The Mystery that befuddles even GOD :)

Colors......Probably God's best invention you can say. God did not think about it in the beginning. Everything was either black or white initially with God's creation. Then HE got bored with the colors and decided to experiment and came up with 3 primary colors, RED, BLUE and GREEN. God was so happy. He painted the sun RED, the sky BLUE and the trees GREEN. On a whim, he decided not to color his favorite life forms, homo-sapiens, and let them be either white or black.

Homo -Sapiens being Homo-Sapiens decided to carry forward God's legacy of color. They decided to mingle pleasure with experimentation to get new colors. So you had black homo-sapien banging white homo-sapien to produce brown homo-sapien. This followed with Brown homo-sapien copulating with white homo-sapien to produce the yellow homo-sapien. The yellow and the white fell in love and produced the pink homo-sapien. .................. Damn it!!!! God had never thought that these homo-sapiens were as promiscuous as the bloody rats. They seem to be copulating every other minute and producing a newer shade of homo-sapiens.

Over time, homo-sapiens developed a new term for the colors and called it "OFF Color" God was stumped by this new term when he read about this new color in the Times of Heaven. Everything has a color. Off Color, what might be that, he was pondering about it over his morning steaming cuppa of SomRas. He decided to come down to earth and check out this new color as well as see the progress of the homo-sapiens. He drove his heaven manufactured 108 valve Heavencedes to earth and parked in front of a paint shop selling paints for houses.

He walked in nonchalantly and started observing the color charts showing different colors. He fainted nearly when he realized, homo-sapiens now had 49 different shades for his favourite white color. When God had invented white it was achromatic, technically not a color in the true sense. When an object does not absorb any of the colors in the light spectrum and all of the reflected colors combine, we perceive white. Here he was seeing FORTY NINE shades of white. There was white, vanilla white, Lilly white, snow white, ice white, winter white, ivory white, afterglow white, almond blossom white, amber white, egg white............. No doubt, God was feeling dizzy and looked pale white as if he had seen a ghost. A little girl in the paint store who had tagged along with her mummy saw God and said to her mummy, I want my room to be the ghostly shade of white that this man (GOD) is. Before the shop keeper turned around to check on the white the little one was referring, God had to make a hasty exit, fearing that homo-sapiens might perform some experiments on him and color him.

He decided he needed some fresh air and walked outside on the boulevard. He saw a man selling Saree's. The shop keeper was showcasing his wares and telling the customers that there's a new Saree he had in stock, which not only had exotic embroidery but of exotic color. God's ears pricked at the sound of exotic color. He decided to check the exotic color. The shop keeper spread a Saree which was blue in color and said it was the latest shade of PERIWINKLE. There were aahs!! and oohs!!! emanating from the crowd in the shop. God was flummoxed, it was plain simple blue and he decided to take matters into own hand and spoke aloud but this is just plain BLUE. A hush prevailed into the shop just like a cold wind enters a warm house. Then all of a sudden, he could hear murmurs of disapproval from the customers and the shop keeper gave him a look of utmost contempt. All eyes were on him. He felt just like he had felt when as a kid he had failed to answer a question in Brahma's tuition classes and all the other God's and Demons had made fun of him. A young female of the homo-sapien species turned around and said, "Don't you have any color sense, this is Periwinkle. Take two thirds fuchsia, one twelfth mauve, ninety eight seven hundred fifty sevenths brown, and one half blue and what does that give you?" God was taken aback and offered a weak, PERIWINKLE

God, now felt like an outcast in his own playground, The Earth. I mean he owned the bat, the ball and the pads and yet no one was willing to play cricket with him. He was a social misfit. What will happen of him? His Red, Blue and Green had meta morphed into these monsters like Hydra. You chop one head off and you get two more equally potent head. Similarly you try to remember the name of one color and homo-sapiens invent two more the next day.

PS: I was prompted to write this story, because I go through this ordeal each time I go out to shop with my wife......Dedicated to you wifey.......and yes, I still cannot comprehend  the color "rani-pink"

Making a Difference

There was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his journal writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

Moral

: There is something very special in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our starfishes wisely and well, the world will be blessed.

