Brahmagiri : A "Wet, Wetter, Wettest" Ride

Along with the change in season, changes the character and the mood of  the Nature. And its always fun to explore nature in all its forms and we usually make it a point to have atleast one trek in every season, be it rain, sunshine or chill zones. Within a week of monsoons hitting the west coast and Karnataka we were all set for the 'Monsoon Trek ,2011' (2010: Kumaraparvatha, 2009: Kodachadri), and Brahmagiri (1608 m) was our choice. The  reason being this trek is reasonably easy in normal sense(read post monsoon, winter etc) and it has got a forest guest house enroute, a permanent shelter so that we wont have to slog out getting drenched in the rain during the nights. Quite shockingly initially there were 18 people ready for a monsoon trek which somehow in the end normalized to 12 (Prasanna, Manju, Raghu, Umesh, Subith, Prashanth, Shashi, Shravan, Harish, Jenny, Sai and Myself)

Day 1 : June 11, 2011 (Irupu Temple- Irupu Falls - Narimale Guest house ---> 5 kms)

Bcoz of the huge count we thought it was more economical and comfortable to book a private vehicle all for ourselves and we ended with a 18 seater mini  bus. Since the distance to Srimangala from Bangalore is just 250 kms we decided to leave quite late in the night and we left Bangalore only at 12.30 am with everyone picked and tucked in their respective seats. Had a not so comfortable sleep thanks to bed bugs. We took the route of Blore-Srirangapatna(Bypassed Mysore)-Hunsur-(Virajpet Route)Gonikoppa-Srimangala-Irupu Temple. The deviation route after Hunsur towards Virajpet was potholed and the bus kept jumping over them like crazy. Reached Srimangala at around 7am and started to wait for the forest officials to arrive. Meanwhile had our Breakfast at a nearby shanty hotel and finished our morning chores at a nearby guest house, where shockingly the bathrooms where humongous, nearly 12*12 feet size :P. 

Finally the forest guards arrived at around 9 am and we got our permission , but with one catch : that there is one stream which might be pretty strong in the this season and already 2 teams have previously returned back from this stream this season. This somehow made us to rethink our plan, but in the end we decided to proceed with it, the main cause for confusion being that the entire permission cost and Narimale Guesthouse rent came to a whooping 7.5K. The costliest trek in South India I suppose , but I understood the logic, more the cost, less will be the tourist inflow and only serious trekkers will be interested. Its more or the less the weeding out process. Also we were the only team attempting to scale the peak on this weekend.

After we reached the Irupu temple (9 kms from Srimangala), the starting point of the trek , the forest officials over there started a drama and started to question the Forest Officers at Srimangala as to how they provided the permission in such a weather , but after persistent effort by Shravan we got on with the plan. All this drama was to get some more extra chai-paani for the Forest Official guide who would be accompanying us. After waiting endlessly near Irupu falls for our guide he finally showed up and by this time we were all loaded up on anti-leech stuff(salt,calcium carbonate,tobacco,zandu balm :P). and of started the trek at 11:30 am. Initial path was through dense leech infested forests and these bloodsuckers were clinging on within no time. Soon enough it started to rain, which more or continues for the next 2 days with some small breaks in between for our photo breaks :). Reached the famed stream which was hyped up by all the officials , but surprisingly it was just a piece of cake to cross it, dont know if we were damn lucky with our timing or the forest officials were lying shamelessly :P.

  Monsoons In Forest

Finally reached Narimale Forest Guesthouse , a house in the middle of nowhere and interestingly all the raw materials for its construction were carried along same 5 km trek path which we traversed, it gotta have been a very tedious process. This guesthouse has 2 rooms and 1 hall, and lighting based on solar energy. We reached this Guesthouse withing 1.30 pm taking just about 1 hr 30 mins from the Iruppu falls. Since the peak was 6 kms away the guide refused to attempt the peak on this day and we had all almost the entire evening for us to kill. Played some games to entertain ourselves till the nightfall since even strolling out of the Guesthouse was not an option with the entire surroundings teaming with blood thirsty leeches. The entire night it rained and rained. It was quite reassuring that we were inside a warm and cozy structure and not out there getting drenched in the rain water, which we might confuse with something else in our sleep :D.

