Bangalore City Trip

My sister’s family and my mother visited Bangalore in the first week of September. During that time, I took them to Bangalore sight seeing trip. Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) conducts one-day Bangalore sight seeing trip. This post will help people who plan to visit the major tourist spots in Bangalore. I reserved the tickets through the following site:

http://www.karnatakaholidays.net/city_holidays_new_bangalore.htm

We started from Koramangala at 6.30am and reached Badami house near Corporation circle. All the tourist buses to different destinations start from Badami house. Our bus started at 7.15am with 12 tourists. A guide explained us Bangalore statistics in detail. The statistics include the number of two-wheelers and four-wheelers, average salary and the history of the city. Meanwhile, we reached the beautiful ISKON temple. We visited the Lord Krishna’s temple and also had our breakfast at ISKON canteen itself. We also bought different varieties of prasadam.

Later, we visited Anjaneya temple, which is nearby ISKON and located in a residential area. The 22 feet deity of Anjaneya is carved out of a single granite stone. Shri Maha Lakshmi’s temple is adjacent to this temple. Then, we headed to Sri Raja Rajeswari Temple, which is the last temple in the list.

The best part of the tour began at Banneerghatta National Park, which is 22 kilometers to the south of Bangalore. We purchased tickets worth 160/- each for a jungle safari. We travelled in an iron grilled mini bus that took us into the forest. Initially, we saw deers, a herd of bison and crocodiles. Later the bus took us to bear, lion and tiger safaris. In each safari, animals will be kept in an area surrounded by electrified fence. Iron grilled bus travelled in that area amidst the animals. My nephew was really excited at watching the animals and even invited those to get into our bus. After the safaris, we visited different animals in the zoo in a hurry to catch our bus. Though it was amazing, I felt that we should dedicate half a day to Banneergatta National Park.

We had our breakfast on our way back to Bangalore. The guide took us to ‘Mysore Resham Udyog’ where we found clothes and artifacts that are expensive. Later, he took us to an art museum in which we weren’t much interested. An art aficionado would love to visit this place.

We proceeded to Jawaharlal Nehru planetarium where we played in the adjoining park. The shows start at 4.30pm and 5.30pm. We choose 4.30pm show. The sky show was fantastic covering the galaxy, stars and planets. Though we were very excited looking at the sky show, many of us felt asleep out of tiredness. After this show at 5.30pm, none of us are interested in watching Musical fountain. So, we opted out and came back to home.

Finally, I would say KSTDC organized a very good trip. But, given a chance I would take a private vehicle and visit ISKON temple and Bannergatta National Park only.

Unable to see files and folders in pen drive

Recently, I went to Cyber café to scan a document. When I came back, I noticed the folders and files in my pen drive became invisible. Then, I followed the steps shown below to retrieve my files and folders:

Plug the USB to your CPU or laptop.

Step 1:

If you did not format your USB, check whether folders are hidden. In browser, go to 'Tools' -> Folder Options.. -> ‘View’ tab -> Advanced Settings -> Files and Folders -> Hidden files and folders -> Check the radio button ‘Show hidden files and folders’

Step 2:

Go to Start -> Run -> type ‘cmd’ and click ‘OK’. A command prompt will pop up. If the pen drive is G:\ drive, type the following command as shown below:

attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*

Now, you can see your files and folders back in your pen drive.

Enrolling slum children in schools...

2011 is so far so good as there are many moments to pen down. During this summer, I engaged myself in Aashayein Foundation’s flagship program Bache Man Ka Sachche (BMKS). BMKS program identifies underprivileged children in slums and enrolls them to schools with a measurable scholarship. Here is how I did it along with a bunch of 30 active volunteers.

    Firstly, we identified four slums to find underprivileged children. We trained volunteers to approach each family and judge the family condition on certain parameters. While identifying kids, we noticed that some kids never went to school, some were drop-outs to join labor and some wanted to get educated in private schools rather than Government schools. We appreciated the efforts of the parents to bring up their children and provide good education. In some cases, I was really blown away by the efforts of the parents to educate their children.

    Secondly, we analyzed the family condition and conducted a test for the children. Through this test, we identified bright children who couldn’t pursue their education and also those who wanted to get educated in private schools. In a bid to make the parents responsible, we conducted a session to help them understand the value of education. Thus, we granted scholarships to the bright children.