God Man or Good Man.....You Decide

I am like most of the six billion homo-sapiens teeming the face of earth like ants. Why, you ask? Well, the answers simple, I seem to remember God, only when I am in trouble or need his divine intervention for some of my earthly troubles. I might have been lax and lazy in my prayers to God, but I have one thing which I hold dear and that is FAITH. Faith that there is a God, who listens to my prayers. The prayers I said for my cousins to stay for one more day with me during summer vacations, prayer I said when I hoped against hope that the class hottie would accept my proposal when I was in class 9, prayer I said to pass me in Mathematics during my board exams, prayer I said when I wanted my paternal grand-mother to pass away soon without suffering any more pain from her cancer, prayer I say each day today to overcome the new technical challenges I face each day in office. But this post, is not about my faith. This post is about the faith of more than 30 million people who believed in Sathya Sai Baba being an incarnation of God.

Since my childhood, my parents discouraged worshiping of God men/ women and that feeling was inculcated into my core. How can a human being be God? God's messenger may be, but not God surely. How can someone conjure magic and deliver material things out of thin air. The rationalist in my mind could not accept this. So Sathya Sai Baba never entered my consciousness. Then I saw my uncle and aunt who were going through lots of trauma and disturbance in their life. They chose to pray to Sathy Sai Baba and I saw with my own eyes, how their lives improved. The pain that always seem to be in their eyes soon ebbed and they started facing their difficulties with renewed vigour. Soon they overcame all their personal troubles and were living happily. This they attributed completely to Sathya Sai Baba.  As I was growing up I heard many such stories of how Sri Sathya Sai Baba did much good for humanity and how people from all walks of life seem to be attracted to him like ants to sugar syrup spilt on floor.

Then I had my friends who were educated and considered Baba to be nothing sort of P.C Sorcar junior who depended on sleight of hand to impress his followers. How can that be? I mean you can lets say fool a million people with magic tricks not 30 million people can you ?? But in a country like ours where a cricketer is considered nothing sort of a God, anybody can be somebody if you do anything out of ordinary – be it magic or a sleight of hand!

There are talks today that his trust today is worth conservatively around 40,000 crores and how he amassed it. I don't know how he amassed such wealth, but I sure know that he did a lot good with his wealth where others prefer to keep their moolah stashed away in Swiss and Lichiesten banks. He developed the small town Puttaparthi to such scales that it holds its own place on the face of the earth today. World class hospitals with world renowned physicians. Universities that produce some of the brightest minds in the planet. Irrigation facilities that even the government of India could not execute. Sure, he was doing magic, but this was good magic. Baba, was doing what governments could not dream of achieving. I live in Chennai and I am told that nearly all of the potable water that comes to Chennai is because of Baba's irrigation facilities.

He was a do gooder and that cannot be wished away. But so is Warren Buffet, who has pledged billions of dollars to charity. So doesn't that make Warren Buffet a God also? Then how can you distinguish between them. The biggest point of Baba was that he never forced conversions in faith. He just preached 'Love Others Unconditionally'. His teachings were meant to make a Hindu a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian. In short, keep your own faith but become a better human being. Yes, a better human being is a much in need commodity these days.

I am just an ordinary man. From what my grandfather used to teach me, it is said in 'Bhagvatgita', He (the Lord) is present in every form - you, me or Sai and even in the tiniest of life forms He is formless, He cannot be confined into limited boundaries. The saints (by saints I mean the knowledgeable ones) know this and worship Him in that universal form. But, we the ignorants, insist on a form and our FAITH makes us treat the benefactor as God. For this very reason Satya Sai Baba, with all his benevolence, is truly a God for the benefiters and other seekers. I bow my head in reverence to the departed soul.

May Sathya Sai Baba Rest in Peace.

Thaggu Kai Laddu - Aisa Koi Saga Nahin, Jisko Humne Thaga Nahin

"Thaggu Kai Laddu" The name makes my mouth water :) To be honest to my readers, I was never aware of Thaggu or his famous Laddus until about 5 years ago.I would attribute this ignorance to the fact that I knew of no one who lived in modern day "Kanpur" or the anglicized "Cawnpore" or the actual "Kanhapur". Nopes, I hadn't heard of Thaggu.....My loss I would say.

