...In the meanwhile our guide channappa was very busy collecting huge amounts of firewood for the campfire so that it would the last the whole night...we started the campfire by about 6:45..ate chapatis by the side of it and decided to call it a day...Me, Balu and Kaams decided to sleep inside the 3 sleeping bags we had brought...the remaining 4 slept inside the tent...and by 8 PM

everyone had crashed...channapa slept in open air on a rock right next to our tent...but for a frightened scream from a sleep-talker, the rest of the night has nothing much to talk about....


3rd February 2008-sunday

5 AM

We wake up...spend some time at the early morning campfire...pack up everything by 5:45-6 AM and leave towards the peak again for the sunrise..

6:25 AM

We are at the peak to catch the sunrise...but the sun simply refuses to come out till 7 and we lose all hope of catching a spectacular sun-rise...but there u go...the sun slowly starts to rise above the clouds by 7...the sunrise wasnt as spectacular as expected...but neverthless watching sun rise is always a pleasant experience...and by the time sun took time to emerge from the clouds we had already finished our breakfast which consisted of chapatis and puliyogare from balu's house...

7:25 AM

We started the descent back along the same path we came up...There was nothing very significant in the descent except for the fact that gupta twisted his legs twice and so his pace downhill reduced drastically...and also the sighting of 2 different snakes by kaams and gupta...

11:25

Everyone in our group finish the trek....we board our qualis and we traverse the 4 km mud road path back to Mr Gokhale's house...(u can descend down in 3 to 3.5 hours even at moderate speeds)

12 PM

Mr Gokhale welcomes us with amazingly spicy buttermilk...each one of us drank 2 glasses of it...while everyone rushed to bathe in the kapila river, i stayed back at Mr Gokhale's house for a bath...everyone finished their bath by 1:30 and we were ready for lunch...We had a sumptous meal...the food was so good that we filled our stomachs to the brim...then relaxed for a while...and left shishila by 2:30....visited the temple there...fed the fish in the river...and then started our journey back to bangalore...

at his house with Mr Gokhale

4th February 2008-monday(today)

12:30 AM

I reach home...and totally charged for a good night's sleep :-)

4 PM

Incidentally i am on leave today...am saturated of sleep...hence jobless...so im sharing my experience of the trek with aching thighs...


Highlights of the trek

-> Number of participants - 7 + the guide.

-> Participants - Me (Pavan),Balu,Balakrishna,Shreyas,Srikanth,Shashidhar,Avinash

-> Mr Gokhale takes care of the whole trek if u want to. His contact number is 08251-269246.

-> It is advised that u take a guide since it is hard to find water once u start the trek.guides know about the sources of water in the forest.

-> our guide channappa was a 48 year old man.his trekking ability is amazing...he treks with his hawai chappals..really great..

-> The hardest iv ever been to so far....


PS: im really bored to type...so hav given only some useful info...for more details/queries, i can be contacted at this mail address - pavan_mh2003@yahoo.com

What a read....

