Travelogues and Almost Everything Else!

Letters on a Bridge

2008-04-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

Read this poignant story, and thought I should share it..

Oh Those Eyes

2008-01-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

I have no doubt in my mind that these are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. There is something so very special about them. Whats awesome is that they belong to my sis! And boy oh boy do I miss her :-)
The Barsati's arch and a silhouette of myself and my camera lens are seen in her eyes.

Major events in MBA Term 1

2008-01-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

I moved in with my new room-mate in a University Apartment, and spent the first four months there. I think I had a pretty tough time, with studies being tough, few friends to spend time with, hostile weather, no extra-curricular activities and a completely new place.
But by April, somebody decided that I had been punished enough. Good things began happening. A guest was coming over in April and I was moving to a new apartment. I was joining the elite York Consulting Group, and at the same time, I was making a few friends. There was some kind of a semblance of balance after I found a terrific tennis partner in Gaurav Malse.This guy was a national level under 16 tennis champ - I had struck gold.
Mahesh visited me after I spent a couple of months in Toronto. American Airlines has been kind enough to give free rides to all its employees. Lucky Bastards! I spent some time with Mahesh and Nimesh - went out skiing once. The interesting thing about this skiing place (Earl Bales Ski Resort), which is right in Toronto is that the ski slope is not on a mountain.. its in a ditch, a trough. The area around Toronto is as flat as a flushing meadows tennis court, and a ditch is the only place that could afford a ski slope!

Back Live!

2008-01-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

Its Been a fun year, and I have not made any journal entries right through. I am going to try and put up a few things that I remember from my first year in Toronto - 2007. And then, I am going to try and maintain my blog and my website. Best of Luck Vaarun!
I left for Toronto on the 29th of December, 2006 by an Air India flight. Somehow, this time round there was'nt the kind of excitement that I felt when I had left for Pittsburgh (Sept 2005). There was the overwhelming feeling that I was going to be away from family for an indefinite period of time, and what was different with Pittsburgh was that I was on a short deputation through my company. I WAS coming back in 8 months, you see.

What did you say? Success?

2007-04-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

So what finally am I looking for from life? Is it excitement? Is it comfortable living? Is it relationships? Power? Money? Societal honour?
Its probably about sustained happiness. Life brings you a great deal of repetitions.. you do your work, you get back to the same home, you meet the same people and then take a break with some folk you know in the weekend. For sustained happiness then, you will need to enjoy those repetitive things that you do day in and day out.

For me, and for most folks that I know, its the small things that happen in the day. Maybe its the nice breakfast that you had, maybe its that hug that you got from your mom, it could be the chat you had with some old relative you connected with recently. It surely is about the people around you that make you smile, its about the mountains about you that make you feel that you are at home, the music that keeps you humming all day. I really dont know who would feel hugely happy on the first of every month to see $20,000 in his account.. maybe for the first time, maybe for the second, but its not possible every time. There are some who want that splendid sofa... I put the same question here.. would you feel happy when u sit on that sofa for the millionth time?
What then is the place of money in this whole system? I think its a means to an end. Without money, there is no question of coming home after work and smiling at anybody if you dont have money to educate your kid, or a reliable decent home to protect yourself. And that, basically, is all it can give us. Once these necessities have been taken care of, it does not make any further sense to make sacrifices in order to earn more.
I have divided my life into a few zones that are important to me.. relationships, work and my personality . I have heard many people point to an acquaintance whose driver takes him around town in a Camry, and say "Look, Thats Success". Sorry, but I beg to differ. I think what they are referring to is Success at Work. Do you even know if that man is happy? Do you have any idea if he has succeeded in Life?

Is IT Reliable?

2007-03-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

Every engineering discipline has gone through a process of evolution. There have been important changes to the way cars, buildings and dams have been engineered over time, and all these changes have made things better. Through the course of this evolution, some massive blunders have been committed. The cases of poor ship navigation systems that brought down the titanic, poor reactor design that caused Chernobyl or improper spaceship design that caused the Columbia space shuttle problem show that no engineering discipline is perfect, and there are some conditions under which failure will occur. What this meant for the world of engineering was that there needed to be a renewed and vigorous attempt at reducing the chances of failure. And this was done, by pouring billions of dollars into finding solutions to these problems.
As a Computer Engineer, I have seen numerous folk segregate the field of Computer Engineering from the rest of the Engineering disciplines. I will vouch say that Engineering of IT and Computer Systems is very similar to any of the other Engineering fields. We did not decrease the investments in ship building because of titanic. Instead, we invested more, to try and build a safe and secure shipping industry. ( I love the ice breakers of today, they are such mean and strong machines, and they look so awesome when they crush the ice J
We have to realize the importance of the different pieces of technology that we have been blessed with. It’s a cost benefit analysis, and although it may sound crude, an engineering problem that is discovered is very likely a problem will be solved. I think the rapidity with which strides have been made in the area of Computer Technology is a tribute to the genius of humans. Once we are able to appreciate the usefulness of IT in modern life, and our ability to solve complex problems, I think we will be able to see that with enough focus in terms of human and non-human resources, we will be able to overcome the challenges that face the Industry.

