The Last Lecture

Preeti once asked me my opinion on Gays and gay marriages and I told her sincerely that I don’t know for I can’t feel like them. Had I would, I would definitely told her.

The character of Rajesh Khanna in Anand who knew he is not going to survive more than 6 months because of an incurable disease was also a similar problem to me; for I was never able to co-relate with the Anand's character.

Later in the years I read a lot of books and articles to understand the dilemma’s of this character.

But for the first time I have read someone describing it as an engineering problem.

As engineering is not about perfect solutions; it’s about doing the best you can with limited resources.

Randy Pausch is a successful Professor who is suddenly in face with the approaching death. As a college ritual he decides to give a last lecture to his fellows and students but the only difference was that this lecture was not for the ones in the room. It was for his kids to watch when they grow up. On the unprecedented success of his lecture, which touched hundreds of hearts, he poured his complete lecture into his book – The Last Lecture.

The book has been a real revelation to me to understand Anand better. Even the my last article was the reason that the book has touched some cords deep inside me.

The book starts with a very promising introduction and some hard hitting and passionate writing. Randy describes life as a game of cards where “We cannot change the hand which has been dealt just how we play the hand”. He reviews his complete life to understand why he is, what he is. With the help of small fables, he talks about everyone who has touched his life and lessons he had learnt from each one.

Randy acknowledges that his life changing event was the lottery he won – The parent lottery. He was born with the winning ticket and that is what made the real difference.

As we enter the later half of the book, it becomes preachier and I started loosing interest but stopped here and there to enjoy the anecdotes.

Randy says that he was a brilliant salesman and that was the reason to join the field of education. Though the book is heart touching but difficult to read full out due to its preachier nature, I am sure Randy would have done a brilliant job in delivering The Last Lecture in which he packed the full stuff in an hour’s talk. I am currently downloading to check out the lecture.

Overall, I would rate this book as work giving a look for the litterary interest and read it for the passion of the author (at least the first part).

Manish Saini

This one is for You!

I have tried to express this a million times but am always at loss of words. But after reading The Last Lecture by Randy, I know I really need to give it a shot NOW.
The days of our courtship were as lovely as they were thrilling for we have done some tremendous escapades together. It's been as amazing a journey as it has been lovingly eventful.
Now knowing each other for almost 6 years seem to be so less that both of us wish to have had met when we were kids and I am sure, even that would have not sufficed. The more I think of her, smaller the life seems to be. I don't know when the inevitable is going to happen but I really wish that I know it well before it happens (as Randy knew).
We have shared so much together between us; even a child; but still it seems like we have loved each other just a one by millionth of our capacity. We try to find ways and means to express this unknown feeling of ours but its so frustrating that we are mere mortals with unexpandable limits. Being always the practical(better) half she has accepted this and continuously teaches me in her own subtle ways.
People long for space in relationships, and so have I for so many times; but she really taught me that there is no space for space in ours. Had it been in her control, we would have spent every second together (and I really wish that God fulfill this dream of hers).
I am proud to let her bulldoze her way to get things done and arranged in her own way and I love the smile with which she lets me fulfill my long cherished desires.
When you find cheap toffees in our house, they are not for anyone to touch for she gets it especially for me to relish. When she lets me get wet in the rain, she knows how much I have been reprimanded for sailing paper boats in rain water and following them. When I want to watch a German/French/Foreign language movie, she sits next to me and tries her level best to concentrate and let me know that even she is enjoying it.
I don't want to thank her, but I really want to love the way she loves me and cares for me. I really wish this from my heart that let this be just the 1st of the seven births in which we are going to be together and God gives us the power to remember all the seven lives.
Nanu

Kanav's Naughtiness - 4

Laakh pehre lagaa lo....But whatever has to happen will happen.

Kanav had already tasted a cockroah couple of weeks back. Today he tasted his shit too. I am sure his immunity becomes stronger from today onwards.

Kanav's Naughtiness - 3

Mom......I have won!

If balcony's door is open.......its party time for Kanav. And if there is something new in there........phir to preeti ki shaamat hai.
The maid had left the pipe in the balcony after clenaing and when Kanav saw it, his first natural response was to have a taste of this new thing.

When Preeti tried to stop him, his resolve to defeat his mother became stronger.

He dashed towards the balcony and reaching there looked for his mom inside telling her, mom, I reached the balcony first; I have defeated you!

Kiddo.....may God be with you in all your Resolves. Your smile is worth living for.
We love You dear!

