Happy New Year 2011

Its been a long time since I blogged, more than a year. Many things have passed in the mean time. I have earned a Ph.D and my family has grown with the arrival of a new one early last year. He will be 1 yr old in a couple of days. After completing my Ph.D, I have gone on to do a post-doctoral research in The Netherlands. So many things have gone under the bridge during the last year, which has been a really busy one.

One of the most important events for 2010, for me at least was the birth of my son. Life has completely changed, for the better of course, after that. I am/can not also be the carefree bird enjoying life without any hassles. Now my whole life is centered around him. Every decision and its consequences on him have to evaluated before we can execute it. The year also ended in a great note as he started walking without support. It was exhilarating to watch him do it for the first time. Its been a week since he started walking and still I get goose bumps watching him walk.

Further, on career, I switched fields during my first post-doctoral work. I have moved on from Polymer/Bio electronics to Single molecule fluorescence Imaging of biological samples. It has had its rewards and difficulties. The difficulties have been starting to learn new things and start fresh again with a clean slate. The rewards have been outstanding too. I have/ or at least think I have broadened my knowledge base and hopefully improved me as a researcher.

New year brings with it a lot of hope and aspirations for everyone including me. Lets hope that the new year brings in a lot of new twists and turns, which is good and makes us a better person. Hopefully, I will also start blogging more regularly this year. Wishing you all a very happy new year 2011.

Gandhi's Memorabilia

The recent case where Gandhi's memorabilia was auctioned in New York and the hype it created got me thinking and hence this blog.

A couple of weeks ago, some Gandhi’s memorabilia surfaced in a New York auction house. It was supposed to be auctioned; this created a lot of hype and hoopla with the government trying to stop the auction through diplomatic channels. When it became known that the auction could not be stopped through diplomatic means, the government asked Indians to bid for the articles. The auction went on, and ultimately the items were bought for 1.8 million dollars. The items in auction were: (1) a pair of glasses, (2) sandals and (3) a small bowl. It was told that the Indians had formed a group and were bidding together, but suddenly, another anonymous bidder joined the bidding. This lead to an increase in the price of the articles as strong bidding ensued. Finally, the Indian group guessing that the other anonymous bidder must be an Indian, stopped bidding for the articles. And indeed, this bidder turned out to be Vijay Mallaya, the liquor baron. And he donated the articles back to India. As the articles were bought by an Indian, there was a sense of relief coupled with joy all over India that the articles were brought back to its rightful owner. Many people were actually happy that Indians had bid for it and brought back the items.

It is at such times, people think of Gandhi as a national figure. Other than that, during daily lives, people have completely forgotten Gandhi. A couple of years ago there was a movie "Lago Raho Munnabhai", in that when asked who was Gandhi? The reply came promptly back saying he is the person in the 100 rupee note. And on another instance, it was said that we remember him because it is a dry day. Gandhi should not be remembered as a national figure just for name sake. We are just proud of him because he was born in India and because of him only did we get independence. For the newer generation, he is just somebody to be remembered as he got us the freedom.

India already possess many of his memorabilia. More than his memorabilia, his thoughts and values are more important, if everybody can follow his footsteps and his path, he shall be very happy.

Kodachadri Trek

I wanted to trek Kodachadri for a very long time, especially after seeing lots of photos and reading lots of travelogues (from blogs). My wish came true a couple of days back (February 22nd, 2009). I have been trying to arrange this trip for a very long time, but of no avail. As soon as I came to know that my boss shall not be around for a couple of days, I thought this is the right opportunity to go for a trekking trip.

6 of us started decided to go on the trip (3 gals and 3 boys). We hired a qualis from Bangalore and left on Saturday night at around 11.00 pm. My plan was to reach Kollur early morning around 5.00 am and freshen up and reach the starting point of the trek at around 7.00 am so that we could beat the sun. But, as soon as I started talking to the driver, he told we shall reach only by 10.00 am in the morning. His words came as a jolt of lightning, but anyway hoping for that we could reach early, we started the journey. The route was Banglaore, Tumkur Shimoga, Therthapalli and Nagara and Kollur. And about 10 kms, before Kollur, we should stop and start trekking. Hoping for the best, we left bangalore and reached Nittor around 7.00 am in the morning. Since, it was already too late, we thought it shall be better if we directly start the trek instead of going to kollur and come back. This decision turned out to be a good one as I shall discuss later about the trek.