Im an MBA Candidate!

2007-02-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

Its Unbelievable but true. Im really doing my MBA, and its an old dream of mine coming true.

Toronto's Schulich School of Business has a very impressive feel to it. The facilities are very nice and the professors on the whole are good. You can visit the website at http://schulich.yorku.ca The students here are from a very varied background, with 70% being non-canadians, and believe me these guys are from all corners of the world.

We had a "Launch Week" here, and that was about some ice-breakers, speeches by some top people and some fun and dinners. Overall, it had the desired effect on us new-comers.

Rajni!

2006-11-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

My friend Venky had over time educated me about the greatness of the man, about his strength, his courage, his empathy and love for the poor and above everything else, his complete control over his senses and faculties.
In "Baasha", Venky told me, Rajni decided to leave the violent life of a Mumbai underworld don behind, and become a simple autorickshaw driver in Chennai. There, a customer decides to pay Rs 0 after the commute, telling Rajni to "get lost". Rajni pleads with the customer, but to no avail. Its then that Rajni simply smiles at the arrogant upper class/caste fellow, moving away without so much as raising his finger. "There is only one man", said Venky, "just one man in the whole world who can do this". A little later, Rajni erroneously drives his rick into a thug infested chawl. A petty gunda calls Rajni over, and would you believe it, actually hits Rajni, even kicks him! "How dare you enter my area" he yells. Rajni, the ex-don, the all powerful super-hero simply looks on, smiles back and retreats. And Venky articulates with exagerrated emotion, " There is just one man in the whole world who can do that". It is during this period when Rajni is retreating that he notices the same gunda slapping a child. Now, that was something that he could not bear. He turns his rickshaw around, and gives a nasty pasting to the chap. "It was only after this that I started enjoying that movie", Venky says. "I tell you, I felt so very bad when people were ill treating our man".
After soaking up sustained pressure from Venky for more than two months, I finally succumbed. Today is not just another Sunday.. its my lucky sunday. Today, i get to watch the man that is popularly believed by most of the south to be the greatest man alive. Im going to watch a Rajnikanth movie! Its titled "Chandramukhi", and Rajni here is the infallible mind reader. I saw the movie through and through, and thought that it had the same basic theme, extolling all the great virtues of Rajni.
I have been thinking for quite some time now about the reasons for the love that people have for Rajni. And I decided that this was the weekend I would try and figure that out - by watching his movies. The South, by far, is the more prosperous portion of India. Be it the literacy levels, nutrition levels, or scores of other stastical measurements, the South is doing much better than the other parts of India. Its surely not true then, that there is some "brain-numbing virus" thats doing the rounds there.. we have brilliant people out there, and that is the reason most of the FDI comes directly into the lap of Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. No, theres got to be some other reason.
Anyway, after seeing the movie, my question still remained unanswered. There certainly was nothing in the movie to spark off such a craze. My conclusion - there was something in the people watching it! Tamil Nadu has most of the time had a film star as its CM, and the trend of worshipping their heroes started long back. Either it was Anna, or MGR, or some film star or the other. In each of their cases, you would find that their roles and films have been carefully crafted, each man trying to look more like a Robin Hood. In times of desperation, the masses in the South took solace from the kind heartedness that was shown to them by the super-heroes. Movies became more of a feel-good event, than entertainment. It is quite understandable then, that in Chennai, the density of pawn shops is higher close to movie theatres than elsewhere! This continued from the 50s, with the populace going through dire poverty, and very tough times. This generation might be seeing a more prosperous life, but some of the characteristics of the previous generation still lingers. In any case, my theory thus far is that all those hordes of people go to the cinema to feel good, and see one of their own beat up the bad guys, and have a man as great as Rajni look on at them with kind eyes.

Goa!