I heard of Thaggu and his famous brand of Laddus when I was with Birlasoft in NOIDA. There were lots of people from Kanpur and then I used to intermittently hear about Thaggu kai Laddu. Finally the name registered on my mind, when my Project Manager once asked my best friend Vidisha who hailed from Kanpur to get 2 KG of Thaggu Kai Laddu for him. When I inquired about it, she just said it was  a famous shop selling Laddus. It always happens, people who have access to something seldom value or give enough importance to it. She obliged the PM by bringing in the Thagu kai Laddus, but the Sindhi kanjoos that she was, never brought one for me :(
 
Finally, it was another friend whose courtesy allowed me my first taste of Thagu Kai Laddu. There's an explosion of tastes on the tastebuds as the Laddu melts inside your mouth. You can feel the pure ghee, the dry-fruits, the coconut, etc complementing each other and racing together to give that unmistakable taste that is "Thaggu Kai Laddu" WoW!!!!

As things have a way of happening, I married my friend from Kanpur, Vidisha. So Thaggu became instantly accessible to me :) On one of my visits to my in-laws place I decided to make a visit to the famous Thaggu shop. Its a small shop but you can guess its popularity by the long line of customers waiting to lay thier hands on one of those sweet meats.


Its owned by one, Mattha Pandey aka Ram Avatar who ran away from home when he was 11 and arrived in Kanpur to much later set up a famous roadside shop and brand called ‘Thaggu Ke Laddu’ at Bada Chauraha Near Urshla Emergency market, Mall Road, Civil Lines,Kanpur. Story has it that young Mattha Pandey had been to one of the numerous public conferences of the great Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji  during one of his visits to Kanpur had stirred up nationalistic feelings by terming sugar as a posion...a white poison of the British. There were two reasons for terming sugar as a poison.  It had been termed as poison because,firstly white sugar or refined sugar is not good for health and is infact a slow poison for the body and secondly sugarcane farmers used to toil hard and all their riches were siphoned away by the British. Now young Mattha Pandey was flummoxed by this statement of Gandhiji. He was sweet seller. How on earth was it possible to make sweets without sugar? After much deliberation, the young and patriotic Mattha Pandey decided to be true to his customers and more importantly to his own heart and decided to continue making Laddu's with sugar. Thus was born the famous by-line, "aisa koi saga nahin, jisko humne thaga nahin" which loosely translated means “There is no relative left that we have not cheated.” So now he was cheating everyone who purchased his Laddu's but nevertheless he was warning them that he indeed was cheating them. This catchy tagline caught everyones imagination and the Laddu's became famous overnight. This surely is a learning for all those suited booted MBA's that ingenuity and truth always prevails.


The brand that is, Thaggu kai Laddu was lent more publicity when the AB junior super hit movie, "Bunty aur Babli" had a sceen shot in the movie and also used the tag line, "aisa koi saga nahin, jisko humne thaga nahin" in the movie. The shop also sells other sweets including another famous thing called "Badnam Kulfi". As per Mattha Pandey, the kulfi is named so, because anything found or sold on the street is ‘badnaam’ (of questionable character). Lolz...what a way of describing sweets.


Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law I get to savour the Thaggu Kai Laddu's anytime I visit to Kanpur or someone comes to our house from Kanpur. I can swear by anything, Thaggu and his Laddu's are one of the best things of Kanpur. My mouths watering and am drooling like a dog as I am writing this. Its been over 4 months since I tasted it because am in Chennai these days :( But I guess this is an added advantage to plan a trip for Kanpur soon.... :)

Boss and The Flat Tyre

I had become a Team Leader, but it was just a designation that allowed others to hold me responsible for all the evils plaguing the project. Nevertheless I was happy about it and called up my parents to tell them about it. My Dad, though happy for me said he wanted me to listen to a story before I hung up. This is a story my father had recounted to me when I had become a Team Lead for the first time. The story taught me a lot and I follow it in my everyday life. Its a true story of none other than Ratan Tata.

                                          *______________*

One of Mr. Ratan N Tata's first assignments was the stewardship of the ailing electronics company in the Tata portfolio - Nelco.

Story goes that a team of senior managers from Nelco was driving to Nasik along with RNT. Halfway into the journey, the car had a flat tyre, and as the driver pulled up, the occupants - including Mr. Tata - got off for a comfort break, leaving only the driver to replace the tyre.