    Finally, we convinced school officials to enroll the children and also paid the students' scholarship amount. During this process, we received valuable inputs from the school officials about the performance of the students and the behavior of the parents. We documented the details of the children for our future reference.

    At last, we enrolled 300 underprivileged slum children to schools. Though it took us four months of exhaustive effort, the difference that we made gave me immense satisfaction. Over a period of four years, I could enroll 600 children from slums to Government and Government aided schools.

Whaaaaat a Surprise!!!

It was 3pm when I received a call from Kirti.

Kirti: Hey dude.. Wassup?

Jayanth: Nothing much dude.. Same old story… work.. apps.. search..

Kirti: Any progress in any of these?

Jayanth: Nopes… By the way, what are your plans for Pongal?

Kirti: No plans. How about you?

Jayanth: Oh! I want to go to Kakinada. But one and a half month back, the train ticket status was W/L 289. I may go home, if I get a bus ticket.

Kirti: Oh! Is it? But you don’t travel by bus. Right?

Jayanth: Yeah! I don’t want to. But there is no other option. I want to be there with my family for Pongal.

(The conversation went on for a minute)

Kirti: OK Dude.. Take care. Enjoy Pongal.

    I received a mail with a Kingfisher airlines ticket to Visakhapatnam. Oh Boy! It took me by a big surprise… When I find it difficult to get even a bus ticket, a flight ticket was booked on my name without my knowledge.

Later, I called Kirti who confirmed that he want to surprise me and want me to spend time with my family during Pongal. I said that I was really surprised but he should have informed me prior to booking the ticket as Visakhapatnam is 3 hours from my town, Kakinada. This conversation continued for 2 more minutes.

Kirti: OK Dude.. Happy Journey. Enjoy Pongal.

Now, I received two mails. One is about cancellation of ticket to Visakhapatnam and another about booking a new ticket to Rajahmundry. Now, I don’t have words for the next one hour. For sure, this is the biggest surprise to me in the last two years. Let's see what surprises 2011 has in store for me.

I wanted to return the money to Kirti. But, after knowing that the cost of the ticket is a whopping 10K rupees, I thought “OK. Let it be a surprise :) Thank you Kirti... You made my day..:D

Difference in Newyear Celebrations! 2011 & 1991

31st December, 2010… 9pm

Oh! God! I’m already a little late to the party. I started to the venue in a hurry. Oh! boy! How can I forget that today is 31st? ‘Baskin Robbins’ offers 31% discount on every 31st. In no time, I ‘swallowed’ my favorite dessert, a 3 scoop banana split. When I reached the venue, my friends already started playing Poker. When I am done with learning the rules of Poker, my friends winded up the game and proceeded to a private party. Some of us had our dinner while others had the starters and drinks.

    After a while, we welcomed 2011 with a nice cake rubbing the cream against each other. Meanwhile, everyone was busy wishing their family and friends. It took us a while to settle down and start the latcha/baat session. The topics were really interesting. It started from ‘how each of them met his/her spouse’ to ‘some silly affairs/crushes’ and ‘the so called youth icons’ (the bachelors’) requirements of a bride’. Finally, it all ended at 4am but not before we pledge our resolutions.

Resolutions:

 Jayanth - Not to take non-vegetarian food in 2011. Plan things and act. Don't react.

 Puppy - Start a new company.

 Gora - Find a compatible girl friend.

 Satti  - Join gym and be fit.

I couldn’t sleep as my thoughts rolled back to 31st December, 1990… 9pm

    I screamed at my mom, who was preparing a sweet for us. “I’ll get you all the sweets on this earth. Please! please! Please! For Heavens’ sake… start the rangoli in front of our house. Our new year rangoli should be the best in our street”. I requested my grandmother and my tenants to stop watching doordarshan program and help my mom draw the best rangoli. I kept myself busy sorting out the greeting cards of film stars for my close friends and of flowers for my relatives and teachers. After finishing rangoli, we stuck ourselves to the television.

    When the clock struck 12, I was completely in an excited state shouting “Good Bye.. 1990. Welcome 1991.” I could wish only my family members and my neighbors and eagerly waited for the greeting cards from my relatives. I ran outside and not only wished everyone who is crossing my house but also asked them to comment on the rangoli in front of my house. The joy of celebrating new-year at that tender age was a different experience. No parties, no poker, no ice-cream, no cake, no mobiles, no resolutions… Still I had a great new year celebration with my family members and those memories are still fresh…

I ran again to...