2006-10-09T04:04:00.000-07:00

Finally, I understood. Ive been to Goa atleat 7 times (mostly when I was too young), but this was the first time I could appreciate Goa for what it really is. Nizammuddin express took us to Margoa at about 6:30 AM, and when we checked in to the hotel, there was this crazy buzz in the air.. we were in GOA!
Pooja, my darling friend, struck up a rapport with the first Goan she could see. He was Joe, our bus driver from the station to the Hotel .In his jolly and relaxed way, he talked about things that we city dwellers consider inconsequential. After getting some of our essential supplies, we rushed to the nearest beach, which was Candolim. There was a crazy hour of water splashing, and throwing people into the water, followed by a walk along the edge of the water. Pooja and I took a snap with an old fisherman who was mending his net, and I found his smile to be so genuine!
We then spent about four hours in a restaraunt, eating and drinking merrily, and followed that up with some mock cricket. I dont know what the hell it was that prompted us all to get into the water again. The gradient of the beach was a tad steep at the point where we entered, maybe because the harbour was close by. This caused the waves to come in at quite a furious pace, and boy oh boy, we enjoyed every second of all the battering that the Arabian sea could give us. We, the crazy boys in the party just had to take on the mighty waves, and at every step went deeper and deeper into the sea. Man, this was huge huge fun.. and when the wave retreated, threatening to take us in with it, it was scary!
I had my first close encounter with a Goan that evening when we went looking for bikes on rent. The almost completely drunk agent talked with me as if he and I were the greatest of buddies.. "Array haan re.. hum to full Goa mein ghuma hai re, itna accha jagah kahin nahin hai re.. tujhe jitna help kar sakta, utna karega mai.. bas tum mereko beer ka paisa de do!".
That night, we friends had a game of poker, and that was great fun too. The next morning, we got up slow and groggy, and a good tea and horrible breakfast shook us up. We got some of our essential supplies, and then, got out to see the market of Mapusa. What a beautiful market, and what fun we had in there! Later that evening, we had open air dinner at Calangute, and boy oh boy, our eyes were treated to some of the finest beauties that they have ever seen. And they werent in small numbers.. they came in the hundreds! Anyway, dinner was followed by club Tito.. which although it had a big name, felt like an average place to hang out.
The next day was our last in Goa, and we had a bus to take home that evening. However, that was preceeded by an incident. The Goan owner of the vehicle we had rented noticed that we had returned it with lesser petrol that what it ought to have. We were willing to pay up, but the problem was that he was asking for way too much money. The happy go lucky goan suddenly went burserk in the midst of our negotiation. We had quite a fair idea that he was a well connected petty rascal in that town. What was mind blowing though, was the way the guy's behavior turned turtle after we managed to drive sense into him. He said sorry about fifty times all in all, and said that the next time we came to Goa and wanted anything at all, we should let him know! I guess drinking has its advantages!
There was some unmentionable fun that we had on the bus ride back home, but it was all in good taste. Ona different note, I think a great great positive for me on this trip was the bonding that I made with my folks.. you dont get too many such opportunities to ...
I get a feeling somewhere, that its not gonna be long before I make my eighth trip to Goa!

Find more photos at:
http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pooji_rajput/album?.dir=/cc9bscd&.src=ph&.tok=ph9ZyoFB4AlBQ0e6

Spirituality and Religion

2006-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

This, in a nutshell was what I spoke in the Literature Club meet a couple of weeks back. The topic was a very thought provoking one, "Can a person be Spiritual without being Religious". "Ive got to tell you that I was initially confused about the topic.. I thought it was to do with spiritualism, which I later found out was a subject dealing with ghosts and Haka Mari's and some such! Anyway, I realized in time that the topic is about Spirituality.. thankfully.
I think it has always been easier to cultivate among people a 'way of life' as compared to actually instilling a principle. I think it was my grandfather who told me once about the ingenuity of the Hindu priests. They said that it was a great religious custom to go to the temple. And the temples were generally built on a hilltop. It was also made customary for people to go many times round the temple, and then prostrate before the lord.. atleast 3 times. This was a great way to get the people to engage in some physical activity. I am fairly certain that if a village elder had tried to tell people about the advantages of exercise, the idea would have gone nowhere.
I think it was in this way that religion tried to create in common people a certain quantum of spirituality. Religion was more of a dictation of how exactly a person can be spiritual. However, religion does not restrict itself to spirituality. Religion has a much wider scope, as it governs the entire way in which people live their lives. Apart from many other things, it tries to encourage arts, culture, and very importantly, it tries to unify a group of people. Although it may be extraneous to the topic for today, I feel that we are today living in the best possible times. There were wars ravaging the entire world in the earlier centuries, and justice was an impossibility for the under-privilaged. It was a case of survival of the fittest and the most powerful. In those days of turmoil, unity was of paramount importance. And this was one of the important effects that religion had on society.
While we talk about all the good things that religion did, lets not forget that each religion came across a period when it underwent corruption. For Hinduism, it was between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, when things became overtly ritualistic, and people, for the lust of power began to manipulate society. Even today, we have extremists who use religion to serve their lust for power.
It is true therefore, that I feel that religion is a pathway to spiritualism. What then, is spiritualism? Spiritualism is a very wide term, encompassing a whole host of issues. Among those, it tries to keep us sane, moral .. I think a moral person can very likely call himself spiritual, and happy. To digress, I think happiness is something that is felt when a person does a particular task with single mindedness. If various other thoughts do not enter his mind, he is sure to feel happiness while doing what he is at.
Spirituality is something that can be achieved by different people and different religions in their own way, and all the major religions that I am aware of try to instill spirituality among its people.
I think I have overshot my time. Thank You."