Narimale GuestHouse

Also the guide informed us tat recently all trekkers who seek to trek from Kerala to Karnataka and vice versa  along the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary are never given permission due to some dispute and therefore permission for Karnataka side to Munikal Caves (in Kerala) is never entertained. Hence out goes our plan of exploring these caves. There is a small rivulet which flows pretty close to the GH, which being the main source of water for the GH.

Day 2 : June 12, 2011 (Narimale Guest House - Getting Lost(2kms detour) - Brahmagiri Peak - Narimale Guest House - Irupu Falls - Irupu Temple -----> 19 kms ) 

At 6 am our Guide woke us up saying we have to start early to order to scale the peak, since the rain had subsidized a bit. We were leaving back all our luggage at the GH since we had a long day ahead. We had expected the 6 km route from the GH to the Peak to be completely in grasslands and hence we wrongly assumed that we wont be bothered by leeches and hence no one took any precautions and this was probably the biggest mistake of the day. In the end we had a blood bath with some even getting 30 odd bites :P. (read Prasanna :D). Even in the grasslands the leeches were thriving bcoz of the total absence of sunlight. 

Kerala Checkpoint In View

The grasslands had become more or less marshlands with such heavy rains. Walking through these marshlands pretty much brought the memories of childhood when we used to splatter water puddles by jumping into it."SPLAAAAT !!!!!". With such heavy rainfall the sun dried grasslands had a transformation to lively green within a matter of weeks , giving us awesome views. At some point walking through the grasslands everyone got distributed with Manja taking the wrong but logical route(hence without a guide) and all of us following him. This route headed towards Kerala border and man this route had both beautiful,breathtaking views and highest density of leeches anywhere in the trek, more or less in "femme fatale" kinda situation :P. When we were wandering in this route like a headless animal our guide appeared from nowhere and pulled us back to the main route. Later he informed that anyone wandering into Kerala Border will be detained and will have to take the motored roadway back to Karnataka and not the trek route. During the time when we were lost and roaming aimlessly the the team which were on the right path caught sight of 2 elephants grazing at a distance, and from the number of droppings we came across it can stated easily that there is a high density of  tuskers in this wildlife sanctuary. 

The Peak

The Climb

Finally back on track and the we were getting some good views of the grasslands, pretty much to infinity and thus came into view the Brahmagiri peak , which from below doesn't seem that difficult or steep at all. Infact the first impression is that its just a piece of cake , but the last section has the most difficult gradient of the entire trek. A nearly 65-70 degree upright climb and thanks to the incessant rains this part was damn slippery. After 20 min session of struggled climbing we reached the top .....and to noone's surprise there was no views thanks to the mist :P. Infact we were the first team to reach the top since the monsoons hit.... "1st team to successfully scale Brahmagiri peak in monsoons 2011"... sounds heroic :D.

At The Top

Group Snap - Minus Prasanna

 The climb down from the immediate peak was much difficult, with almost all slipping and falling down atleast once with Jenny even pulling a muscle. The return journey back to the Guesthouse was eventless apart from regular rainfall and de-leeching activity. Reached the Guesthouse, quickly packed our belongings and started the return journey to civilization. As we neared to the Iruppu falls our guide decided to fatten his wallet and took an extra baksheesh from 2 separate groups , more or less double crossing us :(. 

Iruppu Falls

 Reached the falls and there we unloaded our trekking gear and more importantly removed our shoes, and seeing the bloodied legs,hands etc the normal tourists to the falls got freaked out and some of them ran helter-skelter without even visiting the falls :D. In the end my leech bites just made it to the double digit mark and for others it varied from 1 to 32. Had a refreshing bath at the falls , in ice cold water and walked the last 1 km barefoot , which believe me is a very painful affair.