Manish Saini

Kanav's Naughtiness - 2

Days are like flying past. Another 2 months and Kanav will cross 1 year mark.
A few days back, he used to lie in my hands just blinking his eyes; and I eagerly awaiting for the day when I will be able to play with him.
Finally, The day for which I waited for 295 days arrived today.
I came back from office at around 8:10pm. Kanav was in Preeeti's arms, a little dull but recognizing that I am back, he closed his eyes, lifted his head at 60 degree and giving a big smile - his signature smile.
Preeti got busy in cooking food while I fed kanav milk and Russ. He slowly ate 2 russ and wanted more and even ate part of my ration. The diet infused in more energy in him and he started dashing towards the kitchen looking for some delicacies fallen on the floor. Exhausted from the long drive, I picked him up a couple of times and brought him back to the room.
This time while crawling towards the kitchen, he sat on the footmat infront of the bathroom and started smiling at me as if saying, dad I dodged you for my favourite place. I laughed with him and he responded quickly. I stood up to bring him back to the room.
Realizing, he picked up (crawling)speed to reach the kitchen; stopping on the way and checking if I was following and resuming at full speed.
I just loved the way he smiled back. Tired but smiling, I picked him and to reduce my effort, I gave him today's newspaper (his fav chewing gum). He tore a part of it, put it in his mouth, went to the door of the room and called me. When I looked at him, he gave me his signature smile showing me the paper. God he is just 9 and a half months. I stood up and ran behind him and the same sequence happened a few times.
I picked him up and played with him all sorts of games - throwing him in air and caching, tickling him, catching him while he crawled on the bed. His responses were amazing.
When Preeti gave him his daily dose of calcium syrup, he was completely unsatitated with 3ml and chased his mom with the feeding cap in one hand and the bottle in other to give him more.
I am amazed as to how the kid's brain is catching and analyzing things so fast. All these things which happened in the past 4 hours used to happen once or twice a day before this.
And as I am ending today's note, his mom is still strugling to make the kid sleep who was so dull at 8:10pm.
We love u Kiddo.

Kanav's naughtiness - 1

Kanav's crawling speed and stamina has increased and Preeti has grown slimmer. I sometimes share laughs with myself when I realize that within a few days Kanav will start walking. I am surely going to see Preeti as I have never seen before [:D].

To see him grow has been a wonderful experience for both, me and Preeti. He is showing a lot of promise as far as cerebral sharpness is concerned. However hard you try but no one can control his expectations from one's kid which just keep growing with him.

Kanav disagrees to sit and play on the bed anymore as he used to do 15 days back. You give him something to play on the bed, he will play for a minute or two and as soon as he gets bored, he will move to the edge of the bed and throw it on the floor and then innocently look at you as if he is saying - dady can you put me on the floor so that I can play with it. If you don't oblidge, he will swing his right hand as if he is saying - "main nahin...main nahin...". And still if your heart does not fall for the kid, he will make a sad smiley and will start crying while trying to get off the bed by himself (unsuccessfully).
While on the floor he his fond of going into the balcony and eat whatever rubbish he can gather before anyone of us picks him and pushes him inside. He then tries the doormat of the toilet which I now keep out in the balcony.
The thing which Kanav relishes the most is the paper, whatever be the size or taste, he just enjoys it.
But the best part is, he never swallows these rubbish. So it is easier for us to make out that he is having something beyond his diet which needs to be taken care of with immediate effect.
The day is not far when he is going to get off the bed all by himself. I am going to take care of all this stuff when I am shifting to a new house now.
Luv U Kanav

9 Months

Kanav recently turned 9 months old and it has been now one and a half years since he has been with us.
I have been through now 4 stages of emotional maturity (EM) and kanav's birth and growth is the 5th stage of my EM but is the most beautiful of all.
My best moment in the day is when I come back from office and he rushes towards me crawling and smiling full length.
He recently started saying papapapa which I really enjoy.
Time and again I am reminded of my fathers words when he said that "You will understand a lot of things about a parent and child relationship when you become a father". While I am really happy that I am realizing what he meant, I regret a lot of things I have said and done which have not pleazed them. I am sure Kanav will also tread the same line but now I am better prepared.
Luv U Kanav!

This is how we treat our National Heroes

We pay the kith and kin a pension which is outstanding by any comparison –

1. Rs 1500 to the one who is awarded Param Vir Chakra

2. Rs 1400 to the one who is awarded Ashok Chakra

3. Rs 1200 to the one who is awarded the Maha Vir Chakra

4. Rs 1050 to the one who is awarded the Kirti Chakra

5. Rs 850 to the one who is awarded the Vir Chakra

When the awards are disbursed on 26^th January, not even a single person on the dias along with the President was seen applauding the Gallant warriors when the citation was read, leave apart saluting them for their selfless efforts.

Manish Saini

Cloverfield

Start was not a bang. For the first 15 minutes Ranjith’s biased view was playing on my mind. But then when Ranjith shared his viewpoint about Slumdog Millionaire, I thought of discounting his opinion and thought of giving it a shot.

