Affordability v/s excitement

I have been having this thought for some time and wanted to write it down and seek reactions

Growing up, we mostly grew up with constraints, our affordability for “nice to have” things was mostly not pursued. For example, we would buy clothes mostly twice a year and align them with a festival. Eating chicken was mostly a few times a year and it was a special occasion. Getting a gift from someone was generally a rare thing. Because of all these, every little thing in life was an excitement. We looked forward to that bandi habba( a rural festival where chickens and goats were offered to god and eaten by us ) to eat a chicken or Deepavali ( festival of light ) to buy a new dress or waiting for grandpa to give a rupee when we visited his house or that school tour once a year to eat outside snacks. There was so much excitement and experience, and my mind registered even the little things we had.

Thanks to globalization and the economy, many of us have an opportunity to work in international companies. The affordability all of a sudden increased. And with e-commerce, easy to pay. buying is just a few clicks away. Many times I felt in this era, that excitement I had when I wore my first jeans or bought my bike 20 years ago is not there anymore!

My wife and I had a similar upbringing, brought up in a rural setting, we talked many times about how excited we were eating that ice cream once in a blue moon and we wondered if our kids were as excited as we were when we were at their age! That makes me think, is affordability a boon or takes away the excitement/experience? It reminds me of the Kannada movie Lucia, where a village boy dreams of leading an actor life (a more affordable life). In the end, it is actually the reverse, where he becomes an actor and starts feeling to go back to the village. At times, I wondered, if that is what happening to me.

After going through 20 years of working, earning, and living in the metro and abroad, thoughts can be confusing at times but I think we both go back to our roots, what is the most exciting one? Buying/experiencing a nice-to-have thing or having those little nice things, more often than not, it is the latter that makes us happier! As people say, life is a full circle. 

Did you feel the same? Leave a comment!

3 Days Trip to Dubai

3 Days Trip to UAE

I wrote a small (rather started as small became big ) about my 3 days stay in Dubai in October 2019.

This is an attempt to share my experience of visiting the UAE for 3 days. Written when I was in an airport and on a flight, on the way to Goa from Sharjah.

Day Zero:

I landed in Dubai on October 12th, 8 pm local time from California, US. Indian passport holders with US VISA can get a VISA on arrival for about 121 Dirham( 1d = ~20 rupees ). My childhood friend Ashok was gracious enough to pick me up from the airport at his house in Sharjah. Sharjah and Dubai are about 20km away. 

Ashok was my primary school classmate from 1 to 4 class at a small village called Kaagal in Kumta and then a 10th classmate at Kumta city ( yes, of course, it’s a city ). He works as a senior staff nurse at a defense hospital in Sharjah. He currently lives alone, with his family back in Mangalore(his wife is Mangalorean ). He took 3 days off to accompany me during my visit to the UAE. During the conversation, 

I learned that UAE consists of 7 emirates such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, etc, and each one of them is ruled by Sheiks aka kings, with Abu Dhabi king being the most powerful king and capital. I also learned that weekends here are on Friday and Saturday. That night, we had the best chicken biryani at a local restaurant near his house in Sharjah. It cost about $20 Dirham. We went to bed late at night after recalling many moments of our school days. Emotional times to recall many forgotten friends.

Day One :

I was served a delicious homemade ragi dosa with red chatni by my friend. It was made differently than my wife Shobha does at home. I learned the recipe and hope to make it when I go back home. We set to start our trip to Abu Dhabi. Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are about 150km+. 

We first started with the Ferrari theme park, a fairly new park. The cost was about 300 Dirham per person. Saw many Ferraris, did a small drive on a toy car, and did a roller coaster ride. There is an option to drive a Ferrari for 700d per person. We spent about 3 hours there. You can also see Yas mall attached to Ferrari park. 

Needless to say, when I am with Canon 70D, there will be lots of photos, with goggles, without goggles, with full view, with portraits, and so on. We took about 250 photos a day. Ashok turned out to be a good photographer for me!  We then went to a mall to eat lunch at the Indian Palace. Food was again yummy and cost a little more(70d) than a local place. Dubai and around places are all about malls, similar to how you see software companies in the California Bay Area. Car parking at malls is usually free and AC helps cool down after long drives.

We then headed to the Grand Mosque, a place to pray for people over there. This was my first ever visit to the Mosque. It is beautifully built, with NO entry fees. Lots of spots to take photos. When you arrive, you have an option to ask for a UAE traditional dress. Ladies are expected to wear a gown, which comes in various colors these days. If you wear shorts above knee length, you are expected to borrow pants. Luckily my shorts were just below knee-length or another way to say I just pulled it down :-). 

Glad we visited this place in the evening, a perfect time to take photos and avoid the hot weather in the afternoon. We then went to Corniche Road drive, a drive around the seashore where you can walk, run and see the giant wheel and some resorts. Later we went to a palace called Emirates places and roamed around there to see the beauty of the palace. 

We chose Abu Dhabi as the first destination because that evening I had the plan to meet my engineering college friend Arun( nicknamed KG) and his family and plan to stay with them on day one. 

Arun needs no introduction. A tall, fair handsome hunk, with no known history of love stories, in spite of being so smart :-) Regarded as a chief strategist and planner( be it college election or trip ), a great convincing guy, once he convinced a group of 10-12 trekkers from no to yes to hike the last leg of the trail. Kg and his family have gone to Muscat for vacation, around 5 hour drive from Abu Dhabi. His wife Soumya told me later that he made her drive 160km an hour (the max legal limit in UAE is 110km/hour) just to make sure he is on time to receive us. 

We were glad to meet at his place around 9 pm. I made friends with his daughter Aanya very quickly. The last I had seen her was in 2014, during our send-off party. His son Agustya had already gone to sleep. We had dinner together and chatted till 12.45 am before KG reminded us that he has an office the next day.

Day Two:

The next day we woke up by 7.30, Agustya was already up and waiting for us. We played together with him and continued chatting with Kg. Soumya made delicious chapati with aloo gobi Palya and palak curry. After finishing breakfast, we took a family picture and said goodbye to them. We left his home around 10.15 am. KG left for the office too with us. 

We then headed to Ashok's home and reached there by 12. I took some rest to recover from jet lag while my friend made rice with a Tomato bath.

After lunch, we headed to the most anticipated desert Safari ride. Ashok had negotiated a price of 145 Dirham for two people. We had a pickup near Ashok's house at 2.45 pm. The driver was Pakistani and we made friends with him instantly ( well, outside desi means India and Pakistan, Bhai Bhai :-)). They pick up in a van and then drop at a place where the safari starts. We reached Safari starting place around 4 pm. At Safari place, we were picked by SUVs. Drive around dessert was an amazing experience, you can feel the power of these all-wheel-drive SUVs. Drivers are so much more experienced and handle so much smoother. They drop at a place where there is a camp. The camp consists of Camels, sand bike rides (referred to as quad biking), and a common place to sit, eat and dance. They take us around in Camel. Bike rides are charged separately. Later we are escorted to the camping place and served Tea, water, dates, and snacks. Then there is a stage where Arabian night activities happen, surrounded by people.  It started with a male dancer, with classical Arabic music. The same person performed a fire-based dance. Both of them were interesting and fun to watch. They are so professional and made all of us get engaged. Then we were served dinner. The spread had vegetable salad, curries, rice, biryani, bread, and nonveg items, Monday being my No non-veg day, I settled for veg items. They were delicious. 

After that, the most awaited belly dance started. She danced so well that the whistles from me came naturally ( rather I was the only one miss behaving with whistles and the rest were clapping). We had a great time belly dancing and did a light dance. This ended at about 8 pm. Then the crowd started to get into SUVs and we again met a Pakistani friend. SUVs took us to a van place in the desert. A Pakistani friend dropped us in the van near our house. He gave us his personal number so that we can call him directly next time. He dropped us first because we were the first to pick up. We were back home by 9 pm. We had a bath, chatted for some more time, and went to sleep. 

Day Three: 

We planned day 3 to be around Dubai. We left home around 9 am to go to Dubai mall. This is a very common destination for tourists. Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, is just close to Dubai mall. On the way, we stopped for breakfast and had Kerala parotta with egg curry. It was yummy. Most of the desi restaurants are owned by Keralites. We then headed to the mall, to our disappointment our car got into a small tire issue and we changed the tire in the mall. Dubai mall is world-class, with so many international brands. They are on the expensive side obviously, needless to mention most people do window shopping. One important thing to note is you may get lost in the mall and tracing your parking location might be hard, so it is better to note down your entry location with a few signs so that you can trace it back. 

