Jindagi Rocks

WeekEnd Masti....

2012-02-05T12:04:00.006+05:30

Some shots of Arush's Masti this weekEnd......

who says I am not big enough to climb it...

Climbing from the other side.....

Ooops.... happens...

Joy ride on my elephant

Meet all my friends...

Pooh is my best friend....

Visit to Lalbagh Flower Show...

2012-02-04T22:07:00.008+05:30

We finally decided at last moment and visited the flower show again this time on republic day 2012.. few shots from the beautiful Lalbagh.....

Dances of India

The Dune - Pondicherry

2011-03-03T12:09:00.005+05:30

Two Nights is a very small time to explore The Dune. Around 15KM from Pondicherry on the famous East Coast Road(ECR), The Dune is a different kind of resort with its thematic rooms. You are never satisfied with one room as each room has its own lovely charm.
We visited Dune in February and when it was time to return we wanted to stay for some more time. We chose to stay in Silver room for one night and in wood House for our second night. Both of them were a great experience. Silver room has a nice terrace garden and big bathroom (Actually bigger than the Bedroom). But the place we never wanted to leave was our Cozy Wood House. Simple but well designed wood house is a kind of house you would always want to have.

Beautiful Terrace garden of Silver Room

Silver Room bathroom

Silver Room

Wood house 1

Dune was definitely an over budget accommodation for us but we just wanted to experience it and Arush being just 6 months old we did not really wanted to roam around Pondicherry. We just wanted to spend some good time on our Valentine weekend and there was no moment when we regret our decision.
Other than beautifully designed room the next attraction at The Dune is their swimming pool and Ayurvedic Spa. We didn’t really use Spa but definitely had a good time in beautiful swimming pool.

Swimming pool and the beach entrance

There are two restaurants at Dune. One near the swimming pool, serves only the Sea Food. We being vegetarians didn't go there but I am sure it will tempt the seafood lovers. Prices in their menu card match any good restaurant in Bangalore. Lunch/dinner is not included in the room price but Breakfast is, and it's great.

Restaurant and small Library

Oh, Did I forget to talk about beach.... That's because we never wanted to leave our room and go out to the beach but they do have a beach entrance from the resort. We didn’t play much on beach as it was little windy and cold on the beach ( for Arush).

Overall we had a very good time at The Dune and would love to stay some more days to try some more rooms. We will visit again when I'll have some extra bucks to spend on a little costly accommodation.

Accommodation : 10/10
Food : 8/10
Value for Money : 8/10 ( Little costly)

Evening Chill....

2009-01-06T08:46:00.003+05:30

It was a Normal chilled evening of Delhi... temperature must be around 5 or 6 degree.. Initial Fog was creating and I could feel the chill inside my car.. I was not able to touch the steering as it was Damn cold... but of course it's car and it has heater which did it's work and within 5 mins everything seems fine... Stopped on the regular red light where I have to stop everyday. I wonder why I never get a chance to cross it without stopping. Anyways Radio was playing "Dance par chance mar le " and I was really feeling like dancing seeing that foggy evening...
One guy knocked my car window.. it's a usual thing.. they knocks... either I don't see them and if I have to I just say NO being very Strict guy and after seeing no hopes they move on... There is huge line of cars and some of them might have soft corners for beggars.. But Today I couldn't ignore him.. I felt the shivering when I saw this guy of arnd 10 yrs of age... He was just wearing a Pant... there was nothing covering his upper body.. and he was shivering and asking for money.. I could have given anything to that face at that time...He was making me feel guilty of earning money ... guilty of enjoying the warmth of this car.. suddenly I saw 3-4 more kids like him everyone without shirt, Shivering by cold and knocking each car window.
Now I know it's not that none of them has any cloth because I see them daily but whatever it was , they were successful in creating the scene they wanted to... It was terrible,, It was sad and it was one hell of the evening for me. Specially because I recently watched "slumdog millionaire" A movie based on the experiences of a guy born in slums.. I could relate everything of it here.
Is it true that these beggar are not the individual identity and are the part of one bigger organization . Is someone really giving orders to these guy and they are just performing accordingly putting their life in it...
To my relief came another kid wearing the proper winter clothes.I could see he is also feeling cold and was shivering in his sweater, holding a huge bundle of Magazines and "Manorama Year book 2009" ...yes it is 2009, Nothing much has changed ,neither I am able to see any hope of change.. one more year.. some more increment, some more projects, some more relations, some more travel, some more reasons to drag the life... and hopefully at least one Good photograph.

Traffic light turned green.I bought "The week" and moved on.

I Killed Him....!!

2008-12-08T17:09:00.002+05:30

Yes..... I killed him...
Not that my confession helps him or wash out my mistakes.... I am doing it here just to help myself in getting a night sleep which I am loosing everyday....

I was not on the wheel at that time but was guiding him in reversing the car... Suddenly we saw some puppies playing and stopped . After confirming that all are passed we reversed the car only to see one small puppy dying in front of us... he must be just hiding behind the wheel and we couldn't see him.... I saw him dying in front of me and could not do anything.... I took one life ... there is no escape....

I love dogs... and I am not able to forget the scene of his blood ... and he dying there... God, I am not asking u to forgive but give me the right punishment for it..

LETTER TO PRIMEMINISTER

2008-12-02T16:38:00.000+05:30

Got a fwd mail just now...... :

Dear Mr. Prime minister

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.

Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India.

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima.

We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?

I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.

Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.

If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?

For Heaven's Sake !!

2008-10-20T17:29:00.007+05:30

With Salute to my beautiful country... to the people who live in the extreme condition of Ladakh and to the Indian Army who is posted there.. here is trip report of my Ride to Ladakh.

The first thing which was in my mind when I got transfer to Gurgaon( from Bangalore ) was the trip to Ladakh... I was planning for the trip for last two year but was not able to make it from Bangalore because of various usual reasons ( leaves, deadlines.. blah blah blah )... once in Guragaon I had decided that I am doing it this year at any cost...

But Alas.. once again one of those usual reasons came up and I couldnt get two weeks leaves as per my plan... so it went back to planning stage and I planned for tight 9 days itinerary...

Did not get anyone who would like to join me on those dates and for such a tight schedule ... and my love for solo driving got a chance.....

Day 0 : Delhi -> Chandigarh : Started in evening after office... Plan was to reach Chandigarh and do Chandigarh -> Manali the next day.... but exactly when I loaded my saddle bag on the bike it started raining.... I waited for some time but didnt see any chance of it to stop... so I started my journey in rain itself... got completely drenched by the time I reached NH8.. crossed the toll gate and I was shocked to see dry roads in Delhi...I could still see heavy clouds over Gurgaon in my rear view mirror.... I was already feeling tired by the time I hit GT karnal road.... crossing Delhi was no fun... reached Chandigarh at midnight, found a cheap room and crashed for the night.... No pictures of the day....