Made in a documentary style the film starts from a surprise party which is being captured in a camcorder by the protagonist’s brother and later his friend. 20 minutes into the movie, your head starts moving along with the video camcorder through which the events of the story are captured and viewed.

A kiddish concept of a monster movie (Godzilla, king kong etc….) has been portrayed in a very mature way. The director’s effort in making the audience live the experience of a monster attack is commendable.

There is no effort to give any dumb explanation of the existence of a monster rather this piece of art is unlike any commercial movie a pure and a sincere effort from the director to give creativity a free hand.

No less than 8 out of 10 is what this movie deserves for its shear brilliance of presentation.

2 Years Later

While I was doing my routine exercises in the morning today, I realized how lucky am I to be in the ground. 2 Years back my hopes of again running had started fainted after my accident on Feb 11th when I had a major disc collapse.
For me it has been a miracle but for Dr. Shivaji it was a routine case which got in order with nothing but only some exercises.
For me the experience has taught me the real meaning of phrases like "Body is a temple", "health is wealth" etc. at an early stage in my life (though the lesson was really tough) and had not to wait for the old age to teach me.
Tough I am not as athletic I used to be 10 years back but I carry a very positive hope to recover 90% of my those abilities soon. And 20 years later when I revisit a post title "20 years Later", it would recount a very positive Journey Post Feb 2007.
Manish Saini

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons

There are genres like Drama, Fantasy, and Mystery etc but till date no one has been able to attribute a right genre to the movies like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons”.

Fantasy is what this movie is called. But Fantasies are not as detailed as this one.

This is what I would call a “Concept Movie”. Fitzgerald thought of a simple concept that “What would happen if the human life was to move reverse – from old to getting young?” Had the concept been that we live in a world where everyone lives a reverse life – I would have definitely agreed to put this movie under the genre “Fantasy”. It would have been pretty easy to make a fantasy out of it.

But the movie is based on a person who is born old and then goes on to become younger with time – Benjamin Buttons. The detail into which the movie goes is touching and heart rendering at times.

When one grows younger and discovers the gift of good health, he enjoys it more than he would have done otherwise. On the same time it is much more painful to see your loved ones moving in the other direction. The pain aggravates when you discover that you are going to meet your kid halfway as a playmate rather than a father. What do you do? Do you raise the kid?

Think of the dear ones who have to see you move from a young man to a kid and then to a toddler when you loose your words and finally as an infant. Seeing a old man reuniting with the Almighty is pretty easy but happening this to an infant was heart rendering. Being a father myself to a 55 days old kid, it touched me more than I think it would do to may others.

Though I would have enjoyed the lighter part of it too (had it been included) – retiring at the peak of your health and touching the height of your career when you can actually enjoy it most. But the mood and tone of the movie did not allow taking it that path.

Hats off to the writer of the movie who could go into such details and also the director who did a real justice to the concept.

I would rate this movie as 8.2 on a scale of 10.

Manish Saini

Coming to terms

To chose the name for my kid has been the most difficult work I have done till date in my life.
Kanav is not the best of all names but in the end I agree with Shakespeare.
Today he is 53 days old and me and Preeti are gonna remember this day throughout our life for an unexpected incident which happened just a few minutes back.

I was watching Apocalypto on Star movies intermittently watching it with Preeti's serial while Kanav was trying to sleep in her lap after his dinner/night dose.
With his eyes half open and half shut, he laughed and smiled like a grown up. He had done this few times in the past 50 days.
Being alone I just kissed him and told him (as he was looking in my eyes) "Baby, don't worry.....now you are with us, and we will make sure that we keep you happy throughout your life. Now we are your mom and dad baby and we love you and will keep loving you."

As soon I said, we are your mom dad........the hell broke loose. He started crying like he never did in the last 53 days. Not even when a week back he was given three injections in his thigh.
Preeti couldn't control herself. I thought it could have been because she suddenly realized that kanav does not believe she is her mother. But then it was mixed emotions - both the previous one and the also that a mother who sees her kid crying like mad dogs can't control herself.

I had to take the kid and make him realize that he was just a kid by playing with him like one.

A few days back I had just learnt that kids in the first 40 days can remember their previous birth and they see images from their past and talk to them.

My kid on his 53rd day is now coming to terms with his new found reality..................May God Bless his soul.

Manish Saini

The gone year was pretty eventful especially towards the end both personally and professionally.
But the year ahead is full of challenges and hurdles which need an extra effort to scale. And for this I need to make a few promises to myself -
1. I would be more disciplined with my physical health.
2. I would make my family financially more secure.
3. I would spend "atleast", 5 valuable hours every day with my Kid.
4. I would professionally orient myself on a quarter to quarter operational mode
Though not very tough but still pretty challenging for me. Let us do a thorough revision at the end of this quarter.
Manish

Its been quiet a while since my last blog was deleted (reasons unknown). Since then it had been hard for me to find time to continue with some of my passions except for Movie watching with which preeti has been religiously helping me out every weekend :-)

("Ramchand Pakistani" is on today's agenda and I have read nothing more than the theme of the movie which I find to be interesting.)