Reading many travelogues, I came to know that there are two major routes:1- through Nittor, Marukattuke, Kattinahole and Kodachadri (this route made famous in the movie Galipata and the 2nd from Karakatte directly to Kodachadri. The second route is more pristine and majorly a trekking route which is also very scenic, whereas the first one is also known as the Jeep route (because many people can go up using jeeps through this route). Also, the jeep route is very dirty and dusty due to constant jeep riding and longer (14 kms). People who had already trekked Kodachadri gave us safe advice regarding the route to be taken.

Finding Karakatte gate was slightly difficult. There is a very small stone placed in which it is written way to kodachadri trek. We started our trek guessing this to be the route, and our guess turned out to be right. So, we all started the trek around 8.00 am in the morning. First 4 - 5 kms we did not feel the heat as we were travelling though lush jungle and so a lot of canopy cover was there. We did not have any signals in our mobile phone, only signals from birds (their screeching, this was very musical and good to hear). It was nice After about 1/2 hr of walk, we came across an open space. We decided to have a small break and take some bread which we had bought with ourselves. Then again we started trekking through this junle path. In about 15 mts we reached the Mallu shop (made famous by various blogs I had read). We had breakfast there (some people had puttu whereas others had idli). While we were having our breakfast, we say many groups come down and they were saying they came down in about 1 hr, we had travelled the last 5 km in about 1 hr, so we were all excited everybody was saying that the pace was very good, we should be able to reach the peak in another 1 hr or so. The people coming down were completely drenched, we thought they were coming here after having a small dip in a nearby waterfall (a small detour from the actual trek route), little did we realize that it was sweat in which they were drenched.

With all our enthusiasm and excitement, we started the next half of the distance. This was the start of the hilly region, leading us to the top of kodachadri. The path until now was very wide and we all were walking side by side. As we started to climb the hills, the path became narrower and narrower. But atleast the next 1 hr or so, there was still dense canopy, so well all did not feel the heat. But, with each passing minute, the climb was becoming harder and harder as the steps were becoming steeper. This steep climbing started to take a toll on everybody, we started to have breaks in between the climb. After about 1 hr of continuous trekking, we were really tired, still we had not reached the top (as our assumption was). So, we took another break.

Now, the trek got really tiring as we had crossed the dense forest region and were climbing on the hillside. From now onwards, it was the other way round, we took walks in between breaks. Anyway, the paths were getting narrower and we were at a higher altitude, so it was really tiring. Also, there were no tree covering, hence we were feeling the full blaze of the sun since we were trekking around 11.00 in the morning. Even at that time, the view of amazing. The whole horizon was covered by the Western Ghats. Finally after some more trekking, we reached a place about 1 km from the summit. Here, there was one shop selling cucumber and lime juice. It was again break time. We sat there for about 1/2 hr, completely refreshing ourself and again started to trek. Now, the last 1 km was the steepest. We covered the trek in about 1/2 hr and finally reached the PWD guest house by about 12.00 pm.

We had trekked about 10 - 12 km in about 4 hrs. Now, we took rest in Bhattare Mane (this place is also listed in many blogs). From here, the Sarvagna peeta was another 2 km uphill. We all thought since, we had come so far we shall cover the final stretch too. This peeta is located at the highest point of Kodachadri. Legend here is that Goddess Mukambika first gave darshan to Sankaracharya here. So, we covered the final 2 km uphill in another 1 and 1/2 hrs. After darshan, we came down to Bhattare Mane and had lunch. We were in a ravenous mood and eat up a lot. After this, we all decided, it was not possible for us to trek down as it shall b very tiring. We decided to take the jeep down. This jeep ride was an experience in itself. No roads, only sand covered rickety pathway was there. We reached a place inbetween called Kattinahole and he stopped there. This rickety pathway took abouit 1 and 1/2 hr in jeep to cover.

