GPSed Track "DC2KC"

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GPSed Track "21 Dec"

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GPSed Track "KC 2 DC"

View my new track "KC 2 DC" started in United States, Kansas, Overland Park.

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@changi airport

I am back to my usual place for blogging...an airport..invariably i guess i just find enough time to think and write when i am flying...
for once, starting from hyderabad was a real pain in the heart...it is extremely confusing when you have two very important emotions to choose from...feel sad for leaving my family & friends behind or feel happy to get back to my wife...am ih supposed to be a son first or a husband? seeing my mom cry, walking away from my dad at the airport didn't feel one bit good this time...this is 5th time i am leaving the country...using the facilities of an airport...but this time it felt a lot more strange...it felt like time blitzkrieged past me...3 weeks passed away within a blink and i feel i have not done justice to my parents, family, friends who waited for me to come back for 2 years...and now i am already on my way back...
back to college life...back to a comfortable but mechanical life...all that pulls me back is one person...
when is the right time to decide that you are more of a husband than a son? when is the time when responsibilities need to change? how will i know? will there be a river which would magically give me way? i hope there is...or is it that i already know what i am doing and i didnt realize?
well sitting here, waiting to board the next flight, on the crossroads...of my journey or my life? a question which is keeping my gray cells busy...

the great indian attitude

i drive a car, there is a pedestrian on the road
i wouldn't slow, and i hit him hard
i don't stop, because i don't care

i sit in a bus, riding so high
i have something in my mouth
and i need to spit right away
it lands on someone, but i don't care

i ride a bike, i wear no gear
i don't stop for red lights
and throw caution to wind
why do i do it? hell, i don't care!

i like to agitate and be called a mob
i throw stones at buildings and
burn all buses i see around
millions wasted for no proper cause
but you know what, i just don't care

i ride, i drive, i do what others do
and follow rules? nah, that's a lie
but i feel bad, that's why i write
i bow my head in shame for being the same
i do care, but i don't at the same time

its the great indian attitude and i know i am no better than the crowd outside

a day out in singapore

flying singapore airlines to hyd has a major problem...first a 20 hour flight from SFO to Singapore which stops at Hong Kong for an hour, and then a 9 hour lay over at singapore...the last time i was at singapore, i opted not to go out for reasons not explicitly explainable :) this time around, i was fully prepared to go out...already told a good friend of mine that i will be coming...and traveled light with just a backup on...going out wasn't a problem...singaporeans are pretty good at giving transit visa to passengers with long layovers...met my friend once i was out...and took a train (MRT) to china town! wasn't a direct train, so changed two trains before we reached the destination...once there, just walked around...bought few souvenirs and went to a budda temple...it was totally beautiful...the chantings were soo soothing and sounded as if a divine power was with every voice that echoed in the room...the many buddha statues...the gold plated floors...it was all simply awesome...but the most awkward feeling that i had was wearing shoes inside a temple :)
well anyway, from here we took off to see the world famous singapore merlion :) recently it was stuck on its head by a lightening and it stopped spitting water, a sight we missed :P
from there i bid farewell to my friend and went to my relatives house. got time to fresh up...met up my cousins and tried to play with their dog...a 7 month husky...then after a while came back to the airport...as pointed out by my friend, it seems like i prefer blogging from an airport...i dunno why :)
overall, i had a wonderful time at singapore...it is a crowded country, but a very nice and beautiful one!!

Good Karma

 

A lady who I met today, a swede, said “hope we get good karma for what we did today”.

On my way back from the University, I was enjoying my ride as usual, overtook a cute lady in a white Volvo station wagon. Of particular interest was her cute straw hat.

I stopped at a red signal when I saw a very old man trying to cross the road. My initial reaction was to find it funny, seeing him take small baby steps and cars queuing behind him. He was at the divider trying to get over it and having a tough time in doing so. So you can imagine how old he was. Within no time, my feelings turned more into pity for him.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw him fall over the median. Green signal, I raced ahead and pulled over my bike. The white Volvo pulled over too. A lady sitting at the bus stop ran across to help him up. So did I and the lady from the white Volvo. I helped him up and walked with him across the road.

The cute Volvo lady offered to help him with a drop to his house which wasn’t too far from where we were right then. Trying to be a nice guy, I asked her if she wants me to follow her till his place and she said Yes :) Started off from there, but didn’t look that the old gentleman had his routes perfect. Took some wrong turns, went the extra signal but finally reached his place.

