Trainspotting at Dudhsagar.
A quick little travelogue – This was not a ‘Xing’ drive, but a TT-trip & a weekend trek. We started from Bangalore at around 8.30pm on the evening of 6th Nov 09 and came back into Bangalore at around 5.30am on the morning of Monday the 9th Nov 09. Trip outline: Trek to Dudhsagar falls: [...]
7 days of driving around Karnataka – Temples, Hills, Forests, Caves, Ruins, Forts and Highways
The three of us returned on 2nd Jan after another wonderful road trip! [Sanjay, Sangeetha & Santro ] We started out at around 7.00am on the 27th of December and parked back at 10.30pm on 2nd Jan 09, making it a 7 day trip around Karnataka.. 7 days of sheer driving pleasure. Day 1 – [...]
Shivaganga, a sunday in the sun.
First the basics: [1] This is a good one-day weekend trip from Bangalore. Total distance from Airport road to Shivaganga and back was 142kms on the odo. [2] Only equipment needed will be a pair of sneakers for a comfortable walk [people even climb up barefoot or in normal footwear], caps, sun-glasses and a liter [...]
Trek from Mullayanagiri to Bababudangiri… after 13 years!
This was our last trip/trek in 2009, done over 26th & 27th of December. It was again with our regular TT & driver Kumar and a group of friends. The itinerary of the trip was to… – start from Bangalore on the evening of the 25th Dec, – drive to Kundadri peak early in the [...]
My brush with the ‘Yamdoot’ :-)
There are bikes that I love, there are bikes that I hate… and then there is a bike that I respect – The Yamaha RD350 aka the Rajdoot RD350; or the ‘Yamdoot’ as it was nicknamed in India. The RD350 is not something that you can buy off the shelf, it is a part of [...]
A weekend trek to Mukurthi Peak near Ooty.
Ooty seems to be the flavor of the season and this was a trek through the Mukurthi national park which is very close to Ooty. This was done over the weekend of 28th & 29th Nov 09. The park is named after the distinctive looking Mukurthi peak, which at 8,379ft is the fourth highest peak [...]
Hampi – The city of victory…
Over the past couple of decades, both Sangeetha & me have been to Hampi several times – as part of our school trips, during our college days, with family and friends… But given the fact that there is so much to see, you can go there on multiple occasions and each time you’ll see something [...]
Little Rann of Kutch Wild Ass Sanctuary & Rann Riders resort – Dasada.
IIMA had organized a Leadership Development workshop for the PGPX students over the weekend of 3rd and 4th October 2010. The venue was the Rann Riders resort in Dasada village, Gujarat. The village of Dasada is a few minutes drive from the entrance of the Little Rann of Kutch Wild Ass Sanctuary. The Rann Riders [...]
5am to 5am – Uchangidurga, Santhebennur, Shantisagara, Koolahalli, Bagali
Synopsis of the trip: Started from BLR at 5am on 2nd Aug 09. Returned to BLR at around 5am on 3rd Aug 09. Total distance covered on the Odo: 823kms Main places visited: Huchangidurga, Santhebennur, Shantisagara, Hallimallapura, Davanagere, Kulahalli & Bagali. With Sangeetha off to Chennai for a couple of days, I had planned to [...]
Is this most haunted place in India ? – Bhangarh, Rajasthan.
Just Google for ‘the most haunted places in India’ and Bhangarh features on almost all the pages and lists that pop-up. There are all sorts of stories on the net about ghostly encounters, visitors who disappeared and other paranormal activity at Bhangarh. Bhangarh had been on our list of places to see from quite some [...]
Tirumala, Tiruchanoor, Vellore and Sripuram.
Parkinson’s Law goes something like "Work expands to fill up all available time" and so it had been for the last couple of months. With work often spilling over into the weekends, we had not gone out for any serious long drive after our Hoysala Temple trip in March 09. It was also around two [...]
Hathi Singh Temple, Sidi Saiyyed Mosque & a Haveli in Ahmedabad.
Ever since I landed on the IIMA campus in April 2010, life has been mostly following a regular pattern. A normal day revolves around the classroom, dining hall, syndicate-room and the hostel-room… An occasional ‘highlight’ in the routine would be a visit to the Big Bazaar @ Himalaya mall. After stumbling through yet another hectic [...]
The Bhoot bungalow trip – ACMCC Trip II
The last time around I had a Bhoot Bungalow experience was in June 2009 when Sangeetha and I went for a trek into the core area of the Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary in Tamilnadu. Since it was right in the middle of the monsoons, camping in the open was ruled out and we had to spend [...]
Flying High – Ballooning @ Jaipur.
26.10.2011, Jaipur was celebrating Diwali… and we celebrated it in a different way. We went Ballooning ! There are very few places in India where Ballooning happens regularly; luckily Jaipur is one of them. Since Ballooning requires favorable wind conditions and relatively plain land to operate safely, it is a seasonal activity and is conducted [...]
Kotilingeshwara – A quick little trip.
On the 30th of March 2008, we were returning back to Bangalore from a family trip to Chittoor. Since we had started our return journey quite early in the morning, we were quite ahead of schedule and were driving back at a very liesurely pace. On a couple of earlier trips along this route, we [...]
Chennai and Kanchipuram
There was a wedding in the family and plans were made for a trip to Chennai. Not being much of a crowd person, I did have second thoughts about joining in for the trip… but the temptation of a long drive on the GQ was too irresistible and I opted in. We left on the [...]
5 years with the Xing…
Our Santro ‘Xing’ completed 5 years and 1,00,000 kms in 2010. . . 5 really pleasurable years! I don’t think a very detailed ownership report is required since there are 100s of reports out there for the Xing. So just a small note on the experience so far. During all our trips, not once did [...]
The MacLehose Trail – Hiking in Hong Kong
We were in Hong Kong & Macau during November – December 2011 as part of my IIMA PGPX exchange program with the China University of Hong Kong. While Googling around for interesting places to visit in and around Hong Kong, I came across the MacLehose Trail. Though the complete trail was out of question due [...]
Gurramkonda, Vontimitta, Siddhavatam, Brahmamgari matam.
Another ‘Blast from the past’ from my archives. This trip is quite recent though, from November 08. The main purpose of the trip was to attend my relative’s wedding in AP. Since we were driving into the interiors, we thought of visiting some lesser known places which are somewhat off the beaten track. Route taken: [...]
A DIY Story: Home Audio Speaker Boxes in a Car ??? Yes!!!
Before starting off with the DIY story, let me clarify a couple of things… [1] Every DIY has its own inherent risks. I considered the ‘worst-case-scenario’ and decided that if I ended up with damaged speakers / blown HU or Amp, I was ready for it. [Acceptable risk] [2] I have been using the setup [...]