There is an aquarium within the mall that one can visit. We then headed out to Burj Khalifa, we saw from a distance and took pictures. Entry fees were pretty expensive, so we skipped going on top. My friend mentioned, that the fountain show in front of the mall at night is a must-watch. My schedule did not allow me to stay back for that.

We then headed to meet my other engineering friend, Mahesh ( nicknamed mote). Mote, originally from Kerala but did schooling around our native place. In college, we had a party system where only seniors from the same district can rag us, so mote belonged to our party and so did the closeness. The term mote originated because of his chubby cheeks in college. We caught up for lunch at his office and spent a good time chatting.

We then headed to Palm Jumeirah, a man-made city at the beach. We drove around, stopped at the beach, and took pictures. We then headed to Jumeirah beach. Great to see many people sunbath at the beach. We saw a famous honeymoon resort, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah from the distance.

We then headed to the local market to buy dates, fresh dates from local places are generally delicious. It cost about 30d per kg. The adjustment market was a fish market. We both got a new idea: buy fish, cook, and eat instead of eating out. The fish market had so many varieties of fish and all of them were fresh. Sometimes I miss that feeling in America. Bought bangada (mackerel) and reached home by 7.30 pm. 

We had 40 minutes to prepare, and while my friend cleaned fish, I prepared masala for Mangalore-style pulimanchi. We took bath and had dinner together. Pulimunchi came well except tamarin was a little less. Then around 9.15 pm, my friend dropped at Sharjah airport. My flight was scheduled for 11.20 pm to Goa. My elder sister stays in Goa and it’s easier to get to my native Kumta from there.

I spent 3 days in UAE and met my friends and places. 

Thank you to my lovely childhood friend Ashok for taking me around and thanks to my lovely wife for staying with the kid back in America and supporting me to travel alone. 

I hope to write more as I explore! 

Thank You Mokashi Sir!

 

This article is about the most humble guru of my life, Mokashi Sir. Article was written when I was coming back from Bangalore to Seattle, well after a teacher's day on September 5th and dedicated to all teachers of my life, especially Mokashi Sir!

Sir introduction:

Mokashi Sir, a civil engineer from BVB college Hubli, Karnata, India. As his last name suggests, he was from north Karnataka region. I do not think any one of us till now know his first name! So let’s call our Sir by his last name Mukashi Sir or simply Sir! As a reminder, those days (the late 80s) engineers were not common and civil engineering was a prestigious branch to be in. 

The pursuit of passion: 

Sir was so much in love with teaching that he followed his passion and took a full time teaching profession at Polytechnic college in Kumta under civil department in-spite of having a handsome job offer in private companies. Further, he was so passionate about maths that he found a way to follow his passion by creating a tuition center for a first year and second year PUC science students. He partnered with his colleague Aldi Sir for physics and S V Kamat Sir for Chemistry to provide a full coverage of essential PCM courses for students.

Tuition center established in the early 90s by these trios in a small city of joy Kumta became popular within few years of establishment and thereafter referred as Mukashi Sir tuition.

Why my favorite:

Sir was punctual, the class would start exactly at seven dot thirty am every day in April and May. He would always arrive 5-10 minutes before and wait for students to gather. I do not remember any day our classes started later than the scheduled time!

Sir was a great planner, he would plan to cover the syllabus at the beginning of the year and would keep us informed on how we were progressing. He would also plan additional classes if we were lagging. Further to keep the class engaged, he would shuffle the chapters meaning calculus was divided into chunks and geometry would be introduced in between. That made us learn various chapters in a chunk instead of finishing one area at a stretch.

Sir handwriting was neat. Whether it is writing sign theta or drawing a parabola, all were so neat and I think it was because of the passion he had.

Most importantly, Sir was simplifier, patient and motivator. 

Most of the students from our region were from Kannada medium. High school to college transition was not easy because we had to learn science and maths in the English language all of a sudden. Those transition days were difficult and that is where our Sir shines. He would make those maths so simple for all of us that the English language never came as a big barrier. He would take time to explain multiple times, once in Kannada and then repeat in English. 

He was patient and offered us any number of hours of consultation. For example, if we had additional doubts, he offered that he can come early to have one on one or come back after all other classes were finished.

He was a motivator, motivating us to solve the problems. He said, his best gift would be if his student scores hundred out of hundred.

Last but not the least, teaching as a service, a quality that I liked the most in him. As a reminder, the mid-90s was a time when tuitions were booming as business and many teachers made this as a business, especially around Dharwad and Mangalore areas. Many of my friends went there for tuition and paid a high amount. Our tuition fees were just rupees 500 per year per subject including CET coaching. Coaching included 100 to 120 classes with many mock tests and exams. Sir would never ask for money if someone has not paid. Sir had waived off his fees too for poor students. Many times, he had thousands of rupees offer from his relatives and friends to take the classes in Hubli and Dharwad area but Sir continued to remain at Kumta and serve the needy people like us. His teaching and service meant a lot to us.

Well, you must be wondering if Sir was so perfect? No, there one thing that I did not like about Sir. Sir was a smoker, and to hide a cigarette smell, he would eat “jarda” which used to smell bad. However, he always ensured he never smoked in front of students. 

Last few notes : 

My association with Sir lasted longer than tuition time. In the same year I was admitted for Engineering college, his nephew also took the same college in other REC quota. I met Sir again when I got selected at the campus interview. I got him sweets and took his blessings. I also met him a couple of time after joining the job and had a good time with him. The last time I attempted to meet him was to invite for my marriage but could not meet him as he was out of station for valuation. Since then ( 2013) I have not met him and hoping I will soon meet him. 

Because of Sir teaching, we were able to achieve a good grade on the board as well as in CET. We all owe him a big favor. Both my brother and sister were also his students. In between, I heard that he had a mild heart attack and had paused tuition. Now he as quit smoking after the heart attack incident which I am extremely happy for him. Whenever I hear calculus, the first person to my memory is my Sir!I wish him a great health and a great peaceful life ahead and hoping to meet him soon!

Your loving student,

Anil Masakal, from City of joy Kumta 

Date: September 5th, 2018, thanking on a teachers day !

ಪರವಶನಾಗಿ ನಿದ್ದೆ ಹೋದ ನನ್ನ ಮಗ ತನಿಷ್

ಒಂದು ದಿನ, ನಮ್ಮ ಪುಟ್ಟ ಮಗ ತನಿಷ್, ಹಿತ್ತಲಿನ ಸೀಮೆ ಬದನೇಕಾಯಿ ಚಪ್ಪರದ ಕೆಳಗೆ ತೂಗುಯ್ಯಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ತೂಗಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತ  ಪರವಶನಾಗಿ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ನಿದ್ದೆ ಹೋದ.  ನನ್ನ ಮಗ ಏನು ಅಂದುಕೊಂಡು ಮಲಗುತ್ತಾ ಇರಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ಕಲ್ಪನೆ ಮಾಡಿ, ಮೂಲ ಕೃತಿಯ್ನನು ಮಾರ್ಪಡಿಸಿ ಆ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನು ಗೀಚಿದ ಹಾಡು ಇದು. ನನ್ನ ಹೆಂಡತಿ ಶೋಭಾಳ ಸಂಬಂಧಿ ಶ್ರಾವ್ಯ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಹಾಡಿದ್ದಾಳೆ. ಕೇಳಿ ಆನಂದಿಸಿ.