From there we called our cab to pick us up. It was round 5.00 pm and we all decided, we shall go to the Maravanthe beach and see the sunset. Now, it was a race against time and our driver decided to step it up. Never once did he go below 80 km/hr mark even though the roads were in ghat section and very hilly and curvy. Man, it was amazing ride, with our hearts in our mouth. But, alas, our wish was not fulfilled, we reached the beach only around 6.45 pm. But still we had a nice time in the beach and then started back towards bangalore at around 7.30 pm. Next stop was dinner at Kundapura. After that not many people were awake. Next thing we knew, we were somewhere near Bangalore at around 4.00 am in the morning. All grogy grogy we were dropped off at the respective places and had a good sleep in the morning.

Actually speaking, we were not really that much tired because of constant rehydration and eating. But, still covering 25 km in one day would have been too much. So, we all decided to take the jeep back. On the whole the trip was nice fun. This time of the year, as there were no rains, the trekking was not slippery too. So we reached back safely without any cuts or bruises.

The trek was worth it for all the effort. My suggestion wouild have been to stay overnite there and see both the sunset and the sunrise next day morning and start the treking downwards. But, the effort was worth it, enjoying nature at its pristine best. I would certainly recommend the trek.

Spinning it our Way

Yesterday, India won the third test comfortably with 8 wickets to spare. Bhajji and Viru shared the spoils with Ishant and Sree doing some damage, India outshone South Africa completely. Last week, when given a green top, like one expected in South Africa or in New Zealand, the Indian team collapsed during the first innings. This brings us to the important question being asked in Indian cricket nowadays?

"Should we prepare sporting wickets or we are better off sticking to our traditional strength"

This question is better answered by Dhoni's remarks yesterday during the presentation ceremony. His words were "If we go to Australia, we get bouncy tracks; when we go to England, we get swinging tracks. When you come to India, you expect turning and bouncing tracks, and that's what this one was. It's better to stick to the specialties of certain places."

In India, with a lot of effort being put to produce sporting tracks, traditional venues like Kolkata and Chennai, which used to produce very good result oriented tracks have become flat batting tracks. The relaying of pitches, changing the soil from the previously used ones to the foreign soil has resulted in these venues losing its charm. Hence, playing spoilsport and becoming really skewed and one sided. Ideally, everybody expects India to produce spinning wickets, hence it is better off we preparing a turner than trying to please the whole cricketing world to produce sporting wickets. Nobody questions the pitch expert in Headingly, when there is prodigious swing on offer saying he has produced a bad pitch. Neither there are any comments when Perth produces a lightening fast pitch with bounce.

But with FTP in place, everybody tours the other country every few years. Players have now become accustomed to the different nature of the pitches in different countries. Australia have been able to win in India, and India have won a series in England and West Indies. This kind of regular touring helps player develop. But if the nature of pitches are same all over the world, then my guess is cricket will become very boring. The different nature of the pitches all over the world gives rise to different tactics and methods, which makes cricket gripping and worth watching.

I would like to finish this blog congratulating the Indian team on the hard fought victory in the Kanpur Test. My opinion is that we are better off producing turners than trying to produce sporting wickets. We should not make any hue and cry about the nature of wickets, instead we must concentrate on our core strength of spinners. Other countries should expect turners when they come to India. At the same time, its upto our batsmen to improve their batting in regards to playing overseas and try and bring laurels to the Indian cricket team.

The Mad Scientist Notion

The advent of television has been a boon to everybody in the world. It has helped in the world getting smaller and also for helping knowledge reaching the nook and corner of the world. But an another small part of this boon has been the ever increasing channels which are neither educational nor news related. These are channels for entertainment of the people. This coupled with other forms of entertainment, mainly the motion pictures have started portraying people as they want. The stereotyping of different class of people into different images and also making mental blocks in the minds of general public about one people taking up such profession.