Day 1 : Chandigarh -> Manali : I left chadigarh early in the morning and reached Manali by 4 o clock... with lot of breaks... didnt take any still picture on this route... I just have some videos from this route... had dinner at my Fav restaurant in Manali... "Mom's kitchen" it has been shifted to a new place now from a small shop to a big restaurant.. I had food here two years back when I visited Manali with friends and I could still remember the taste of hot and smooth soups cooked by Mom... it still tastes same... With the hang over of yummy food and dreams of travelling on my dream route next day.. I went to bed...

Day 2 : Manali -> Sarchu : plan was to reach Sarchu today with lot of photography break hence I started early from Manali to beat traffic to rohtang pass.. Filled fuel from to petrol pump at manali, only to witness the first view of snow capped mountains... I took out my still camera first time,composed the beautiful scene and pressed the release button... but no sound.. oops it was not in mood to click... and was asking me to format the card.. well I didnt have any picture on my card yet so I formatted the card... but still camera is in no mood to shoot... Changed the card but it's still same... I tried all the things I could do there but my dear Nikon was not responding in a positive way....well I did some video shoot and proceeded thinking I will try to format cards in some cyber cafe or whereever I'll get any computer..... Road to rohtang was not in very good shape and there was lot of mud at many places... I thanked to my new tyres which did a good job here....
Near Deepak taal I found some guys with some SLR cameras, To try my luck I went to them and asked if any of their cameras uses CF card so that i can try it in my camera and find out what is wrong with it... well no one had camera with CF Card but luckily one of them had laptop... we tried to format the card and it worked... I was so happy at that time as I found my lost partner back on the trip... and from here starts my photography journey ...

I was having fun on those beautiful curvy and colorful roads ... well only till I reached my first high altitude pass Baralacha La... right at the time I reached on the summit it started raining heavily... it was around 4 o clock and wind was very high.... more over I started feeling first attack of AMS... I didnt have any place to hide so I decided to drive slowly and somehow reach at bit lower altitude... my hands were almost frozen by the time I reachedbharathpur...... I put my gloves for drying in one dhaba tent and had tea...

after coming back in control I started again to sarchu... Road was nice and hence I got good speed.. I was in hurry to reach Sarchu and find some place for the night..... stopped on very first tent camp at Sarchu and was hidden under two blankets after half an hour.... it was 7 in evening... no more clicks that evening.... it was not an easy night for me......

Day 3 : Sarchu -> Leh : Day didnt start very well. Took some landscape shot at the camp... and started after having nice bread-omlet breakfast..... Met two guys from Holland and a group of Indian guys staying in US.... had nice talk with Holland guys about cricket in Holland...Spirits were not very high but this road had enough reasons to bring them up....

Grass field and beautiful sand formation changed my mood completely... and I did bit of offroading

Gata loops

best thing on this road was meeting different people.... Just when u start feeling tired you meet people who motivates you and you feel refresh and if that doesnt work... you can always have nice Maggie on the Dhabas.... Most of these Dhaba people are Nepalis who come here in summer and go back to other places in Winter.... met a lady who moves to Mathura ( my native town ) in winters.... It seems there is one tibetian market there..

south korean couple near Kangala Jal

My speed was real slow here as on every turn I had to stop.. take out my camera and click..... It was amazing and I enjoyed this route a lot....
lot of bridge construction is going on at moore plains so on every construction one have to go off road and drive in sand.... this was nice experience overall..... but I was more worried abt the heavy clouds ahead of me over Tangla.... I had already experienced rain last day ...and I really wanted to cross Tangla in good weather...

Anyways weather was not that bad when I reached Tangla

while coming down there was a army truck stopping way for all the traffic and there was huge queue of 4 wheelers waiting for road to be cleared.... I thanked my vehicle for having only 2 wheels and managed to escape from there...

Road from Rumpse to Upushi was like an award given to you for crossing all the bad roads .... a beautiful curvy newly laid road... Colorful mountains and crystal clear river flowing with you was surely a treat.....

finally I reached Leh while the sun was about to set..... All the pain I was having just vanished when Leh welcomed me in it's best.....

found a room for 150/- at changspa .... and kissed my bike for performing it's best and not giving me a single problem....

I was Leh'd Finally....

Day 4 : Leh : Early morning I climbed till Shanti Stupa and got first view of Leh city...I cant explain the feeling in words... Snow capped mountains and view of green small town was breathtaking....

My plan was to checkout from the room .. go to DC office and get the permit done and then to start for the Nubra valley.... but plan ruined when I found out that neither ADM nor DC is available at that time.... officer asked me to fill the form and come back at 2'o clock... well I was bit disappointed but I tought of utilizing the time to visit the beautiful town and Leh palace... well the place deserve that much

I reached DC office back exactly at 2'o clock only to find out that ADM is still not there... I found a nice friend who is travel agent in Leh and was arranging permits for a group of foreigner... had a nice talk with him on different topic like so many DL regestration bike in delhi and lack of indian tourist in Leh.... finally got the permit for nubra , pangong and mersimek La at 5:30 .. I had read in some travelogue that they are not giving permits for Marsimek la.... but I dont think they were even seeing what I had asked for.... neways I wanted to do Marsimek la and i had got the permit... I again went and got another room in another guest house for that night and spent my evening roaming arnd Leh Market.

Day 5 : Leh - Diskit : Last night it rained heavily in Leh but morning looked clear.. I started early to avoid traffic to Khardung La... and found out that last night it snowed heavily on some of the hills.... was wondering if Khardung Top is one of those... well the road was heading to that direction only.....

My hand were already frozen by the time I reached South Pallu.... It took me 15 mins to gather all my motivating factors and start towards K Top.... the final stretch to K Top was not good and there was a land slide which was stopping the traffic.... I was driving on the snow first time... so was bit scared... I took some videos here but was not in a position to take any Still shot.... I reached K Top arnd 9:30 with my arms frozen and completely wet shoes.... Had 3-4 cups of tea and hot maggie to give me some energy and warmth... I stayed there for arnd an hour.... took some shots and moved on...

It was zero visibility on the other side and road was in bad condition... I had to drive real slow here... finally found some Sun rays at North Pallu... took a tea break here.... my plan was to reach Diskit and stay there... but a german lady suggested me to stay at Hunder itself as it has some nice guest houses. With that suggastion in mind I moved ahead... while trying to capture the beauty of Nubra valley...