 

ಗೀತ ರಚನೆ

ಪರವಶನಾದೆನು ತೂಗುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಆಟವ ಆಡಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ನಿದ್ರೆಯ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಇದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಬೇಗ ನೀನು ತೂಗಬಾರದಿತ್ತೇ ಅಪ್ಪ
ಇನ್ನಾದರೂ ಅಪ್ಪಿಕೋ ನನ್ನನು ನಿದ್ರೆಯ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಪರವಶನಾದೆನು ತೂಗುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಆಟವ ಆಡಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ನಿದ್ರೆಯ ಮುನ್ನವೇ


ನಿನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗಂತು ನಾನು ಭೀಮ ಯಾವಾಗಲು
ಇನ್ನು ಬೇರೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡಲಿ ಅಭಿಮನ್ಯುನಾಗಲು
ಹೂ ಅರಳುವ ಸದ್ದನು ನಿನ್ನ ನಗೆಯಲಿ ಕೇಳಬಲ್ಲೆ
ನನ್ನ ನಿದ್ದೆಯ ನೋಡು ನೀ ಈಗ ಕುಂತಲ್ಲೇ
ನಾನೇನೆ ಮುಗುಳ್ನಕ್ಕರೆನು ನಿನಗಿಂತ ಚೂಟಿ ನಾನು
ತುಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಮುಚ್ಚಿಟ್ಟುಕೊ ಮುತ್ತೊಂದನು ಮಲಗುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಪರವಶನಾದೆನು ತೂಗುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಆಟವ ಆಡಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ನಿದ್ರೆಯ ಮುನ್ನವೇ


ನಿದ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಬ ಜಾರಿವೆನು ನಿನ್ನನು ಕೇಳದೇ
ನೀ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಸೊಗಸಾದ ತೂಗು ಉಯ್ಯಾಲೆಯಲಿ
ನನ್ನ ಗೊರಕೆ ಒಂದೊಂದೇ ಕೇಳಬೇಕು
ಆಲಿಸುವಾಗ ನೋಡು ನನ್ನನ್ನೆ ಸಾಕು
ಸಹವಾಸದೋಷದಿಂದ ಸರಿ ಹೋಗಬಹುದೇ ನಾನು
ನನಗಾಗಿಯೇ ಕಾದಿಟ್ಟುಕೊ ಹಾಲಿನ ಬಾಟಲಿ ಒಂದನು ಕೇಳುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಪರವಶನಾದೆನು ತೂಗುವ ಮುನ್ನವೇ
ಆಟವ ಆಡಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ನಿದ್ರೆಯ ಮುನ್ನವೇ 

YouTube Video

 

Overwhelming Response from friends and Family

• Very beautiful collection of babies pics and video’s. Song and Singer voice is melodious 👍  Super 
• Maski..Multi Talented Personality... Keep Going.. Expecting Maski's Music Album soon.  
• I can't agree more. Kalegaara maski 👍  Love the enthu n energy you carry Maski 👌👌 
  
• Oh wow. Yenappa. Innu enen talent idhyappa ninge...amazing.
• Maski.. sooper agide song. Love the video snippets of chubby Tanish!!  
• Super aagide Anil saahitya haagu haadugaarike..innu hechchu videos maadi share maadu
  
• That jokaali is so amazing! And what a lovely song as well 👌  
• Super composition and nice singing, lots of love to chota bheem💪🏻🥰🥰
  
• Loved it Very well written 👌  
• Wow so beautiful 😻 written 🎉🎊full of love and affection ❤️also nicely sung by Shravya 👍🎉Thanks for sharing 
•  Chindi Anil 👏👏👏👏👏👏 👍🎉🎊🎉🎊ಸೊಗಸಾದ ಗೀತೆ ರಚನೆ  
• 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 How many more hidden talents you have sir😱👌🏻👏🏻🙏🏻.  
• Sooper song and composition , Anil...baby Tanish is the real attraction😍 
• Super singing and even super Tanish....👏👏👏. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಲಿರಿಕ್ಸ್ ಬಹಳ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ. 
• ಸಕ್ಕತ್ ರಚನೆ ಮತ್ತು singing! 🔥 
• Super Lyrics and video Maski 👌♥️  
• Super se upar👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
• Wow too good le 👌🏼 
• Wow. Super Maga!!! 

Why BRuSH Every Day ?

Isn’t it obvious why we need to brush every day? What’s the new thing I am going to write? Well, I am not talking about the brush you are thinking of, I am talking about the new acronym I have coined, which is a very essential part of life just like brushing every day. Y- BRuSH stands for 

 

Yoga

Bike (also referred as cycling)

Running or can be walking, 

Swimming

Hiking (also referred as trekking) 

 

Well, isn’t it now easy to remember, every morning you are brushing, pushing yourself, Y you should BRuSH again!

 

There are enough things written about why exercise should be an essential part of life, so I am not going to bore you with that. In summary, exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lung health improve, you have more energy to tackle daily chores. I want to talk about my story and my experiences with these!

 

Yoga: 

 

Yoga, the term in subconscious minds, takes us to Yogi and spiritual aspects of life. However, for me Yoga has 3 parts. First one, the daily exercise, referred to as asanas, it helps in building muscle strength. Second is the pranayama, an inhale and exhale technique, that helps improve the prana, the oxygen we breathe every second. The third, meditation, relaxation of mind. 

 

Growing up, we mostly did one or the other asanas in school. There were yoga camps, where we had enrolled and experienced these 3 shades of Yoga. We were surrounded by grandparents who were spiritual and religious, and the religious side had meditation built into everyday routine, through prayers. 

 

I got re-introduced to yoga 2 years ago, during the pandemic. Especially with virtual classes, it became easy to attend from home. It was indeed a great experience. The first few days into Yoga, I realized my body is not flexible as in teens. As days went by, I was able to do most of the asanas. Beauty of
Yoga is for every body part; you have one or the other asana. For example, if you have back pain or a neck pain, you can pick those asanas and customize them to your needs. I learnt more than 40 asanas in the first few months and later practiced them myself. 

 

I also learnt pranayama in these classes. Pranayama technique has three main stages, Purak (inhalation through nostrils), Kumbhak (retention) and Rechak (exhalation). Depending on the type of pranayama (example, Anulom Vilom – Alternate Nostril Breathing) , you control and hold these 3 stages. One may assume, pranayama is easy but for me it is more difficult than asanas. With Pranayama, I experienced an elevated energy level for the rest of the day.

 

The third is meditation, and I sincerely believe I am not qualified to talk about it. I believe it requires a spiritual aspect to practice correctly. In short, relax every muscle from toes to the top, as the muscles are relaxed the breathing becomes slower and slower. As the breathing becomes slow, the Mind becomes calm and quiet. As the Mind becomes calm and quiet, the body relaxes further, which further reduces the breathing rate and so on. So you eventually relax your mind. 

 

Yoga is a very low investment of the Y-BRuSH family because it just requires an empty space, that’s it. If you have not started on this path, attend classes through a Yoga practitioner and then later practice yourself. Doing at least 20 minutes of Yoga daily will greatly help your mind, soul, and body. I have really experienced this for the last 2 years. Recently, I made videos of 18 asanas and can be found here. 

 

Bike or Bicycle:

I learned to ride a bicycle by the age of 7. Cycling to high school was the only option to commute then. It was even more fun when you cycle in the heavy rainy season, umbrella in one hand and break in the other hand. In the last two years of undergraduate, I took my brother cycle to the hostel and used it for local commuting. After that, the cycle vanished from my life. As affordability improved (read as we became lazy), motorcycles and cars were used for transportation. For a short period, I also bought a cycle, and cycled to work but Bangalore roads were not safe and eventually I had to give up.

 

I got reintroduced to cycling in 2018. We had only one car, and both of us needed it. So, I choose to cycle to work instead of buying another car. It was about 14 miles (22km) both ways. In winter, I cycled to the train station, and then train to work. You can take the cycle inside the train, that was the best part. It continued till the pandemic and was a great experience.

 

Best thing about cycling, you get to experience nature, birds, and the breeze. You get a great exercise to your legs, and your heart breathes fast, which improves blood circulation. If you are an early person like me, you get to see sunrise and early morning vitamin D, which is so precious and essential. I also enjoy my own undisturbed time when I bike, especially stopovers in the middle of the trail and watching the sky, nature, and water streams.

 

Cycling can be a moderate to heavy one-time investment based on your affordability and choice of cycle. Cycle needs regular tune up, tire and parts replacements. Good bikes last forever. You have a variety of bikes to choose from, like road bike, mountain bike, hybrid bike, gear and without gear, carbon bikes and so on. I have settled with an hybrid bike from Specialized.  