Some of the managers welcomed the forced break, as it allowed them a much-needed chance to light up a smoke. Some used the opportunity to stretch, and smile, and share a joke. And then, one of them suddenly noticed that Mr. Tata was not to be seen, and wondered aloud where Ratan Tata might have vanished.

While his colleagues were taking a break, Ratan Tata was busy helping the driver change tyres. Sleeves rolled up, tie swatted away over the shoulder, the hands expertly working the jack and the spanner, bouncing the spare tyre to check if the tyre pressure was ok. Droplets of sweat on the brow, and a smile on the face.

In that moment, the managers accompanying Ratan Tata got a master class in leadership they haven't forgotten. And that's a moment that the driver of that car probably hasn't forgotten either.

Ideas for action:
Practise leadership in small things
Seek to find opportunities to lead in everyday moments.
Build your leadership skills, one baby step at a time.

THE COFFEE CUP

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old University Lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said:

"If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other’s cups."

"Now, if Life is the coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life itself doesn't change." "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Moral:  Don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead!

Kodaikanal Trip

Kodaikanal or Kodai as its known was the venue for the surprise trip my wifey (Vidisha) had planned for my birthday on 2^nd April. Kodai is a small hill station in the hills of the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". As with most hill stations in India, this place was also developed by the British who wanted to escape from the sweltering heat of the sun in Chennai. Wikipedia tells me that the hill station was established in 1845. The town of Kodaikanal sits on a plateau above the southern slopes of the upper Palni Hills at 2,133 meters (6,998 ft), between the Parappar and Gundar Valleys.

Life had been very hectic for the both of us over the last couple of months with 12 hour weekdays and sometimes even weekends spent @ office. So this break was a welcome break for us, even though both of us knew we were probably too tired to enjoy the trip. The sad thing was my schedule had been too hectic and wifey had to ultimately open her secret plans about the trip a day earlier as she was apprehensive I might not come home early to catch the train. They say when there’s a will there’s a way. Things worked out fine with Onsite and I was granted a half a day which actually turned out to be 8 hours in office. But whatever …..I was in time to catch the train. We caught the Pandian Express train from Egmore Station at Chennai at 9:15 PM. The journey had officially begun for us. Wifey had packed dinner for the both of us and it consisted of Paneer Dopiaza and Dum Aaloo along with Chapatis. Post dinner we slept like babies on the train.

We reached Kodai Road Railway station around 5:30 AM in the morning. The cool and above all clean air was a welcome break. There was a private bus available for Kodaikanal just outside the railway station, but we decided to book a cab for the scenic 80 KM journey across the meandering roads up the valleys. The cab driver thankfully knew enough English to get us by and charged us 1000 bucks for the drive. Yes, it was a little bit expensive but we wanted to enjoy the ride up the mountains at our own leisure time. The initial 20 Kms was pretty uneventful with the cab racing through the plains, but soon we got to the mountains. The air got cooler as we drove up. It was such a wonderful feeling, one we had missed for the last one year since we packed bag and baggage for sweltering Chennai. We stopped the cab at a couple of places just to catch the breathtaking views of the valleys below and the mountains up above. Finally we reached Kodaikanal hill station after a 2 hour drive. The air was slightly chilly and felt good on our faces. We checked into the Hotel Valley View Inn near the bus stand road. Thankfully it was just far enough from the bus stand so there were no blaring horns. The view from the balcony was awesome, we could see the lower reaches of the valley covered in light clouds even at 9 AM in the morning.

The room service was good and prompt. After having a delicious cup of aromatic masala tea at the hotel room and finishing our ablutions we moved out to explore Kodai. Fist stop for us was the Coakers Walk.

