Nijagallu | 22 Feb 2009

Waking up late after the 'adventure that never happened' in my previous post, the original intentions of going to Hessarghatta close to sunrise, was out of the question. So we decided to go there in the evening, while in the morning, we would go to this place called Nijagallu, off Tumkur Road (NH4).


Who: Myself, Vinay, Achutha, Chetan
Where: Nijagallu, Off Tumkur Road, just beyond Dobbspet


The idea initially was to go to the top of the tiny hillock and see what Chetan said would be a nice 'romantic spot', away from the humdrum of the temple just a little distance below the hilltop. But, we being we, had to find a way that was hard enough to go through.... Chetan was new to this, but was willing to try....


Soon enough, we found our way into thorns and big boulders and crevices..... It offered some variety in techniques needed to climb, including my personal favourite - the spiderman climb.... the spiderman climb is when u have a 60-80 degree incline, of flat rock, and u r climbing it with just the friction of ur hands and legs and the tiny surface features of the rock..... these are stuff that look impossible at the onset.... terribly risky if u screw up.... and terribly satisfying once u conquer the stretch.....


Somewhere in between, we found a tree that had branched a lot... a tree perfect for beginers like me and chetan to climb.... spent a lot of time doin crazy stuff on the tree (including sleeping on it!). Camera batteries died by now, w enough power to last a few snaps


A few more spiderman climbs and we reached the fort on top. took pictures conserving remainin battery power.... then headed down into the valley, to go to the other side where the temple was, so that we could finally go to where Chetan originally wanted to take us!


The temple area was filthy with all the pollution brought in by the devotees! (Unlike the pristine areas we trekked through moments earlier). But the spot that Chetan showed us was a nice place, and was away from the chaos of the temple.


We got down to our bikes and then headed to Hessarghatta as planned. Where the usual joys of the place brought in a peaceful finale to the heavy work of the earlier part of the day. Achutha, who hadn't been here before, just began jumping around and yelling, like a mad guy!


Current mood: sleepy
Currently listening to: Story of my life - Bon Jovi

The adventure that didn't happen

I was way too sleepy.... But we decided to watch Philadelphia instead...... But we watched 'Pyar ke side effects' instead..... then at 2 in the night, we decided to go to Cantonment station to have 'coffee' and 'masala tea', two of us on one motorbike, and one on cycle..... But we headed off to Nandi hills instead.... But we stopped for coffee at Cafe Coffee Day at 3 am..... got a flat on my cycle, and the Nandi trip got cancelled, with the mobike carrying the three of us, and the cycle resting on my shoulders....

All this happened without anyone at home knowing anythin abt it..... Not that it matters much..... But its a top secret...... at least because we took care of everythin not to wake anyone up doin our sneaky adventures!

Confused, abt what this is all about? Well, we din't have a clue either. It was just one freaky idea after another..... an adventure that never happened, but yet an adventure that never happened! (The repitition not a typo btw)

Current mood: loopy
Currently listening to: Round a bend - Beck

side effects of dopamine

- insomnia
- a strange field that makes electronic stuff like cellphones, stick to your body
- hair loss
- restlessness
- mild insanity
- increased activity of the right half of the brain (the arts et al)
- decrease in activity of the left side (logic et al)

Current mood: drowsy (due to after-effect of side-effect-1)
Currently listening to: Annie's song - John Denver

Fresh surge of Dopamine

Wine.... Floyd.... under the shade of trees.... with open meadows till the eyes can reach..... My neurons blissfully drowning in the flash flood of Dopamine.... The best of highs on V-Day!

Current mood: swimming in the ocean of Dopamine
Currently listening to: Wish you were here - Pink Floyd

Tata Book House Book Fair

My favorite book stall in Bangalore, Tata Book House (inside IISc campus) is organising a book fair which will last till Feb 15th. With discounts ranging from 25% to 50%, this is a real steal, for getting the waiting-in-wishlist books. For those who dont know TBH already, it is a bookstore that stocks a lot of technical books and popular science books, that u wouldn't get so easily outside. Plus, even during the non-book-fair times, u get a healthy 10-20% discount on the books. U also get the literature kinda books too, like novels, general literature, self-help books etc.

And i am now drained of ~4k buyin many books that were on my droolin-on-it-but-too-pricey-for-now-list
Books i got:
- The Character of Physical Law - Richard Feynman
- The Road to Reality - Roger Penrose
- Don't you have time to think? - Richard Feynman
- Dialogues concerning two new sciences - Galileo Galilei (with commentary by Stephen Hawking)
- The six not-so-easy pieces - Richard Feynman
- On the shoulder of giants - collected works of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Einstein with Coommentary by Stephen Hawking
- Godel Escher Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
- Unweaving the rainbow - Richard Dawkins
- Tek Money - William Shatner

Current mood: Lost deep into reading "Character of Physical Law" by Feynman
Currently listening to: Skip divided - Thom Yorke

Hessarghattta once more

Missed Critical Mass on Saturday, as i was wayyy too sleepy. And waking up late next day, ensured that i'd miss any planned long Sunday ride. A friend suggested that i do Sarjapur. But by the time i finished deciding for or against it, another friend (Chetan) pulled me into riding to Hessarghatta.


We went on the Hessarghatta main road, unlike my previous rides where we took some tiny out-of-shape shortcut roads. I must say that i enjoyed the main road better inspite of the mild traffic on it, because the road was so much nicer. And although there was nothin mightily scenic enroute, it was pleasant.


But, once we reached Hessarghatta, it was heaven as usual. The scenery here doesn't fail to mesmerize how many ever times we've been here. I have been here for the Bangalore Ultra runs, a few training runs, and quite a few cycle rides before. And Chetan had been here on motorbike many times before too. However, this was his first cycle ride of this distance. (He did ~65 km on this ride)


We slowly soaked in the gentle sun reflected off the golden grass, moving at a leisurely pace, chit chatting abt life, girls and the combination of the two. Took every possible photo-break, water-break, sugarcane-juice-break, watermelon break, tender-coconut-break, lets just-sleep-on-the-grass-and-enjoy-for-a-while-break, etc. etc.


Chetan did quite well for his first half century ride, albeit with sore butt and muscles. (Extra credit for being on a steel frame bike without gears). And for me this was the longest ride since TFN (did many rides b/w 20 and 50 km, but never went on any long ride i planned)


Directions: If u head out of the city on NH4 (Tumkur road) from Gorgontepalya(Where NH4 meets ORR). U'll reach a turn(right) called "8th mile". (There should be a petrol bunk on ur right, which could be obscured by construction work). This will get u on Hessarghatta main road. At any fork ( i remember only one major one), just ask the directions to Hessarghatta. Ride on and u'll get Hessarghatta bus stand. Just before the bus stand, u'll see a right turn with sign boards to Taj Kuteeram and Nrityagram. (If u r confused, just ask around for directions to nrityagram). Head on that road for ~4 km and u'll see a mass of trees on ur left. That's the canopy u see in the first pic. If u go on the tarmac instead of getting lost in those woods, u should ultimately reach Kuteeram and Nrityagram. Just before u reach there, u'll see a right turn leading to the horizon. Just keep ur eyes open, u cant miss it. If u do, ask around for directions to this resort called "Our Native Village". There are plenty of trails around. Explore and enjoy.

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Current mood: blank
Currently listening to: Ramble on - Led Zeppelin