Numerous times when I had come out of the Hall, I had felt so passionate about communicating my feelings but couldn't do it. Can't blame anyone.

But I thought that its high time to set the things right and so here is my first post after almost a year. The feeling to be back is really great.

And this time I am here to stay!

Manish Saini

God's Debris

My reasoning and logical self always vexed me with hiding my inquisitive nature behind the shadow of my beliefs. For they are just a shadow, they tend to disappear in the light of knowledge.
I am not sure if these shadows are ever going to disappear but yes they do keep changing the sizes with every ray of the light of knowledge.
First few days on bed after a silly accident I was trying to keep myself busy when I get hold of a book by one of my favorite authors, Adam Scott. The book is freely available on the net here.
A small 132 page book presents the concept of God in a whole new perspective which has a lot of shades of Grey. Adam normally a man of few words represents a perspective of a normal man like me who is torn by limited knowledge and information.
This man believes that science does not have the answer to a lot of questions; but sooner or later they might get answered in future as have happened in the past. He also wants to believe in the omnipresent for reasons unknown (But I do attribute my set of beliefs to my parents). This man is not an extremist.
Adam has tried to give a scientific twist to the concept of God. But science still comes later. First comes is the Belief. For the science to exist, God must exist.
His book describes that we are all some minute parts of God who has destroyed himself and is trying to resurrect. To fulfill his desire we must act in a way which increases the probability of his resurrection which in a way supports the karma theory to an extent. Since the day I have read this book I have been seeing the play of probability all around.
Would recommend this book for those who want to have all perspectives of an argument.
I shall give this book 3.5 out of 5 for it is not a literary Genius but yes, the idea was fresh to me.

Religion or Culture

After seeing The Pianist, Kapil exclaimed "Why would these oppresed ones really believe in God during those times? Where was God at that time? Do these people really didn't believe in God? I am ashamed of being human!"
This was not the first time I heard these questions. I have myself questioned my faith and logic I don't know how many times. But Khalil rightly says "Faith is an oasis which cannot be reached by the caravan of reasoning".

The same day, I received a mail from a friend of mine in Malaysia who is an ardent follower of Sikhism. A few excerpts of the mail......I would like to share here -

" Its a very rare that a religious leader of one faith has laid down his life
for that of another religion. Principle, practices and rituals of Sikhs are
totally different than those of the Hindu religion, but even so Sikh
believed in the FREEDOM of people being able to practice whatever religion
was their choice.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji gave his life for the existence of TRUTH and JUSTICE.
The Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji showed people that fear must not be
allowed to come between man and his love for freedom, justice and
God.....

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji scarified his life but had not bowed against any
tyranny.

[Give up your head, but forsake not those whom you have undertaken to
protect. Says Tegh Bahadur, sacrifice your life, but relinquish not your faith]

Sawed alive and boiled alive and those who made sacrifices in the service
of the centres of the Sikh religion the Gurdwaras but never wavered in
their faith and remained steadfast in the cause of Sikhism to the last hair
of their body and to their last breath,
O, revered members of the Khalsa order, concentrate your minds on the
glorious deeds of those, and utter, glory to Waheguru."

I thought over the words in the mail again and again for Religion and God is the domains I really love to explore to their intriguing depths.

In my article http://msaini.blogspot.com/2006/09/is-it-possible-to-live-without.html sometime back, I had organized a few thoughts of mine which always cropped up now and then. But this mail helped me arrange my thoughts together once again.

300 years back when Guru Gobind Singh ji laid the foundation of Sikhism, he believed that Religion is a very powerful means to unite people for a cause.

But I strongly believe that in time this line of philosophy has been utilized more for notorious reasons than for any good. This has sent people commenting that “Religion is the Opium of the Masses today"

As I have said and as people also believe that Guru Gobind Singh ji lay the foundation of Sikhism as a religion– This is actually wrong. I am sure, that a person of his stature and vision would not have wanted this because he knew and had seen that what had happened to the religions. And this is the only reason that he said that from every house the eldest son would serve the Guru and his People.

Moreover, in my previous article I have said - "None of the people who are “Supposed” to have started a religion wrote down their analysis (which people term as preaching today); they merely shared it with others verbally. These analyses were merely based on empirical study and the validation was always in progress during their lifetime."

The last sentence of the previous paragraph falls under this category. Guru Gobind Singh ji always wanted humanity to follow the "Culture" of "Truth, Justice and Sacrifice". He never asked everyone to become a SIKH.

These tenets are stressed and re-stressed again and again in every Vaq of Guru Granth Sahib.