    [Through the Marshlands.. baccha style :P]

Boarded the bus and started the return journey back to Bangalore. Had lunch at a Kamath Hotel in Gonikoppa which was quite good and reached Bangalore and my home at 11.50 pm. Hence completed the last major trek before my college starts , resulting in no such trek/trips atleast for me in the next 3 months :(. Recently read a quote from  George Mallory(1886-1924) when asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest and his reply was simply "Because It's There". This 3 letter quote has made itself as the "most famous three words in mountaineering"  and more or less our motto to keep conquering more and more peaks :).

The Path To Enlightenment

Trek Details --->

Total Trek Distance --> 24 kms (including the 2 km detour)
Difficulty Level ---> Intermediate (In Monsoons and bcoz of the steep & slippery final section) else Easy in other seasons.
Total Cost Per Head --> 1800 bucks
Srimangala Forest Office Contact No ----> 08274246331, 09481989970
Mobile Signal Info---> BSNL/Vodafone at falls, BSNL/Airtel at guesthouse

Snaps Link ---->
https://picasaweb.google.com/unithinbhat/BrahmagiriTrek
https://picasaweb.google.com/ppr.bms/Bramhagiri?feat=email
https://picasaweb.google.com/manjunathmb.bms/Brahmagiri#
https://picasaweb.google.com/ragupalankar/Brahmagiri_12_6_2011#

Marathon Mania : The Follow Up

Yet another marathon under my belt. This time it was TCS World 10K, Bangalore 2011. OK agreed the tag "marathon" doesnt suite a 10k run , but the title of "10k mania" doesn't sound that glamorous :P. This was a good follow up of what I had started the previous year and hope to keep on continuing, and probably getting better with time. The ultimate goal being to be placed 1st in the race, and as expected thats a goal for which I  really have a long long long way to go. The main problem I had this year was training, after the run last year I have not been dedicatedly following the running regime which I restarted only in the month of March 2011 giving me just a 3 month training window.

Some Stadium Shots

This time the World 10K was organized on "World Environment Day" i.e. June 5 , and being a nature lover I was really upbeat. Also was planning to take my cycle for the commute to and fro the race venue(Kanteerva Stadium) in order to avoid burning any fuel and only fat on this day, but a total of  25km cycling and 10km run didnt seem that encouraging, finally saner minds prevailed and decided to burn fuel with my bike against my wishes :(.

Same as last year there were utter chaos in the stadium. The infrastructure was pushed to the brim. Toilets were flooding and foreigners and Indians alike were getting grossed out, but still people who are in love with the most basic form of transportation available to mankind make it a point to be present and to participate year after year.  Thankfully  past years experience had me prepared and I was pretty ready for it. Reached at around 7.20 am for the 8 am run (i didn even come that early for any of my exams :D ) and went directly towards the small opening from where all the Open 10K participants were to be let into the tracks. Initial races had the elite mens and women races and this was followed by the Open 10K race. Soon were let into the stadium and off started the race.

The weather was awesome with the monsoon clouds looming above the city of Bangalore, this made matters a bit better than last year giving a few seconds boost, nevertheless running a marathon under shade is also no less of an effort. My run was more or less controlled and I tried to maintain a constant pace, but one thing I observed against last year is that the number of people overtaking me has increased considerably over the year .... guess Bangaloreans are moving towards a healthier life style as a general rule :). Took breaks whenever the going was tough and increased or decreased my pace based on my heart rate. Also came across 3 runners who had collapsed along the sidewalk , completely exhausted from the run, and the onlookers, medics , cops were running to their rescue. Hence running even 10K requires a minimum level of preparation if not that of a full marathon.