 

Running or Walking:

Of all the Y-BRuSH families, this is the least one should do a few times in a week. If your knee hurts, at least walk a few miles a day! In the last few years, I am able to consistently increase my endurance and run up to 5 miles ( 7-8 km) consistently. Excessive running is also not good, as it may start taking a toll on your knees. One should watch out for that and give breaks during the run. This is true for any exercise, overdoing it is not good for common people.

 

Running is low to moderate recurring investment based on your choice of shoes! You will need to try a few shoes before you settle for one. You need to choose your trail, like a road trail or a mud trail, that can also influence the way your knees respond to running. You also need to watch out how you land your feet, distance between feet for each step and adjust continuously to ensure your knee does not get hurt. For example, I was doing longer steps earlier and learnt it was the reason for my knee pain and switched to shorter but faster steps. A twenty to thirty minutes run every day should suffice to keep you active. I do dream that one day I will do at least a half marathon!

 

Swimming 

Who does not like to be in the water? Swimming is one of the well-rounded exercises from head to toe. I was fortunate to learn by the age of 7 or 8, and it is my second most favorite sport. Swimming as everyone knows has many types such as freestyle, Backstroke, breaststroke and so on and all have so many benefits. Couple of days of swimming in a week would greatly improve my health. Finding a swimming facility with reasonable cost may not be an easy task.  

 

Hiking 

This is my most favorite sport, for many reasons. First, you are in the woods, forest and with nature for a longer duration. Second, when you hike with a group, you have so many conversions that bring back old memories. Third, the uncertainty associated with a trail that you need to navigate some time with gut feeling. Fourth, the fresh water that you can drink from the streams. Last, the night camping if you are backpacking. Only downside is it demands lots of time and can be challenging when you start a family. I started my hikes in teens and it remains dear to me with the same level of excitement and happiness. I am fortunate to find many friends who are into hiking and able to do it regularly. Hiking for about 8 miles (13km) in a week should give you good exercise.

 

So, in summary, you need to ask yourself, did I brush twice today? If not, you need to pick up at least one from the Y-BRuSH and start brushing again!

 

Happy International Yoga Day! 

Anil Masakal

Enthusiast for sustainable and healthy living!

Some of my Yoga Videos:

Play list : https://tinyurl.com/ysbbmmn3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 10th class and exams

It is the time to recollect, time to look back to your school days. Tell me what was the most tensed moment? I am sure you will remember your 10th class and exams. Before I get old and forget my 10th class, let me write some memories of my 10th class and how it went for me.

Ok, all started with my 9th class result. Result was hard to realize. Number was 515 out of 625 which translated to 82.4%. It was not too unexpected result but some where it went wrong. I had written my 9th final exams with viral fever. I was not even within top 5. I was some where at 8th position in the class. It was hard to digest. But the best thing was neither my parents nor my family people really took it serious and put pressure on me.

I think this was the beginning for my new thoughts and new attitude. If I go back to those days, I think this was a trigger to think about me and my abilities. This episode definitely helped me to change from very careless guy to careful, very naughty to little serious, very haphazard way of doing things to systematic way.

After the results, some of our class teachers from different schools got together and rolled out the tuition class in the summer holidays for the 10th class students. In our place, there were 3 schools which operated under Canara education society. My school Mahatma Gandhi High school (MGHS), Gibb Boys high school (GBHS) and Gibb Girls high school (GGHS) were under the Canara Education society. The best teachers from these three schools got together and had a plan to give the coaching in Science, Mathematics and English grammar. It was with the vision that more number of 10th class state level ranks to the Canara education society. During those days, state level Kannada medium ranks werereally hyped. From the previous two batches there were couples of ranks to GGHS and GBHS. This was treated as a prestige to all the schools. Unfortunately our school MGHS was not able to bag any ranks in its history. I decided to join this class. Class was about for 3 hours every day and started at 9am. There were two teachers from my school. Classes were interesting. I got more insight in to English grammar. There was a teacher for Mathematics who was also my house owner. He taught us Matrix fundamentals. The way he used to tell Column (Khamba in Kannada) and Rows (Saalu) are still in me memory. He used to repeat “Khamba Saalu” with actions at least 10 times. It is almost 12 years now (remember I am 1997 10th pass out and tuition was in April 1996) and I still remember those actions and classes. This gave me the opportunity to meet other students from GGHS and GBHS. Look at the world, I met the same people again after an year when I went for the college. Summer classes ended very nicely

Then started the June and the heavy rainy season. Fresh class, change in the teachers for some subjects, change in class room and change in the status as super seniors in school. All together it was again a fresh start. We had two classes A and B and I had belong to B. One of my friend who did not get first number is 9th class had left the school because of some internal issue. Two of new friends Ashok and Manjunath had joined the class from different school. Head mater of our school Gowdi sir was English teacher, C G Bhandari was Kannada teacher, Shastri sir was taking Science first time for 10th class and was head class teacher, Rukma madam was Hindi teacher, Prabhu sir was social science and the most intelligent SM Bhat sir was taking Maths. Perfect teachers were in perfect job. Our head master had only one vision. Few state level ranks to the school. Our Physical Education teacher was a great Ball badminton player. Every year he was building the team. Our previous batch had the solid team and were taluka level champions but some how they could not win the district level. I had joined MGHS school in 9th from Jawahar Navoday School. From then I got fascinated with Ball badminton game. I had started learning and practicing the game.

After the classes started, my parents asked whether I want to go for any tuition. I also thought I should go for it. My school Maths teacher SM Bhat was taking home tuition. He had a pair up with English teacher MT Bhat from the same place. Tuition was from 7.30 to 8.45am from Monday to Friday, 3pm to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 11am on Sundays. Schools were from 9.15 to 1.10pm and then 2.30 pm to 4.45pm on Monday to Friday and 8am to 12.30pm on Saturdays. So school days were very hectic. 7.30am to 8.45am tuition, 9.15am to 4.45pm school and after that Ball badminton game till 6.30am or day light which ever was longer.
Let me try to remember my class people here: Nagaraj Udadangi, Manjunath, Diwakar, Santhosh, Dattatreya, Mahesh, Jairam, Sharth, Ashok, Manjunath Shet, Prashant, Shetti, Anil, Raghavendra, Shalini, Suvarna Pikle, Rekha Madiwal, Savita, Vishalakshi, Rekha Naik, Sunita, Prema Komarapant, Jayalaxmi, Leena, Surekha, Sunita Harikantra and so on.

More than my studies, I started liking the ball badminton. This was the game which I had learnt during my 9th class. I had mastered this game in short time span. So I was promoted as middle player. We had few players who were playing from lat two years. One of my friends Girish with highest experience promoted as captain. We had the best players with right combination and attitude in the team. Jairam and Narayan handling at the back side, me in the middle and Girish, Raju in the front. Our coach and physical teacher was a very good player. First three months of schools days were full of rain but those were the days where you need to really practice well. Taluk level and district level matches were in September. Out teacher really worked hard to practice with the best players in our place. He called many of our seniors and his friends to play with us. We had the best opposition team to play with my school team. We enjoyed every win/loose and learnt many shots and services. Sport funding was always an issue. School was NOT ready to give us the new rackets and balls. All school team players bought their own rackets to play. We collected money from team to play with the new ball every week. Every day we practiced hard. Our teacher was so encouraging that he used to treat us with his money for the best play. Team at one point of time was unbeatable. Sportsmanship was building every day. Confidence was boosting. Frankly I was at my best. Calm composed and best shots at right time made me the best player of the team. I enjoyed key middle position and dominated.

With all these, 9th class disaster result was always in mind. I wanted to over come and prove my best in studies. Along with sports, I concentrated on my studies too. I became more studious and systematic. I think these were the days I was slowly going away from my child hood characteristics. I started valuing the each minute of mine. Started stretching my sleeping time to 11pm. I managed to arrange my own table and chair for studies in the corner of my house. Same year my elder sister was moving out of house to study her Diploma course. Brother was in crucial 2nd year PUC. Sister was starting her high school. Every one in the house had one or the other to prove them self in academics. Totally it was study environment at house. More than us our parents were struggling to keep every thing in place and give us more time for study. Scene was typical middle class family struggling to come up with flying colors. Mom used to cook in the morning for my brother. I used to have break fast after morning tuition. I started talking bicycle to tuition.