This holds true not only for the 10th Guru, rather all the Gurus propagated the same thing. So when we say that "Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji gave his life for the existence of TRUTH and JUSTICE", it is a perfect statement but when we say that "Its a very rare that a religious leader of one faith has laid down his life for that of another religion", we definitely missed on the teachings of the Gurus.

I still believe Sikhism to be a culture.....and not a religion. At times when it becomes difficult for me to find a guiding path in the Hindu philosophy (which is because, the continuous exposure of this philosophy to interpreters over more than thousand years has diluted it badly making it difficult to differentiate between the truth and the interpretation of truth), I turn to the Sikh culture to find my way.

Thank God that I am still born at a relatively earlier stages of a wonderful culture which is in a process of becoming a full fledged religion to be played with and exploited by the majority very soon.

Glimpses of this transformation you can see right now in the political struggle at the Takhts and pure commercialization of devotion (please visit Huzoor Sahib to see it).

I was very pleased to see one of the Temples going to the basic tenants of Hinduism - Faith and truth; and shunning off the wrapper of religion from itself in Hyderabad. Chilkur Balaji Temple, 35 kms from Hyderabad would be a good place to understand what I have tried to express.

Manish Saini

Farewell is not an easy word!!!

Separations from anything known is always difficult coz you would be treading into an unknown territory from there on. Am going through a similar psychological upheavel right now as I have had a number of times earlier - when I lef Lucknow to settle in Hoshiarpur, when I left my school and joined college, when I left my engg college to join a job, when I left my first job to prepare for CAT and then when I left Indore to join Infosys.

As all knew associations bring in opportunities unexplored by you, the separation also creeps in the feeling of uesasiness for what you are going to miss there on. Though the feeling is not new but surely the differences in opportunities and the sources of uneasiness.......always make it a unique experience.

As I once read -

"To survive separation of loved ones-We must have no regrets,Because when the ineffable comes,Guilt-free memories are our only salvation. "

When I contemplate my 7 months in infosys, I am sure I am really going to miss -

1. Ganesh's Simplicity and Passion
2. Vijay's attitutude and aptitude
3. Nitin's experiential Observations and learning attitude
4. Arun's killer smile and soft hands
5. Krish's innocence and RFID-GTIN mania
6. Nandita's maturity and "I-will-talk-only-through-messanger" syndrome
7. Sunandan's patience and argumentative style
8. And Yeah, Blogging for sure..........am not going to get so much of free time as I did in Infy

This post is a special thanks to all those wonderful people who made working a real pleasure for me in Infosys. Am surely going to miss the guys a lot.......

Normally I would never write something so senti-mental; But surely Nandita's mail did provoke me to do so. I am sure right now I don't fit in the words she used to describe me but surely I am going to try to be one.....for the words are really wonderful -

"You were born to walk the road less traveled
You knew you were born to be different
From the time when you lay on your back and stared at the clouds
Biding your time before you touch them
You knew you were born to be different
When you travel the roads and paths
On your machine
When the world make way for you and your bullet
Ride away my friend, Ride away to your dreams"

- Nandita aka Ayn Frost

Thanks a lot for all your love and support......

Manish Saini

Understanding our Indian Railways

Coming straight to the point as Indian Railways don’t need any background, Indian Railways Pricing structure though not very transparent (because of the lack of information) is quiet easy to understand (analytically).
The various trains are divided into the following categories for pricing –

1. Passenger trains
2. Express trains
3. Super fast trains
4. Rajdhani
5. Shatabdi / Janshatabdi

Further these trains will have different coaches of different classes out of the following nine –

1. 1A = First Class air-conditioned (AC1)
2. 2A = 2 Tier air-conditioned (AC2)
3. 3A = 3 Tier air-conditioned (AC3)
4. FC = First Class NOT air-conditioned
5. EC = Executive chair class, air-conditioned (Available only on Shatabdi Expresses)
6. CC = Chair class, air-conditioned
7. SL = Sleeper Class, NOT air-conditioned
8. 2S = Bookable second class seat, NOT air-conditioned
9. II = Unreserved 2nd class, NOT air-conditioned

Now the charges for a railway ticket which one has to pay are divided into following headings -

1. Base fare – Based upon the category of train and the class, a constant factor has been decided which when multiplied with the distance to be traveled gives the base fare. Furthermore, the constant changes if the travel is above 1000Kms for the same category of the train in the same class.
2. Reservation charge – They are levieied on every reservation made, however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the reservation charge included in their fares. Logically I think that reservation charges are to cover the infrastructure cost of getting a ticket i.e. manpower, stationary and other resources.
3. Supplementary charge = Super Fast (SF) charge - SF charge is added to all trains that average more than 55 km per hour over the whole of their journey, (any Mail or Express train whose train number begins with a 2), however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the SF charge included in their fares.
4. Safety surcharge – They are levied on every ticket (including Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains), though the cost will not be shown on the ticket (the reservation and SF charges are), Actual distance rather than chargeable distance is used to work out if your journey is above 500 km.
5. Tatkal Charges – These charges have been included under a Tatkal scheme especially designed for an unpredictable travel plan.The booking under this scheme opens 5 days prior to the trains departure. Further more details on this scheme can be got over here.