One such major block has been the notion "Mad Scientist". This notion started with the portrayal of Einstein and his famous photograph of his hair flaying and looking like some crazy person. Also, many other books, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, to name a few created a wrong impression that scientists are either mad or don't know the ground realities. The image created by the media is that of a person, who does not care about his dressing and his peers, but always in an another world only thinking about science and nothing else. This wrong portrayal has created an apprehension in the minds of the common people about taking up science, especially as a career. This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of good students, excellent ones, in fact from taking up science, but opting for other streams of engineering or management. Also, these streams are more lucrative than science. Also, the presence of more beautiful faces in other streams, like those in movies and many other careers.

I am writing this blog to try and change the image of scientists from people who are completely out of the world and are not concerned about the reality. Scientists are the major force behind innovations and have contributed significantly to the society. By far, almost 90% of innovators are scientists, whose inventions are used to increase the standard of living of the society. These people also behave like others who can also converse freely in any other topic ranging from sports to other current affairs, without any hiccups. Not all scientists are geeky and have a monstrous look to them. Most of their work involves improving the human race. The changes brought about by scientists are everywhere to see from national security to medicine to entertainment.

There is curiosity in every common man, if it becomes bigger, he becomes a scientist. This helps him because he tends to enjoy what he is doing better than most others. Also, the thought that the work he does helps the society motivates him. The ordinary man too can become a scientist and achieve stardom, which people think only comes in films or politics. Hard work pays here too. Nobel prizes are the equivalent of Oscars. The most satisfying experience of doing science is seeing the change brought about to the world due to the research and increasing the knowledge. The creation of new substances (synthesized, in scientific terms) and knowing it thoroughly (characterization) coupled with seeing the predictions come true is purely fun and enjoyable.

I, shall end this blog by saying that "do not label scientists as geeky and nerds, because they help in making the world a better place to live in".

Satyagraha - In today's context

India, taught the world that freedom could be got without any violence. The non-violent movement was led by an able leader, Mahatma Gandhi. He told everybody about the virtues of non-violence and sathya. The civil disobedience movement started by him in so that the British government of India feels the pressure was a great move. The nation raced ahead with it. And finally, India got its freedom in the year of 1947.

So, where does India stand now. It does not have any specific goal. The politicians keep talking of making India a developed nation. The year set for this goal was 2020, but now looks like it has been pushed to 2035. And after some more years, its everybody's guess that it shall be pushed to 2050 and so forth. The older generations of politicians, mainly freedom fighters wanted to prove to the world that India could survive the new order and not disintegrate into various small provinces. This and the constant look from the world, made them to improve the public conditions and also strive for the best of the country. But, the younger generation and also some of the older politicians and into cruise control mode, India shall keep on developing, we need not do anything. This mode has been going for the last couple of decades. The educated people have almost stopped entering politics saying its a dirty game.

So, what can be done to change the situation? Can we learn from history? Implement old tools, such as non-violence but get necessary things done? The politicians today are taking advantage of people. They only care about their own needs. They don't help the country strive for excellence.Is it possible to bring about a change in the attitude of the common man. He should come out and voice himself. This brings us to the present state of affairs. The non-cooperation movement can galvanize the people into doing something good for the country. India is a vast country and with many resources but still we are termed as a developing country. Is it not time that we awaken and ask for our rights.

Even in the capitalist context, Gandhian values are truly valid. Why do we wait for another Gandhi to change the way the country is perceived. Everybody could take up his small part to change the country. The nation needs a dramatic change in its views. The politicians can't keep ruling the country, saying things shall happen, we don't have to do anything. The need to be reminded of the power of the people.

Non-violence and non-cooperation are still valid in today's context. 60 years ago we fought the imperialists using this method. Its about time we took it up to fight the corrupt political system today, so that India can become a great nation.