During school starting days, one of my close friend Ganesh father passed way due to jondies. It was a shocking incident for his family. He was my close friend from 6th class. It was not the age to loose the father. His father was the one who used to take all of us to swimming in 5th and 6th class. He was so encouraging and wanted his sons and me to learn bicycle, different swimming styles, drawing etc. I personally share very beautiful moments with his father during my child hood days. He wanted us to have healthy fight in academics.

Then came the first unit test in the month of August. As usual syllabuses were less. Competition was definitely building within the class. We had two sections A and B. In our section, one of my friends Jairam who was intelligent but never bothered to study much had started studying in 10th class. Hard core maggu Jayalaxmi was putting her effort to be the best in class. In the other section Ganesh was as usual the front runner. 9th class topper Triveeni wanted to keep her position intact in 10th class. Nagaratna, child hood friend of mine was in the list of contenders. So there was tough but healthy competition between us. I had friendship with every one in the class. Things went smooth in fist test. I was in second position but the total marks were much higher than usual. It was around 136 out of 150. As expected, Jairam stood first in the class.

First anniversary with my Getz

Today will be exactly one year since I bought my car Hyundai Getz GLS. More than 6000km run till date and it is going simply superb. There are some memories to share about why I decided to go for Getz and the whole process involved in buying the CAR.
It was a DREAM...

Being born and brought up in middle class family in moderate city, I never imagined that I would own a car in 25 and half years. The only car I saw in the road almost 20 years back was Ambassador. Maruti cars were seen only in movies those days. The first time when I went in car is almost at the age of 11 years and that was in 1992 during one of the RICH relative marriage ceremony. Luckily I got a chance to travel in car for about 6-7km. It was a moment of happiness to enjoy the luxury of Ambassador. After that I don’t remember any occasion where I got chance to travel in CAR.

After I shifted to Bangalore for my profession, seeing car became very common. Around 25% of the traffic population was occupied by Cars. Car was not at all affordable with the kind of pay package I had during my initial. After I bough VICTOR in August 2003, I started enjoying the bike ride in Bangalore roads. Going to different part of Bangalore victoriously in victor was nice. Especially parking was very easy in all the places. After almost 2 years of ride on Victor, I started thinking on some small budget car. By this time two of my friends have already bought the car. One of my friends Abhi going for BIG Ford fusion (7.1lacks) in September 2005 was an inspiration. We friends started enjoying the drive in FF (Ford fusion) with couple of long drives out side Karnataka. So every time I went for the drive, I wanted to buy one but always the budget was a constraint with the other heavy investments here and there.

Shaping the DREAM

Then came year 2006 and on September 18th 2006, I was completing 25 the year. I wanted to gift some thing big myself. Car was really cool stuff to gift myself. So really started hunting for the good deal. I had lot of options ranging from Maruti Alto, Zen, WagonR,Swift, Hyundai Santro, Getzs. Alto was costing around 3.4lacks, Zen was 4.3 lacks, Santro was 4 lacks, and Getz was 5.2 lacks. Other cars were way above my affordability. The only car looked more promising compared with my budget was Santro. With all these, some how I could not gift my self on my 25the birthday because of some other personal commitments.

I continued my hunting on the car. At some point of time, I thought I should go for second hand car with one lack budget. One of my friends Venu who is in Maruti helped me to get some deals. When I went to "Maruti true value" most of the cars were more than lack and half. Only that I could get for a lack was 1997 models and it was almost 10 years old car. After seeing couple of old cars I really removed second hand car from my head. So I again started short listing the car.
These few are my priorities. Not more that 4.5lacks, good space for family to sit in the back, low maintenance and preferable low running cost. As said earlier Santro was the first choice but some how I had a feeling NOT buy Santro. It was because of number of Santro on the Bangalore road. WagonR was a good Car but I though it is little over priced. During early 2007, there was WagonR Dual which was new model . This had the LPG fitted cylinders. So the running cost would have been very low. I got interested in this model and enquired the model. It was costing 4.6lacks without music system. In the same time, Chevrolet had launched U-VA model in India. This was in somewhere January 2007. During that time I had actually completed my car driving and learnt the driving. So I went for taking the test drive. It was good car but brand new in India. I would have been one of the first one to buy it. As usual I did not want to take the risk. This was costing 5lcks for the high end. Swift was good car but the inside space was not worth the money. Interiors and Engineering of swift was amazing but some how I kept swift out of my mind. One of colleague had Getz. Whenever we went for the team dinner I used to sit in his car. Every time I sat in his Getz, I felt this is the most comfortable car in that segment. Of course it was coasting lack and a half more compared to the mid segment but it was worth for its inside comforts. So with all these finally I short listed Getzs and UVA. When I compared these two cars engineering specs and the money, UVA sounded good. But since this was new, I decided for the Getz.


Realizing the DREAM

This was in February 2007.Finally I was all set to go for the Getz. I started looking for the good deals. I went to Hyundai web site to see more about the specification. Actually when I was buying Getz,Hyundai was trying to bring the new model of Getz called as Getz Prime with 1.1lts and 1.3 lts. But I was not ready to wait for it. I had waited enough to buy the car.
There were total four variants GLE, GVS, GLS and GLX. Below were the on road prices for each of the segment. .
GLE 4,92,160
GVS 5,28,156
GLS 5,53,636
GLX 5,98,676

As you all know there are only 2 Hyundai show rooms in Bangalore. Advaita and Trident. I went to Advaita MG road for the test drive. But some how, I was not convinced with the dealer. He was not offering me much. So I again contacted Trident for the better deal. The dealer Pratap(9945655666) actually came to my office for making the deal. By this time I had decide on the Getz GVS. This had the features like all four doors power windows, Power drive, AC. What it did not had compared to GLS was Defogger, Rear spoiler, Rear wiper, Digital clock, Seat back pocket, Body colored door handles, Body colored mirror, front fog lamps.
It was coasting me 5,28,156. Pratep agreed to give me total on 29k cash discount along with the remote locking. So finally car was costing near to 5,00,000. This was really stretch for me. I didn’t had much of liquid cash for the down payment. But still I took the decision to go ahead. So I finalized the deal. But after some one week when I visited the specification again, I felt if I pay 25k more I can get more features. Not all features were really required but I think it was worth 25k. So I called up Pratap and asked hime to change my model from GVS to GLS. There were only two things missing in my Car compared to GLX which was the highest end. It was Alloy wheels and ABS. These two were costing 35k more. So I though it is not worth going for GLX. So finally Getz GLS was my choice. This costed me 523000 after 29k discounts. This deal did not include the music system. Getz doe not come with the in built music system.

Mean while during the period I went to US for my business travel. So I decide to buy the music player(also called a Dash player) from US. Sony has been always my favorite brand. I never had any gadget from Sony in my electronic gadget library. So this time I wanted to go only for the Sony. These were my requirement.s Good display, preferable direct USB connectivity, Auxiliary cable connectivity for my iPod, MP3 player is must and DVD was optional. The best one suited for me was Sony CDX-GT510 and it was costing me Rs 6800. So I bought this. Please visit http://www.xplodsony.com/xplod/headunits/CDX-GT510 for more technical specification. Also for all the Sony models visit http://sm.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Group/ProductMenu.aspx?g=300&tp=5685.

The Finance Aspect:
After returning from US, I started looking for the better loan rates. I was buying in the time when interest rates were very high. It was around 12%. I wanted the maximum possible loan. Most banks were giving 90% Ex show room or 80% on road price. This was again subjected to your salary and the other loans you have. I went for the loan amount of around 4.45 lacks. For a loan for 4.45lacks with 12% and 5 years tenure EMI was coming to Rs 9899. This was little high for my monthly budget. So I started looking for 7 years loan. Only SBI was offering 7 years that time So I contacted them. So My EMI came to Rs 7855. This was around 2000 less than the previous one and it was well within my monthly finance planning. Only problem with the SBI was slow loan processing. So it took almost 20 days to process my loan. If I had gone with ICICI loan it would have been over in just 5 days. But my wait was worth waiting because of my EMI calculations.