These charges discussed above are levied if one purchases the ticket from the reservation counters of the Indian Railways. Four years back they came up with the online Reservation system and thus a few additional charges were born alongwith (to the consumer's plight) –

1. Internet Service charge – Rs 20 for sleeper and lower class while Rs 40 for upper classes per ticket. This seems to be the charges for their infrastructure for facilitating the online transaction.
2. Courier Charges – These charges are levied on only i-tickets and not e-tickets against the courier of the booked tickets. Normally it’s Rs.20 per ticket and is included within the Internet Service Charges.
3. Transaction Charges – Depending upon the mode of payment (Debit Card / Credit Card) and the Bank through which the payment is being done, the customer pays a transaction charge per ticket to the Bank. Either it is some %age of amount being transacted or a fixed amount per ticket.

Example – For a ticket in an express train (A.P. Express) from Hyderabad to New Delhi, the charges I had to pay for an I-ticket are as following –
Base Fare – 1220
Reservation Charges – 25
Super fast Charges – 30
Internet Service Charges – 40
Courier Charges – 20
Transaction Charges (ICICI Bank Debit Card) – 11

Total = Rs. 1346

Manish Saini

Longing for an Irony of Time.......Hampi

(The visual pleasure of the Journey can be enjoyed over here.)

"There is a third dimension to traveling, the longing for what is beyond. "
– Jan Myrdal

Riding is about more than freedom and adventure. It’s about a heightening of the senses. And no season has more to offer than this time of the year. The vibrant greenery of the fields that greet you around each curve, to that sweet smell of the soil after the rain; the riding season has arrived.

A week end followed by 2 breaks had already set a stage for my Bull’s first excursion since its purchase 2 months back. (Hey………this 2 seems so omnipresent).
New to the place, I had no preferences of any sort as for a destination coz as Robert Louis Stevenson quotes –

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

And with the Wanderers around, I was sure to get some experienced company to explore this country side.

The wait wasn’t very long when SreeKumar proposed a destination which I had promised myself to visit the day I read about it (in class 8th) – Hampi; Now reduced to The Ruins of Vijaynagar (We will come to it later). With the venue decided, the final arrangements were made at a quick meeting (my first with the Wanderers) on the Friday evening.

Fact – Bloddy Hell!!! I am completely clueless about the spares that I need to carry and Machismo is no game for an ordinary mechanic.

And the Journey Begins………..

Wanderers –

"The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.” - Amelia E. Barr.

The Wanderer Enfield 1979 for the rider Sreekumar

The Wanderer Machismo 2006 for the rider Manish Saini

Fact - The difference in the age of the 2 Bullets is my age.

The ride there……

415 kms is quiet the sort of distance in the Indian context which can make ones drive as eventful as one can dream of. And ours was no different. Even before we could start we were lost J. Guided in the wrong direction we had to traverse around 60 kms extra before being put back on NH7 (Thanks to the AP road map I had bought the previous evening). But I guess we were better off by missing the rash and irresponsible traffic on NH7.

No sooner had we finished off our breakfast at Mehboobnagar and moved further that the beauty of nature started unfolding its wings. I can’t suppress my admiration for the omnipresent designer seeing the incredible unstable equilibrium of the huge rocks, all round our way.


Almost half way into the journey, we crossed the Krishna before entering Raichur and came across a riveting site.

The ingenuity of the architecture of this Thermal Power plant project on the border of the city is really worth an applaud.

A journey on a bullet without a problemo is an oxymoron (he he he….). The older bull had its odometer wire off the tire’s axle which we got repaired from what seemed to be the only Bullet mechanic at Raichur. (I guess this is the state of affairs in most of the cities across India)
Leaving the Thermal Plant city, I could see a huge black cloud rushing towards us from the West as we rushed towards Gangawati. However hard we tried to cross the patch which seemed to lie under the cloud’s impact area, we were unable to beat it. And this sudden burst of torrential shower which threw me from the centre of the road to the side walk separated the two riders which were to regroup again at Gangawati.

On rides like these, when for a long stretch you are all alone with yourself, you can’t resist being philosophical. Thoughts like life, death, purpose, dreams, achievements, losses, human nature, religion, God………all cross your head at one time or the other. It’s not the ride which wears you off; its ones own mind which continuously plays a tug of war of logic with itself which ultimately pushes you to take a break on the next crossing under the huge Banyan tree.