Chunchi Falls, Sangam and Mekedatu - A Biking Experience

With the summer gone and temperature going south, a good and bountiful rainfall during the past few weeks prompted us (me and a couple of biker enthusiasts...) to take an one day trip to Sangam and Mekedatu. Me and another friend with a couple of pillion riders started around 6.30 am from our place, Jakkur and picked up another friend near Cauvery theatre. Kanakapura main road is about 20 kms from Jakkur, it took us about 45 mts to reach the road. The route is as follows, Jakkur to Hebbala and to Majestic to Chamrajpet to Basavangudi followed by Banashankeri, where we saw kanakapura main road sign for the first time.

Kanakapura is about 40 kms from Bangalore. The roads are good mostly, they have been relaid but in patches. But overall the roads are pretty decent. Keeping a speed of about 60 km/hr, we reached Kanakapura in about 1 hr. Here, we had our breakfast in a small restaurant. All the locals pointed us to this restaurant, i guess it has its advantages being the only one in town. Here, we also saw another group of bikers who, had already had their breakfast and were starting their journey ahead. We had breakfast and continued our journey which was to Chunchi falls about 10 kms before Sangam.

Another 20 kms on, there was a huge arch and an diversion towards left leading to Chunchi falls. We took pictures near the arch and then started our journey towards chunchi falls. Chunchi falls also houses a mini hydel project, so most of the water has been diverted from the falls towards the hydel power station. Even otherwise, there was considerable amount of water. It was mainly a rocky area with huge boulders. These rocks were very slippery also due to formation of moss on them due to water flow. There were many small waterfalls just around the rocks at different places with one major one at around 100 ft (my guess). The sad part is that, even though enough water was there, we were not able to get inside and play in the water. We had to be satisfied with only pictures.

Next, we journeyed to Sangam that is about 10 kms from Chunchi falls. Here, Arkavathi merges with Kaveri and only Kaveri flows after this. With a copious amount of rainfall during the last few months, the Kaveri river was flowing with its full might. We had to cross the river, which was about 100 mts at this point, using a boat. From the other bank, we took a bus to Mekedatu, which was 4 kms away. The bus ride was very rickety but a lot of fun. Reaching Mekedatu, we had our lunch, bread and fruits which we had packed from home.

Mekedatu, the goat crossing, gets is name as such because at this place the river flows through the mountains and the width is shrunk to such small dimensions that even a goat can jump across it. Well, we couldnt exactly find a place where the goat could jump across, but here the river flows in a very narrow channel. It was a scene worth watching, the river bending and flowing in might within this narrow channel. We had our lunch and went down a trek near the river. After this, we took the 4 km trek back to sangam. This rickety "road", if you can call it one was very scenic one as it goes parallel to the river. Anywhere during the trek, you could just walk across n within 20 - 30 mts you could reach the river shore and see the river flowing in its full might.

And finally, we came back to sangam, where our whole bike trip was fulfilled. We played in the water to our heart's fill. The currents here were very strong. The sangam had taken place, so both the might of both the rivers combined made the flow very strong. So, we went upstream for about 10 mts or so, after that we had lots of fun in the water. For about an hour we were in the water, after which we returned back to the other shore of the river again back by the same boat.

Having a small snack, we left for bangalore. An interesting anecdote which happened during the trip, is regarding our eating location. I somehow came to know that there was an Adigas restaurant in Kanakapura, so in the morning, we searched the whole of Kanakapura with no avail. Then on the way back, very close to bangalore, we found out the adigas. But, the most important thing is that, actually there is no Adigas in Kanakapura, the restaurant I wanted to eat was in a completely different place. It was a Kamat restaurant and that too not in Kanakapura road, it was in the Mysore road. But anyways we did have breakfast and dinner at a good place.

The place is worth watching. We were in awe of the full might of Kaveri, as in Mysore its not very forceful, because of the dam. Also, for most part the roads were also very good, new roads have been laid, so we did not have that much of problem driving. The trip was a bit tiring for everybody, but was a very memorable one as there was a lot of water and we could have our bit of fun. We could stop anywhere we wanted too and have fun.

I would like to end the blog with only one note. Please keep the place clean and do not throw garbage around. Its a scenic spot with lots of tourists, but to remain attractive, please do not throw plastic waste and used bottles around. Keep the place clean, it shall help you and other tourists who shall visit afterwards.