The Bus Keys Switcheroo

Second year hostel life memories have been just a set of mischievous acts like breaking doors, sudden radio programs or time bomb crackers at night (ssup Gaurav?), frog legs in the library, running away from Manohar, pushing the PWD truck into the fields during the night walk etc.

But one mischief that stood out for its sly brilliance is the bus keys mix up:

 During an after-dinner walk, we came across the parked GEC buses and noticed that the doors were unlocked, and the keys were still in the buses (yeah.. we just magically noticed that while walking at a distance from the buses). Being engineers, we decided to conduct an experiment. We jumbled up the keys among all the buses (for science) and left the scene without making any visible changes to the status quo. Next morning we sat on the hostel terrace looking out for all the non-hostelites walking up the slope while the drivers tried to figure out why the buses wouldn’t start. This was back in 2001.

Today a colleague who graduated in 2011 (!!) from PCCE (!!!) said she had heard some such story.

Felt proud.. And then a little guilty for feeling proud.

Turns out they're still talking about us..

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Times Cycle To Work

Cycling rally on Saturday 5 June 2010.

Over 2000 cycles to see, some more expensive than bikes :)

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Hari weds Nayana

Hari wed Nayana on Wed 2 June 2010, Bangalore

The ceremony

The dos and don'ts

See! Shooting star!

The rest of us (I'm clickin')

Highlight: Clyde's neck was locked at 27º from the mean position arresting the rotary degree of freedom.

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How some people sleep

Some sleep at work...

Some let their mind stray...

Some doze off in the back seat

On a get-away...

Some so horny; suck parts of their own

And some forget they were talking on the phone

Some get entangled...

Some knocked out...

But this dude is the strangest...

beyond doubt.

At the registrar's office he fancied his bed....

Slept as a bachelor and woke up WED!!!

Credits:

Pari

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Recipe: Kabu Kabab Pariwala

Here is a simple recipe that you would like to try at home.

Ingredients:
Pigeon - 1 nos.
Onion - 1 nos.
Carrot - 1 nos.
Turmeric - 1 tbsp.
Coriander pdr - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 3 tbsp
Red chilly pdr - 2 tsp
Rava - 3tbsp
Oil - 30ml
Salt - to taste




Directions
Behead the pigeon, skin it and wash it clean. Cut the edible parts into average sized pieces. Rub turmeric, coriander powder, red chilly powder and salt and leave aside.
Go to the balcony and clear it of all the feathers.
Now mix the rava and garam masala. Heat oil in a pan. Roll the kabab pieces in the rava mix and fry for 20-25 minutes
Garnish with onions and carrots and serve hot!

Do try out the recipe and send in your suggestions for improvement.


Okay... now here's how I caught it:
we have an abandoned bathroom where I sprinkled a little toor dal and waited a few days.. the prey arrived, I sealed all exit points and pounced on it... It flew to the kitchen, saw the window closed, flew at my face, and I just caught it in flight. Cool eh?

Aakhir jallad bhi to insaan hota hai na....


Hunters don't normally care for tiny pecks.. but yes.. for the record... that b@$#!% pecked me... and it hurt... :-(

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Thump thump thump we go....

For all those of you who didn't know, Clyde n myself rode down my bike to Goa in May this year.. And the time for getting it back was nearing.. Clyde - busy as ever couldn't confirm on the date until one day before we actually went.. :-)

Friday, 5th of October I collect Clyde from the airport and we head to Dadar where we would be boarding the train... We reach with one hour at hand, so get into a restaurant for some kebabs n beer...After a 20 min wait, the waiter comes n pisses us off saying beer is not cold... Now we get desperate and walk real fast in a mutually agreed direction with two bags and a helmet in our hands.. Find a place finally.. pretty expensive.. in fact way too expensive... but what the hell!! We get in.. Ek chicken tikka, do beer.. thanda.. jaldi lao..train ja raha hai..

We gulped down in a hurry and made it to the platform well in time, but the train was delayed by an hour!! It was due to a bomb scare at CST.. and we had overheard about it on TV in that restaurant...
Had we been a little more attentive, we could've possibly put down a couple of beers more ;-)

Train journey pretty uneventful, and we get to Goa...

I spend most of the day with my bike checking this and that and getting some stuff rectified by a mechanic..

October 7 - The auspicious day

Cool n cloudy day... seemed like it could rain.. Fingers crossed...Started from home at about 9:15 and headed to Clyde's house who was ready n waiting for me... packed up the bags n headed to the next halt - a petrol pump at Pernem... There we fill up the tank to the brim and mount the big bag on it so the pillion's hands get freed...I rode till Sawantwadi, Clyde took over..

Then we stopped in Amboli for some bhajiya and omlettes.. Normal Amboli scene with some sober monkeys socialising and many anti-social humans making killos.. Other than a guy spitting from inside a Sumo right onto another guy's feet, there wasn't anything really exciting..

All along the way the clouds did exactly what we wanted them to do.. protect us from the sun.. Otherwise we would have been roasted papads by evening..

