Caught Grinning - 5

Many times we come across amusing sign-boards or objects or incidents in our journey, the life. Interesting, funny, and, at times, thought-provoking too. Just for fun and pun. There is absolutely no intention to hurt or offend anybody or anyone's feelings. 

This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Grinning' to see all postings in this series.

[Note: Click on pictures to see a bigger version for better clarity]
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In an MRT around 12:00 noon...

A snaky experience

May-2008. We were on a trip to Wayanad, Kerala. We stayed in a stilt cottage at a resort.  The the drives around to various spots in the surroundings, as well as the resort itself were very nice.

The mains box was near the left side of the main door

Madikeri, Coorg Trip

Mayura Valley View, Madikeri - Review.

It was effectively a 2-days and 2-nights trip we had planned to Madikeri (a.k.a. Mercara) in Coorg (a.k.a. Kodagu) district by our Swift VXI, but the total trip duration involved was close to 3-days and 3-nights. 

Kodagu district's capital is Madikeri and it is at an altitude of about 3800 feet above mean sea level. The Kodagu district is bordered by Dakshina Kannada District to the northwest, Hassan District to the north, Mysore District to the east, the Kannur District of Kerala to the southwest, and the Wayanad District of Kerala to the south.

In preparation, the car was given for a regular service 5 days in advance, fuel tank topped-up, tyre-pressure (including stepney wheel) verified, etc. And, also got the list of Maruti service stations at Mysore and Madikeri ready.

Booked online a room at Mayura Valley View Madikeri, about 1.5 months in advance. It involved calling KSTDC office at the phone numbers given below, and an executive there verified that vacancy for the dates we needed were really available, and then, we did the booking ourselves, online. One can also directly visit KSTDC office and do the booking in person. The address and phone numbers are:

Caught Special - 2

Once in a while I get the opportunity to click something special. An attractive frame of scenery, a rare moment of incident or action, an unusual view of a common perspective, a snap of poetic feel and depth, a picture-perfect still, or even an impressive blend of colors with a rustic or a glossy finish.  

This is a series posting such pictures I captured. The pictures are original and without any post-processing.  You can also see my thoughts about the picture and the camera used for snapping. 

Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Special' to see all postings in this series. Click on pictures to see full size view.
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Special thoughts:
We were at Srirangapatna on a company picnic. We came back to Bangalore towards evening, after visiting the spots like Gumbaz etc. in Srirangapatna around lunch time on that day.

Later that evening, there was this news on TV that people in Chennai had witnessed a dark ring around the sun on the sky the same afternoon. It was said to be a 'sun halo'.

Later, at night when I downloaded the photos from my camera I noticed this surprise catch, a lucky snap. At the Gumbaz  in Srirangapatna, I was taking a picture of the one of the minarets there with the sky in the background. The frame I set was not including the sun in it, but had the sun just outside it. But what I saw in the picture when I downloaded it to my computer was that ring around the sun! An accidental, lucky catch!
 
Date: 11/Jul/2010, 1:30 PM ~~ Camera: Nokia X6

 The news text found on The Hindu newspaper's website published these details.

Photo on The Hindu website.

And a YouTube video can be seen here.

Caught Grinning - 4

Many times we come across amusing sign-boards or objects or incidents in our journey, the life. Interesting, funny, and, at times, thought-provoking too. Just for fun and pun. There is absolutely no intention to hurt or offend anybody or anyone's feelings. 

This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Grinning' to see all postings in this series.

[Note: Click on pictures to see a bigger version for better clarity]
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In Bangalore...

Keep Degence!

Imaiyora Sumai

Chitrakavi (சித்திரகவி) is a form of poem written to be meaningful and at the same time appear as a figure. This poem was written by me at a university level (inter-college) Chitrakavi competition - long long ago. It was, surprisingly, awarded a Silver medal.

Topic and rules given were:
                              Figure: Linga
                              Starting word: 'Imaiyora' (இமையோர)
                              Ending word: 'Sumai' (சுமை)

Click on images for a larger view.

 

The manuscript I wrote at the competition

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Caught Grinning - 3

Many times we come across amusing sign-boards or objects or incidents in our journey, the life. Interesting, funny, and, at times, thought-provoking too. Just for fun and pun. There is absolutely no intention to hurt or offend anybody or anyone's feelings.