A feeling of happiness was more overwhelming than anything else. He thanked me and kissed the Volvo lady good bye. We picked up a small conversation where she told me she was a Swede and she was pleasantly surprised to see me wear a T-shirt with a Finnish flag (die-hard fan of kimi raikonnen) Someone guy stole her 30 year old cycle to which she was pretty attached with. She was roaming around on the roads hoping she would find it. Boy, she must really be attached to the cycle.

We ended our small chance meet with the hope that Good Karma helps us :) I hope she gets her cycle. She was really a sweet Swede.

-- dravi

I saved a squirrel!!

 

snake ears…
I was walking back to the parking lot passing between two buildings…was on the phone, and suddenly I heard some ruffling sounds from a dustbin. stopped for a second, ignored it and kept walking and the sound again!

cliff hanger…
This time I wanted to check what was making the sound :D…tried a sneak peek and saw a squirrel trying to jump out of the dustbin, but it just didn’t have enough leverage and of course I am sure he doesn’t do rock climbing :P It tried to grab on to some wire but it just wasn’t enough… :(

saving private squirrel…
I initially was out of idea…the phase where you want to do something to rescue the poor fella but can’t think of anything. Tried sticking my bag into the dustbin, but the bag was too big…Laptop? maybe too smooth for the critter to hold on to…books? not big enough…any sticks or natural things i could find around, one stick but wasn’t a big help

eureka…
I totally had forgot about my sweater in the bag. But sticking it into a dustbin? I didn’t have a second thought!!

the ugly truth…
I stick the sweater in, tie the sweater hands to my bag so that it doesn’t fall in when the squirrel is trying to use it as a ladder. Ladder, I assumed the squirrel knew what a ladder is, the fool that I am!! Few minutes passed and no response…Grrr, illiterate squirrel!!

happy feet…
Took the good for nothing stick that I found before, and put it to some good use. Tried prodding into the dustbin, carefully…Scared it enough to think holding onto the sweater was the only option. Once it held onto  the sweater, I guess he just automatically knew that, that was a way out!! And I let out a breath of satisfaction :)

I saved a squirrel!! yippeee

my take on hussain sagar

hussain sagar...the heart of hyderabad and secunderabad...actually if you look close at the pic above...the lake is shaped like a heart, but only, one with jagged ends...
the statement i just made in itself speaks volumes. it always tried to be the perfect heart...but what did we do? draw lines around it, and make it look as bad as possible.
it tried to clean the water, running like blood in the veins of the twin city. all we did was keep polluting it. as if it was on a regular dose of the most potent and destructive alcohol.
it tried to calm the city nerves by providing a serene look. but how many of us tried looking at its beauty instead of complaining at the foul smells which it emanates?
it provided us with lush green lawns around it, a place for families friends and ofcourse the nauseating lovers to spend time. and all we did was just keep dirtying its boundaries relentlessly??
like i read somewhere, the quote "save the planet" is totally wrong...the planet was there and will be there for eons to come, but its we, the human race which needs to be saved from extinction.

and the way we are going...well, unfortunately i don't see a bright future for our childern!!

well coming back to our very own hussain sagar...this one of 7 wonders of hyderabad :) was a drinking water supply until not too long ago...and now, its a poison of the deadliest kind even for the most resistant living organism. kudos to our government for restricting the number of idols that can be immersed into the lake and also making arrangements for the floating remains of our most favorite god to be removed promptly...i undoubtedly feel a lot needs to be done, to justify the crores of rupees that the japanese govt loaned us for cleansing the lake.
i don't understand why the japanese bother so much about a lake that is being killed by the people who live in the place for which it sacrifices its life for.
i don't understand why people cannot understand that dirtying a lake which is already polluted enough will give us no gains.
i love my city, and i love all the rides i had around the lake with my now wife and so many other friends, i love the fish i ate sitting at small stalls near the lake. i love all the time i spent sitting with my best bud in the lawns of the lake, i love the jogging i did with 2 of my buds near the lake, i love the spectacular early morning sight it provides for people who care to see, i love the walks i took with my friends on the periphery of the lake, i love the canoeing i did and the boating club evenings with my family by the lake. i got so many precious memories...well i even drank the water of hussain sagar when my canoe flipped!! and no, i don't regret it...i guess that just formed a bond between us and the reason why i love the hussain sagar more than anything else in the twin cities....