Ranikhet day-2: Worshipping the Himalayas

Day 2

I had heard a lot about some ‘view points’ at this hill station from where the Himalayas are supposed to be visible. We set out for a walk early in the morning hoping to catch a glimpse. An hour later, having soaked in as much fresh air, chirps of birds, but no sights of snow covered peaks, we returned to the hotel. Nevertheless, it was a divine experience.

The Army is the best thing that has happened to this place. While commercialization and mongering crowds have corrupted places like Nainital, Mussoorie and Rishikesh, the cantonment regulations at Lansdowne and Ranikhet have ensured that there is a cap on the number of hotels, hoardings and the number of incoming people. We reached our hotel where we met the manager. He did not fail to point out that the hotel had featured in a couple of movies: Koi Mil Gaya, Vivah, etc etc. We decided to have our breakfast in the lawns. I look forward to buffets and today was no exception. I was carefully bringing the mount food on my plate when my parents told me look up. Behold!!

What I saw was one of the loveliest views that will be etched in my memory forever. The Himalayan range was visible in its full grandeur. I stood still and gazed for a minute. When I recovered, my first thought was to run to fetch my laptop and try to justify the sight in words. Foolish.. I grabbed the camera. They say a picture is worth a thousand words… Several attempts to capture the grandiose of the Himalayas were made. Modes were changed, features were explored but after a while, I gave it up. They say transcendental and celestial beauty cannot be captured. Today I could understand that. Apologies to the greatest writers and the skilled photographers but no words, pictures or videos can do justice to the grandest feature of the planet. So I just stood there and stared..

We headed for the apple orchards next and rest of the time was spent exploring the unknown. The dinner at the hotel was pretty grand as well. One distinct feature of this buffet was the quality of the variety put up. The number of dishes available was limited, yet each one was a masterpiece!

To conclude, this is a place for people who can live with nature. One category of humans complain that there’s not much to do here- not enough ‘points’, boating, shops, etc. Absence of the same and abundance of natural trails- that’s what the other category yearns for..

Go kiss the World!

I haven't read the first book-"The high performance entrepreneur"-so there're no comparisons drawn. Nonetheless, this turned out to be a vey pleasant read overall. Subroto Bagchi- the son, the brother, the student, the NCC cadet, the key employee and finally the entrepreneur. The initial part of his life is quite inspiring. This guy tries to prove that education and knowledge depend totally on the attitude of the receptor. How else can you justify the son of a government employee who spent all his childhood in obscure towns and villages of Bihar, Orissa- becoming a great success story?

The description of his journey is commendable. However, the beauty of this lies in his lessons from the middle class household. The lessons from the family and the adversities of our country make a pleasant read. The professional progress, though commendable seems one like the many other.

What makes Mr. Bagchi's professional story stand out is his attitude towards his co-workers. While most of the business stories are centered around an individual's or a corporation's success, Mr. Bagchi never fails to point out the qualities of people he came across at Shriram DCM, Wipro or Mindtree.

My name is Karan Johar and I am not always pathetic..

Fear grips me, the walls seem to crush me am I am writhing in pain. All this when I see the name 'Karan Johar' on the screen. The otherwise melodious tone of 'Dharma productions' seems to be ghastly as all the dreadful memories of stuff in Kabhi Alvida..(sorry Dash, but it still happens to be the most pathetic movie I've seen), Kal Ho na.. etc resurface. Besides all the apprehensions, here I was- watching 'My Name is Khan' with my family.

In spite of my inhibitions, the movie turned out to be pretty good. A great watch; doesn't matter if you are a SRK fan or not. The central theme of the movie remains humanity, love, forgiveness, autism and Shah Rukh Khan. Needless to say, it does not waver from this path, and of all the SRK factor remains the prime. And yes, he lives up to it. We all have noticed that disability with the protagonist has become a major selling point amongst the Khans (remember Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini, Tere naam, Kal ho na Ho etc?). Yet I have to point out that SRK has played the autistic adult really well. Might I add that the junior avatar of SRK is even better!

The theme is noble and the only improvement that could have been would be editing of parts where they went overboard while proving a point. You know what I'm talking about: the too good good, righteousness prevails, blah blah. For example, we didn't need the firangs singing 'Saare jahaan se achcha' in English (neither did we want firangs to sing Jana gana man in K3G). And though the idea made an effect on the audience, the director decided to take it further and bring in Mr. Obama to make sure his message was accepted by creatures with no brains at all. Wait a second, 'firang' reminds me: Why do we always need to go to the US?? Trust me, there are plenty of similar issues in India that can be brought up with movies.

Now this is what I call Johar-ism. I used to call it Johar-panti but since he proved to be not so chaat this time, I'll settle for the more polished form- Johar-ism.

The fourth state: exploring Andhra..

I often find myself in company of people who flaunt their set of wheels' horsepower and complain at the same time. “Our country doesn't have good roads, too much traffic, driving is a pain, public transport is a mess”- they say. My answer to such people is always the same. You haven't explored your country well enough. There is no dearth of roads, use some state transport buses to get out of the city, and there is no dearth of places to put your horses to good use. But for all this, you have to step out from your shell and explore your beautiful country.