This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Grinning' to see all postings in this series. 

[Note: Click on pictures to see a bigger version for better clarity]
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Near the road-side canal in one of the streets in Kumarakom town, Kerala...

What an idea saare!

 If you look closely you can see that the gate even has a chain and lock!

What are you waiting for...?

The first time, and the only time, I heard this song was on Radio, one fine morning, sometime in 2005, when Radio City's RJ Darius Sunawala played it while I was driving to my office. Wholesome mesmeric song! Added to that, Darius' praise in a husky base voice, prior to and towards the end of the song, did add icing to my experience with this song.

When I partially heard Darius announce that the song he was going to play was a great one by A R Rahman and Pakistani singer, late, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, I knew nothing about its credits and details. But the song just rejuvenated. It infused energy.

Years later, when I dug and found out that this song is part of the same A R Rahman Album Vande Mataram as Maa Tujhe Salaam (Thaai Manne Vanakkam / தாய் மண்ணே வணக்கம்), I was very surprised - more and particularly because no one on Radio is ever playing this wonderful song. Just don't know why. I think it is loaded with so much of qualities that it can be played every day on all Radio channels.

Money!

It was sometime in 1994. Our office was in Parry's Corner, Chennai. My friend and colleague, KK, a Maharashtrian, had come from our Mumbai branch for the annual meet that runs for 2-3 days. 

On one of the days, he got ready for the meeting from his hotel. We arrived at the Parry's Corner by auto at around 9:00 AM. We walked though one of those narrow streets (very common in this locality - 2nd line beach, Angappan street, Lingi street, etc.) towards our office in a corner. The roads were slowly getting busy with many pedestrians, cyclists, auto-rickshaws, (Pallavan) city buses, etc. in brisk pace. 

There were these rows and rows of tiny shops who sell all imported stuffs. KK wanted to buy a Uni-ball pen for himself. We got into a shop and I helped him check the type, rate etc. with the shopkeeper in Tamil. Once the price negotiation was over, KK took a step back and stood outside the shop. I was inside the shop talking to the shopkeeper to get back some small change, when KK suddenly stretched his hand inside the shop and poked my shoulder frantically. I turned and asked him what was wrong. He pointed at the man on the road standing beside him and said that he was asking him Money! I was taken aback and thought something has gone amiss. I stepped out of the shop and asked that man what was it about. He appeared to be a middle aged worker somewhere in the neighborhood. To my surprise, there was no anger or agitation in his face or body manners. So I tended to relax, but was eager to know why he was asking KK for Money. Instantly and casually he now repeated the question that he had asked KK, to me: 'Mani sir?'. I burst out in laughter and told him the time, and he again casually walked off with tinge of a smile at the corners of his lips. 

KK, learning that the man actually asked for the time, was also amused along with me about this incident. The real-time comedy happened due to the fact that the word Mani in Tamil is phonetically identical to Money in English, while Mani (மணி) in Tamil actually means time!

I think about this incident once in a while, and it brings a smile on my face.

Caught Grinning - 2

Many times we come across amusing sign-boards or objects or incidents in our journey, the life. Interesting, funny, and, at times, thought-provoking too. Just for fun and pun. There is absolutely no intention to hurt or offend anybody or anyone's feelings.

This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Grinning' to see all postings in this series. 

[Note: Click on pictures to see a bigger version for better clarity]
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At a Marriage hall...

Rent For Contact

Banashankari to Bommanahalli

I did not know that letting out our old Banashankari flat was going to be so tough and an experience by itself. Especially since we had always found our neighbors / co-residents in our building, as well as other friends and relatives in Bangalore were able to very quickly and easily let out their property. But when it came to us, the same task appeared Herculean! That, in spite of our flat being several touches better class than identically sized replica flats in the same building. Well, a good learning experience it was.

It was in December 2008 we had moved from our old flat in Banashankari to another in Bommanahalli, and immediately we started the process to get the old flat rented out. Yes, it was that time when the economic recession had just set-in, alright, but I never expected it to affect me in letting out the flat, particularly so badly.

Vaai Thirandhu Pesaayo...?