White Water Rafting at Kundalika!

2006-09-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Was a crazy day out visiting the Kundalika river. It was a really busy day.. we hardly got a break from the "JAI KUNDALIKA!" slogan. Its a beautiful fast flowing river flowing into the Arabian Sea, and the white water rafting happens at a point between Tamhini and the Bombay Goa Highway, about a hundred kilometres from Mumbai and Pune. First of all, the greenery is just breath taking. There are beautiful lush green hills on every side and you can sense that there has never been a shortage of water in this part of the world!We left Pune at 4AM and reached at about 7AM, just in time for the sudden gush of water that flows through the river after Tata opens its dam gates. After a great deal of sloganeering, our group of 11 got into the inflated boats.

The instructor told us what he meant by "Right Forward", "All Down" and so on, and we set forth. Seven of us were in one boat and four in the other. The first rapids were superb, but the next one was just breathtaking. This one had a wall of water, about 7 feet in height right in front of us, and we enterd it head on. Our instructor yelled "All Down", and we put out heads inside the boat.. oh boy it was awesome. You are supposed to hit such rapids head on, and at a good pace. If you dont, there is a good chance that the boat could overturn. Anyway, there was then some more "Jai Kundalika" and some racing between our boats. Another rapid followed, and then there was a flat section of river moving at slow to medium speed. It was then that we heard this new code word that our instructor had not told us about.. " All Overboard" he yelled. I was stumped.. I said "What"? "Overboard man.. get off the boat"! "There is water outside here man... its deep too!" I yelled. He said "Oh Yeah, not more than 25 feet.. dont worry.. u got your life jacket on anyway". What the hell, we thought, and jumped off the boat, and boy, it was fun. The life jacket just would not let us drown, and the river took us down about 3-4 kilometres in the hour and a half that we spent floating in it. The dive into the water, and the confusion that set in as soon as I hit the water.. that was probably the biggest thrill of the whole trip! Well, we got off the river, had some wada pavs and then sang some songs on our way back home.. a trip to remember!

Gerstner’s Who says Elephants Cant Dance – Summary and review

2006-08-30T02:04:00.000-07:00

The guy is one of the reasons from my being in this company. It’s a very commonly held view that had it not been for Gerstner, IBM would have filed for bankruptcy, signalling what many called a defeat for America. IBM was infact such a precious jewel in America’s crown that when Gerstner was contemplating about the IBM CEO offer, Watson came up to him and told him, “Take up the challenge Lou, You owe it to America”!
Well, we all know that this kinda emotional hogwash is not the normal working style of these executives.. so let us also put that aside for a moment and get down to business.
IBM, for quite some time had been a mammoth, fragmented, paternal, inward looking and process oriented organization. This was acceptable till the 70’s, but once the 90’s came on, the competitors had wisened up, while IBM remained the same. And the losses began to mount. Lou took over in 92-93 and brought with him, some sweeping changes in the culture and processes within IBM. In his book, he describes the changes that he made is a simple and lucid style. Here is a brief summary:
1) De-fragment the Company: He dumped suggestions that IBM could be productive only if it could be broken into smaller companies. Instead, he chose to create a one of a kind end to end solution provider, something all clients were always craving for. To this end, he:
a. Ended the geographic fiefdoms, and decided to concentrate on business units that used resourses from multiple geographies. To Encourage Business unit heads to look out for IBM’s success rather than their units success only, he based their compensation packages into two parts.. Business unit Performance holding a smaller share, and IBM’s performance, holding a greater share.
b. Created a centralized advertising unit to send a coherent message.