Ajra, Uttur, Gadinglaj, Nippani and onto the Highway.... where we zoomed past some 100cc toys .. Kolhapur.. we stop for lunch.. home made alu parathas n chatni under the trees by the highway.... Satara... Umbraj.. Indoli... that's where the clouds let out a few drops n cooled the atmosphere further... It was 3:45 in the afternoon, but looked like an average 6:30pm.... The last halt was about 70 km from Pune - tea break and rider switch... Clyde took over and rode home.. We were in Pune by around 6:30... No rest.. excited.. we discussed the ride, had dinner outside, came back n watched a movie... not realizing that tomorrow was a Monday.. and my office was still 200 km away..

Having slept at 1:00 AM and woken by 5:00 I was in no state to ride till Mumbai.. Edwin was kind enough to drop me right until my office gate...

We had a short high tea halt atop Khandala Ghat....

What a ride... Will soon go thumping for another.. and yeah.. keep you updated

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THE ENGICO ....page 4

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Ganesh Chaturthi Pics - 2002

Requires Flash

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Finally Made it in 3 years...

Cross-posted here

I am the last person to sit and jot down whatever I ve been upto on weekends, but this is one of an exception. Its been 3 weeks since the trip to Hassan, but let me give it a shot. The memories are fresh and beautiful.
It was a long pending trip in fact. A Wipro friend had been inviting us over to her place in Hassan since 3 years, and for reasons best known to us the trip happened only 3 weeks ago. Chaitra had almost given up on ever seeing us in Hassan, till she finally challenged me to get all the girls to the Kempe Gowda bus stand and that she would take over from there. With some last minute ticket booking (thanks to KSRTC online booking) we managed to get the tickets on a wed night. Bus was to start at 820 pm on friday, and most of us wouldn't be surprised if I told you, we kept the bus waiting, cause we reached there at 830.
So there we go, chaitra takes over from here. She is our tour guide cum host for the weekend. Total 7 of us off to hassan - chaitra (kannadiga n wiproite), shivashankari (tamilian & wiproite), Tina (malyali and wiproite) and the engicos, Reema, Elizabeth, Dechen and Myself. Reached at 2 am and headed straight for chaitras home. Ate upma at 3 am and went to bed. We knew the driver was going to pick us up again at 9. But all of us including chaitra knew it well that 9 was an impossible target. I Went to Hassan with minimum expectations, cause all I had heard of hassan so far was that it has a satellite control centre (ISRO). As luck would have it, we ended up seeing everything in and around Hassan and only the gates of the ISRO centre.

To our surprise we were ready by 9am on Saturday, but the driver wasn’t there. He arrived at 930 odd and we headed straight out on the highway to Chickmaglur. A pleasant drive, with beautiful sunflower and marigold fields on either sides awaits you. First stop was at Yagachi Dam (excuse me if got the names wrong, actually most engicos who know me, surely know my habit of confusing names). Clicked some nice pictures and got back into the car. Next stop was Kalhitgiri falls. A small but surely magnificient falls to see. Did a small trek through the mucky path to see the falls from a height. Next winding up the curvy road the vehicle drove us to Kemmanagundi hills. A beautiful hill station at a height of bout 5000ft above sea level. A much deserved break from the dust and pollution of Bangalore. Walking through the clouds to the topmost point of the hill (as reema puts it) was awesomeeeeeeeeee. Then we thought we were heading downhill for a good grub, as we couldn’t find a decent place to eat uphill at Kemmanagundi. Luckily our host had packed loads of fruits n snacks for us, and we finished it off in no time. Inspite of all the munchies we were too hungry to think of another place to see, but the driver insisted that we see Baba Budangiri hills while we are already there. Kemmanagundi and Baba Budangiri are adjacent hills, not sure which one is higher than the other. Baba’s Shrine is a famous pilgrimage spot for hindus and muslims. When we reached the Baba’s shrine, the thermometer would have surely read a single digit, and the clouds covering the hill restricted the visibility to barely 4-5 metres. But all the hunger and the biting cold was forgotten when we saw this amazing shrine carved inside a rock. (brought back memories of the college trip to Manali). Inside the shrine people offered locks to the saint (a Baba who is believed to have spiritually disappeared while lost in meditation. Hindus believe he went to Kashi and muslims say he went to Mecca). The locks were opened once your wish was fulfilled. And yes we all prayed to baba for some food, and surely enough he gave us the most delicious bread omlet, I ve ever eaten. That was the last spot for the evening and it was already 7, so we started our 2 hours journey down the hill to Chickmagalur. Ate dinner in Hassan and went to bed at 11, dreaming of the heavenly places we had visited.