Reached Diskit at noon and Had lunch there.... I wanted to give Hunder a try hence I moved ahead to find guest houses at Hunder and ended up in a nice guest house called "Snow Leopard" ... German lady who suggested me the Hunder was also staying in same guest house.... after getting fresh I walked up to the small monastery at Hunder and to the last point any non local could go on that road....

after coming back I had a nice Nap... Guest house guy had to come and wake me up for the dinner.... I met an english couple here and I was amazed to hear that they travel in India more than me... they were at Hampi in February and in Varanasi last year.....

After dinner I tried to shoot some start trails but couldnt get any good shot as I was not carrying the cable release for my camera.... But the view of star in clear sky is still captured in my heart....

Day 6: Hunder -> Panamik -> Leh : Early morning I took some shots of Camels and Sand dunes of hunder and visited Diskit Gompa.

Drive to Panamik was smooth . Met three sikh Army guys who were guarding the bridge on my way. and cant' forget their hospitality... I had three glasses of Real juice on that post .. ...

...

With overdose of energy from Juice I said bye to nubra valley..

And headed back towards K Top. Yesterday's experience was still bothering me but weather was looking lot better today.... When I reached K Top I was not able to believe that It's same Khardungla as yesterday.... it was sunny... and I saw some of the best landscape of the trip here which I couldnt see last day because of no visibility....

Reached Leh on time got the room and took rest.. It was my third guest house at Leh.

Here starts the cofusion... I already had the tight plan of the trip and I had wasted one day in getting permits... today was thursday and I need to reach Delhi by monday morning.... Did not want to take risk of going via Srinagar and Jammu... got the strict instruction from home for not taking that route....so I had to go back via Manali only.... which means I needed to start toward Manali next day... What abt Pangong Tso.. & Marsimek La... with all that in mind I was not able to sleep did all the calculation but it was not possible to do pangong Tso and reach Delhi on time... and somehere inside I did not want to go back via same route....

Day 7 : Leh -> XXXX : Day Started with new thought... should I try for Air tickets... If I get the ticket I could send my bike by transport and that would give me two days for Marsimek La and Pangong Tso and one extra day for lazing arnd Leh..... But I was not that lucky.. I checked all the airlines but all were completely full... I was seeing it first time.... Not even a single seat on indian aircrafts.. I went to one travel Agent and he suggested me to go via Jammu.... though the ticket was costly I badly wanted to go pangong Tso to give my trip a sense of completion... I got my tickets done 'Indian Airlines' from Leh To Jammu and 'Go Air' from Jammu to Delhi with enough time in between... I collected my tickets and headed towards mighty Chang La...
Road to Chang La was very nice almost till the end only the last 5 km was bit bumpy.. Discover performed it's best.. only at one place it could not climb and that too because I didnt change the gear at right time... had to give little push to climb . but overall trip was smooth and I loved it...

road from tanksey to Pangong was great..... passing through beautiful grass land with horses and yak was great....

It was arnd 5'o clock when I reached Pagal Nala.... Weather was cloudy hence Pagal nala was not at it's Best Pagalpan and I didnt face much problem in crossing it..

reached Pangong arnd 6 and found a room in one of the Eco huts.... Weather was getting colder and windy.... Clouds had covered Pangong completely ....

I cant forget telling abt four interesting ladies I met over dinner ... they had made the group in Leh Itself and were staying in the hut next to me... One of them was very interested in indian Culture, Yoga and sprituality.. She was from Holland and is a mother of son of my age... we had nice talk over Indian influence on Europe...two of them were beautiful galz from Polland.... One of them a violinist and other one a shoe designer... fourth was again a motherly figure from Australia. they went to sleep early and I kept taking tea after tea while talking to some cab drivers...

Day 8 : Pangong Tso -> Leh : Previous night I slept with the dreams of Capturing Pangong early morning and then conquering Marsimek La....
But that was Just previous night.... when I came out of my room early morning... I was disappointed to see rain outside.. there were heavy clouds in the sky and no clours at all... Pangong Tso was not even visible properly.... when rain stopped for some time I decided to take a walk along Pangong and enjoy it's beauty... but I had to come back very soon as rain started again... and it was more aggressive this time... all hills top arnd was covered with Snow.... I took a very unfortunate decision of dropping the plan of Marsimek la..... and headed back to Leh......
but this was not going to be easy... Bad weather was not leaving me.... It was snowing heavily all the way to chang La .... zero visibility and chilled winds made my journey a long one... and I reached Leh in evening......I crashed to bed after having dinner....

Day 10 : Leh : I had good breakfast and enquired abt some transport to send bike back to Delhi... Got Chinar transport who was not ready to take bikes earlier but convienced later.. when Vishal ( who also wanted to send his bike back ) met me and we both approached him..... I spent evening on the Shanti Stupa... and witnessed the last sunset of my trip..... I had to catch my flight early morning and supposed to be in office next day....

Day 11 : Leh to Delhi : got a taxi to airport... airIndia flight to Jammu was on time and I was going to catch another spicejet flight to Delhi from Jammu..... the journey which started with such an excitement can end in such a simple way..... when i enquired abt my next flight at Jammu I came to know that it got cancelled because of some army operation on Delhi airpost due to August 15th preparation.... after long argument and no fruits with spice jet people.... I went to only avaibale flight of airIndia... but I had to wait for 5 hours on the Jammu airport for that flight... which also meant that I had to miss my office that day.... i opted for such an expensive flight just because i wanted to be in office that Day.... I met an interesting Biker on Jammu airport.. She was from bangalore and had to drop off her trip and go back because of some personal reason.... we killed time sharing our experiences at Leh...
I reached Delhi in evening... NH8 to gurgaon was looking very boring in front of curvy, bumpy, beautiful roads of Ladakh.... This was not the end of journey... its just started .... I left lot of unsettled business at Ladakh... and wil have to go again and again to settle them.....

Cheers,
Prasoon

Coming Soon......

2008-08-21T12:17:00.002+05:30

Awesome weather here...

2008-05-22T12:06:00.001+05:30

Awesome.... I dont know what happened to Delhi... for last 3-4 days there is great weather here... it's Cloudy all day... a good relief from heat and dust.. and guess What ?... It's reminding me my beautiful and unforgattable day of Bangalore... Yes Bangalore I am missing you and missing you a lot... Not That I am not happy for coming here or I am not liking Gurgaon... there are different advantages here and they are important but Bangalore is a city where I spent the best part of my life till now... 6 years in Bangalore were the days when I learnt living life... My first Job, my first bike , my first ride , my first travel , my first camera and lots of friends, lots of love, lots of Masti.. all these memories makes Bangalore a very special place for me.. I feel more comfortable in Bangalore than in Gurgaon... hope this feeling will go soon and I'll start feeling Gurgaon and north India as my own place but it'll surely take time.