'Vaai Thirandhu Pesaayo...?', meaning 'Would you open your mouth to speak...?', is from the mind of a talented sculpt0r. After several months of hard work, he was on the verge of finishing one of his most beautiful works, a masterpiece... a beautiful statue of a Lady. One day... he sees tears suddenly rolling down her cheeks... and, he, absolutely shocked, speaks to her from the bottom of his heart...

வாய் திறந்து பேசாயோ...?

Caught Grinning - 1

Many times we come across amusing sign-boards or objects or incidents in our journey, the life. Interesting, funny, and, at times, thought-provoking too. Just for fun and pun. There is absolutely no intention to hurt or offend anybody or anyone's feelings.

This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Grinning' to see all postings in this series.

[Note: Click on pictures to see a bigger version for better clarity]
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In the Dining area, at a Marriage hall...

Well tried!

Yes!

Give Love Get Love

About a year back, there was this Essay Competition at my son's school for Class-7 CBSE. The Annual All India Essay Writing Event was presented by Chandra Mission in collaboration with the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan (UNIC), conducted by the Sahaj Marg Research and Training Institute (SMRTI) in commemoration of the International Day of Youth. 

To help him prepare for the essay, I first gathered several tidbits from internet, books and media. My son and wife gave shape to it. Then we provided a final touch-up and some cosmetic trimming. There was a limit of 700 odd words for the competition so that was also a bit of challenge. His submission got selected at the school level and was sent to Delhi. Here it is for everybody's reference.

Give Love Get Love

How does peace and friendship in society benefit the individual?

What you give, comes back to you ten fold! Love is an expression of all that is good and balanced within an individual, and as a result of expressing it unsolvable differences disappear. The giving of love is therefore the gaining of love. “Give Love, Get Love” is the best principle the world needs to adopt because it helps to spread harmony and bliss, it prevents hatred amongst people, and it allows the people in the world live as one family. “All my life I have had a choice between hate and love, and I chose love, and now I'm here,” said Film Musician A.R. Rahman after winning an Oscar Award.

Halebid-Belur-Hassan Trip

It was a 1-2 days Belur-Halebid road-trip we planned to make, in our Maruti Swift. For this trip, we had two route options:

Option-1: Bangalore-Nelamangala-Hirisave-Hassan-Belur-Halebid-Hassan-Hirisave-Nelamangala-Bangalore
Option-2: Bangalore-Nelamangala-Tumkur-Tiptur-Arsikere-Banavara-Javagal-Halebid-Belur-Hassan-Nelamangala-Bangalore

Option-1 is what everyone would choose normally. But, it involves going twice on the tough 'Nelamangala-Hassan' segment on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway, i.e. NH-48. The high vehicular traffic including heavy trucks, LPG tankers, other lorries, buses and cars on that single track road makes it a difficult one. Added to that, the 4-lane / road-doubling work that has been going on between Nelamangala and Hirisave for many years have not been completed yet; making the traffic to crossover from one side to the other side at a lot of places - it is risky as well as tiresome.

Due to all that, we formed and chose our own new route, that is option-2. Thanks to the 'Get Directions' feature of Google Maps that allows to specify multiple destination points along a route, we could tweak and analyze both options before we chose one. Option-2 allowed us to explore some new segments, and at the same time avoided the narrow-road heavy-traffic NH-48 at least during the onward direction. The distance is very similar in both routes. Except that the state highway SH-58 segment in option-2 from Banavara to Halebidu via Javagallu was not even looking like a village road! However, there was absolutely no traffic on that segment, so we still were able to comfortably pass through that stretch. In fact we enjoyed a lot of things which I have described later. [Note: If you click on each picture you can view a (slightly) larger version]

CLICK HERE to view the direct Google Maps version of the Route Option-2

The berth fight!

Mysore-Chennai ‘Kaveri’ Express, #6221, departing from Bangalore City Junction at 11:45 PM is the last train at night to go to Chennai. On that Friday night, a few weeks ago, it had arrived quite late from Mysore, and, I had this interesting and thought-provoking experience.

I checked my name against berth number 9 (lower berth) on the chart stuck near the entrance of the coach and then I boarded the S7 coach of the Kaveri Express at Bangalore City railway station. I was heading to Chennai on my short trip for the week-end. It was already 11:55 PM when I boarded the train and I was quite tired after the long day’s work, waiting to lie down as soon as possible. The coupe was almost occupied fully. People around were trying to settle down too. Couple of kids was trying to finish their last minute purchase of tetra pack juices through their father from the shop on the station platform.

