Bike Trippin' : Day 1

0100hrs, 25th Sept '10 -
i get pinged on gtalk.. as usual i surfing the net waiting for someone..jus anyone to ping at this hour.. Ulrich is drumming his way to glory on my speakers n i am totally engrossed in FB (my usual activity on the net when i say i'm surfing :P) anyways so its Devang (batchmate at postgrad) n he suggests we go for juice to the city.. i as always willingly accept his idea n before u know it we are standing near the highway along the road sipping avocado juice.. the next day (or the same since its technically early morning n the day has changed) was an off for me after a long time n i had nothing to do.. had thought of going upto Kappad beach, a serene n clean beach nt visited by many.. so he tells me why not go Mahe (a drive-in beach nearby bt nt so great as Kappad).. then i dunno wat struck us bt we just thought why nt make longer trip like to cochin mebbe.. both of us were ready to bunk our sunday classes n i had an evening class on monday so basically we had 2.5 days on our hands n tht seemed to excite us even more.. so we headed bac to the campus n googled nearby places within 200kms whc wr worth visitng.. lot of ideas popped up like cochin..palakkad..munnar.. bt we settled on Ooty cuz lot many places existed arnd ooty whc were worth covering.. so at 2.30am we decided tht Ooty it ws.. gt the printouts of the directions to and from Ooty frm the CC(computer centre) at 3 n the excitement just didnt let me sleep.. finally i slept arnd 4 i'm guessing..

0630hrs, 25th Sept '10 -
unlike my other usual days i got up on the first alarm(without snoozing :P) without any hassles.. got my backpack n me ready ready by 7.45.. went down my hostel and got my bike ready..took some pics all ready to leave.. 8.05 Devang comes n we leave campus.. petrol filling..cash withdrawal n desperate attempts at 4-5 petrol pumps to fill up my tyres(due to no current) took arnd 20mins n finally we set out at 8.30am for our unplanned adventure..

being my first long bike journey has its pros n cons.. for one i was visualising worst case scenarios in my head..wat if my bike breaks down in the middle of nowhr.. a complete disastrous end to a thrilling journey.. luckily for me tht didnt happen.. i had always thought of jus packing n heading off to venture a new area or place n had always thot it to be unplanned.. ppl who know me closely wud kno hw i dream of backpacking one day (ref: anna wud remember when we once decided in a mumbai local of bike tripping along the maharashtra/karnataka coast one day).. well to say the least this ws somewat close to realising tht dream :)

so with numerous stops for pee breaks..clicking pics..abusing kerala bus drivers we completed the wayanad climb (9 sharp hairpin bends with a horrible road condition) at 9.45 only to find a CCD right whr the climb ended..

From Bike Trippin 25th-27th Sept 2010

such a strategic placement i must say..v apt for drivers n riders who after the rigour of going thru 9 dangerous hairpins wud want a well deserved break..
having a heavy breakfast of idli sambhar n aloo paratha (at CCD!! surprised :P) we again head out on the highway.. fortunately for us this stretch was like a biker's paradise.. with lush green tea gardens and the aroma of tea in the air this road was like butter.. so smooth n curvy tht i cudnt resist my hand at the throttle.. reaching the tamilnadu border there ws no sign of Devang as in the rush of adrenaline i had forgot tht he was behind me :P surprisingly immediately after crossing the border the road condition ws not so great as compared to Kerala standards.. had covered some 80 odd kms n ws in no mood to stop so i decided once i complete 100kms on my tripmeter wud stop n wait for Devang.. (absurd i kno dont ask me to reason tht one out).. anywho so the 100kms happened somewhr in the midst of tea plantations whr i found a spot to wait for my pal..nuthin muc to do other than peeing i decided to do some photography.. Devang arrives some 10mins later...
the ride upto the Nilgiris was great in the sense tht the vegetation ws much more diverse as compared to Kerala.. n sad to say tht God's own country has more or less the same trees every-freaking-whr.. i am soo bored of it tht this really seemed like a refreshing change to me.. so this time i drafted behind Devang to get a view of the scene arnd me.. we stopped at this breathtaking place whc had these really tall nilgiri trees.. the sudden temperature drop n the freakishly tall trees made us feel tht we wr in one of LOTR's earths.. the feeling is very difficult to describe and even pictures wr nt able to capture the grandness of tht place..