Koi Deewana kahta hai ...

2007-12-14T14:39:00.000+05:30

Heard this Beautiful poem by Dr. Kumar Vishwas on you tube today ... here

Koi Deewana kahta hai Koi Pagal samajhta hai,
magar dharti ki bechaini ko bas badal samajhta hai.
Main tujhse door kaisa hoon , Tu mujhse door kaisi hai,
ye tera dil samajhta hai ya mera Dil samajhta hai..

Maohabbat ek ehsason ki pawan si nishani hai,
Kabhi Kabira diwana tha kabhi Meera Diwani hai.
Yahan sab log kahte hain mere aankhon me aansun hain,
Jo tu samjhe to moti hain.. jo na samjhe to pani hain..

Samandar peer ka andar hai lekin ro nahin sakta,
Ye aansoon pyar ka moti hai isko kho nahin sakta.
Mere chahat ko dulhan tu bana lena , magar sunle
Jo mera ho nahin paya.. wo tera ho nahin sakta...

Bhramar koi kumudni par machal baitha to hangama,
Hamare dil me koi khwab pal baitha to hangama.
Abhi tak doob kar sunte the sab kissa mohabbat ka
Main kisse ko haqeeqat me badal baitha to hangama....

LiVinG LiFe on mY oWn RuLes

2007-12-13T10:01:00.000+05:30

Everyone of us want to live like this right.... On our own rules... in our own way... and I think that's completely right you should be the owner of your life.. But discussing it with one of my frnd I felt some problmes in it and where can we go wrong in it. I am wrinting what I think abt it... and what I should keep in mind when I am planning to make/ follow my own rules...
First things which creates problem is that we are not just happy by following our own rules.. we want other people to be happy or support us while we are following our rules and atleast accept us with our own rules... This is very important in life because we dont want to live alone in world so we want other to be comfortable with our rules... and we dont want to compromize with our own rules for that... problem starts when other person also has his own rules and thinking and when those things conflict with our thinking .
I think that this problem becomes worse and our relationship with other people ruins when we try to prove that our thinking and our rules are correct and not his or her... If we want others to respect our rules , we first need to understand that he/She might have their own rules and they have complete right to follow them .. We have reasons to think what we think and they also have reason for there thinking.. how can we say that he is wrong and I am right... we just follow things according to our impression of world. When these kind of conflicts comes why dont we live our way and let others live their way... we can talk abt our thinking .. we can suggest what we think but we cant force other to follow our thinking because we are not even sure that we are correct... if our relations are healthy enough we can argue abt our point but if it's not it's better to leave people with their thinking.We need not fight them to prove that they are wrong....
For Ex if your friend dont like something or someone.... whome u appriaciate a lot... we start fighting and arguing with them over it .. Why ? if you have right to like something other also has complete right to dislike someone... why you want to take their independence of thoughts... how are you so sure that the thing/person u r talking abt is really good... it's just his impression on you... and your friend has different impression of the same thing... you can put your point and if it changes other mind and impression.. then fine otherwise let him be happy with what he has... we simply start hating people whose thinking doesn't matches to our thinking... we just decided that he/She is wrong person... instead we just need to understand that he is doing exactly same what you are doing... We need not hate or fight with the people with different thinking.. it's there right .. if you'll respect thier thinking and sometimes try to evaluate why they might be thinking like this... Most of the time they'll also respect your rules...
It's just a reminder to myself because even when I feel this I forgot this important thing many times in life and want others to follow my rules... and I am also writing it in open space so that no one will take it as a lecture given to them and as if I am trying to make them follow me... I just say what I think and what I observed from my life and other's life's experiences...
I think we should follow our rules and thinking and at same time respects other's too.....

Reminder to myself

2007-12-13T08:08:00.000+05:30

Why I shouldnt be Sad or loose all hope even when life is not treating me that well...

* coz Even If life is not treating me tht well as it used to, I remember that it has given me lot of beautiful things which I can cherish and remembering all that should make me feel happy....
* coz Every hour and every day I am getting in life is very precious and I can spend that being sad but I can use it to improve my life situation's .. no one can stop me for trying for Good/happy life...
* coz there are lot of people who loves me lot.. and feel sad when I am sad .. and I should avoid being reason for others sadness
* Coz I have made so many Good friends in life who can do lot of things for me if i ask them and I too can share lot with them.
* coz I think I have lot more than what is required for a good , happy life and I should keep trying to make it better.
* Coz I am a young person and I have confidence that I can handle any situation/problem which might come in life.
* coz I understand that life will be boring if problems wont come... problems will come and I need to handle them and I'll do that.
* coz I should not blame any one or any situation for my problems, I should be completely responsible for the situation I am in... and when I blame myself I should try to improve myself so that I dont enter in such situations again.
* and finally this world/ this life is very beautiful and I need to see,capture lot of them.. I should try to make my surrounding beautiful... my people happy.. and things will definately reflect on me... I know this world needs me... I can do lot for it...

for those who think my life is so easy going and smooth.. let me tell you , you need to search for all these reasons in ur life.Reasons to give you confidence and happiness... If I really try I can find lot more reason to be sad but I dont think I should even think abt them....

for those who read my last post and want to know which boat I cought... let me confirm that I am still in the stream still seeing both the boats going away from me.. and because I dont even know swimming I think I should take rest on the Island and learn swimming and then start my own way... Right now both boats don't want me :-)......

changed corner after 4 yrs... :-)

2007-12-03T14:50:00.001+05:30

My Corner Of the World..
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

I can still remember how exciting but tough decision it was to shift in a better but more expensive room .. 4 yrs back... we four friends not earning too much but fed up with the pathetic room decided to shift to this new 2 BHK house .... it was more spacious , had better kitchen and bathroom, wardrobes... and over all this.. it had a nice balcony...
In past four year I have stayed with many room mates in this house.. and all became nice friends...
from last 8 months , this house's state was not very good... my owner didnt paint it for last 4-5 yrs and because of some construction works all wall had nice designs over them... we found a much better house near by and on last weekeend we shifted the house... it was a tiring event to pack all the stuff I have collected in 4 yrs ... loads of books and clothes... I was really disappoint to see how many books and cloths I have.. which I rarely read/use.....
neways.. done is done.. now I have a new corner... new neighbours ( remember my old neighbour :-p ? ).. and much cleaner and bigger house....
trying to name down all my room mates turned friends stayed in previous house in last 4 yrs....