Its 8:15 a.m. and I stand here in the bus stop waiting for the office bus to arrive. I stand here in the same manner as I did a few years back waiting for my college bus. Little did I know then
that things would change so much in 2 years; the sky under which I am standing seems to be looking at me and smiling .. It is perhaps the only thing that has acted as a witness .. watching the transformation of a loud and bubbly person into a quiet professional. I wouldn't blame the professionalism for the change though. It is destiny, or may be you could call it life. Yes Life, esoteric in the true sense, for one does not understand why you meet hundreds of people everyday, work with so many, and still remain lonely. I am now in one of the corner seats in the bus, looking out of the window watching people trying to catch up with "life" . . It's an hour's journey and the only company that I generally have is the chatter of the RJ. I seldom notice the person sitting next to me, for its going to be yet another stranger or may be you could say another acquaintance. It is annoying at times when the radio is switched off, not because I am cut off from the melody but because I would now be thrust with thoughts of the solitary journey ahead. I can't help thinking about the short bus journeys to college ... well it's a paradox to call a distance of 30 KMs "short", but that is how it always seemed. A typical college day always begins in the bus with all the familiar faces; you look forward for all your friends to get in from the various stops, the reasonless giggles, the loud laughter that were stifled to avert the eyes of the lecturers and professors who would watch on us as if we were their prospective prey for the day ... well as I said it was a different life then. The pleasant memories of college are in itself good enough to save me from the misery of the bus journey. I notice that it is time for me to get down and flash my smile of acknowledgement to all the known strangers that I see as I approach my cubicle. A few of my colleagues greet me with their morning wishes and as always, we exchange our pleasantries. Discussions jump to the weekend plans and I wonder what I'd do over the weekend. It would be just another day staring at the mobile, wishing it would ring and bring back some wonderful moments that are now missing in life or maybe the safer option would be to come to office, for it's my new founded asylum these days. A few years back, weekends or weekdays didn't matter to me, I was always busy. I always stood doubting the authenticity of the wall clock that seemed to be in running too fast to perceive its movement. Alas, now it seems as though my clock is suffering from some kind of paralytic attack. There is a time in life, where one needs to go ahead, leaving behind your friends and carrying along only memories. You do make new friends, but then you never get the old close ones ... you do meet people who'd be so good to you that you could tell them anything and everything, but you do not find a person to whom you needn't say things ... friends who just know you. Occasional calls from such friends, have been the only thing that I seem to look forward to ...However, I cant help but notice the uneasy pause that lingers around the conversation ..A pause not because of the relationship, but because it is too short a duration to say everything, and of course you cannot completely rule out the paucity of words! As I sip coffee from the ubiquitous coffee mug, watching the drops of rain, trickling down the tinted glass panes, veiling the scenic beauty outside, I tell myself, may be there will be a day when things will change, when life will offer a rewind, a recap of all the events and I just have to wait. Capricious are the ways of life, for I know there would be many who'd be able to empathize with me, ironically, even the dear ones that I miss this moment, waiting perhaps...!! And I keep on waiting......



--Anonymous

my first story

This was my first attempt at writing a story...It was for the Samsung short story writing competition...This smiling face of a little girl being the theme...The story goes like this....

Little Raji lived in the countryside...She was this 7 year old who was very bubbly and cheerful.And that innocent smile of hers was popular all over the village.She used to put that smile on her faceat all times no matter wat..No person could ever possibly imagine her face without a smile.The smile was so natural that whenever she had to laugh, her eyes were almost closed.So much about her.

Her family was a small one considering the fact that families in the countryside are generally joint ones.Her father who was the current village head was a very good man who followed the footsteps of his fatheri.e Raji's grandfather.Her mother was a very friendly, generous, kind-hearted lady.Her grandmother had died longbefore Raji was born.Now coming to the most important person in her life.Her grandfather.

The old man was her all time companion in her activities.He used to take wake her up, brushher teeth, give her a bath, take to school, play with her, pray with her, eat with her and what not.And Who else could tell her such lovely bedtime stories.All these since the day she was born.Probably that constant lovely smile on her face was all because of him.

On holidays he used to take her to the green fields.Make her ride on the buffaloes wandering, pluck mangoes fromtheir grove, go on a boat-ride in the lake and eat those ice candies ......they needed more than 24 hours in a day. And even then that would have been less.

Both she and her grandfather whom she called Thatha(meaning grandfather in kannada) have literally spent almostall their lives together since the day she was born.Neither would let go off each other.Such was their relationship.

But then, according to nature's laws, everything has an end. One day Thatha(the grandfather) died suddenly. There was complete mourning in the family.Raji's dad and mom had no words to express their feelings. Raji could not understand what was going on. With that innocent smile on her face she just walked away unnoticed by anyone.Even to this day no one knows why she walked off.No one ever saw that smiling face again.

Some things remain eternal.Her smile being one of them.

The KP trek...experience of a lifetime

Our team...from left to right...shreyas...
santosh..me..gangadhar...shashidhar...
mr bhat(not our team...hehe)..harish...
rohan and goutham...