Fact - Refueled my Bull which by now has run 2500 kms and is running at an average of 43 kms per litre. Hard to believe but Sree’s 1979 Bull is still giving an average of 37 kms per litre.

By now we had already lost more than 2 hours of our journey and were now very eager to reach the destination. But the worst part of the trip was still to start from here on. The road from Gangawati to Hampi which is merely 70kms, is a riders nightmare with 53 speedbrakers (What the……..Is this road made for cycles or what?).

Fact – The complete journey of 415Kms has around 161 speed breakers.

The positive side was experiencing the real flavour of the beauty of the Tungabhadra valley. I simply could not resist capturing the coinciding of the human made beauty with the natural one - The Tungabhadra Dam

Hampi

Someone very rightly said “Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.”

Around 6:15pm, as we thumped passed the ruins of the Vijaynagar Empire, the moon light dancing over the remains gave us a peek into its glory. Man…….how eager was I for the sun to rise that evening. It’s been the place I had dreamt of visiting so many times and VOILA…..I was there now.

The weariness of the 10 hour drive seemed to drop off as we entered the ‘Hampi Dwaar’. Unlucky to be a bit late to go across the Tungabhadra into the Hippie Island, we checked out into the cozy Ranjna Guest house and soon checked out the small Hampi Bazaar.
Interestingly, no ‘Proper’ restaurant, hotel or eating joint can be found in this tourist’s heaven. The Bazaar is with dotted with a few Dhabas, the cook of which is the lady in the family of the owner. But take my word these dhabas offer cuisines would make one leap off the floor for such cusines one would get only in specialized restaurants in big cities (and ohh my my……few of the dishes were simply amazing……check out the clips).

Fact - A decent accommodation in Hampi can be easily availed for 250 to 350 Bucks depending upon the tourist traffic. Best time to visit would be between October to March.

The Exploration -

Virupaksha Temple, the Centre of the city, around which the Bazaar has come up has an awe-inspiring Gopuram, the trademark of the south Indian temples. The architecture inside is quiet ordinary as compared to other monuments. I believe that the possible reason might be that this temple was for the public of Hampi because the King’s palace was at some distance from the place. And there were other more beautiful temples around his living place.

Fact - Sree very rightly pointed out that in any place of historical importance, its only the temples which have survived till date while everything has been razed to the ground either by the invaders or time. And Hampi is no different.

Exploring Hampi on foot would have been fun given the beautiful weather. But due to lack of time we were devoid this luxury.
The picturesque location of Vitthala temple just takes your breath away. And the beauty of the temple is an icing on the cake. No wonder, the sculptors chose to suffuse music in every stone of this place (the temple has its uniqueness in the musical pillars).

Fact - We were ENJOYING the RUINS. An Irony which only time can create.

One finds himself at loss of words in front of these beautiful temples, palaces, Baths or the huge sculptures; but the most magnificent thing of the place lies within the ASI museum in Kamlapur – The Plan of the Vijaynagar Kingdom

Almost 2kms the kings complex, the Tungabhadra (Lifeline of Hampi), act as a natural guard while on the two sides the huge rocky mountains eliminate any sort of surprise from the enemy. The only attacking zone lay right infront of the complex which was guarded by 7 walls. And to capture a glorious and well guarded kingdom like this…..boy………..what an army would it had been? Sitting over the side benches and discussing the layout with Sree…….i just wondered what a devastating battle it would have been man!!!

Fact - In Hindu Mythology, Hampi was Known as Kishkinda, the kindom of the monkey kings Bali and Sugriv.

The Journey Back -

Tired of the day’s escapade, back in the room ..And……Voila…..we made another discovery of the day.

Fact - On Reliance phones you cannot set alarms if there is no signal and both of us had a reliance connection only.

But luckily both of us woke in time to reach Gangawati by 8:30 am.
The drive further towards Raichur became a beauty with light showers now and then and the sky completely covered with clouds in the middle of the afternoon.

An exchange of the Bulls on the way gave me a peek into the power of the 79’ model over which I had laid my hands for the first time. On the other hand, Sree had only one word for mine – ‘Remarkable’. A Bullet enthusiasts since late 70s, he was almost overawed by the improvements that Enfield has come up with in the new generation Bulls.

Fact - Bullet Machismo (my Bull) won the TNS automotive award for the best cruiser bike in 2004.

If you have driven a Bullet, you would realize that Bullet does a make a difference to your personality. The Bulls Personality is like someone who has the real ‘Power’ (metal as well as Physical). With Power, responsibility increases and unarguably majority of the Bull riders have lived upto it. Undoubtedly, one can see his confidence levels go up with the Power, and synonymously with Bullet.