Day 1

Caokers Walk:

One of the places one should never miss when in Kodaikanal is the Coaker’s Walk. It has been named after Lt. Coaker who had discovered the beautiful place way back in the year of 1872. BTW, Lt. Coaker was the cartographer who designed the first map of Kodaikanal. We had to purchase entry tickets for going inside. But is very cheap, it costs about 2 bucks per person and 5 bucks for a camera. Situated on the southern slopes of the hill station of Kodaikanal, Coaker’s Walk is a paradise for those who want to spend time in the midst of nature.The long winding paths were simply awesome. Its located very near to the Kodai Lake and is a paved pathway near the edge of a hill. It provides a wonderful view of the town below and lush forests all around. The Coakers walk boast of an even more splendid view of flickering lights of the town below during evening as per the locals there. Though to our disappointment we found that the place gets closed around 7 PM local time. A telescopic view house is there at Coaker's walk that will provide a panoramic view of the valley, plains and the nearby towns and should not be missed by the tourists visiting the place. The ideal time to visit this place is before 2:30 pm in the afternoon as mist will start to set in over the valleys by late afternoons.

Bryant Park:

Next stop for us was the Bryant Park which is bang opposite the Coakers Walk and to the eastern banks of the Kodai Lake. The Bryant Park is a wonderfully well maintained botanical park spread over 20 acres of land. The park was planned and built in 1908 by a forest officer from Madurai, H.D.Bryant, and named after him. Ornamental plants are cultivated in a nursery for sale. The park organizes horticultural exhibits and flower shows every summer, to coincide with the peak season. Unfortunately we had visited just at the beginning of the peak tourist season so not all flowers were yet in bloom. But nevertheless the flowers there did take our breath away. The collection of rose flowers there is fabulous. The park also boasts of a glasshouse containing wide varieties of flowers, ferns and other ornamental plants.

Bryant Park also has an entrance fee of 5 bucks per person and another 10 bucks for a camera.

Kodai Lake:

Kodai Lake…Oohh so beautiful!!! I fell in love with the lake at the first site. It is an artificial, roughly star-shaped lake created in 1863. Sir Vere Hentry Levinge, the then Collector of Madurai, was instrumental in creating the lake in 1863. He was the person who brought the first boat to the Kodaikanal Lake and started boating club here.

There’s the option of hiring row boats as well as pedal boats and do boating there. We hired a 2 seated pedal boat for about 50 bucks for 30 minutes. If you are going in Winter, do the boating in the evening, as it’s an amazing experience to boat through fogs settling on the lake.

Lunch:

Food is a major problem at Kodaikanal. The place has relatively few places for eating and most of the places are a vegetarian fare while I am a hardcore non-veggie. Finally after talking with the locals we came to know of a place called Tibetian Brothers. The owner who doubles up as a waiter is very courteous - and very passionate about his country. So the restaurant walls are plastered with photos of Lhasa, Potola palace and the Dalai and Panchen lamas. We ordered Chicken Egg noodles, Pork Momo’s and Chilli Chicken. The food was good but the ambience left for a lot to be desired.

We returned post lunch to our hotel room to catch the historic India vs Sri Lanka cricket world cup cricket match. What a match it turned out to be. There was an anticlimax of sorts happening in the match. Zaheer Khan who had been the best bowler for India all through the tournament including the first half of the match was clobbered for over six runs an over towards the end. Virendra Sehwag who had not been dismissed for a duck in over 4 years got out to a duck. Both I and Vidisha were so scared we stopped watching the match for 5 -6 overs and started watching some movie on Zee Café. But our curiosity took over us and we found ourselves switching channels.
Finally, Captain Courageous Dhoni hit the winning six and India won the cup after 28 long years. Vidisha and I both cried along with Sachin, Yuvi, Mahi, Bhajji and others of the victorious Indian Cricket team when the match was won.

Time to get some shut eye, as we had to wake up to continue with our sightseeing the next morning.

Day 2

We woke up early as we had to check out of the hotel by 9:00 AM, even though the hotel staff was courteous enough to allow us to stay till 12:00 PM. We decided not to abuse their hospitality and checked out by 9:30 AM after depositing one backpack at the hotel cloak room. We had decided, we would book a cab today and cover as many places as we can because we were scheduled to return by train the same night. The mice inside our stomach had other idea and they started complaining regarding the lack of food inside our stomach for them to feed on. We paid heed to the mice/rat/dogs/cats inside our stomach and decided to have a hearty breakfast, especially since we had skipped dinner yesterday watching the cricket world cup final. We chanced upon a restaurant named Astoria. I wasn’t impressed as it was a Veg restaurant and on top of that a South Indian one at that. But wifey went in and I had to tag behind her too. Astoria proved to be a success. The food was finger licking good. I had a Masala Dosa and I can swear it was much better than any dosa I have had in Chennai over the last year. Wifey ordered Pongal and it was superb too as per her (PS. I am not a huge fan of Pongal and normally avoid it when I can) We had some great filter coffee at Astoria and then left on our sojourn for the day.