It all started wen suddenly shreyas asked me to come for a trek to kumara parvata(KP)...i knew it wud be one of the hardest treks....so was a bit apprehensive abt my participation...and also since it was a 2 day trek i really wasnt sure abt it...but somehow agreed to go(amidst the some of the busiest days of my life)....


the day was 12th of jan 2007...that day i had already been to a resort on the outskirts of bangalore and had already punished my body enuf...also had hurt my ankle badly while playing cricket..!!...it was kinda paining like hell...so now the real apprehension started...whether to go or not to go...whether not to go or go...but since the bus tickets were already booked i really had no chance to back off...


That day finished enjoying at the resort and came back home by around 6 PM...and since nothing was packed , started packing evrything in a hurry...(luckily dint forget anything...hehe)...finished packing...left home at 915...reached the bus station by 920...


The supposedly 945 leaving bus came late(IST)...maybe around 10 PM...boarded the bus and there began the journey... To my astonishment the bus was crowded...ppl were even standing...and the narrow margin between the seats worsened my ankle pain... Reached somwarpet at around 5 in the morning...took a room in one of the hotels...(i dont hav to say y... ;) )...got ready by 7AM to catch the 715 AM bus to Beedhalli(or is it Beeghalli…I m still not sure…hehe..)…Beedhalli is located 20 kms from somwarpet…we reached there by 830…and without wasting anytime started the trek…

Initial 2-3 kms weren’t much interesting but for a narrow bridge which we had to cross over…and the dirt-filled path almost encourages u to get totally demoralized abt the trek…and also thanks to some misguiding ppl who say that landmarks are so close and u walk forever to find them..!!

Just after an hour’s trek we get the shantalingeshwara temple…the place is quite calm…and more refreshing is the cold water u get outside the temple….one point here is that we had already overtaken “the uncles” team by the time we reached the temple…we and “the red bulls” were neck to neck at this stage….there was some kinda implicit competition going on between us…but the red bulls just by-passed the temple wen we were inside it….so managed to gain quite a handy lead of say abt 15 mins….

Let me deviate from the topic just a bit and tell u all y we nicknamed them “the red bulls”….well wat can ya call trekkers with heavily stuffed backpacks and a bunch of transparent plastic covers filled with cans of the “RED BULL” drink…hehe…
Hence the name…

A check-post marks the beginning of the forest area which was incidentally closed cos of sankranti…there isn’t much scope for getting lost in the thick forest since it has well defined path….infact there isn’t any chance to get lost in the whole trip which is undoubtedly attributed to the 6000 trekkers who go by this route every year…the path leads us thru all kindsa terrain…ups…downs…planes…and the like….climbing the ups pulls ur thighs pretty badly…and don’t ever think downs are aaram….downs put all kinds of pressure on ur knees….and that’s pretty much worse than ur thighs being pulled….no complaints about the plain terrain….hehe….

At one point inside the forest u hear a loud gush of water which obviously is that of a waterfall…but trying to reach it wud b asking for trouble unless u hav pro trekking equipments…and worth mentioning is the fact that wherever u find water in these forests , its colder than ice….believe me on that…

Proceeding further up the tree covered steep hills we reach a point which leads to 2 paths…

The path to the right goes to girigadde (and subramanya) thru the forests and is a shortcut….taking this path means u are skipping the main KP peak and ensures that ur trek is shortened and also less fun…from this point girigadde is 6.5 kms and to subramanya it is 12 kms….

The path to the left takes u to one of the most steepest rocks…probably 70 degrees wrt to the horizontal…a first luk makes u wonder if it is climbable…little do u know how fun it is to climb…once u start climbing that u ll really fall in love with it…to get to the peak we need to climb three such steep rocky hillocks…once that’s done a 15 minute trek uphill takes u to one of the most scenic spots…1700 metres above the sea level…that’s KP….once u r here u find ppl who hav taken the route from subramanya to this point…
By the time we reached this spot it was about 330 PM…and thanks again to some horrible misguidance from some ppl which resulted in us simply wandering the peak luking for an alternate route to kukke…1 precious hour wasted….this is the half way point…from here on its only descend descend descend….all the way….thru the grassy mountains leaving behind all the forests…