From Bike Trippin 25th-27th Sept 2010

on the way up the Nilgiris we saw 2 cyclists riding thr bikes along with us all the way up (:-O i kno).. Devang struck up a conversation wid one of them while on the bike.. n the 4 of us stopped at the point on the way up just to chitchat.. these guys turned out to be working at TechMahindra and wr preparing for a cyclothon whc ws going to happen in Himachal next month.. we inquired hw he manages to cycle all the way up.. to whc he said he has done 900kms over 5 days n for practice he cycles arnd 150kms on weekends for the cyclothon.. it just reminded me of the statement my father used to make often 'people fail to realise n utilise the human body's potential n end up underestimating it largely'..

after crossing Gudalur we wr approaching Ooty after 5hrs.. the temperature suddenly dropped to such an extent tht i had to stop n pull out my jacket.. so much so my hand failed to further twist the throttle once the bike reached 50kmph.. it ws freezing n my fingers wr numb n my teeth wr literally chattering..
finally we reached Ooty..183kms frm Kunnamangalam, Kozhikode at 1400hrs.. none of us knew wat the city looked like so we wr not sure if we wr in the heart of the city whr we wanted to crash..somehw we felt like tourists so touts around us stopped us to arrange for rooms.. we ignored them only to be bewildered hw to proceed.. approaching the main market we thot we'd have lunch first then look for a place.. unlike Kerala hotels the service ws the first thing tht caught my eye..it ws just too prompt and the food we ordered was on our tables in precisely 5mins.. feasting on the dum biryani we wr done in 10mins flat.. thr was a shop outside the restaurant with all this imported stuff.. davidoffs..Rothams..cuban cigars worth 750 bucks.. even zippo lighters were available..we wanted to buy leather gloves to save us from the chill while riding.. bt the quality being too cheap we left it at tht.. we went back to this place whr the touts wr fleecing ppl n inquired with one of them for rooms.. sitting on my bike he asked me whr i was from n wat i did for a living.. n delightfully this guy (infact all the ppl we met in this trip) knew hindi very well.. had this very bad notion of TN whr ppl refuse to speak hindi (must be still valid for places like chennai).. anyways so he takes us to 1 shady hotel whc we refuse to take. n a nice cottage below a hill whose rent was 2.5k.. we thot it wsnt a good idea to spend so much just for a night's stay.. so he took us bac to the place whr we had lunch.. apparently thr ws a hotel right above which we completely missed :P n booked a decent room for a decent 1.2k.. both of us immediately crashed out only to get up at 7.30..it ws now time to wander in the city by foot..

we had stumbled upon a barista while coming so we thot lets hang arnd thr for a while.. after a few attempts at shopping for gloves going in vain we decided to chuck it.. got a pack of Marlboros n headed to barista..even by 9 the city looked pretty alive with people n lights.. it nw started to rain so we had to opt for a rick who fleeced Rs 35 for displacing us a mere 2 kms.. we had to call the bugger again to drop us bac to the hotel..now we needed a few beers so we asked the driver to take us to some good bars.. we ended up being in some desi bars..the kinds wid dim lighting n arbit music :P.. we jus bought some beers n headed bac.. after a light dinner by 10.30 we thought of walking arnd.. the city ws as good as shut as we were the last customers at dinner..
at a distance we found a decent looking bar whc ws part of a hotel.. we gav it a try n went inside with our beers.bt the place closed by 11 and we cudnt get beers of our own inside.. so we headed bac to the room.. it ws so freaking cold now tht i ended up wearing 4 pieces of apparel.. (obviously on my upper half..lower half it wud be next to impossible ;)) over beers n marlboros in the chilling balcony we spoke of college life.. hw ppl getting married soon.. hw we cant do tripping once we r 'set' n finally deciding whr to head 2moro.. arnd 1am we finally hit the bed n looking forward to another eventful day ahead.... (look out for Day 2)

well here i am again..bac home for a good 2 months :) well honestly speaking the day i got a call frm a bschool all i thot of ws to get my summer internship in mumbai... well here i am :D
i was jus wondering hw fast time flows.. its been like a year since i moved outta home into a godforsaken plc called Kozhikode.. i remember last year this time i was so chilled.. last few days at work.. had told my boss this is it.. was awaiting results.. n basically dreaming wht course life wil take..although at tht point lot of things were happening.. yet now they seem so pointless... isnt it so simple to think bac n say 'why didnt i jus do this'..well anyways thts inherent i guess making decisions always seems easier when u look bac bt aint so simple while ur making them in the present...
so hmmm..hav been here in mumbai.. bac home for like over a week now.. hav a good amount of time on my hands till my internship starts.. loads in store for the next 2 months i hp...

zzzzzz....