Ankur Setia ( moved to Gurgaon.. now in Noida )
Sachin Gupta ( moved to Noida.. now somewhere in thsi world ;-) )
Prashant Nahata ( moved to Mumbai )
Prasann Joshi ( Got married and now father of cute daughter )
Abhishek Sharma ( Still with me )
Raj ( Moved to pune.. might come back soon)
Abhishek Jaiswal ( went Germany for short assignment now no come back )
Sandeep Sharma ( a nice cook..moved to pune... Got married )
Deepinder Singh ( an old frnd .. like to stay alone in his own word.. moved to seprate house soon... good for us ;-) )
Sunil ( getting married on coming 5th.. will move after that )
Janardan ( Abhishek's bhanja :-)... a nice young fellow )
Mohit ( College frnd's brother.. searching for job in Bangalore)

Oh God.. did I miss neone... plz remind me if i did... ... :-)

Badami...

2007-10-05T14:44:00.001+05:30

Pattadakal
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

Here comes again one more awsum trip... well it has to be awsum because it includes Hampi and Mango tree visit...

this is one of those trip which was planned long back... As it was preplanned trip we had book train tickets for Six of us...Deep and Gaurav cancelled their plan later but then Rahul and Janardan joined us on their places....

Trip was full of moments and Monuments ;-)

it started from three of us stuck in auto in middle of a traffic jam... and then Rahul catching train in Sharuk Khan style ( DDLJ).
morning we all got up and were waiting for train to reach Hospet... But train stopped at a small station and didnt move for more then one hour...
we reached Hospet 2 hours late....

We were damn hungry by the time we found decent rooms at hampi... Had lunch at one of those Typical Hampi style roof top restaurant.... Hired bycycles and we left to explore Hampi... I had been to Hampi twice but still It's exciting to explore Hampi ruins.... after finishing some monuments we came back tired and hungry and reached Mango tree.. one of my fav restaurant at Hampi.

next day we visited monuments at Hemakuta hill,Vitthal temple,Virupaksh Temple and enjoyed coracle ride... and cought a bus to Badami with Dosas and snacks packed with us....

Here started our never ending Antakshari..... which continued for the remaning trip.... It continued with lots of cheating...lot of manipulation and lot of creativity of creating our own song.....

Badami, as Hampi, is not very tourist friendly place there are not many hotels and good restaurant at Badami... we got one decent hotels near Bus stand itself... had Dinner and slept with the promise of getting up early next day... and yeah how can I miss the great Tadaka Dal we had in dinner...

next day we hired an auto which took us to dreamy world of Pattedekal and Aihole... and after finishing them we went to Koodalsangama which is 35 km from aihole .. and had bath in River Krishna....

on the 4th and last day we visited Badami caves, Badami fort and temples near the tank.... and Left for Hubli to catch our train back to Bangalore.. before catching train we visited Abhishek's Sister where yummy dinner was waiting for us.....

I can never forget the fun we had on this trip... and appriciate the effort by ASI ( Archelogical Survey of India ) to protect these monuments...
It's really awsum to see and imagine how much rich and old our culture is.....

May Love Fall from all side

2007-09-05T00:05:00.001+05:30

May Love Fall from all side
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

"MAnavanAgi huTTid mEle EnEn kanDi … SayOk munche omme nOdu jOgad gunDi…" as said in one of Rajkumar's movie.. Jog Falls is one of the must see Spot in Karnataka.... It's the pride of India..... It was a great feeling seeing four majestic waterfalls falling from the height of 253 mts.. nad when we walked down to the bottom of JogFalls It was like heaven we were at the middle of those four waterfalls... water is falling from all side.... and if it adds to excitement there was a rainbow at middle of it....

Well having said that Nature has given it's best in the form of JogFalls.., I must say that our Govt.. is not doing anythng at all for this place.....You can see trash everywhere ... first of all we dont have habbit of searching a dustbin to throw plastic trash but even u r one of those sensible one who really look arnd for the dustbin , You wll not find one that easily. With more than lakh people visiting Jog Falls in season and weekEnds.... It's great mass of plastic and paper getting collected there.....

If they just put 2 rs per person maintainance charges for the place.. they'll collect eough money to create enogh dustbin and to hire people who can keep them clean.
moreover they are allowing small shops to sale Lemon Soda and different soft drinks .. these shop keepers are not bothered abt trash and they are definately not collecting the Garbage they are spreading..

I hope we'll be able to solve the problem soon..... !!

My New Neighbours

2007-09-04T07:57:00.000+05:30

Two months back.... I saw light at the window next to my room's windows... I hadn't seen that window open in last 2 years so it was bit surprising.... OK, someone has taken that room on rent ... suddenly I hear some voices... a.. aa guess what ? those were female voice... my young bachelor heart Jumped... what a kismat... after more than 2 dry years someone joined us in neighbour and that too GIRLS... Trust me I was not thinking anything wrong but it's that internal happiness which Should be there in any Young,Human bachelor's Heart... ;-)....... neways Days spent .. I could never see anyone of them..( Yeah they have Big thick curtain on there window )... But Believe me we dont have to OVERHEAR them to hear them.... infact You cant avoid them ( I Dont know why they speak so loudly when they are talking with the person in the same room.. )... neways I should not complain after all their voices are not so disturbing as our street Dogs... But I think sometimes they talks THINGS ( I'll not go into details here) ... which are not supposed to be heard by us but what can we do... I tried closing all my windows but their sweet thin voice dont need much space to come in... and we can still hear them CLEARLY....I hope they will understand that we are not supposed to hear those girlish talks.... Only thing we can do is to increase our TV volume or play loud Music but we cant do it all the time... sometimes You galz have to take care... I wish that Heavy curtain could filter your voice too as it Filters our View... ;-)

wait wait... I think I forgot to welcome you pretty gals....

FROM COFFEE HOUSE TO CAFE COFFEE DAY

2007-08-15T11:38:00.001+05:30

Coffee House....
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

We are celebrating our 60th Independence day today..... Happy Independence to all fellow Indians..... !! I was at famous Coffee House today morning and was noticing the change an the journey we covered in these 60 years.... well I have seen just last 25 years of these Independent years and I dont think It's wise of me to talk abt changes and struggle in initial days.... seeing today's India I think we can have lot of hopes ... We are developing fast , we are changing fast... Our population which used to be the biggest problem... we have learn to use that as our strength.... Our Coffee taste is changing and with that lot of other things.... Hopefully for the Better India... Vande Matram...