2) Shift the Focus to the Customer:
a. Direct research towards what customers want, not what the researchers want.
b. Operation Bear Hug – All execs visit 5 customers and solve major problems faced by them. Signified a cultural change, making IBM easier to deal with, and showed the customer that we cared

3) Created cultural changes:
a. Instill the sense of urgency. If we make misteakes, let them be because we were too fast, rather than too slow.
b. Cut down on beurocracy and politics, encourage the team to act in accordance with the spirit of the process, not just in accordance with the process.

4) Trimmed down the machine:
a. Cut down more than 100, 000 jobs.
b. Re-engineered business processes.
c. Sell unproductive assets and real estate, subsidiaries

5) Pay:
a. Made stock options compulsory to the executives, thus tying up their pay to their performance.
b. Differentiated Pay: Pay the better performers better.

6) Strategy:
a. Placed a big bet on services
b. Embraced Open Standards based rather than a proprietary Business style (like Microsoft).
c. Sell off units with no future (IBM Network to AT&T), exit the OS2 vs Windows race, leave application software. Choose focus over breadth.
d. Reposition the mainframe, cut its cost and let them all know its vital. Change in technology to CMOS from bipolar was crutial
e. IBM could never use all the patents that it created. Lou decided to sell patents and technology to others.

The book is a must-read for executives looking for a new job and a great read for all IBMers as it puts forth all that lovely history while helping us understand what this huge monster is all about. However, I will warn the “not so management inclined” folks against this one.
And a major suggestion I will bring up sometime in IBM is to create a book, written in this kind of a story book fashion that explains our strategy to our people (and mind you.. keep it as an internal document! )