oh man!! 3pm.. 5am.. 8pm.. there is a common thread that runs through these times. Guess what.. usually more often than not you'll find me snoozing away to glory at these times of the day of late. Dunno what's got into me. Its just getting too much. Have missed 2 lectures because I was too lazy to get up.. i'm in a b-school.. n people dont have time to do the usual things.. whereas I.. I keep snoring.. well one reasoning could be due to change in weather.. it has suddenly become very awesome.. i mean its the kind of weather whr you can just slide under the blanket and catch a movie or read a book along with a ho cup of tea..all this thanks to cyclone Phyan which whisked off the konkan coast leaving some after effects (in moderation ofcourse :)) for us to enjoy. Has been a great week after my midterms. But have realized that the enjoyment (read: lethargy) has stretched too far. Have to catch up on my acads, do projects well before deadlines (atleast thts wht the plan is).. so lots on the plate bt the only thing left is to wake up n start my meal :)
till then lemme enjoy another weekend :) have a great weekend!!!

What lies beneath!!!

I had a subject called Social transformation of India (STI)...basically a sociology subject it enlightens us on the fallacies, lies and deceipt on which we have evolved.. its a damn cool subject taught by one of the most brilliant teachers i have ever encountered.. Dr AF Mathew.. he teaches at MICA, Ahmedabad.. n his lectures r awesome n shocking.. u hv to go wid an open mind to accept the facts that he quotes.. especially for females..man its a shocker (hehe too contrary to wht he believes).. his topics range from caste, race, women, sex, gods, mythology, indian politics, films etc .. n all these combined... whtever beliefs we tend to hv naturally frm birth are based on frauds... based on so much lies n deception.. he gives such a critical argument to each and every fact/belief tht its mind blowing... btw he has been issued a fatwa due to his controversial teachings and so engaging methodology of teaching... also he had approached HC to seek protection frm the Bajrang Dal who v obviously could nt digest his facts and inferences..
yesterday jus going thru the texts of this course i realised we as people r so biased for no fault of ours...its jus the way society has evolved and accepted some things relating to God/culture/religion as gospel... thr is no way to find out the truth abt such events/occurences/history/culture/mythology which we consider as our sense of belonging.. i will try to pen down the issues taken up in this course to enlighten some of u.. nt wid the intention of biasing u.. bt jus to make u think - WHY???

i leave u with some excerpts of Mathew in his class...these are actual quotes of his in class targetted to anyone even if u r a girl.. so no restrictions in his class...can u imagine he asks ppl wht kind of porn they prefer watching.. :P n also gives a detalied description of it.. his students all over jus adore him... :)

He says that a long time ago women were actually dominant since she was sexually more powerful than a male... but wid time, the male ego made him feel insecure so in all cultures it can be seen how texts were doctored to show women being subjugated n shown in a bad light..one suc example...

"Chanakya's arthshastra says women are so pervert u have to put them in constant invigilation. They will have sex with ugly men... "i hope" says mathew sir with some treacherous smile , they will have sex with old man " i hope" again mathew sir with same smile."

"I am like a ray of light in your wretched lives.
I feel like a genius everywhere I go because you people know nothing"

"u dont read newspaper, u dont watch TV, so wat u do all day, watch Porn.... "

"god is standing in front of u
don worry now i hav come
everything will be alright...hmmm "

"If I had not come to teach you who would have emancipated your wretched souls"

"If a girl sleeps with ten boys of her class, she's a slut. If a boy does the same with ten girls, he's a stud. This is the bang-on-target example of gender bias.."

Addressing a lady: "Do you go home and declare, Mom ! Great news !! I'm a lesbian !! "

some 40 % of the students, I interview say Hitler is their role model. I normally select them coz I realize that they need me more

"I will declare I will screen a Lesbian film in auditorium and when all the seats are occupied, I will play the Gay Film"

"Of course I don't believe in that rubbish that all men are equal..You can't be my equal"

"Young people are same everywhere...one big koodadan"

"In Mills & Boon, hero plants a kiss on heroine's forehead and she faints. I think she'll have epilepsy during intercourse"

"when placement seasons come all of u will become monsters.....what do u say young women...hhmmmmmmm...."

"Do join Goldman Sachs NY and send me DVD's"

"come on guys...u all r students of IIM..supposedly the "best brains" in the country..baah such crap people talk no"

"you underdeveloped zygotes...."

"Look at this man...He will definately beat his wife after marriage...now don't say no."

"wife of a dalit is Slave to a Slave !!!"

"The Hindu Gods were all very 'playful'....Shiva.... Shiva(with a cheeky smile!!)"

"I can very answer your question by adding an adjective before a pronoun. The pronoun is 'you' and the adjective is a four letter starting with 'F"

"the "male gaze"!! in kerala, they can rape you with their eyes."