Sunday morning start was much hurried as we knew we had a lot to cover and just a few hours to start back for Bangalore. As we didn’t want to miss out anything, we arranged for the return ksrtc bus to pick us up from Shravanabelogola, as it was enroute to Bangalore. In the morning visited two temples belonging to the Hoysala rule (Belur and Halebid). Both temples were so similar in their architecture, that I can hardly differentiate when I look back at the pictures now. One of them was famous for the statue of a perfect woman sculptured to the last detail of perfection. (For all those who will ask me now for the vital stats of this perfect woman go google.). After the temple visits we headed for chaitras home and her mom had prepared the most amazing curd rice I ve ever eaten. (being in south India for 3 years now, I still cannot stand curd rice, but this was again an exception). The best part of our trip was yet to come. The icing on the cake was the visit to Shravanabelagola, a must see for all, the largest monolithic statue in the world. Up a hill again but this time climbing 800 odd steps, to see the statue of the Jain God – Lord Bahubali. Reema, tina, chaitra and Karthik (he joined us on day 2 of our trip) was the first to reach up hill while dechen, Elizabeth, shiva and myself crawled up 15 mins later. From up the hill you get a exhilarating view of the entire district of hassan and the surrounding places. We spend some peaceful moments up the hill taking pictures of the beautiful scenery and started down hill. Sitting in the bus back to Bangalore, I m sure all of us were pondering over the same questions - Will I ever come back to hassan again? Why didn’t this happen 3 years ago? Would this have been possible if not for our wonderful host? Would we ever know so much bout ancient India and its cultures and religions – if not for this most unplanned and yet so wonderful trip to Hassan.

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Swirl Sniff Sip

When in Rome do as the Romans do. But when in Nashik, do what we did. Have some fine wine.

I have always enjoyed the taste of wine on my palate but this experience was quite different. Mostly my knowledge of wine was limited to Vinho Porto but this was some eye opener. So, if in Nashik do not miss out on the wine tasting at The Tasting Room @ the Sula Vineyards. Six fine wines combined with a little bit of education(and bias if you are female) for Rs.150 only...definitely a steal. Optionally one can opt for the Rs.100, five wine option. The wines on offer for the six wine option were ...
White (Blanc)
1. Sula Sauvignon Blanc
2. Sula Chenin Blanc (this one we unanimously liked and recommend)
3. Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc (a little too sweet)
Rose
4. Sula Blush Zinfandel
Red
5. Dindori Reserve Shiraz (one of their finest)
6. Sula Zinfandel

The tasting includes a super micro mini tour of the vineyards where-in you get to see the crushers, the fermentation chambers, storage tanks and the bottling plant.

Ok back to the wine tasting and the informative bit. I hope most of this information is true and the guy across the bar wasn't giving us 'pilla'. The only i-know-something-about-wine-thanks-to-Wikipedia soul was Melissa and she kept the guy busy with her questions about "corked wine", "wine legs" and what not. I dunno if it were the questions or that she was the only girl amongst us .... but rounds 1 to 6 she always got served the patiyala peg while we din't. Grrrrr.

During the tasting session we learnt a few things about wine drinking...here are 10 random things i noted down.

1. Wine on the palate is usually dry, semi-dry or sweet and as we learnt very sweet too.

2. White wine is served chilled (6-10C) while red wine is served at room temperature or like the guy put it..European room temperature(15-18C)

3. How does one hold the wine glass? While drinking white wine one must hold the glass by the stem so that body heat isn't transferred to the wine while for red wine one can hold the stem or the bowl(you rather not). Well well Wikipedia tells me, ISO has standardized a series of glasses for wine tasting. Beat that!!!! ISO 3591:1977

4. The different wines would classify as white, red, table, rose, cooking, sparkling....and the list goes on.

5. The Swirl, Sniff and Sip - Once served you must swirl your wine glass(not a good idea with a full glass) to help oxidise the wine and sniff immediately to drown in its aroma. And yes then importantly sip it or if in a hurry ....gulp. :) The sniff part gives one an indication of how the wine would taste. e.g. Dry wines would have a more pungent aroma. And yeah if you wanna feel more intellectual after you swirl take a look at the legs(of the wine). I think its an indication of the alcohol content.

6. The color of the wine doesn't come from the grape juice coz it's clear but it comes from the presence of the skin during fermentation and the time duration of the presence. At Sula it's 16 hours for Rose wines and 6 days for Red.

7. The alcohol content for most wines @ Sula is 13%.

8. The year usually indicates the year of harvest while the name is usually derived from the Grape variety.

9. The taste of the wine not only depends on the grape variety but also the climate, the soil and the yeast culture used....and yes the storage(e.g. oak wood barrels) and the time.

10. One round of tasting sure gives you a nice feeling in the head...round 2 would leave you just right.

We were so into the place that we went back at night. This time however you have to buy by the bottle, pint or glass. The wine tasting hours are between 11:00 am and 5:30 pm. After that the Tasting Room is open till 11:00 pm for service and purchase(on the weekends) but make that 10:00 coz the lazy and politely rude(by switching the lights off) bartenders shut the place down. So you need to get there by 9:30pm if u want to slip in a drink. The eats on the menu are nothing to boast about but one can find handy cheese dips, assorted nuts, cheese, crackers and wafers. I would personally highly rate the tasting experience but not the wine-dining one unless you are one for the ambiance.

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