Gir National Lion Reserve Diary Entry

2006-08-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

After an hour of careful packing by my sister, we set out to Baroda’s Bus stand at 6:30 in the morning. Our cousin Teju would accompany us in our trip to India’s Gir National Park and Lion reserve. Though there was no direct bus to SasanGir, the entry point into the National Park, there was one that would take us to the halfway point, Rajkot. The bus was taxiing on first gear when we caught up and flagged it down.
The bus, as is often the case with state transport Buses, was a dilapidated collection of metal. I found it quite extraordinary that this old lady still managed to carry about seventy five passengers (while the capacity was just forty five) to and from its destination about three hundred kilometers away everyday. What is more, I had heard that she had been doing this for the last forty two years! What was most amusing about the ride though, was the way the roof of the bus leaked when it rained. You would be mistaken if you thought that we were seated at an unlucky seat. Almost every local inhabitant was well equipped and many of them hid under their raincoat! We took the cue and pulled out our jackets.
After a sumptuous lunch at a restaurant close to the bus stand and a small walk to help digest the rich Gujrathi food, our journey resumed. We reached Junagarh by around five, and, as we wanted to settle down in a Gir hotel before dark, we caught another state transport bus immediately. This bus was a tad cleaner, and was not over crowded. Teju dint take much time to comment, “Now, is this not a nice bus!”. Sure it was after the afternoon journey, but had we seen the same bus any other time, our reaction, I assure you, would have been quite different.
We reached SasanGir at 7 PM, and went straight to the forest Guest House. I had cajoled my sister into calling up one of Project Tiger’s pioneers, Fa teh Singh Rathore, whom she had interviewed a month earlier for a column in a Daily local. She was a great wildlife enthusiast, and had visited quite a few wildlife sanctuaries earlier. Her last trip to Ranthambore Tiger reserve was where she met Mr Rathore. Rathore was an elderly man, and is given the lions’ share of the credit for bringing back Tigers from the brink of extinction. He had taken kindly to my sister, and when she requested that he try and get us reservation at Gir’s Forest Guest House, he did not disappoint. The manager allocated a spacious room, but gave us some damaging news. He said that the onset of the monsoons had forced the forest administration to shut the jungle down for visitors. They feared that even 4x4’s would get stuck in the slush, and pose a great risk for those inside it. My heart fell, and I even considered the option of turning on our heels and heading back to the cosy comfort of my uncle’s home in Baroda.
My sister and I are outdoor enthusiasts, and cannot resist a visit to the nearby forest, swamp or hill every fortnight. It was very possible that I would have a very busy work schedule the next six months, and a little egging from my sister was all the excuse I needed to plan this big trip to Gir. We would leave Pune, take a stop over at my uncle’s place in Baroda, visit Gir, the entire trip taking us about a week.
Mridula was a bubbly kid of thirteen, and every moment around her was filled with some mischief. We are a great pair and absolutely enjoy each other’s company. I have great love for her, and she is the apple of my eye in no uncertain terms.
Teju on the other hand, was a partner in crime when he used to stay in Pune. Long ago, when we were kids, we crept into my home from a window, stole some goodies, and were gorging ourselves on them when we heard my mother unlocking the door. It took a burglars stealthy movements to maneuver from room to room and finally find our way out of the house from the same window, unnoticed! Each time we meet even now, we narrate this tale again and roll on the floor laughing at our antics!
Hiding my disappointment with the developments from my sister, I scouted around the village of Sasan, looking for someone who would help us out in our predicament. We would have to thank our lucky stars that the owner of the restaurant at which we had dinner introduced us to a guide. This guide was a puny dark looking man of medium height, and called himself Manoj. He had clean and good skin, as do most Gujrathis. What was exceptional about him though, were his big brown eyes. They were so big that even when he opened his eyes wide, his iris would not be completely visible.
“Vehicles are not allowed inside the jungle” he said. “But we can walk into it”. I had a fair idea that walking inside the jungle was not risk free, and I asked him about it. “Oh Sir, don’t worry about that. The jungle does not hurt those who stay within their limits. If you don’t do anything atrocious like touching the lions cub, or its kill, they are never interested in harming you”. The deal was settled and we were to meet at six in the morning. As we parted, I told him, “You have such big eyes, I think that is what helps you spot animals in the wild, making you a good guide. We had a hearty laugh, and parted with a good feeling about each other.”
It was pouring down heavily at 6 in the morning. The guide brought an umbrella, and absolutely nothing else. After much cajoling, he brought me a pipe which I wanted to use in self defence, but he did not forget to make a little mockery about what he perceived to be my arrogance, “So you think you can defend yourself from a lion with this pipe!” I told him that in the eventuality, he should take care of my little sister, and that my brother and myself would fend for ourselves.
After a half hours trudge, we entered the forest. It was a bit frightening in the beginning, but as we went along, things got better. The rain stopped, and the three of us were having a light hearted banter. My sister was an avid birdwatcher, and pointed out quite a few interesting birds. The cormorant topped them all. She said that Chinese fishermen used that bird to catch fish. The presence of the bird also meant that we were close to a river or lake. Then it was that close to a puddle about 30 metres away, I spotted a jackal. He was drinking water, but at our approach, he quickly withdrew and started in a different direction. It was a decently big animal, but one that is timid, and does not want to get in our way. What was noticeable though, was the look of cunning in its eyes. It was instantly clear that this chap would never attack from the front. He would attack its prey from behind, and would do so with help from his comrades. The jackal hardly took his eyes off us. He would have a look at the road ahead for about 10 metres, and then trot in that direction while keeping his eyes steadily on us, watching our every move. His jaw was open and his tongue was sagging out. All in all, he did not seem the most comfortable chap to share land with.
Another half hour’s trekking brought us to a small river. It was divided into two parts and each part was not more than 15 feet wide. The water though, was cold and not very inviting. “Are there crocodiles around here?” I asked Manoj. “Sometimes. Unlikely though”. The three of us scanned the surface of the stream for the two dots that form the eyes of the crocodile. That is the only portion of the crocodile that is visible when they are out to hunt. Nothing was visible, and we stepped into the water. We crossed the first part of the river without much trouble. But in the second stream, every step that we took brought us a little deeper. At the deepest point, I was chest deep in this jungle stream.