Kodaikanal, bus stand road is filled with taxi’s who have printed pamphlets with 4-5 touring options mentioned. Starting from the full day 18 places sightseeing tour to more normal 8 location sightseeing tours lasting 3 hours costing anywhere from 1200 bucks to 500 bucks. You can bargain hard and get some discount too. We chose a trip that was going to cost us 550 bucks and acquaint us with 6 places in and around Kodaikanal. Our guide confessed that, he was the nephew of the local DSP of police and so he had all the connections. Well I don’t know of his connections, but he did have a penchant for breaking traffic rules like driving on the wrong side of a one way traffic road. Anyways, everyone seem to know him, so he seemed to be getting away with breaking the traffic rules.

BTW, all hotels in Kodai have tie ups with tour operators with mini busses who charge you about 250 bucks per head and show all around Kodai. But they leave early in the morning, and wifey and me did not want to get up early on a holiday especially since both of us wake up early everyday for office. I mean what’s the point of going on a holiday and not sleeping ;-)

La Saleth Church:

This is a historic 150 year old church dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette. It’s a small but beautiful church and is a must visit if you like churches and the serenity within them.

La Salette is a small mountaintop village somewhere France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings. The Catholic Church investigated the claims and found them to be basically credible and was approved under the name of Our Lady of La Salette.There are two shrines dedicated to our lady of La salette in the whole world, one in France and the other in Kodaikanal

Pillar Rock:

Pillar rocks consist of three towering huge granite boulders about 400 feet high. The chamber between the two pillars is called Devil's kitchen. There is a small garden in the shadows of the rocks which can be accessed after paying 2 bucks per head. This garden also has a small waterfall in it, if you call it a waterfall. This place is managed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and they seem to be doing a decent thing with it. Pillar rock is a place where a lot of picnicking happens so we found many contingents of school kids there.

Golf Course:

Now I am not a golfer and was in no mood to see grass in a golf course. I mean the whole of Kodaikanal had much better flowering plants, who cares about green grass, yeah maybe the cows…..but am not a cow. So I cancelled this and asked our guide to move ahead.

Green Valley View/ Suicide Point:

Next on our itinerary was the Green Valley aka Suicide Point. History has it that many HomoSapiens took the name of the place quiet literally and ended up committing suicide from the cliff as a result the cliffs height became less with the number of broken bones piling up at the bottom. Local government decided upon an innovative idea….an idea doing the rounds throughout India, rename the and pray to God that if solves all problems, be it civic or administrative or in this case emotional problems of human beings. But that did not help too much, and the administration had to erect huge fences at the cliff edge to prevent further suicides. Oh!! By the way, they renamed it as Green Valley View (Not too bad a name)

It provides a picturesque and panoramic view of the plains, valleys, hills and the Vaigai dam. The deep, dense and dangerous valley below this point is more than 5000 feet drop and to get a good view from this point. There are a huge number of small shops nearby selling everything cheap and Made in China over here. But yes, there are some good shops selling aromatic spices and oils too.

Shanti Valley:

Shanti Valley is an accurate name for the place. It really gives you SHANTI. It’s a forest of tall pine trees and looks very pretty. Almost gives you the feeling of Dharmendra and Hema Malini prancing around the trees. Vidisha and I wanted to sing and prance around the trees, but for the want of time had to cut short this one. Yes, and if you are the lazy sort, you can hire ponies and ride around the forest too.

Guna Caves:

Okies, so I have mentioned Guna Caves, but please be aware that the actual Guna Caves are out of bounds from the general public. What we have now is 1 % of the Guna caves which are accessible. In fact none of the actual caves are accessible now to the public. The Guna Caves actually a part of the Pillar Rock and were actually known as the Devils Kitchen. But the Kamal Hassan starrer SUPERHIT (our guide emphasized super hit) GUNA movie which was shot here immortalized this place and the place has since then been dubbed as Guna Caves. The caves, I am told are bat infested and have innumerable crevices some of which are over 400 feet deep. Many people have died here as one misstep and you are bound to end up somewhere deep down in one of these crevices. Some of the crevices can be seen today and are not out of bounds. However the local administration has taken precautions and placed iron grill over them, so that one does not fall into them.