Let me tell you as every blogger do. “Hey guys… I resume blogging”. Bloggers are habitual liars. aren’t they? Coming to me, I don’t get enough time to blog. Yeah… you are right! It’s a euphemistic way of saying my bones are getting lazier day by day. So, BITS Alumni Association came up with a ‘BITSAA World 5K run’ to shed my laziness.

On a Sunday morning, my alarm waged a futile battle, with a couple of snoozes, to wake me up at 6am. Later, a reminder (‘5k run’) succeeded at 6.15am. I finished my morning chores quickly and rushed to the venue. On my way to the venue, Cubbon park, I parked my vehicle at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. When I was about to search for the participants, an ‘enthu’sed gang of more than 50 bitsians with BITS Pilani t-shirts, made my life easy. A glance at the lively bitsians from 1974 to 2007 batches increased my energy levels. I met a few juniors, Sujay and Surya, and a psenti chat followed. All of us started the run at 7am. Thereafter, everyone kept himself busy to put down the flab and perspired enough. Though my ankle sprained a little by the end of the run, I could finish the 5k run in 5th place, within 30 minutes.

Way back in 2004, I finished a 10K run in 60 minutes. Though I didn’t get a chance to run after that, the transition was very smooth. For me, the take home value from this 5K run is that I decided to finish a 4K run at least twice a week. I even started implementing this to improve my stamina and keep myself fit. Come on guys… run and run and run to be fit...

Yet, another year… another birthday… another cake…

Oh! My Birthday! This is slowly transforming from the most awaited day to the most dreaded day. Yet, another year… another birthday… another cake… God! I’m getting older!!! At least the people around make me feel so… I wish there is a reset button where I can set the clock back to 25!! If I look back, last one year has been alt-tabbing between bharatmatrimony.com and mbamission.com. Besides that I should honestly agree that I worked (rather say ‘was forced to work’) for the first time in my professional life.

After a day of hectic shopping, I kept my mobile in silent mode and went to bed. But some of my good pals Kirru, K, NP, Puppy, Swamy, Chow and Challu, with their wishes, succeeded in waking me up. Kirru took pain to wish me with a cake. On top of this, my mom came down to Bangalore to make my day. Later, my phone kept ringing through out the day. All my friends and relatives were eager to know about my marriage plans than to wish me on my birthday. Everyone says “Get married soon…” To me, it sounded like “Get well soon…” as if I am suffering from a dengue fever.

With my Mom around, I couldn’t skip a visit to temple. After cutting a cake in the afternoon, we went to Magnolia restaurant. K’s surprise visit with a beautiful bouquet added flamboyance to the birthday treat although, the red roses in the bouquet must have scared my mom. Looking towards another year with lots of hope and loads of luck, I wish to do something different… yes something different:D To start off, I’m changing my loyalties from Brazil to Argentina!!!! After all, Does it really matter?

Waaaw! I missed it…

Do you remember the last time you missed a bus or a train?

What was your reaction?

Oops! Shit! …and what not!

Though I encountered many such situations, the recent one would last long down my memory lane. These days, I work less and participate more in meetings(inactively). When I was in one meeting, a glimpse at my watch took me by surprise. I was left with 3 hours to catch a flight to Pune in order to meet a customer the next day. I had to travel all the way from electronic city to airport with a halt at koramangala to pick my baggage.

Though I sailed swiftly through a hefty traffic to reach Koramangala, I took enough time to pack my baggage, take bath and have early dinner. With only one and a half hour to catch the flight, the skillful cab driver fetched me to airport with 20 minutes to spare. When I was about to get down, the sight of the baskin robbins ice-cream outlet tickled my taste buds. I rushed to the shop, got my favorite “pralined cashew” scoop and sprinted to collect my boarding pass. “Sorry! You are late by 4 minutes”. These words immediately induced a powerful stare that turned my head towards the cone in my hand.

Then, I said “Waaaw! Thank you” with a big smile on my face.

Even before the Spice Jet employees digest my reply, I canceled the flight ticket and booked another ticket for the next flight, Kingfisher class. I was fortunate enough to get the reimbursement for both the tickets:)