We crossed over, and found that there was a star jungle resort on the other side. They offered tents to accommodate us, and the off-season rates lured us into them. I would have to admit that the tent offered us some great luxury, with air coolers, a changing room, bath tub, and fantastic comfortable beds. After a little debate about who would get to use the bath tub first, we each spent a good half hour in there. Nothing like lazing around in a bath tub after a tough trek in the jungle. I found myself splashing around in the water like a baby elephant in a pond. It was great.
Before we could have an hours rest, it was 4, and Manoj was already waiting to take us for the second trek of the day. We had a night safari planned in a jeep, and could not afford more than a couple of hours for this walk.
Manoj told us that he had heard of a kill in the jungle nearby. A lioness had killed a spotted deer. We hurried after Manoj. The sky was overcast, and there was intermittent downpour for a couple of minutes followed by the dull overcast conditions. This trek was more of a tense affair. After a half hour walk, we reached a valley of sorts. To the North West and North East, were small hills. To the South was a range of hills. Beyond the Northern hills were farms owned by villagers. This valley was quite a vantage point and we could see clearly for a kilometer or so in all directions. But, Manoj had another point of view. “This is also a place where we can be spotted easily. The lion is no threat. It is an animal that has learned to co-exist with us. It is the leopard that poses a threat to us. If you see a leopard in front of you, you can almost always be sure that within a few minutes, it will be behind you. The leopard never attacks from the front. Also, if you see any predator in an aggressive mood, don’t run or yell. Stay there and look it in the eyes.”
We dint spend much time in the open. Instead, we started walking into the jungle. Ten minutes into the walk, Manoj suddenly told us to stay where we were. He seemed to have spotted something. He walked in the direction of the sound. The rain had started pouring again, and it was very unnerving for us standing there then. The three of us then formed a triangle and stood with our backs to each other. We were looking in different directions for signs of danger.
Manoj came back after about five minutes. “Not even a damned rabbit” he exclaimed. We continued the tense walk. Every few seconds, I looked back to see if I could spot any signs of a leopard. Walking into the jungle was illegal, simply for the reason that it was too dangerous, but the jungle being shut down had left us with little option. Given another chance, I would probably not take this risk.
It started getting darker, and the jungle continued to get thicker. The trees in Gir are short and bore few leaves when we were there. It was ideal territory for the lion. We walked on. Shortly, we came to an opening. There was a stony hill the left and some odd shaped stones lying around with a rare spattering of animal bones. My sister told me that she had had enough. I let Manoj know. He said that we going to hit a road very soon. And sure enough, we hit one in another ten minutes. And remarkably, it was the road right next to our resort. As far as I could tell, we were heading North from the resort, and never once did we take a turn. How it was that we reached the resort again was a complete mystery. We were probably taking small five degree turns, I reasoned. But, in any case, I got an inkling as to why people say that the jungle is the easiest place to lose yourself.
Another short rest later, our jeep arrived, and took us to a cosy village house. That was where we were going to have our dinner. In Gujarat, infact in all of North India, potatoes are staple food. It is very rare to find food that does not have potatoes swimming amidst a generous dose of oil. I requested the kind village lady for some curry that does not have potatoes. “In that case, is Cabbage Potato curry fine with you?” she asked.
At ten in the Night, we left for the Safari. A cow had been killed by a male lion, and we were to head straight for the carcass. I did tell Manoj that the entire point of the exercise was not to sight a lion, but to get a feel of the jungle. If we do spot a lion, it’s an added bonus.
Midway, we stopped. “If you want to empty your bladder, this is the last spot. For the next few hours, you will not be able to get down from the jeep” the driver said. A half hour later, we reached the kill. It was a small cow which was killed, but not yet torn open or eaten. The villagers who owned the cow had not allowed the lion to eat it, and this had agitated the lion greatly, I learned. The villager who owned the cow would be re-imbursed five thousand rupees by the forest department, but I was seeing here, first hand, the conflict that man had taken up with nature.
We had another car with us, and three guides in all. Two of them were villagers, and one, a forest department employee. They got down from the vehicle and congregated in the mud off the road. They stood close to each other and shone their powerful torches in the same direction. After surveying the area, they returned with news that the lion was not in that area just then. We headed for another area. Enroute, we saw some Nilgai, the largest deer in India. It was very big, nearly the size of a buffalo. We also saw some spotted deer and black buck. As we headed deeper into the jungle, the number of spotted deer just multiplied. They could be seen in herds of hundreds. There was one spotted deer though that took the cake. It was a fawn, which had buried a small pit for itself and was lying down there with its front paw below its face. It was right next to the jeep, and its big eyes were really endearing.
We halted next at a crossroad. There, sitting on a small mound was a wild cat. Much larger than its domestic counterpart, it had large triangular ears, and when it yawned, the size of its mouth quite took me back. We also spotted a wild ass, one of the rare and endangered species, which can be found only in Gujarat.
All of a sudden, our guide came running back to the car. He had heard the roar of the lion and he directed the driver in its direction. A couple of turns later, we entered a slushy road. The rear end of the jeep veered left and right, and we were praying that it does not get stuck. And then, just that happened. The rear wheels were rotating exactly at the same spot in the land. It was only then that the driver engaged the four wheel drive, and with a little jerk, we got out of the rut. It was a harrowing, but exciting experience.
The clock, meanwhile, had already struck two in the morning, and we had a train to catch at 7. I directed the driver to get back home, and we got back by three. We got to see some spotted deer, nilgai and tortoises on our way back.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I will definitely make another trip to this destination. And this time, I will make it a long, one week trip!