The place around it is full of tall pine and Eucalyptus trees that houses hundreds of naughty monkeys. Since the place gets a lot of rain, there is huge soil erosion which creates an interesting phenomenon. The trees are all tall, but their roots are all exposed to the elements, making it a dangerous walk. You have to watch each step of yours; otherwise you might end up falling on your face.

Day 2 Lunch:

Our sightseeing trip had to be cut short now as we were running out of time. Our guide cum cab driver dropped us near a hotel he promised served good non-veggie food. A place called “HillTop”. The place was way too crowded but eventually we managed to grab seats for ourselves. The food though was simply awful. We had ordered a fish and hoped it would be fresh fish from the mountain streams nearby. The fish turned out to be horrible and smelly. I am pretty sure, it was stale and in no way a fish from the mountain streams. The hotel at least had the courtesy of refunding the money for the fish. The chicken we ordered was ok, nothing great to write home about.

So after our rather disappointing lunch, we decided to head out to the lake and do something which my wifey loves. Can’t disappoint the wifey, especially since she had planned such a great trip for me. The good thing about Kodai is that everything is nearby and you can walk around. So we walked to the lake and the cool breeze and the warms sun was a welcome sight. We sat on the pavement near the lake and had ice creams there for our dessert. We hired a two seated tandem bicycle and decided to cycle around the lake. We had loads of fun riding around the lake (approximately 5 KM), but it left me exhausted. Hmm!!! U must have guessed what wifey had to say…..”Get into shape” J

We had another round of masala tea and purchased some homemade chocolates for office colleagues near the lake and then started walking back to the hotel as we had booked a cab with the help of the hotel travel desk. As we were walking, I saw a man selling something interesting on a roadside pushcart. My eyes lit up……All my friends who know me, might have guessed right…..must be something related to food….. :) :) Yes, they are right….the man was selling deep fried Teetar birds. Teetar is known by many names like, Katee or Grey Francolin, or Grey Partridge. Though I was a little skeptical, as I had just recovered from a stomach infection which had led to my getting hospitalized for 1 week, I could not let the opportunity to taste something exotic pass. Wifey had to grant me the pleasure of savoring the Teetar cause after all it was my birthday J

The Teetar was a little too deep fried for my taste, but nevertheless it was good and surprisingly light. I am guessing the bird must have weighed hardly 200 gms. Some of you reading this might be cross with me for eating a bird that might be getting extinct, but I guess, the Teetar’s are farm bred and not jungle catch. Anyways, it was getting late, so I had only one bird and then we had to catch the cab back to Kodai Road railway station.

Return Journey

The return journey over the hills was non eventful except the cab we were in was involved in two near accidents. The damn driver seemed to be in some hurry and since he did not seem to understand our words, we were left praying in the back seat. The guy did understand that we were hungry and needed to pack dinner for ourselves. He stopped by a hotel called Dindigul Thallapakati and we packed Biriyani for ourselves. Biriyani on a train journey does sound a strange combo, but what the hell, it was my birthday :) The train was on time and we got into the train at 9:10 PM to head back to Chennai.

The next day we reached Chennai at around 7:00 AM and wifey and I immediately started missing Kodaikanal. The ever present cool breeze, the fresh air, the flowers, the cycles…….Gosh!!! But life beckoned and more importantly office beckoned…….we reluctantly booked a cab to our home from the station but decided then and there that we would definitely return to Kodaikanal sometime soon.

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Start of a new Blog

I have been an avid blogger for over two years now.....but all my writings are kinda secret till now, cause they are my personal thoughts....

I decided to write something which I can finally share with the whole wide world......so here I am....a blog...of mine....which will be about anything and everything under this whole wide world....

I am a foodie.....though not a food connoisseur and a roadie though I don't get much time to hit the road these days...... so this blog of mine will pertain to food and travels a lot

Hope you like my writings....do post in your brickbats or bouquets.....in the comment section :)