After handing up my Bull to the Afzal in Raichur again, we went down to grab a bite around two squares away. On the way back to the workshop, a traffic police cop stops us and seeing recognizing us as tourists (seeing the Andhra number) tries to pull us into a trap to pay him a bribe. I am sure it wasn’t Sree, it was the Bull that stood there and took his stand against the cop. Soon, as people gathered, he took to his heals.

Fact - With a Corruption Perception Index of 2.9, in 2005 India is ranked 88 among 158 countries surveyed by Transparency International.

Full credit to the Rain Gods for making it a day worth registering in our diaries for us. And 3:30pm, back on my bed I was having my lunch exploring sites to fix a date with the next destination. But for now, my Bull needs a small service visit to get it back in shape for the upcoming exploit.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
- Saint Augustine

Cheers
Manish Saini

Hyderabad to Hampi

The Route
There are three different routes which a rider can pick up depending on his convenience.

Route 1
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(16km) Mahboobnagar –(104km)- Raichur –(135km)- Gangavati –(25km)- Hampi (Hippie Island)
Distance - Total (363Km)

Positive –
Shortest route

Negative –
Gangavati to Hampi is real Bad route which might take an hour or so to cover.

Route 2
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(16km) Mahboobnagar –(104km)- Raichur –(135km)- Gangavati –(53km)- Hospet –(17km) Hampi
Distance - Total (408km)

Positive -
Route is perfectly smooth with a beautiful Landscape from Gangavati onwards.

Negative –
A bit lengthy; marred by 53 speed breakers from Gangavati to Hampi and another 71 from Raichur to Gangavati.

Route 3
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(13km)-Buthpur –(43Km)- Kottakota –(25km)- Pebberu –(49km)- Kurnool –(33km)-Veldurti – (18km)- Dhone –(43km)- Gooty –(28km)- Guntakal –(98km) Hospet –(17km)- Hampi
Distance - Total (450km)

Positive –
You don’t have to leave the National Highway till Hospet which make the route quite safer.

Negative –
Lengthiest of all and NH63 which starts from Gooty, though has beautiful Landscapes, is an awful road to drive upon with huge potholes at regular intervals.

Petrol Pumps -
HPCL,BPCL and Indian Oil petrol pumps have a constant frequency across the whole strech. The Reliance Petrol pump, can be found at approximately every 50 to 80kms, One or two pumps from Essar have also come up on the route.

Caution For the Ride -

1. The road though smooth can be dangerous because of the villagers drying their grains on the road side. (see picture below)
2. Wear a Fully covered helmet to protect your face and eyes from insects which are in abundance due to a heavily cultivated area on the sides.
3. Do take a raincoat for sure.

The Hampi Valley - (in the words of ASI)

Places to Stay -
Hampi is a very basic township. There are just two small populated areas in this township separated by a river where one can look for stay-

1. Hampi Baazar
2. Hippie Island

In the former, People have made guest houses within their houses. Though a whole range of guest houses are available, decent rooms would range from 250 to 350 bucks. We personally found ‘Ranjana Guest house’ as quiet a comfortable place.

The latter is on the other side of Tungabhadra River and the transportation to the island stops after 6 in the evening. For a comfortable stay I would recommend this part of the town where people have made comfortable cottages available at the same cost as a room.
Places to Eat -
I warn you not to get carried away by the looks of the place. Thanks to a heavy traffic of foreign tourists that the cuisines at this place can even make a city like Hyderabad shy. Though you would find mere Dhabas marking the geography of the place, the food overall is well hygienic and consumable for the mere fact that even these Dhabas operate within a house. And yeah, they also match the prices of Hyderabad. Places to Visit -
The photograph below gives you a list of all the 81 places of Tourists interest. Most of them are just next to one another and hence try visiting only the following place in the given order (if you have a vehicle, else take a two-wheeler on rent (150-200bucks)) to make most out of the trip

1. Virupaksha Temple in Hamp Baazar
2. Archeological Mueseum in Kamplapur. The model of the city in the veranda of the Mueseum gives you a top view of Hampi. It implicitly explains the strategic location of the city which was guarded on the back by the Tungabhadra and on two sides by the Rocky Mountains, eliminating the element of surprise from the enemy.
3. Vithalla Temple which is 2km east of Hampi Bazaar on foot and 5 km by road. It is one of those Archeological Geniuses of the medieval India, the ruins of which narrate the
   Queen’s Bath, which is on the way back to the Hampi Baazar
4. Hazaara-Rama temple
5. Lotus Palace and Elephant Stable
6. The Narsimhan Statue

All this can be covered in a day after which you can spend a quiet and peaceful evening on the banks of Tungabhadra and a rave night on the Hippie Island.

But as a warning, let me remind you what a famous author once said -

“A traveler will see what he sees, a tourist will see what he has come to see.”

Cheers....
Manish Saini