Weekend at Ohiopyle and Harrisburg

2006-04-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sumit, Dipak and Vaarun were the 3 musketeers on this occasion. It turned out to be a fun trip to Harrisburg, which is about 200 miles east of Pittsburgh. Seven hours of driving takes its toll on some, but we had a good time listening to music and pulling each other's leg. Harrisburg is a beautiful city with a nice wide river flowing through it. In particular, there was one spot from where we could see an old stone rail bridge crossing the river. We had a nice photo session there.
The next day was an even bigger blast, We headed to the Ohiopyle State Park. This is a scenic and quiet forest, where people had settled in during the industrial revolution. The quaint old houses were very charming, and this time, there was a waterfall at the heart of the settlement.. very nice! Anyway, the highest point in the trip came when Sumit got Indian Ocean's "Kandisa" out of his treasure trove. I had not listened to that for years, and boy.. that music just rocks! For more than a week now, Ive been listening to the one and only Kandisa!

Book Review - Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

2006-03-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

“Women, they say, sometimes love their man for his vices”. Tolstoy brings to the fore some of the heart breaking cruelties of life. There is only so much that a man can do, after which he has to wait and hope for the lady of his life to fall in love with him. This exasperating truth is experienced so very brutally by Karenin and Levin, both of whom can easily be called gems of human beings.
Anna, while she remains torn in two – one side asking her to do the “right” thing and the other asking her to succumb to the new attraction, comes out as a mortally wounded woman. Confused and absolutely unsure of her life, her persona and esteem for herself reduces by the day after her liaison starts, and she emerges as a mere dwarf, compared to the awe inspiring beauty that she was before it.
Levin is a simple and straight forward man, one with no false pretensions. He has a philosophical bent of mind, but one who is happy on the whole, and cherishes the little joys that his life has to offer. He, as against some of the other landlords and highly placed men in Russia, is a philanthrope and even in the eyes of his workers, does not come across as a person wanting to make merry from the last penny that could be squeezed out of their pockets.
What is most striking, though is that he belongs to a rare species of people who can appreciate true love. In the space of the few hours between Kitty’s acceptance of his proposal, and their decision to get engaged the next morning, he realizes along with his countless readers that life is not just worth living, but is a joy in itself. His attitude during the period suggests that he has suddenly come to realize that all those villagers, peasants and countless other Russians have been placed around him so that he could love them and that they could love him. If this character is autobiographical of Tolstoy, then Tolstoy was not only a great writer, but also a truly beautiful person.

Teri Yaad Aayi

2006-03-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Its funny what ten years can do to you.. It can make things that seemed so freaking huge look like a tiny little happy incident!
I was about 15 years old, and was staying in a joint family – a small place housing 6 folks. I had known this girl, the daughter of some family friends, for the last 5 years or so. We used to go around playing little games … I could easily call her a childhood friend. She had just returned after a 3 year stint in the US, during which time there was absolutely no communication. I met her once, and spoke to her one or two more times that week, and then, she called me up. Here is the transcript ;-) . Keep in mind that there were 5 other people around listening to what I was saying…
P: Its been a long time ..
Me: Yup
P: U know.. uve changed.. u look like a nice young man now
M: haha.. u bet.. and uve changed more than me
P: I dint forget about you all along..
M: hmmm…
P: I thought about you quite a bit
V: Yeah.. 10th standard is tough.. (Wanted my family to think that Im talking about studies!)
P: haha Family around kya?
V: Yup
P: I liked you always.. but now, I think I like you even more
V: yeah.. there are good classes in the City area
P: I have your photo with me.. I keep it with me
V: yeah.. Chemistry is the toughest .. there is a class called Kulkarni’s. He is very good.

Just Then, my dad tells me to put the phone down. Right now!

As it turned out, an elder cousin, a freaking pest had put a parallel line on speaker phone, and my dad, overheard the last tit bit when he was passing by. All hell broke loose, and I was reprimanded for bad behavior. Well, P’s family was informed about this I guess, as she simply disappeared from the scene after that.

My Home Page is Ready!

2006-01-26T16:51:00.000-08:00

I was always envious of the guys with homepages and the guys with Blogs. Enough is Enough, I said.. its time someone else felt envious of me ;-). I decided to get a blog and a homepage this weekend.
I really dont remember which was the last time I was creative in this kinda happy go lucky way.. the cretive cells in my brain were quite rusty, but really, ive gotta admit, its great fun to create your own homepage. I went thru the old route of learning html. I wanted my page to be as colourful and full of images as possible without being a heavy weight page. Also, I wanted it to wear a cheerful and happy look. Have a look to see what actually happened :-)
My Home Page
Vaarun.