The descent starts with the king of kings…the steepest rock…and descending it is slightly harder than climbing…then about 15-30 mins of dense green cover…and then begin the grassy mountains….

a picture of the grassy mountains to the right...ppl descending it are also visible

These grassy mountains are plain at most of the parts and occasionally leads us down as well…this part of the trek makes u feel as if u were Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamjee of the lord of the rings…u will trek past approximately 5-6 such hills with dead drop on both sides until we reach the mantap…it just took us abt an hour from the KP peak to the mantap…it was about 545 in the evening wen we were there….we found some plain land so that we cud unwind our tents just abt about a few feet below the mantap since the mantap was already occupied by another gang…this place is ideal to pitch ur tents since this place is plain , pretty much protected by the winds and most importantly u get running water here….wud u believe that…!!...and that since we were already running short of water this place was like finding water in desert…this place is way way better than a desert though…no comparisions whatsoever…given a chance I wud live my entire life there…!!...no kidding…

sunset time on the left...


It was getting pretty dark and we had just enuf time to pitch in our tents and watch the sun sink in…in style…hehe….lighted campfire…though it wasn’t that cold out there…but campfire is a different experience altogether…Ate chapatis which we had brought from Bangalore from our homes…then dozed off in the tents at about 830….

It wasn’t in anyway chilly…Bangalore we thought was way cooler…and just as if to prove us wrong…at 430 in the morning winds started blowing so fast that everyone woke up fearing that the tents wud fly off…!!...it was as if the winds and the tents were fighting to show us who the ultimate winner is…our tents easily won though…J…this was the perfect time for campfire as we lit it again and really had amazing fun...

the pic to the left shows a bird's eye view of the forest checkpost and the paths we treaded...


Then started our second day at about 8 in the morning…a bit late though…waded past abt 7-8 grassy hills again till around 930 till we reached another checkpost which incidentally was open…everyone who passes this check-post has to pay 70 bucks(ie 70 per person)…tuk some rest there and left the abode of the forest police…J…then reached girigadde at 10 AM….ate our breakfast….uppit and chitranna…everyone ate so much of it which proved that we were already bugged of chapattis…hehe….the breakfast costs 25 bucks per person and each coffee costs 5 bucks…dunno abt a meal though…we then tuk off for the last segment our trek…all the way down to kukke…

We started at 1030 AM…and trekked past some plains until dense forest cover started again....this way down , I shud admit is to steep…I fell off thrice trying to cover large distances in short time and also twisted my already sore ankle twice….


A slight detour from the topic…I had already mentioned that my ankle was paining so much even b4 the start of the trek that I cudnt even walk…well…the pain was gone now…gone for good…and I was feeling as if I was still a teenager….hehe…

Back to the topic…coming to the steep way down….the best feature of this route is that wherever it is too steep to climb down , there are 2 paths…ones the steep one…and another almost plain…which I think is specifically made for ajjis and thaathas and all other kindsa weak people…

We climbed down and down and down so much that it felt like it wud take an eternity to reach down…until finally it ends kinda abruptly…we finally reached kukke at 1230 PM after 1.5 days of pure thrill…the hardest trek in karnataka was over after 38 kms of trekking…From this place a 1 km walk leads us to the temple…

From there we had a bath in the kumaradhara river which flows thru that place…had darshan…took a bus to dharmasthala at 530 PM since all buses from kukke to Bangalore were already booked…reached dharmasthala at 730…booked the 945 bus to Bangalore and simply wandered around the place to kill time…its worth mentioning that dharmasthala has buses to Bangalore every 3 mins…unbelievable…!!...


Its finally 945….time to leave…but the bus is late again….it left at 10…no complaints though…hehe…the bus driver is probably trying to fill in schumacher’s place…we were in Bangalore at exact 5 in the morning(jan 15th 2007)…

We ran along to the bmtc bus stand…was amazed to see a bus to my place…it was like as if it was waiting for me…it started instantly…I was home within 20 mins….cool isn’t it…


Its 545 in the morning…I hit the sack and dozed off….and so did everyone when they reached their homes…