"To the engineers in the batch - all you have done in your life is -
0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1....."

"r u feeling sleepy?? wht were u doing last nite? watching porn? huh!"

After a student replies that he doesn't watch TV..
"You don't watch TV... what have you done in your life?"...:-)"

After talking about sexual liberties..
"All I have told you doesn't mean that you start pouncing on each other":-)"

"So the next time don't just ask "Do you have a girlfriend, ask , Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend :) ?"

Dislcaimer : All the above quotes are copyrighted to the ingenious Prof AF Mathew :) kudos to u Sir!!

status quo

i'm bac.. :P well thts like the gazillionth time i'v said tht..even the word cliched wud seem cliched ;)
anyways its never too late to initiate (or in my case re-initiate)..

time n again it has happened tht i get this wild craze to blog after going thru some ppls exciting writings n it mks me wonder hw they come up wid such content. i mean either ones life has to be exceptionally happening such tht it wud seem the world revolves arnd u or ur gifted to come up with such crap..

anyways things at my end r pretty chill.. half way thru my term 2 at IIM Kozhikode..it does seem nw tht the blizzard is tamed.. chillaxing at home fr 2 months sleeping for arnd 10 hrs a day to this freakin schedule here..man gettin used to it ws a tough task.. bt finally things hv mellowed down.. its now time to get a few things in plc..

will keep this updated.. infact i do hv a post tht ws long due to be posted.. will post it ritoway..

cheers!!!

.........

dots thts wht appears in front of me when i see my future... all i need to do is connect these and lead my life to whrever i like...
well am at a very interesting standpoint of my life as of now... in a few days time i wud be witnessing a drastic change in my routine..i hate changes in routine.. its actually been a part of my well being now... meaning since childhood i'v been someone who takes a lot of time to "set in"..bt when i do i don feel like 'moving on'..bt one good thing abt this experience is i get to keep a lot of good memories with lot of ppl.. i always tend to pick up certain qualities frm the ppl i like n try to emulate them in my own existence...pretty strange ppl wud say.. hving no individuality..
pls forgive me for this rapid burst of thoughts cuz i myself hv nt thought wht to write upon.. so whteva is coming in my mind i'm blurting it out....

ok now let me get organized.. channelize my thought process...ok things i gotta do....
1. plan a great vacation..
2. call up friends (after few confirmations :P)
3. get some gifts/write notes for ppl i think made a difference to my life.. (basically give them some free gyaan..poor souls :P)
4. read some books.. catch up on some comics..
5. START BLOGGING..jus must be on top priority.. damn i'm jus loving this....:P
6. thts enuf for now dude.. thand rakh...

accha haaaan i jus thought of something to write upon.... keep chking this space...

Right or wrong...good or bad.. who decides

just this other day had a good n thoughtful debate with some friends of mine..it actually started off on valentines' day when a friend jus casually mentioned how he thought going around/dating without any strings attached (..or to be attached) was wrong... morally n ethically.. his point was you propose to a person of the opposite sex only with the intention of marriage..meaning if u see someone..get attracted to tht person it is because u see him/her as a potential life partner.well my point being exactly the opposite meaning marriage is (n should not) be the only criteria for proposing to someone..the point i made was tht jus a casual relationship is harmless n more importantly NOT wrong.. to which he said it ws against our culture.. now we debated a lot on this culture issue with case studies n real life scenarios.. bt with due course of time we were led to another altogether different topic.. who decides whats right/wrong?or something is good/bad?? ohk i know ppl would say ur ethics/principles/moral values,etc.. bt dont give me tht hogwash.. for a moment think of how u can judge a certain act/belief/ritual as being right or wrong in absolute terms.. i mean for the debate above my friend says a casual relationship is wrong.. n i say its absolutely fine n normal.. but like who decides whether it is REALLY right/wrong, good/bad.. its a really controversial topic i know.. but needs lot of maturity to think on it because when u form an opinion on something its based on ur personal bias/experience/culture,etc (meaning it is a relative thing).. BUT does tht mean tht ur opinion is right.. there will always be some ppl who share ur view who feel ur opinion is right..BUT thr will also be ppl who think otherwise.. now who decides who is right among the 2 in absolute terms..
take the case of alcohol consumption, non-vegetarianism, robbery.. all these r issues whr thr is a general consensus tht they r wrong.. but i want you to think WHY r they wrong??keep ur religion/bias/principles aside n think of the answer..
i have tried to burst my brains thinking about this but have not come to a conclusion..does tht mean all tht is in this world is relative?? thts the big question..
plz try n share ur thots/opinions with me would really appreciate that...