When I crossed the 9th Km mark , I decided to push things to the edge and call upon my reserve energy which I usually have during my routine 6.3 K run, but surprisingly at that point it drew a blank :P. Hence there was no ramp-up from my side during the finals stages and could muster the energy only for a blistering run for the last 100 m where I overtook nearly 15-20 people in one shot :D. Were provided by refreshments and surprisingly a finishers medal , which was not there in the previous edition. In the end I had clocked up 55 mins 40 secs (with an overall ranking of 614) which is 4 min 17 sec improvement over the last years 59:57 timing. Great going since at least I improved my timing, but somewhere deep down I was a bit disappointed of not achieving my "sub 50 min" goal which I had set.With that I have already set my goal for next year for sub 50 finish and sub 300 ranking.

Expecting to get yet another souvenir Nike T-shirt for my sub-1500 ranking performance.

Run Summary(Official Timings)

Total Distance : 10,000 m
Time Taken : 55 mins 40 secs
Official Split Timings -----> 

Rank	Bib	Name	Category	Category Rank	split @7.5K	split @8.3K	Gun Time / Net Time
614	1744	NITHIN ULIYAR	U40	506	00:42:20	00:46:43	00:56:18 / 00:55:40

The PGSEM Trailer

Finally we got a taste of a PGSEMers life, a trailer of sorts before the actual movie whose total running length is 2.5 years. A movie which will have sleepless nights, stress, fun, satisfaction, extra curricular activities, competition, learning process and finally the twist ending :P.  The orientation program as illustrated above was held for 2.5 days (some pattern connection with 2.5 years ???!!!!! ) from 27 May 2011 to 29 May 2011.

Even before we were to officially enter the college life we were provided a pre-session assignment to be completed and submitted before the orientation. There were just 5 questions , but those 5 questions really gave an insight of what to expect from the management education. Couple of them were number crunching problems such a balance sheets and so forth. The most interesting of the 5 was the question regarding "how would you promote IPL if you are made the chairperson?"... even though having no basics of marketing it was fun brainstorming on those points. Also we are divided into 4 houses and each was to come up with a name , a war cry and a captain. Our house name was "The One"er-sena  (combo of matrix and the ramayana :D ), an improvisation provided by yours truly and which somehow won the majority votes even after having some stiff competition.

Landed on 27 May morning in IIM-B campus and thus started the initial session with welcome speeches from the seniors students and the PGSEM director Prof Agarwal. This was followed by official inauguration of PGSEM batch in presence of the IIM-B director Pankaj Chandra and surprisingly my companies VP Dipesh Shah, who incidentally is also a PGSEMer. After an inspiring speeches by all the guests the inauguration concluded and this was followed by alumni interaction and they were damn frank with their answers. The below is the gist of the interaction :

• PGSEM doesn't provide immediate change in terms of role or salary. One shouldn't expect a 10x salary hike or become VP of the company after completing PGSEM. For immediate changes one should try PGP rather than PGSEM.
• In the long run PGSEM is very helpful for ones growth and the long run here might infer years together.
• The chances of a PGSEMer to jump to some other domain altogether such as finance, HR etc is very slim. For that a person is better to opt for PGP.
• Not many companies recognize PGSEMers or recruit PGSEMer specifically. If you are competent enough you will get the job.

This insightful alumni interaction was followed by some group activities such as antakshari, dumb charades etc and so on and a midnight blog(go to the end of the page) to finish of the first day. Also met a lot of my fellow batch mates, but to remember every one's name was an impossible task. Could manage just 3-4 hrs sleep which became the norm for the next day too :P.

Majority of Day 2 was filled with CSITM workshop, an event not specific to PGSEMers and we had lot of management gurus out there to present their research papers. Some were really interesting and some were outright ridiculous. It was different world altogether for us engineers having never attended a paper presentation other than technical topics. This workshop dragged the whole day and by evening we had sport competitions(with me representing the team in volleyball and badminton ) between various houses. This was followed by treasure hunt which started at midnight and dragged all the way till 2 am. This was really fun, more or less the unofficial introduction to the entire IIM-B campus which we had to explore in the death of night. Searching gardens, lampposts, football grounds, ATMs and what not. Searching the 100 acre campus with very minimal lighting was not an easy task and both the security guards and the stray dogs (who have made IIM-B as their home :P ) were a confused lot seeing so many people running from one place to another in the middle of the night.