Gandhi My Father

2007-08-05T10:36:00.001+05:30

Gandhi My Father
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

I saw this movie yesterday and I must say that after a long time I came out of cinema hall so much satisfied.... I can't point out a single wrong thing abtthe movie... sound,effect, picturisation, direction and acting .. everything was excellent ... It is one of the story which was never told and I relly liked the way it is presented in the movie without any hypes of Gandhi and patriotism .. it's a Simple movie of Father and Son relationship.... Father's expectations from Son and Son's dream to be a succefull person ( as his Father ) but with his own rules.
I advice everyone to see the movie....You cant dislike this movie.

Roses for you !!

2007-08-03T14:43:00.001+05:30

Roses for you !!
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

Some Facts abt rose :

.The oldest living rose today is thought to be approximately 1,000 years old. It climbs the wall of the Hildesham Cathedral in Germany.

· The reason why white roses are so special is not a mystery, it’s a myth. Ancient Romans believed that a white rose grew in the spot where Venus’ tears fell as she mourned Adonis.

· Roses are timeless. Archaeologists have uncovered fossilized remains of roses that grew in the wild 40 million years ago.

· Roses do not bear fruit, but they do produce rose hips, which is the best source of Vitamin C known to man.

It's Raining

2007-08-02T20:42:00.001+05:30

It's Raining
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana

It's raining in Bangalore almost daily... and it's creating lot of problems for lot of us..... But I think Bangalore is still one of the most beautiful Capital City in India and when it rains It doubles the beauty..... I am walking thru one of those silent roads at Koramangala with trees both side... while all other parellel roads are having heavy traffic chaos... I am enjoying walking on this road with wet pavements ( thanx to BDA ).... Sorry to all you guys who are stuck in traffic... But I am loving it.. I am kissing the rain.... Love you Bangalore...

To All My Smoker/Drinker friends

2007-06-18T20:32:00.001+05:30

Smoke, originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

Is May ko na pee Katra Katra,
Gin Gin Ke na le sanse Apni....!
Jeena hai to jee, jeene ke liye,
Jeene ka Faqat Ilzaam na le...!!

I am not against Drinking or Smoking just do it in control and intelligently... try not to hurt other's sentiments for these small things... Enjoy your life as much as you want but that'll be possible only if you cares for other's too............

Lepakshi

2007-06-10T11:24:00.001+05:30

Face Details : Male Dancer, originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

Lepakshi is a small town just 120KM from Bangalore.. Road is awsum and It's around 2 and half hour drive from Hebbel Flyover.. We visited Lepakshi this weekend and it was an awsum drive.Lepakshi(Lepa-Akshi) means " a Village of Blinded Eys", is very important place from the Historical and Archeological point of view.
Town is very small and other than a monolithic Nandi and shrine of 'Shiva','Vishnu' and 'Virabhadara' on top of rock... there is nothing much to do.... We didn't carry our Lunch and we regret abt it later... Had half eaten Masala Dosa ( we couldn't eat it more than that ) and Soft drinks for lunch... By the time we reached Bangalore We were dying of Hunger..

So if you carrying your Lunch box with you Lepakshi is a beautiful weekend getAway from Bangalore... Beautiful carving on Pillars and Paintings on the roof are nice to experience... you can spend hours in beautiful Temple compound .. Not too many visitors makes this small town even more simple and uncrowded.

more pics at Lepakshi

A Beautiful Backward Country

2007-06-04T19:28:00.000+05:30

Well I and my friend was discussing about current " I am Backward... I am Backward... " fight which is going on in Rajasthan and Other northern states of India. I think when everyone in India is fighting for becoming backward.. isn't it a good Idea to make/declare the whole country as backward country.... and then fight on international level for reservation...
Reservation in travelling, Reservation in Sports, Reservation in developing Atom Bombs or Reservation in getting OIL/Power/Food and Water.... and yeah Reservation in World bank Loan.. after all we are backward....
I think we'll be able to win Cricket World Cup then... and I am sure that'll make most of us vary Happy.... That's the dream we indian seeing for last 24years now.... I gave the Idea that we should be given 100 over instead of 50 over to play because we are backward.. my friend rejected immidiately saying " That's not possible we can't play for 100 over and why should we... We are Backward"... so instead opposite Team should be given only 25 overs to play...

If at all such things happens , I am telling you, no Indian will be Ashamed... we are not ashamed of being called Backward and being given reservations.... we take it as our right...

so what if we live in a country which has almost every kind of Geographic environment and hence that many opportunity.... What if we are considered as a intelligent species ... what if our country is considered as one of the most visited,travelled place in the word... What if we have some of teh oldest heritage and culture/tradition in the World.....
We are still Backward.. and we fight for that... So shameless are those politician who say that if they win they will give there cast status f being Backward as a gift......

There is no reason which can justify Reservation in this Great country. I am agree that there is a huge diversity of Rich/Poor in this country but how reservation can help in that... if people who dont deserve will take responsible posts how can this country develop....

If you think any poor community is not getting what they should get .. give them the free education, give them free seats in any damn professional college but let them get those seats on there own...

What are we doing with this beautiful country.... Why are we making it backward.... It's time to rise.. it's our time... It's time to go UPWARD....

I strongly hate Reservation in getting seats in Educational Institutes,in getting Govt. Jobs or getting promotions in Govt. Jobs.... please let me know any reason which can justify Reservation in it's current state in our country.... may be I am missing something....

हमसफ़र

2007-06-04T17:20:00.001+05:30

The Rising
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

क्यूं कहते हो मेरे साथ कुछ भी बेहतर नही होता
सच ये है के जैसा चाहो वैसा नही होता
कोई सह लेता है कोई कह लेता है क्यूँकी ग़म कभी ज़िंदगी से बढ़ कर नही होता
आज अपनो ने ही सीखा दिया हमे
यहाँ ठोकर देने वाला हैर पत्थर नही होता
क्यूं ज़िंदगी की मुश्क़िलो से हारे बैठे हो
इसके बिना कोई मंज़िल, कोई सफ़र नही होता
कोई तेरे साथ नही है तो भी ग़म ना कर
ख़ुद से बढ़ कर कोई दुनिया में हमसफ़र नही होता!!!

Two sides of coin....

2007-05-26T09:59:00.001+05:30

LoveBirds : Black Headed Ibis(Threskiornis melanocephalus)
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

I was talking abt words last time and will continue thinking about it...