On 28th Feb 2007 I visited Trident for the final down payment. Car speaker decision was still pending. I wanted to put the good one. Getzs car have slots for both front and back speakers near the door. Usually all the cars come with front speaker slot in the door. But my dealer advised me to go for the back oval speakers rather than round speakers for the better effect. These speakers would sit on backside on back seat. I agreed for it. I went for the JBL speakers. JBL speakers are known for the car speakers compared to Sony. It coasted me more than 10k. But I just thought I should spend for the better comfort. So my CAR coasted me total of 5,40,000 after discount and music system. I made the down payment of 88k and Pratap agreed to deliver on March 3rd 2007.

Dream comes true:

The day 3rd March 2007 came finally. Actually my parents told me to post pone the day as it was Not so auspicious day. Since I do not believe too much in those things, I decide to take on the same day. It was more of convenience rather that a GOOD day. Since I was not master in the driving I took 3 of my friends along with my sister. I reached the show room at 10am. As promised CAR was ready for the delivery. I made the final formality by signing some papers. Pratap GOT the key along with his General Manager. One of Trident colleague performed formal pooja. General Manager handed over the key to me. It was all simply superbly arranged. I was on top of the world to see my Silver colored Getz GLS. I took few tips from my friends who were already experts in driving. I took the CAR to Hebbal to meet one of my friend. I was driving with tensed mood. There were many tips from the friends while driving. After having the lunch I announced to sponsor the most Romantic Kannada Movie “Mungaru Male” to all my friends. So we drove all the way back to Banashankari Kamakya theatre. I even went to my other friend home Rajarajeswari to show my car to aunty. After watching the movie I was with my sister. I was little tensed to drive back home but took it very easy and drove back home safely.

A leaving Note on Dream

The March 3rd 2007 became the most memorable day of my life. This was a day where I realized a guy from middle class can buy a CAR at the age of 25 and half, it was a day to realize my unimagined dream in my child hood. It was a day to remember my parents for their support and care. It was a day to celebrate and enjoy. Now it is one year and till that sense of achievement and celebration still remains in MY HEART.

IF YOU ARE...
If you are buying your first car and you want any expert advice/openion, I am more that happy to help you out. 

Social networks

Social networks and my Thoughts……



Social networks are becoming the part of our life these days. Face book, MySpace and orkut are few among them. But have you any time took out some time of yours and put the thoughts on why and how it works?

Here are my thoughts and views on these social networks and especially on Orkut.com which most of us know.

Social networks at least to me go back to year 2000 of my Engineering days. There was batchmates.com which tried to get contact your classmates and connect you with them. That was an interesting to get more details about your seniors and their where about. But some it was not easy to use and user interactive. I am not sure what social network existed before to batch mates.

Some where in mid of 2004, Orkut came in the big way for the Indians. It stared spreading so fast that literally every one having internet access started getting a user id to the orkut. I started using it is some where September 2005. Let me tell frankly, it made me crazy and forced me to spend lot of time on it. The way it was designed the user interface and easy to use was simply amazing. The word “scrap books” was very catchy and impressive feature. “Testimonial” allowed others to express admiration or appreciation about some one. “Communities” helped to create some commonalities between the people and their interest. “Profile” section allowed you to introduce you self and your personality. All in one, it was total package and completely designed for who want to kill the time when they do not have any thing else to do.

Look at the year 2007. A year which considered as “broad band enabling” year where internet is costing as least as our daily salary per month or even lower some time and most of the internet users are now social network users. Here is the few lsit of social network and number of users.

Social network Number of users
MySpace 289000000
Facebook 73500000
orkut 67000000
hi5 50000000
Friendster 50000000
Xanga 40000000
Windows Live Spaces 40000000
Classmates.com 40000000
Bebo 40000000
Flixster 36000000
Tagged.com 30000000
Reunion.com 28000000
Netlog 28000000
Broadcaster.com 26000000
Cyworld 21200000

more thoughs to follow...

Green gates:Team outing

Green gates.....Our Best team outing.... .......

As I always say “Between the dawn and dusk, what remain are the beautiful fun filled memories, As Days passes we live with these memories and enjoy”.

Before this trip goes in to our deep memory, I have written a small (rather big) article on Green gates outing during my weekend. Please read it. Best thing about this article is observe how I introduced every one in to the article and the about the places and how every one was feeling and enjoyed the trip. Please read in your leisure time.
Here we go…….


The Water, The trek, the photography and Tooth brush……

Introduction of people, early preparation and enjoyment :

An announcement has been made by Bobby, the chief organizer about the outing with the subject line as “All good things come to those who wait.... “On Friday 11/2/2007 11:52 AM. The option given to this mail was “Yes I am ready to rock” and “No, I am too old to have fun”. This mail had set the expectation in the team to enjoy it to the full extent in the FDM team outing. Especially one who has joined the team recently was waiting for this date. No one in the team had realized that this subject line would mean a LOT. This was the first outing for most of the people in the group.

On 14th November, when we counted the team member size for outing, it was just 9. Every one felt we need to post pone so that many other in the team can join. But since the money was paid already, the only option left was to go ahead with the plan. Patra, the chief in charge pulled most of the team members and made the count to 15. Proposition composed of 11:4(Boys:Girls). There were discussion within the team to name the outing team as Team gallant, team waves, team fusion and team tooth brush. But why the name “tooth brush”? It may look crap to you but if you were the part outing team,the name carried so many jokes throughout the trip.

16th November night 10pm, every one was set to leave for the weekend dhamaka out side Karnataka. The resort “Green gates” located in Wayanad district in God’s own country was the “Team’s” destination. The energetic boys and girls were fully charged to participate in the celebration. But it was a slow start. The bus looked very dull with 50km/hr speed on Mysore road. On the way to Mysore the team was divided in to two, “Oldies” and “Goldies“ to play the dumb charades. The obvious choice was bollywood movies. But our chief organizer wanted Hollywood too. Request was politely rejected with knowledge base as the reason. Prem’s standard question like “How many word in movie”, “new movie or old movie” became the standard question and they were named as Prem’s questionsJ. Rahul challenged “oldies” about the existence of some movie names as he claimed the movie name cannot exist if he has not watched it! Goldies had to repeat the movie name “Lamhai” three times to Rajashree and make her understand what it means. Ashok showed his talent in searching the 60’s bollywood movie names which were never heard off. There were quarrels and exchange of fun words between the team which as lead by Sandhya. Every one except early sleepers participated in the game. Then started the game of all times “cards”. Our Ex chief Ravi who carried the card every time in the trips, did not forget to carry this time as well. Learn and mater to ”Bluff” was shown by Pradeep consistently through out the game. Vikas thought us a new game and gave an alternative to earn the money! It was almost 4am when we got order from chief to sleep and reserve the energy for next day. Ever one slept at 4.15am. Bus was slower than the Bangalore Bannergatta traffic.

Almost at 7.15am we reached Green gates. We got a warm welcome from Green team. They suggested few place. Anil personally opposed Kuruva Island and suggested Soochipura falls. But the manger suggested, it is the best place in wayanaad and guide will be there to take us around the island. Finally it was agreed and team was asked to get ready by 9am. Green Villa’s were very neat and spacious. Room was fully furnished and could accommodate 2 people comfortably. Hot water bath in cold climate in bath tub was simply amazing.

Every one except the late comer Ajay turned up in main lobby at 9am. Breakfast contained the Kerala special “Putta”. It was heavy break fast. After the break fast, there was matrimonial photo session lead by Photogenic Neha(or Neeha??). The photographer Anil was ready to take the shots and instructed every one to pose with the smiling face. At around 10.30am every one was ready to leave a place called Kuruva dweep in local language and Kuruva Island for the visitors. It had many island with the kabini river stream flowing between the islands. One has to cross the river stream to visit all the islands. Guide Benny took the lead to show in and around places of Kuruva dweep. It was around 30km from the resort and took more than an hour to reach the island. Some of the team members were hesitant to get down in the water. But when they heard that after noon lunch will be served at other end, they had no option left. Tender coconut at dweep was simply the best. Out chief Patra got a dhoti from the shop keeper on a loan basis and came in Dhoti attire which was completely different. For Naveen his bag became the most important through out the trip. So how can he imagine leaving the bag this time? He carried his bag along with him. Amrutha the most energetic girl cheered and boosted other girls’ confidence to get in to the water. Finally the full team was in to water with the help of guide Benny.