After the treasure hunt we were needed to prepare for a  long and lengthy case study, and hence our first official study night out which extended all the way till 3.45 am. In the morning we hurried quickly to attend Prof Murthy's class on how to go through a case study and it really was an awesome class. The entire interaction lasted for nearly 4 hrs and everyone was spellbound and interested till the end. That is the quality of IIM-B prof's, Mr. Sibal :D.

This was followed by some more group activities and in the end our group "The One"er sena had won the house cup by just a very small margin . Great :). Had a 15 hr sleep back home to compensate for the insomniac nights spent in the corridors of IIM-B. More or less it was a stressful , but still a very satisfying experience. Just like my treks or cycling expeditions :P.

Posted below the blog post which we as a group wrote as a hilarious uptake of our first day experiences in IIM-B and also this won the best blog prize in the House Cup. The blog has various grammatical mistakes , highlighting our sleepless plight in the middle of the night. This is the original blog without any corrections or even font change :P.

"

Wanar Sena Diary

Day 1 (27 May 2011)

Disclaimer :  This blog is a plagiarized work of One’er sena. Any resemblance to any other blog, living or dead is not a mere coincidence.

 The virtual eWaner Sena came into life in the IIMB campus. Wanars were looking around for trees in the sprawling campus, when the kind hearted IIMB administration blessed them with executive suites with bed and cupboard with a mirror.

But the happiness did not last long.  Alas!!! wanars were presented with big fat books instead of soft yummy bananas.  If that was not enough, even before wanars could settle down, seniors announced the “3 idiots” who secured the highest marks in the pre assignment. Wanars clapped and decided to move on. When their primitive brains were trying to understand the course overview presentations, they faced the daunting task of remembering the names of all fellow wanars. Little RAM and primitive neural networks of Wanars found it impossible to map all the names with their companies and years of experience. 

When wanars were trying to get a little rest in the cool air of the AC in the cozy environment of the auditorium, seniors offered a cup of tea and snacks. Wanar sena rushed to satiate their hunger, but alas, only few biscuits were left. Competitive fellow wanars with advanced locomotive skills had already snatched away the snacks.

Filled with disappointment and sorrow on their faces, wanars returned to the cozy auditorium. Hunger was taking its toll. Now SAC (Student Assassination Cell) barged in and bombarded with their intellectual messages on the primitive brains of wanars.

Hunger was building up and rats started playing inside stomachs of the wanars. Good news. Lunch was served under the trees. IIMB made sure every wanar gets a full stomach lunch and to the wanars delight mangoes were served for dessert.   

Wanars headed right back to C11 room to meet the chairperson.  Their high expectations were shattered when reality finally dawned on them. Poor wanars thought that the course will make them VPs and CEOs, but were told that they will be lucky if they become managers after the tiresome and grueling 2.5 years of torture.  But wanars were happy that they will get a chance to go abroad in Wanar exchange program. Wanars were given a chance to interact with the distinguished Alumni. Wanars found out how they can transform to become smart individuals.

In the evening, after a sumptuous dinner, wanars were taken for a fun ride.  There were competitions between the wanar groups. Wanar leaders proved their uselessness in front of a larger wanar community. There was passionate participation from fellow wanars. Every wanar was ready to die on a war cry from their leader.

After a competitive memory game, wanars were tested on their singing talent, and movie database.  Some wanars showcased their inherent acting and mimicry skills to earn points for the most coveted house cup. When the clock struck 12 and eyes started shutting down themselves, lightening struck and thunder roared. Wanars were given a task to write this blog.

