Kite flying festival, Mysore, 21 Oct 2012

 Read about this event, which was held as a part of the Dussera festival celebrations in town. Kites hold a special place in my life. A reminder of the days in Goa, the golden days of childhood :) when we would fly kites from a small hill near home. Needless to say, there I was , near the helipad, with my camera. Boy was it a great time! The skies were a bit overcast initially. And when the kites began to fly, the sky was a riot of colours. Kites of all shapes and sizes. Enthusiastic kite flyers, right from the neighbourhood kid to the professional, not vying for honours but rather to make us all go 'whoa!'. When was the last time you flew a kite?

Check it out:

Welcome to Mysore Dussera 2012

It's A Bird... It's A Plane...its a kite :)

Three idiots

Hritik Roshan

~ | ~

Watch out for angry bird

I loved this one

Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
Flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone, my senses reel
- Learning to Fly, Pink Floyd

Riotous formation

YeLi, yeDdeLi, guri MuTtuvaDanaka Nilladiri
Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached
- Swami Vivekananda

A Tibetan God watches over us mortals

The ship of dreams floats high in the sky.
 It leaves a trail of stars as it glides by.
 We watch in hope, eyes blurry in a haze.
The mother ship will answer all of my dreams, and yours too.

Just hop in :)
My favourite kite!

This guy was 'The guy'. He had the most epic kites in the event. He told us, "I am not here to paricipate, I just want people to enjoy these kites" :)

A young and budding kite flyer :)

Tiger in the sky

Bird of Prey
Bird of Prey
Flying high
Flying high

:P

And I'm a Pisces fish and the river runs through my soul
-Pisces Fish, George Harrison

A parachute kind of a kite. Looked tough to fly

Sigalaarada  hoovu neenu; BiDalaarada dumbi naanu.
You are the unattainable flower; I am the bee who won't give up.

Translation sullies the beauty. I hope the feelings are conveyed :)

Raktha kottevu neeru biDalaarevu.

Sentiments during the Kaveri water row.

The biggest kite at the event

The Tricolour

We sign off with a flourish

All India Championship dog show, Aug 2012, Mysore

Came to know that a dog show would be held in town. Did not want to waste the opportunity of getting to see a whole lot of dogs of various shapes and sizes, in one place! I am absolutely insane about dogs. It is fascinating to observe different types of dogs, their temperament, their unwavering loyalty to their masters. Day or night, rain or shine, your dog would be more than happy to lick your face :D

So I rounded up the boys, with a bonus of breakfast at Hotel Mylary. Had awesome mylary dosas to our fill, and we headed to the venue!

Read on.

The Great Dane is one of the world's tallest dog breeds.Great danes were originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar.

The boxer. The character of the Boxer is of the greatest importance and demands the most solicitous attention. He is renowned from olden times for his great love and faithfulness to his master and household. He is harmless in the family, wary of strangers, bright and friendly of temperament at play, and brave and determined when aroused. His intelligence and willing tractability, his modesty and cleanliness make him a very highly desirable family dog and cheerful companion. He is the soul of honesty and loyalty, and is never false or treacherous even in his old age.
— 1938 AKC Boxer breed standard

I just loved these boxers, always in unison, always alert. They were amazing to sit and watch!

One of them notices me, see the expression on the other one, no nonsense dogs!

The Bull Mastiff? Not too sure.

The long haired Chihuahua

The St. Bernard is a breed of very large working dog from the Italian and Swiss Alps, originally bred for rescue. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its enormous size.

The Chow Chow is a type of breed that is originally from China. This was a little scary!

Everyone knows who I am :)

The Belgian Shepherd  is a breed of medium-to-large-sized herding dog. It originated in Belgium and is similar to other sheep herding dogs from that region.

The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose :)

The Chippiparai, found in the area around Periyar Lake. It is used primarily for hunting wild boar, deer and hare. It is also used for guarding the home. Bred by royal families in Chippiparai near Madurai district Tamil Nadu, it was kept as a symbol of royalty and dignity in tirunelveli and madurai rulers.

The Mudhol hound. Named after a town in the Bagalkot District in the Northern part of Karnataka. Awesome Dog with superb poise and style. The first time I saw these dogs. They were totally cool.

A cocker spaniel :) very nice and cuddly. One cant help but cuddle these dogs.

The show stopper! An Afghan Hound. Also the costliest one in show. This one was got from Peru and it costs around 18 Lakhs! 

Some kind of mastiff?

The Saluki, also known as the Royal Dog of Egypt and Persian Greyhound is one of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dog. Looked quite sophisticated.

The Basset hound, yes, the Hush Puppies dog :D

A basset hound pup. This one was just too droopy eyed and cuddly:D They are scent hounds, originally bred for the purpose of hunting rabbits and hare.

All (most) of the text courtesy wikipedia
All images courtesy me.

Parvaaz at SDM IMD, Mysore - 27 Jan 2012

I make it a point to visit Naissance, the annual cultural extravaganza held by SDM IMD. Particularly the music shows. This is because, Naissance is one of those events where you can get up close to the music and the bands, figuratively. The crowd rocking to these bands is mostly the students from SDM. Make no mistake, they do advertise well. But for some reason, we do not have huge, surging and rowdy crowds in black that usually happen at arenas playing music. Which is a blessing in disguise. You get to click some neat pics of the musicians in their elements. You get to run around the amphitheatre. And, you get to go all over stage, to click to your hearts content. All this, while you have music pumped into your ears at some really close range.

I had threatened my school chum Mr Sontalia with dire consequences, if he did not alert me about the dates for this years event, particularly the last day. The poor chap had no option. So, a round of betta, trying to chase the sunset and managing clicks such as:

Sunset from atop betta. One of those beautiful moments.