The idea of Horsley hills was introduced to me by Sridhar uncle when I visited their place last week. In no time, I figured out we had a lot in common. Chitra aunty and Sridhar uncle turned out to be one of the few people who could connect with what I do on the road on weekends. Most of our conversation over dinner was about places in and around Bangalore, and of course his BMW 320i and my Pulsar 200. He gave me a brief introduction of Horseley hills and I loved what I heard. However, uncle warned me that as it is with the other places we discussed; I should not expect much from this place besides the serenity and the charm of being cut off from the city life.

We set out in the chilly foggy morning at around 6:40am. Vikram's delay turned out to be a blessing. God knows if we would have had the guts to continue in the dark with visibility limited to around 70 meters. We exited Bangalore from Old Madras road which transforms into NH-4. This highway is and will remain one of the worst roads of Bangalore for at least some more time thanks to the construction going on. Surprisingly, both sides of the highway exiting Bangalore (Tumkur road as well as Old Madras road side) portray the same sorry picture. Fortunately, we got off this wretched road just before Hoskote to get on the state highway 88. For an hour: we wiped our visors, we shivered, we blinked a million times but we bravely rode on. The town of Chintamani saw the end of our fog Chintaas after which we sped up with Praddy leading the way. The sun was finally victorious and we welcomed in the hope that it’d take care of our wet gloves, shoes and clothes. The roads are majestic and judging by the build quality, they should continue to be so for at least a year or so. The above mentioned Horse power flaunters/city cribbers can make a note of this. Got power? Then this is one of the places to show! We passed a queer bamboo staff and it was after a while that it struck me that it signified our arrival into the state of Andhra Pradesh. Talk about a free country and the freedom to move anywhere! That border check post; (if I may call it that) would make the city or district borders look like bullet infested war frontiers. The state highway ends at Madanpalle from where we continued on the NH 205.

This turned out to be a major trucking route and we were glad to have taken the state highway. Upon querying for the route, I was told there’s no ‘Horse-ley’ here, but I could visit ‘Haarss-lee’ hills nearby if I wanted to.. Now having corrected my pronunciation, we started our climb. The ascent to Horsley hills is very similar to Nandi hills and is characterized by monkeys, hair pin turns and a slight drop in temperature. The pleasant drive ended at the AP tourism's Haritha resort. The rooms are good value for money and this resort defines the place. There's nothing else at the hill-top besides this.

However, the 'adventure sports' banner caught our eye and we started querying about it. Unfortunately, Zorbing was out of question as they would not bother to set up the ball unless we were at least 20 people. Hence we took up net climbing and suspended walk. It turned out to be a lot more exciting than it initially seemed to the inexperienced eye. We would conclude later that this, combined with the lovely roads and the view was the best part of this trip.

We started back and stopped for a while at a handicraft shop set up on the roadside. Quality's not that great, but you do get pottery works real cheap. Thereafter, we stopped at a roadside dhaba and it was just fantastic having that kind after such a long time. Also, we were still in AP and Vikram wisely ordered butter chicken. It was just awesome with the characteristic Andhra spices! We continued driving almost non stop and made it to Bangalore a little before 4pm.

For those of you considering travelling to this place or Tirupati; I strongly recommend this route. Avoid the truck traffic and the city of Chittoor by taking the Chintamani route. Also, give a call to Vamsi (9676392142). He can work out a good package for everything: your stay, food as well as adventure sports.

For a better picture, visit http://praagraw.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/an-excursion-to-horsley-hills/ and for the masterly blend of humor and sarcasm visit http://vaultofvagaries.blogspot.com/2010/02/horsley-hills-fog-food-and-fear.html

Lee Child: creditable!

"Jack Reacher: Men want to be like him, women want to be with him"

- this definitely sounds like a cheap author trying to sell a cheap book at a cheap place to some cheapskate. Too many cheaps in one sentence? Well I'll tell you something; It's a masterpiece!

Agreed, I never would have bought the book had I read these lines on it's back at the Wheeler's stall on the railway station in a dusty little town. However I was fortunate that I was recommended this book by a trusted source. Hence I did pick it up and could never put it down later.

The protagonist is a bit of a cliché. He's ex-military, no dependencies, a complex mind, has his own way of seeing & judging things and so on. However a marvelous attribute is where he spends his life. On the road. Jack Reacher is always on the move: moving from town to town. His home changes everyday with a different motel bed everyday. I will not able to justify the beauty of this attribute as this is something the author does the best.

The first book revolves around a small make believe town called Margrave where everything: though seemingly perfect turns out to be a cover for something bigger.

The next book I got my hands on was 'the Visitor'. This turned out to be a splendid saga of psychological warfare. The success of all authors of the 'thriller-fiction' tag can be attributed to withholding facts from readers in the name of logical deduction and Lee Child is not very different. Nonetheless, the books are fast paced and keep you glued.

As for the opening line mentioned, maybe the fellow who made the cover was plain dumb, maybe he had seen a lot of Kollywood movies, maybe...