Introduction ends. Fun part of the trip in water – The water

Guide Benny was so kind and so good. He took care of every one in the team and gave the confidence to people who were nervous. Water was up to neck level in some places. Every one was wet. What could have been a better place than this? At that moment this was heaven for every one. In every scary moment, team members never scared to take their pictures. Every one helped others to cross the water stream. Crossing one island after the other was great experience. There was one point where all could sit and have “Water massage” It was so chill and refreshing. We played for more than half an hour in that place. Benny took care of our bags including Naveen’s bagJ. Cameramen Anil never minded to take very ones video during the water game. Chief with Dhoti attire was scared to take water massage. Rahul, the care taker could not manage himself in the water current! Pream saved so many livesJ many a times and awarded with the family pack of “tooth brushes”. Brave Amrutha learned herself on how to manage in water. Silent Bobby did not experiment with water game and played safe. Ajay took massage as many times as possible. Pradeep, the silent enjoyer, enjoyed entire episode. Vikas was never noticed by others and expressed the happiness himself. Ashok, scared of every thing, stood aside and just watched people playing water games. Photo phobia affected Neha was posing for every snap. Scared and surprise Rajashree was thinking on how save her self. Enthusiastic Sandhya continued her fights with others and took some “panga”. Calm Ravi enjoyed the full episode with one complete water massage cycle. The game ended when Benny instructed that we were already late for the lunch and food is already waiting. We left this place and reached the place were it was full of yellow (green fields were just cut and grass were all around) and blue (sky) colored. We walked through the fields and reached place were our lunch was arranged. It was an open ground with some huts on top of the tree. This was one of the best lunches I ever had. Not because of food was great but the ambiance was just great. Hungry boys and girls eat a lot. Poor Rahul who was on fastening (he is praying God for the best wife!) satisfied with couple of apples and bananas. While coming back, there was a wooden made square shaped (I am not sure what do you call for this) which carried the people to cross the river. Some brave hearts like Anil and Prem swam in the river to cross the other end. After crossing it was told that, Benny found one crocodile in the river. So the lesson learnt was not to swim in any open place. Chief returned his Dhoti and not even paid the rentJ but we gave a business again to shop keeper by taking 15 tender coconut.

The lighter moments in the evening

When we were back it was almost dark and climate was slowly becoming cold. Every one was given with “personal time” to enjoy them self. Some of them took rest, some played the TT and one small group consisted of me, Ajay, Vikas, Amrutha, Ashok and Rajashree went for the walk to discuss about the Ghost stories. There was one live incident told by Ashok was very interesting. Ask him for the whole story! It was a cool and lovely walk. When we came back Flood light (just one bulb rather) was arranged to play the night cricket match for us. We played cricket followed by the foot ball. I and Amrutha got injured because of the fact that we were playing on the cement ground. After that we decide to go for the camp fire. But since there was other group enjoying in the same place, we decide to have dinner. After dinner when we visited the camp fire, there was no music as it was already 10.30pm. After 10pm, resort people were strictly ordered by police not to play the music in open ground. We played 2 round of musical chair. We again went for walk and cracked the jokes on each other. When we went for sleep it was almost 12pm. We decide to go for walk again in the morning at 6.30am. Every one was asked to assemble for the break fast at 8am.

Second day -,The trek and photography

Morning walk did not happen as most of the people were tired and could not get up. I suffered with the previous day knee injury. Thanks to Vikas for his caring nature and helping me to recover fast. Almost every one except some lazy people was in main lobby by 8am. Our plan was to check out early morning and go for the trekking to Edakall caves. This was around 30km from the resort and it was on the way back to Bangalore. Finally we managed to get all the member in the bus by 10am and left the green gates. The green memories of the resort remained in memory.

We reached the “edakal caves” around 11am and started trekking. Trek was around 1000mitres height and total of 3 hours. This included some scary points and a rope climbing in between. The rope section was very scary and exiting too. It was not an easy task to climb up and come down in short time. Some of them, it was a first trek. Team work made most of us to climb up and enjoy top of rock.
The experienced trekker Naveen took the lead position. Photo crazy Neha took the risk of trekking for the photo sakeJ. Rajashree remained calm and decide to face whatever comes along. Ravi started asking philosophical question like “why we really need to climb up”? Unexpectedly and surprisingly Patra proved all of us wrong by trekking easily. Safe Bobby played safe again and trekked slowly! Ashok, scared of every thing including heights decide not to go further and stayed at certain height. Knee injured Anil decided to join the group and have fun with team along with his photography. Vikas acted as a waiter boy and helped the team members when they came down and served waterJ. Pradeep gave the best pose of “Shivaji” in the trip. Ajay struggled to climb down in the rope section but never forgot to instruct the photographer to take his video. Amrutha stayed way from the photo jangat and enjoyed the nature at its best. Sound maker Sandhya tried twice before she climbed up in the rope section. Rahul was consistently posing and got the matrimonial photos he wanted from long time. Prem the true care taker helped all the members to climb up and down. When we went to top, every one was so exited and screaming. Every one lost them self in Nature. This is what every one in the team said during a small video session at the top.

Naveen: patriotic
Neha: It was simply amazing. We enjoyed every bit of it FUN. Its simply fun
Rahul: Excellent
Sandhya: FDM on top of the word. My first outing in profession was rocking
Prem: Marvelous
Ajay: Best outing so far
Amrutha: amazing
Rajashree: Very surprising
Pradeep: Experiencing the fun
Patra the chief: Good team work done! Expect the same team work to be done in the release
Anil: Thanks every one. We had nice fun. It was just rocking.

Time spent in the top of the rock was awesome. The nature, the air and the Sun was touching us and gave a warm feeling. We experienced the Nature at its best for a moment.We climbed down in reasonable time but took time in having cold drinks in a small shop near by. After that there was some shopping. Most of the articles were made out of bamboo.

We reached the bus at 2.30pm and decide to skip the lunch and rush to Bangalore. Every one was tired and took the rest for a while. Again team was back to bus games like atakshari and cards. Ravi’s invaluable collection of old bollywood songs gave a refreshing feeling. We took the snacks (rather kind of dinner who ate lotJ) at Mysore Nalapaka. Food was good there. We started from Mysore at 7pm. Again not to mention bus was like Bannergatta traffic speed. So we ended up in reaching Bangalore at 11pm.

Leaving note...

All together it was great memorable trip so far! The water, the trek, the photography and last but not the least Tooth brush remained in our memory forever. The subject line of mail of our chief organizer Bobby made more sense when we look back out trip moments.

This is what our ex Chief Ravi has written about the trip:

Some things to forget (remember)
neha’s scary photos
patra’s lungi (sorry) fundas
rajeswari’s “lamhe”’s (more than one)
bobby’s amazing video commentary
amrutha’s endless energy
naveen’s precious bag
Sandya’s friendly fights
prem’s accurate bluffs
vikas’s suggestions (from behind, if u haven’t heard)
ashok’s tipless service
ajay’s money littered on mysore road
anil’s swim with pretty lady (crock)
rahul’s bollywood ignorance!
pradeep’s shivaji poses

Cheers,
Anil Masakal … Not a bad story teller and good photographer

Corruption and our life

Corruption and our life.....

A dialog from Rang de basanti “ Koi desh peferfect nahin hota, banana padta”. No country is perfect; we have to make it perfect. It’s a true sensible line which goes deep in to our heart. This triggers you to think about you and your society.

Dear readers, you might have read lot of corruption stories. But have you ever thought that you are also contributing to corruption? It may be direct or indirect…

You may be thinking, being software professional, you are no way linked with this corruption. You may assume you are very clean and perfect citizen. But think twice, you may be wrong!.

When I look back my certain moves and actions in the past, I feel ashamed sometime that I am supporting corruption. So I would request you, after reading this think about your self and your actions, and say was there any instances where you could have avoided and made your society PERFERCT! Here are some of my experiences on how I have got involved in to corruption directly/indirectly…

My battle against corruption goes back to 1999. Just passed out from 12th standard and had to submit the caste certificate to the CET counseling centre. I had to get this certificate from the district head quarters. All my documents were very clean and as per the rule. So I went ahead and submitted to some officer in the District commissioner Office Karwar. They told it will take a week or so. I came back. Those were days were there was limited phone connection or internet to get to know about your application status. After one week, when I was again going to the DC office my dad advised to carry some extra money to bribe them. Believe me, I told my dad that I am not going to pay any bribe amount as my documents were very clean. Going to Karwar was about 1.5 hour journey from my place and coasted around 18 rupees that time. So it was total of 36 rupees per one travel. This was really big amount that time. When I went again, the officer there was not ready to give my certificate and asked me to come again. I think he was expecting some bribe out of me. I had one of my friends Prashant in Karwar. So I requested him to ask the update mid of next week. I remember I traveled at least 4-5 times (36*5 = 180 rupees) to get this document finally without any bribe. If I had paid 100rs to the officer in my second visit only, I would have saved some money. But I think I was right to get my rights! This was my first fight against corruption.