P.S. : Thanks to all our seniors for organizing the wonderful events. This blog is written for fun and no offence intended

Thanks

Group 2 Team 

"

BR & MM Hills : In the Land Of Bandits

With the advent of summer it was time for us to flee to some hill station for a weekend family getaway, and the first destination in our list was Ooty-Coonoor. But subsequent research made us realize that Ooty at this time of year with summer holidays and flower show in progress was pretty much jam packed. So we decided to head towards some lesser known destinations of BR Hills and MM Hills , a place less frequented by tourists until recently bcoz of notorious Veerappan who dominated these regions. Also this was the first major outing since my brother bought his first car, a spanking new Honda Jazz.

Hence the itinerary was planned and we decided to take the route of Blore-Mysore-Gopalswamy Betta-Chamarajanagar-K Gudi - BR Hills - Kollegal - MM Hills - Hogenakkal (Karnataka Side) -Mettur- Dharmapuri - Hosur - Blore a total distance of 780 km in 2 days.

Day 1 : 21 May 2011 ( Blore-Mysore-Gopalswamy Betta-Chamarajanagar-K Gudi - BR Hills - Kollegal)

Gopalswamy Betta

Got up pretty early in the morning and left home at around 6 am. Initial journey went smooth along  Mysore road and the Jazz made it like a dream. From a Maruthi 800 to a Jazz is quite an upgrade and we found them worlds apart. Had breakfast at Adigas at Maddur and reached Mysore in no time. From here we moved towards Ooty road and as expected it still is in very good condition as I had experienced twice during my previous bike rides. Reached Gundlupet and from there the Gopalswamy Betta Entrance gate is just a few kilometers. The roads were quite bumpy , but the Jazz took and absorbed a lot of those bumps. At the bottom of the hill, the forest guards stopped for the entrance fee. Recently read in newspapers that the entrance fee was hiked to 500 bucks and we were ready to shell it out, but we had a surprise here, the hike had been reverted back and now the entrance charge was just Rs 50. As with my previous outing to the same place we were expecting to catch sight of some elephants , but were a tad disappointed. Also since it was nearing noon there was no mist formation at the top which this temple is so famous for. But the weather on the top was awesome, chilly weather in the middle of a day, in middle of summer. Spent some time around the temple and returned back to take our route to Chamarajanagar via Gundlupet. Had packed lunch en route since getting a decent eatery here is close to none
.

BR Hills Temple

View From The BR Hills Temple

 Gundlupet to Chamarajanagar route was pretty decent and from Chamarajanagar to BR Hills there are 2 routes , one via Yeriyur and one via ghat roads of K Gudi via dense forest. We took the latter and the initial section of the road was a bit rough, but the forests were very dense and we were sweeping our eyes sight left and right to catch sight of wild animals which is very common in these forests.Reached K Gudi and enquired with a forest guard and he informed that the Jungle Safari starts from 3.30 pm and we still had 1.5 hrs to go and planned to visit the BR Hills temple and return back. The path between K Gudi and  BR Hills is really awesome. Single lane road in very good condition and surrounded by some breathtaking forests views and we ended up traversing 3 times along this 20 or so odd kms of road.

K Gudi Safari

There is nothing much to be written about the state of the BR Hills temple which seems to be neglected of late. Lot of people with almost 0 facilities leads to a mayhem. Anyway at this time the temple was closed and we just roamed the temple premises and decided to drive back on K Gudi for the jungle safari. Reached exactly at 3.30 and were let into the first jeep for the evening, with a cost of 400/head. With these forests less frequented by tourists than its neighbors such as Bandipur and Nagarhole and with a tiger density of nearly 30, we had high hopes of catching sight of some these majestic creatures or atleast some wild feline, but sadly we were disappointed. We caught sight of numerous types of deers, spotted deers, sambar, barah singha(best view of the safari) and so on. Also caught hold of langoors, monkeys, Snake Headed eagle. The entire safari took around 1 hr 20 mins from the starting point. Decided to head towards MM Hills via Yeriyur route and by nightfall we reached Kollegal. Since we were unaware of the roads ahead we decided to bunk in Kollegal itself and booked rooms in below average "YepIYes Lodge"(strange name) and had dinner at "Annapoorneshwari Hotel" which was decent. Both of these are quite near to the main bus stand. Had a mosquito riddled sleep.