Another thing I commit myself and I noticed in some people is when they critiq or comment on something.... I think giving honest comment on something is not bad but when we find anything negative about anything,just before taking that out we should definately think if we have said enough positive thing.
I have not followed this thing many times and I can imagine how the other person would have felt. Giving you an example , I bought a new laptop last year. I paid a good amount for that and was excited about it... with all that excitement I showed it to one of my friend. First thing came out of him is "It's very heavy"... phissssss... I felt like asking him to put it back and get out( I didnt do that obviously )... he said lot of good things about Laptop later but was I listening ? I know he didn't have that intension to hurt me.He was just being honest and didn't feel like doing any formality with his good friend.But that hurts.. I still remember those moments that's enough proof that it is not that simple as it looks... if he had said the same thing after saying two good points for my laptop I would be agree with him for weight because I know it's right... I am agree that it's heavy.
We dont do it intentionaly and many time we dont even notice that but others do.I think there are always some positive things about everything on the earth.. but we are so used to of negatives that we take good things as granted and point out the negative part of anything first.

Before commenting on any negative side of anything .. Think if you have said enough positive things about it.Both side of a coin are important but which one you shows first make difference..

Back to Basics...

2007-05-25T14:14:00.001+05:30

Tell Me The Story....Dad
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

Well Last weekEnd I was driving on some of my Fav roads in Bandipur and Madumalai region and then drove to Ooty too.
While driving on traffic filled roads of Ooty I saw a beautiful church at the corner.parked my bike there I went inside the church to find out that there is some white lady giving lecture to School kids by telling some stories..
I stayed and listen those words just to remind myself all those basic of living a Good/Happy life.
She was talking about WORDS.. once gone, never come back so we should spend them with lot of care...

She proceeds : just before saying any words to anybody just ask three question to yourself:

Q1: Is it True ?
Q2: Is it Kind ?
Q3: Is it Necessary ?

I thought about it a lot .. how important are these small things in our life.. to make any sense out of our life..
Otherwise it's just like spending some years on this earth.. It's the people around us,Good or Bad, makes a life.

If I see above three question and try to answer them I find that You need not open your mouth untill unless answer of atleast two questions is "YES"
if you simply follow these rules Everything should be fine...
If I try to remembe any unpleasent situation or argument I went thru... in all the cases it happened because I broke the above rule...

Sometimes I said Truth very proudly when it was neither kind nor necessary for me to say it..

These are the basics of life which were taught to us in school but they still are so much important....

Here I go Back to Basics.....

Jindagi Rocks.... sometimes too much

2007-05-03T08:35:00.000+05:30

Jindagi Rocks.. and sometimes it rocks too much to handle.... It shakes you from inside.. all your values and believes rocks... and it hurts... you start analysing your own believes... on which your whole life was based on..... you were proud of these things and today you are questioning them.. Questioning there existence......
You cant be good always.... you cant be good always for everybody.. you have to learn becoming bad.... that hurts lesser.... none will have expectations then... if you try to be good for everybody, it'll hurt at the end.... It'll hurt you.... it'll hurt them more.... you cant devide urself in two.. I wish I could.......
Jindagi Rocks........ better you Rock with it !!

Night full of Music

2007-04-16T08:36:00.001+05:30

Violinist
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

French Violinist Bernard Wacheux @ fireflies festival,Bangalore
Came to know about fireflies festival from my Photography Group on flickr.I always love to shoot event and festivals. Low lighting in the event made me decide to go for shoot and experience & learn from this golden opportunities...This festival turned out more then what I was expecting.I was worried if I'll be able to awake whole night as it Dusk to Dawn festival.But variety in the music and beautiful surrounding wont let you get bored. you cant think of sleeping when you see so much energy around.More then photography I enjoyed music and jugalbandees... With the decision of coming back to fireflies next year I reched home at around 8 morning.. had Dosa and karaBath on my way back home...

Greedy little Angels

2007-04-13T15:12:00.001+05:30

Hey wass up ?
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

These Beautiful angels attacked my biscuit pack .. well My mistake, I left it open in my kitchen.... but now when they are busy eating those tasty .. egg made biscuits.... I'll keep troubling them with my huge lenses ( atleast they are huge for these kidos ) and strong light straight from my table Lamp.. untill they give me some National geographic kind of stuff....... Only problem with these guys is that they are too small to focus and they run very fast... I focus on there beautiful faces ( actually it looks horrible with there sharp teeths) and what i get in frame is there Dark Black ... hairy ASS......... no worries dude keep clicking in this digital ERA .. and u'll get something.... sooner or later....

Dream

2007-04-06T09:50:00.001+05:30

Dream
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning

In the Air...

2007-04-06T09:49:00.001+05:30

sometimes you just at wrong place at wrong time..

In the Air...
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

Am not gonna leave you !!

2007-04-06T09:48:00.001+05:30

Am not gonna leave you !!
Originally uploaded by PrasoonRana.

Jallikatu : Strength , Courage & Energy

2007-01-18T20:52:00.001+05:30

Jallikatu is a Tamil word which means 'Bull fight'.This Festival is celebrated on day after Pongal and at someplaces day after that.It's an amazing show of courage and strength by village youth of Tamilnadu, India. you can feel lot of energy and excitement in villagers for this show.Whole village and people from other villages including children and women start coming here early morning to get there place .Everyone want the best view of the event.

Bull owner brings there bull , all dressed up and painted, and stands in a queue.One by one they send there Bull inside the game area where all youth who are participating will be ready to catch the bull. Aim is to hold the bull from its back for sometime and control it.If someone hold the Bullfor sometime he gets the prize otherwise BullOwner gets the prize.Small Items like plastic chairs,TV,BiCycle etc are given as price.and sometime even chiken,goat etc.

More then prizes its the cheering crowd which makes these youth risking there life in the event.When i reached there I didnt get a single point from where I could shoot pics. Forget shooting I was not even able to see the event.I was alone and I dont understand Tamil.Later somehow with the help of two other photographers whom I met at the event only, I managed to get some place on the ground.It was tough to shoot from there but actually got the nice angel from there.

This was all fun part of the event but its not only Fun.These young people put there life on risk. every year several people give there life in the event.Lot of people and groups are raising voice to ban the event.At the same time villagers support it as there traditional sport.

I am agree with both the sides.Some people see it as a cruelty to Animal as sometime these bull are given Bhang and even nonVeg to charge them,Which is really bad. But at the same time if you keep away all the cruel part done to Bull It a traditional sport of Tamils. Putting ban on ages old tradition and culture is also not right as it is against human right and after all humans who got hurt at the end.

Well this is like argument on Non-Vegetarian food... We should not eat Non-Veg because they are living beings but then Human is a omnivorous species.If someone loves animals and dont want to eat them doesn't mean everyone should stop eating Nonveg...

Whatever will happen to this sport in Future. I loved to be the part of this event this year.The energy and excitement at the place was great.