Again the same story in 2002 in getting the two wheeler license. But the case was little different. I went with my friend to RTO office Mangalore without any agent. Officer was good. He just asked my engineering college name and CET rank. Other things were immaterial to the officer. He was happy to listen to these data and gave the green signal for the license. So I got the license easily without any hassles. License was given in the book format. But I wanted in single plane card format. Again I did not want to go through the agent. This time, I had to go to Mangalore around 4-5 times to get the card done. If I had bribed some one or went through the agent, card would have been issued directly to my hostel address!

But things are NOT the same after my graduation. Whether it is wrong or right, I got involved in corruption!

From the first year of my professional work, I started declaring HRA much more than what I am paying. Have I ever though that this is wrong. Yes I know this is wrong but if I start declaring it to the exact amount, my tax amount shots up! Question, have you ever tried to think on this and correct your self? Every one knows about this. Even our financial department knows about this. But whose responsibility to correct these? Isn’t it ours? Dear reader, do you belong to same category? Think before you claim that you are PERFECT!

I had been to on-site couple of times and earned some extra money. Have I ever showed in my income? Answer is NO. One of my close friends makes it a point to show it in his tax declaration. I admire him but have I taken any actions any time to correct my self? Dear reader, do you belong to same category? Think before you claim that you are PERFECT!

During the registration of the property, I have paid some money in hard cash and always registered for lower value than the actual property value. Have I ever taken a bold step to fight against these? Answer is NO. If I had taken, I will never buy a property! See the fatal condition. Dear reader, do you belong to same category? Think before you claim that you are PERFECT!

We always approach the agent to get the work faster, especially if it is some government office work. Involving the agent means supporting the corruption. Dear reader, do you belong to same category? Think before you claim that you are PERFECT!

Dear reader, I know if some one who is really fighting against corruption will sue me after reading my blog. I am worried about this but I want to put more things in practical rather than writing some hypothetical cases.

These above are directly linked to me, you and society. I think some time about my self, where are those qualities gone which I had in 1999 and 2002? Is it dead and do I have energy still left in to fight against them?

These above instances may be common in all of us. Either direct or indirect way, we have been involved in these. Being a responsible citizen of “Lead India”, we have to sit some time and think our self what we could do against these!

Charity begins at home, same way fight should start from you and me RIGHT NOW…

post you comments!

As Work becomes my life

As Work becomes my life…....


Just a thought and may not be a Universal truth…

This is the history behind why I took this topic today…
Four Years Back, I think at this time (27th May 2003) I had finished my last but one Paper of my Engineering Graduation. I was all set to pass out from college (with Flying colorsJ). I knew that I do not have much time after my last paper. I already had a joining letter in my hand and joining date to Honeywell was June 9th 2003. So I hardly got 4 days to stay at house after my graduation and then I had to join company.

NOW…… As I approach 4 years of my professional life, whether I like it or NOT work has become my life…
I never imaged this would happen so soon in my life. During my initial days of professional life I was trying to access rediffmail.com during the office hours. Now I hardly bother about gmail.com even after the office hours. This is just one example how the transformation from “Work for Life” to “Work has become my Life” has happened.

Yes, I crib every day about the pressure and amount of work, but every next day I am again ready for it. I openly fight with managers for NOT to come in weekends and I end up some time coming to office on weekends!

Readers… please remember we are in “Shining India” age. To keep this momentum going I/we got to over work. There is no escape form that. If we start showing the negative attitude then all the foundation which was laid in late 1960-1980s will go for a TOSS. There is NO short cut apart from over working. But does this mean you screw your personal LIFE? Not necessary. Learn to manage both. Yes, there are certain situations where you really cannot control. But we got to go with this. I remember one week in this year where I hardly talked to my siblings and just working like “Donkey”. But next weekend I made sure I spent enough time with them.

I see many of my friends (software engineers) saying they work lot. This may be true with respect them. But look at others. They are also working hard from 9am -9pm. Even the person who has “Paani Puri” shop runs his shop from 9am -9pm every day. I am made to work using my brain and “Paani Puri” waala job is mechanical. But I am paid for that. So where is the difference? May be we get so much comfort (I word this as “change in Comfort Zone”) that we start expecting more and more. I get confused every time on this topic…


I think we need to realize that “Yesterday was always a better, Today is OK types and tomorrow is tougher than today”.

Lot more to come….

Mobile and FM

Mobile and FM.....

Two things that I am amazed in Bangalore! Mobile and FM

It’s since long time I didn’t write about any thing. Every day when I was walking back from the office, these two impressed me a lot and I was thinking about how these two industries has grown over the period of half decade

I remember some where in the year 2002, there were advertisements floated by reliance with the punch line “Roti Kapada Makan Aur Mobile”. This line impressed every one. No one realized that, it was a “just the beginning” for the mobile revolution.

Some where in the same year I read a piece of article in paper saying “Radio” is going to hit the market in next decade. After reading that I was just laughing about the survey conducted by them. My thoughts were, are we going back to same 1980s listening to Akashavani without the image?

Now those two above sentences are history and we are seeing difference! Almost after half decade I am seeing the future for both. Mobile and FM.

Mobile Revolution:

Fixed line to pager to mobile was a great story in the field of communication. Communication and networking are in boom every where.
Mobile revolution started way back in 1999 for India. When it launched, it was very expensive. Not all could afford this box. All in coming calls were charged. Hand set was more than 10k for the basic features. Keeping a mobile was part of the status symbol and all the mobile numbers were kept confidential.

But look at in year 2007! Situation is completely opposite. In fact I would say reliance’s “Roti Kapada Makan aur Mobile” cab be rearranged as “Roti Mobile Kapada aur Makan”. Mobile has become our integral part of life. Revolution and innovations that are happening in the communication industries are beyond common men imagination. Every one is trying to give best deals to the customer. Mobile network is reaching “where ever you go”.

All Service provider are trying to attract different classes of customers. So many different schemes are designed to meets every ones need.

For students you have options like 100 messages free every day. Even then I heard from one of my friend who is still studying saying those 100 free messages are not at all sufficient. This shows how much students are addicted to mobile. The simple calculation come to my mind when my friend says this is, Say in 100 messages u forward only 50 messages and remaining 50 u need to type. And Say one message takes a 2 minute (I have seen their hands going as fast as I can type in the computer). So total time spent on just typing is 100 minutes and to read replies to those messages takes around 100 minutes.For reading fwd messages it takes at least 100minutes. So total of around 300 minutes which is equivalent of 5 hours per day!! I will come back to this point later.

So many companies give the free calls to mobile from the office phone. Hence people so called “Highly paid” are completely utilizing this facility to reduce their Phone bills. In fact some of the people (including me) bought a new set for the parents so that they can talk to them with lesser prices.

For people who are in love, there is separate scheme. Pay some amount (which will be more than the normal rental) and get unlimited hours talk time to some chosen two numbers. And it continues…


Look the mobile model available in Market. All companies are trying to put their best to attract the customer. You get a mobile just for Rs 2000 with FM loaded with color display. I remember paying 11.5k for my mobile which had integrated VGA camera, FM and color display. The same features you get it for less that 50k. It is in fact huge depreciation for any market. I really cannot imagine researches that are going in this field. Every other day I see some new models released to the market with completely new feature. Mobiles are nearing to the personal computer in capability. Once the 3G enters in to Indian market with affordable price, then day are no longer where mobile becomes your outlook!

Below are some of the articles which highlights the mobile revolution happening in India

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3585257.stm

http://www.connect-world.com/Articles/old_articles/7Telecomm.html

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/19spec1.htm

http://fecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=87933



FM Revolution
To be continued….