Day 2 : 22 May 2011 ( Kollegal - MM Hills - Hogenakkal (Karnataka Side) -Mettur- Dharmapuri - Hosur - Blore) 

MM Hills

Left Kollegal in the morning after having breakfast and packed one for lunch. As soon as we leave Kollegal and move towards MM Hills, a stunning view greats us. The entire horizon around us is filled with hills, feels more or less like driving in center of a meteor crater with the flat surface in the center. Awesome views. Until the hills the roads are pretty decent , but as soon as they start the roads are quite bad, with very little maintenance.One of the things I noticed about the local population of Chamarajanagar district is total disregard for vehicle traffic. Pedestrians, cyclists and even slow moving 2 wheelers move bang in the centre of the highway and even when we let them know of our presence via honks they don't let go of an inch. Quite strange behaviour indeed :P.

 

Reached MM Hills at near to noon and went inside to have the darshan. It was a bit crowded but we had the darshan within 45 mins. In MM Hills rooms also can be booked , but it is long process of (Telephone Enquiry + Sending a advance booking request letter via fax). (http://www.mmhills.com/accom.htm). We decided to move towards Hogenakkal falls from MM Hills since it is just 45 kms (Karnataka Side) from here and also i had never entered via this route made it a bit curious. From the MM Hills- Mettur Highway (SH 79) we need to take a 28 km detour to Hogenakkal and return back to SH 79 to move towards Mettur. This single lane road from the deviation towards Hogenakkal is one of the most scenic roads that I can remember of in Southern Karnataka. The entire 28 kms this desolate road skims along the banks of the river Cauvery and further sandwiched between green mountains on the either sides giving awesome views.

Hogenakkal

Reached Hogenakkal and had a boat ride towards the falls and this took around 45 mins. The official rates are 110/head and 6 persons max /boat. But they were loading the coracles to the brim , hence we decided to book a complete boat to ourselves which came out to be 640(w.r.t. 110*6 and 20 bucks discount :P). Had expected less amount of water bcoz this being summer, but quite surprisingly the water level was quite high. Witnessed again the spectacular views of water pouring from every nook and corner of the rocks, last witnessed nearly 2 years back.

Had lunch enroute on the awesome detour road and joined the main potholed highway. But soon the TN border came and roads became from worse to awesome. TN roads really rock. Came across Mettur dam on the way , but frankly speaking this is not worth it and the views which we get just before entering the dam area and after exiting the dam area and climbing the adjacent hill are more spectacular,  where we can witness the huge water mass the dam is holding up . Being a Sunday afternoon there was a huge rush of people trying to get into a small park which is the only part allowed for visitors , with the dam out of bounds.  The local population had got home made food in huge containers, which they ate under the trees and had a nap after this. This part of the culture is something unique to TN i guess , having never witnessed this anywhere else.

From here we took the Mercheri route and touched the NH-7 expressway some 40kms before Dharmapuri. After this it was smooth ride all the way to Blore with a break at newly opened Kamat Upachar(Just after Krishnagiri I guess) Overall a good drive with nothing that spectacular, but during this time people throng the spectacular places like vultures towards a dead carcass (in fact Hogenakkal from TN side was jam packed), hence speaking in that terms this trip was good.

Snaps Link :

https://picasaweb.google.com/unithinbhat/BRMMHogenakkal#

Trip 'O' Meter : 780 kms

Route Map

Offbeat Movies I Love Part-III

Here is the 3rd sequel to the offbeat movie series, more or less the bread and butter of my blog with this series garnering the maximum hits. Sequel 4 coming soon :P.

1.Dragon Hunters (French/English)
(Adventure/Comedy)

  
The creators of this movie surely have got some imagination. This animated movie has floating pieces of land, castles and what not. Story is about 2 lowly dragon hunters who can be hired for any measly sum. They come across a knight who hires them to kill the greatest dragon of all time with a lip smacking offer. So they set on with their journey, joined by the granddaughter of the knight for the showdown with the beast. The finale is really spectacular.