Suddenly a man, a north Indian, may be, appeared in the coupe and was checking for S7 berth 9. Yes, it was mine. I told him it belonged to me. He also said it belonged to him. He showed me his ticket, a regular ticket issued normally at the booking counters. I took it from him, checked, and the date and train number matched. Coach and berth number also matched. I was puzzled. Mine was an e-ticket and it had same parameters. I did not know whether there could be such a duplicate reservation possible on IRCTC’s website. I went down to the chart pasted outside the coach to re-check once again. I found my name there without any doubt and my ticket number also matched.

I came back to the berth where this guy was already frantically making calls and SMSs from his mobile phone about the ticket status. I told him that it is only my name figuring in the chart and not his, so he has to allow me to use the berth. But he argued that he is holding a valid ticket for that berth and so he will stay too.

The discussions between him and I made the people around us also interested. There were also a couple of cynical comments from some of them saying that such mix-ups are common these days in Railways, they do all sorts of jugglery, etc. etc.

Caught Special - 1

Once in a while I get the opportunity to click something special. An attractive frame of scenery, a rare moment of incident or action, an unusual view of a common perspective, a snap of poetic feel and depth, a picture-perfect still, or even an impressive blend of colors with a rustic or a glossy finish.  

This is a series posting such pictures I captured. The pictures are original and without any post-processing.  You can also see my thoughts about the picture and the camera used for snapping. 

Under the Labels list on the right hand side, click on 'Caught Special' to see all postings in this series. Click on pictures to see full size view.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Special thoughts:
There was this "Shubh Arts Competition - In celebration of Common Wealth Games, New Delhi" at my son's school for which he drew this picture. The topic was 'My Dream Sport'. His submission got selected at the school level and was sent to Delhi.

He wanted a photo of it to use as wallpaper for his computer. I clicked it twice with and without flash. I did not use any zoom.

What a coincidence: The close replica of the two frames made the two photos look like two different drawings, one drawn as a day skiing, and the other, a night skiing! It was not taken using any camera feature like 'Double shot' that can click two automatic pictures using two different 'Scene Modes'. And it was not processed using any Photo tools also. The specialty also comes from the fact that when I clicked the two pictures I had no intention to keep the two frames almost identical, but it just happened.
 
Date: 22/Jul/2010, 11:00 PM ~~ Camera: Nokia X6

You may give a try to 'spot the differences' like we do in those magazines. But you might find none! It's just the difference between - Day and Night!

Invitation

Welcome to my blog: The Bluff Grass - Blue Fields Green Skies.

On my blog I write on interesting real-life incidents, strange or funny experiences, travel, photography, reviews, poems, and other varied topics. I will be happy to see you at my blog frequently. I beg your esteemed patronage, frequent following, support and interaction to make this a useful hang-out spot for a large audience on the web.

It will be great if you can share comments, suggestions, ideas, inputs, corrections, critiques, questions, etc., under each of the blog topics. Thanks.

The Title Thoughts are at: http://thebluffgrass.blogspot.com/2010/08/title-thoughts_13.html

Thanks for your time and support.

Have fun, cheers!

With best regards,

D Rajakumar

Blog home: http://thebluffgrass.blogspot.com/

Title thoughts

Blue Fields Green Skies is what I wanted to name it as. The idea is to make it feel different in the first place, and, as a place. Then the idea is to write about interesting real-life incidents, strange or funny experiences, travel, photography, reviews, poems, and other varied topics. Thus, I thought, the reverse color adjectives would make it apt. So, Blue Fields Green Skies it is.

The acronym is BLF GRS. And that's how the name - Bluff Grass!

So… here we go…
                             The Bluff Grass
                                          - Blue Fields Green Skies!

Welcome to my simple web log, I will try to maintain this as a lovely meadow of plush green grasses.

Thanks for coming, grazing and gracing.

I will be very glad if you can send me your comments and… more comments. Please do write comments, suggestions, ideas, inputs, corrections, and, anything. I will sure be prompt in responding to e-v-e-r-y one of them. Thanks again.

Wish you a good time here. Let us be in touch, interact.