I landed up in SDM, sitting pretty at the foothills of betta. Picture perfect location for a college!


Parvaaz
Parvaaz, meaning 'flight' in Urdu, is a Bangalore based band. The band consists of Kashif Iqbal on Lead Guitar& vocals, Khalid Ahamed on Lead vocals, Neil Simon on Bass, and Sachin Banandur on Drums &  Percussion.

A few clicks of the gig:

Can I play with madness?

Synchronised melody

A soulful rendition

At the gates of dawn

A star is born

Did you know?

SDM decked up for the occasion

A study in light

The bass lines

Does centre composition work here?

Thank you, good night, we love you all :)

The common four ring, again!

Clicked this baby common four ring today morning in my garden. Quite small fellow, hardly two cm across.But he obliged to pose :)

More info

Hope you all liked it
Comments welcome :)

Have a great week ahead :)

Signs of life

First signs of life from Chennai !

On the turning away
      Like troops assigned to a tough assignment to faraway lands by fat generals, we arrived in Chennai Last Sunday to fight someone else's war. A waft of humid air hit us. Kinder than I had expected. The captain had announced that the temperature was 30 Deg C which I think is as low as it gets when it is bright. The company had booked a cab till M City, my place for stay for the next two weeks. It would be awesome and inconvenient. Awesome becaurse, my training when I joined Infy was in Mcity, I was really looking to go there, as some one said, its good to go back to old places where you have spent time, and see what has changed, you or the place. Inconvenient, as it is 50 Km from my work place, which means bye bye to 15 min commutes ferried by my bike ,to which I am accustomed. As I stepped out of the airport, I had a big smile on my face. It is really cool to see someone ready to receive you, with a placard which says 'Mr Chandan Karkera, Infosys' :) \m/

Back to M City
The journey to M City was nostalgic, as I retraced the path to the place where me and my friends spent 5 amazing,frightening, unforgettable, hectic and confused months, going through the rigors of Infy training. Posters on fly overs of women in various stages of undress and ecstacy greeted me. It was good to remember names like Tambaram, Marimalainagar, Kattangalattur and I racked my Brain to remember whatever broken Tamil I had picked up and survived :) A flood of memories inundated me , on seeing the house where we had stayed, as Infy had not yet built the hostels in Mcity. Situated right next to the highway, not even a minute from the bus stop and most importantly , contiguous with a Govt liquor outlet, it was proof that the higher power had smiled on us in tough times. All the good times in the house with tempo, chamundi, metre manja, gk and srinath came back. It is because of their awesome company that I survived. Upon reaching, I was a stranger in a strange land again. Building upon building had been spawned and nothing matched my memory. The guest house was extremely good and attended to, my first stay in Infy hostels. Everything, from carpets and towels , to shower caps and soap boxes n sugar sachets have the Infy logo on them :) I spent time roaming alone like a nomad on a cycle, doing a recon mission of campus without a wingman :|

Days of our lives?
   First day of work here, our cab arrived at 7. Breakfast was on the way and the prices were a jolt to reality here. For 60 bucks your stomach is still half empty. Onward travel time was ~2 hrs, and you can spend time staring outside the window. It is nice to listen to familiar Tamil songs on FM, to keep the devil out of your mind. Each song has particular memories associated wiit it. As i was jobless, i kept a record of travel times :

Day      Onward     Return
1          01:55        01:21
2          01:52        02:18
3          01:55        01:50
4          01:41        02:37
5          00:46        01:00

At any point of time, 3 senses are under brutal attack. It is a contest to hold your breath and not pass out, to fend off the smells of various levels of putridity. The smells change with the rains and location. The sun beats down on you as you plead for mercy. And it is visually repulsive at many of the places. You wonder if everyone forgot to include drainage systems in town planning.

The new workplace
Looks somewhat cramped. I do not care for the view outside the window. It is a big lake/ drainage surrounded by huts. I avoid looking out. The people look glum and mostly involved in work all the time. The coffee machine is superb. The 'South Indian filter coffee, light' is so perfect that you cant tell it is from a machine. For a week it is back to the training days. Lunch is in Andhra mess outside campus. Food is so good that it beats the cumulative tastes of all fc's in Mysore. The noons are spent in trying not to sleep, it takes a herculean effort. At many times I gave up and snatched a few winks of sleep. It is like intergalactic travel for a few seconds, really good :) Waves of sleep are generally held back by the fortress that the coffee builds. The coffee breaks are spent in scrambling to get paper cups from the security.

The Shared auto saga
Was fortunate to travel by a shared auto on Friday. Loved the experience. It is a normal auto, elongated and with innovative sliding seats. Normally 6-7 people can sit in it, although the number can go up to 10 or more depending on desperation levels. The main seat on sliding reveals a clever wooden plank which serves as a seat for additional people. It is like watching a movie, except that here, you are the movie. There is limited scope for moving your legs and you have to suppress all urges of stretching.

Weekend
Yesterday we went to the shoreline at night. The cool breeze and the moonless night did a lot of good to us troubled souls, as did the soft sand and the rolling of the waves. Watching sunrise from a beach on the East Coast has been a cherished dream of mine for eons, hope that happens this time. As it began to rain, we took a shared auto to hotel Aloft, a really classy place with uv light and sophisticated looking people. I think it was the first time in their history that they saw an auto come to their plush entrance and noone quite knew how to react :)

Those are the updates from me. I think all this will go into the blog too, for the benefits of future generations.
Tc, keep in touch ,people. Really miss you all! Please call me back :|:|:|

Regards,
'Mr Chandan Karkera, Infosys'

Shine on you crazy diamond (What im listening to,now)
(Published as sent out last Sunday, 28 Aug 2011)