2.In Bruges (English)
(Action/Comedy)

One of the few movies where Collin Farrel is actually tolerable. The main plot has 2 english hitmans lying low in Brudges(Belgium) after their last job had gone horribly wrong and how they lead their life, finding love, compassion and becoming human. Even though the setup is grim the situations and dialogues are very funny. A good black comedy.


3.Sin City(English)
(Action)

The bad"est" ass movie I have ever seen. This movie goes into full throttle from the word go and  holds nothing back. It has got multiple stories interleaved and each of lead characters fighting their inner demons. Jessica Alba and her class dance as a cowgirl is really sexy, hard to keep the eyeballs off her :).
Caution : This movie has extreme violence, not for the faint hearted, with me cringing at many instance :P. Waiting eagerly for Sin City 2 due to release soon.

4.Shaun Of The Dead (English)
(Horror/Comedy)

When you have got Simon Pegg and Nick Frost together, there is no need to expect anything other than a laugh riot and this surely is one. More or less a spoof of "Dawn of the Dead" with lots of zombies to be battled by the hero and the sidekicks and with a minor problem of wooing his ex-girlfriend. A non-stop laugh marathon guaranteed.


5.The Man From Earth (English)
(Drama)

If you thought that a movie without any action, romance, comedy,special effects (dependent on different peoples taste) is not entertaining then you got to watch this movie. Heck the setting of this movie doesnt even go other than the living room of a house with all the characters placed within it and they just talk and talk for a whole 90 mins. A very engaging movie and a must watch.


6.Kick Ass (English)
(Action/Comedy)

When you combine a comic book hero with reality then what you get is "Kickass". An action packed movie about how a teenager decides to fight crime with just a divers tights and a few metal screws embedded in his bones. And as expected he gets his ass kicked in most of the cases , but he never gives up. Problem starts when the city's underworld take notice of him and decide to finish him off when things get really messed up. Awesome realistic action scenes except whenever the 11 year girl is kicking butt of people 4 times her size :D.


7.Moon(English)
 (Drama)

A movie akin to movies like the The Matrix, Inception which literally plays with your head. Movie has just one astronaut (Sam Rockwell) and mission computer (GERTY) as the major characters of this movie. The astronaut is employed to work solo in a colony on the moon for 3 years. But things dont appear to be what they are, and slowly he discovers the shocking truths. Awesome storyline.

8.Udaan (Hindi)
(Drama)

One of the first Indian movie to address the teenage angst we all felt in those time( I am still feeling it :D) and we could expect nothing from Anurag Kashyap even though he didnt direct this one. Udaan is the coming of the age story when the lead character is pit up against a inconsiderate father whom he meets after 8 years. With the death of his mother the entire father-son relation is volatile and goes ballistic at the slightest provocation. Ronit Roy does an awesome job as a authoritarian father and rightly deserved the filmfare award eventhough many of these awards are given away based on hype and not upon true performance.

9. Cube (English)
(Horror)

A movie which could be said as an inspiration of the much successful "Saw" series but sans the extreme gore and violence, which is there just for the sake of it in the "Saw" series. Six people are trapped inside what seems like a giant maze and they have escape from it to save their life's, apart from the answer to the question as why they are there in the first place. When their life is question all sorts of different behavior start to emerge and we witness a nail biting piece of movie.

10.Brotherhood(Korean)
(War/Drama)

A fictional setup in a non-fictional korean war. Its the story of two loving brothers who are ready to sacrifice anything for the other. Their life of hard yet satisfying life is interrupted when North Korea invades and south and both the brothers are recruited into the army. Slowly there is constant friction between the brothers and it takes a dramatic turn when the elder brother is captured by the North and brainwashed , resulting in both the brothers having a mortal face-off, with a tragic ending as with all the wars.