Also this bike trip of arnd 1000KM broke all my previous record. First 425KM(10 hours) drive in a day while going & 530KM (13 hours) drive in a day while coming back and that too Alone.

for more pics of the trip please visit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/prasoonpics/sets/72157594488009323/

006 - A Beautiful year...

2006-12-31T17:16:00.000+05:30

Thank God for such a beautiful Year.... It was not very eventful year for my career and profession like last year but at personal front it was a great year....

Lot of dreams completed... Lots of unforgettable trips... Lots of love from everybody

what else one need from life....?

Thanx to my Parents,SISs,Friends for giving me your love,having trust on me and sharing many beautiful moments with me... I hope new year has much more for me to explore... so keep going keep clicking....

Have a wonderful New year 2007...........

Chikmagalur..It's all abt sipping coffee,Enjoying weather

2006-12-31T10:35:00.000+05:30

Christmas weekend came finally ... and we are planning for this weekEnd for last one month.. with so many options in mind and no booking available..... Dandeli,Devbagh,Goa,Gokarna and many other ideas came to enjoy Christmas vacation. After making lot of google searches (love u google) and phonecalls I found one homestay in Chikmagalur but only for a night.... well we decided to go and find out abt the place...Our bikes roared early morning on Saturday 23rd,2007 and we were on the road to chikmagalur....Road was awsum to the destination.

homestay - I was worried about the homestay we booked because I didnt find much information abt it on the net but when we saw it we liked it immidiately.Rooms were neat and clean and it was inside a coffee estate.hosts were very nice and Food was Excellent.. we could stay there just for food...Mr Ansar, Owner of homestay is very frindly person we enjoyed his company and he told us lot of things abt the place etc... we were planning to go to kudremukh but he told us that Kudremukh is sealed now because of Naxal activities so we changed the plan and decided to visit mulyanagiri first day and Hebbe falls,kemmangundi next day.
two days in Chikmagalur were full of beautiful sunsets,Gr8 views,tiring walks,Chilled nights and unforgottable drives on curvy roads...... Will come back Chikmagalur.

While coming back we stoppd at Chennakesava temple at Belur.One more beautiful treat to eyes which cant be captured in Camera.

Bike Trips Till Now

2006-12-19T20:46:00.000+05:30

While making plan for my next Bike trip on Christmas.. just thought of compiling all my old trip.. :
1) Bangalore - Nagarhole
Who all - with Abhishek.. just two of us.
Date - 14th to 16th April 2006
Route taken - Bangalore -> Mysore -> Nagarhole -> Dubare -> SriRangPattanam ->
Bangalore.
Places visited - Nagarhole national park,Golden Temple (Buddhist monestry ), NisargaDhama,Harangi Dam,Dubare Elephant Camp
Total Distance - arnd 600KM

Most Memorable thing of this trip was Spending night in tent on the beautiful River Bank at Dubare elephant camp. And ya You can't take two wheelers to Nagarhole Forest .had to face soem problem because of it:-)

2) Bangalore - Madumalai - Ooty
Who all - with some frnds
Date - Dont remember exactly.. will update later
Route taken - Bangalore -> Mysore -> Bandipur -> Madumalai -> Ooty -> Bangalore Places visited - Madumalai national Park,Ooty,Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary.
Total Distance - arnd 650KM

3) Bangalore - Hampi
Who all - with Raj
Date - 30th Sep to 2nd Oct 2006
Route taken - Bangalore -> Tunkur -> Chitradurga -> Hospet -> Bangalore
Places visited - Chitradurga Fort, Hampi.
Total Distance - arnd 800KM

Hampi is Lovely place. heaven for photography . Road is awsum other then stretch Near hospet.

4) Bangalore - Maidanhalli
Who all - with Raj and Abhishek Jaiswal
Date - 2nd Sep 2006
Route taken - Bangalore -> Madhugiri -> Maidanhalli -> Madhugiri -> Tunkur -> bangalore
Places visited - Madhugiri Fort, Maidanhalli blackbuck Sanctuary.
Total Distance - arnd 250KM

Maidanhalli is very Nice place for blackbucks photography.It's a proposed blackbuck sanctuary.Though not very well managed ,It's still a nice place for wildlife photographers.You can easily see blackbucks here.

5) Bangalore - Waynad
Who all - with Raj, Abhishek Jaiswal & Deepinder
Date - Nov 4th and 5th 2006
Route taken - Bangalore -> Mysore -> Gundulpet -> sultan Battery -> Kalpetta -> Bangalore
Places visited - muthunga national Park, Edukal caves,waterfalls
Total Distance - arnd 750KM

Waynad is awsum place like any other in Kerala, full of greenery... I can call this trip THE WET TRIP as It was raining all the time on this trip and we were drenched all the time.Driving in rain with Greenery and forest everywhere was a wonderful experience.

Essay on Myself

2006-11-27T17:47:00.000+05:30

This is ME. I like travelling.I have a bike.I also have a camera and a laptop.I'll tell you about them later. I have lots of friends. I can not count number of friends.My Dad works a lot. He is very nice . He is taller then me.I dont like that he is taller then me.I want to be taller. My Mom cooks nice food. I love the food mom cooks. She is also very nice. I have two sisters. They are also very nice. Both of my Sister are older then me. I am Youngest in my family. I sometimes Dont like it. But most of the time I love it. I am having a Big tummy. My tummy is growing every day. I eat a lot.

Now I shall tell you about my Bike. My Bike is very Good. I love my bike. It is of Blue Color. Blue is my favorite color.My bike has a button.I have to press the button to run it.But now button is not working.I have to Kick my bike to run it.It runs very fast.It also drinks a lot.Lots of Petrol.It takes me and My camera on long drive.It never gave any problem.It's name is Discover. It helps me in doing Discovery.
My Camera : I also Love my camera.It's very heavy.It is heavier then my old camera.But It takes very Nice photo.It's name is NikonD70s.I take my camera everywhere.It takes Big photos. It is very fast.It has light on the top of it.It has lots of Button.I like playing with those buttons.I can change It's lenses. I have two lenses. One lense take Wide picture.second lens can take picture from distance. I like both of them.
Me Laptop : My laptop is vary fast. It is not very heavy. It is of Black Color.It's name is Compaq.I see lot of photos on it. I can also see movies on it. It also plays nice song.I can Edit my photos on it.I can do Internet on it.I can check my mails and browse Flickr.It gets Hot Soon. I can not keep it on my Lap.but still I call it LAPTOP. It is very funny. But I love my LAPTOP.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/prasoonpics/
http://prasoonrana.googlepages.com/