Kalman and two clocks

Just learnt about Kalman filters from the Udacity self-driving-car course. And was amazed about the ability of the Kalman filters to combine info from multiple sources, in a way that it always decreases the variance.

Which made me think of the old adage 'A man with two clocks is never sure'. But if it were Kalman, he'd be surer than if he had either one of the watches (even if one of them were as precise as an atomic clock and the other was a grandfather clock that needs winding).

I like my bro's version of the Kalman corrected adage: 'A man with one watch is sure about the wrong time'

A good intro to Kalman filters here. Its chapter one of a book
And the wikipedia article.

Current mood: math-y
Currently listening to: Lemongrass - Shankar Tucker

Sexual dimorphism in humans shopping clothes

Well, this topic is definitely so cliche, that i dont think anyone can add any more info to it. But i had my own little realization about its causes, when i recently went as a bulk-discount-filler with a lady. (i.e. "buy 2 get 2 free, but i want only 2 clothes. Will u club with me?"). And this particular behaviour i'm describing is only restricted to the type of shopping where one says "i need more clothes" rather than "lets go shopping". Buying clothes in these two modes is very different, but i guess i wont get into that now. And my observations are based on a rather small sample size of n~=5 females. But, i'm definitely not willing to spend time trying to increase the sample size, for obvious reasons.

Disclaimer: I'm not a sexist pig. Dimorphism doesnt mean one way is better. It just means there is a difference.

The phenotype:
Males choose a shop based on monetary + style + variety based considerations. Go in. Visually pick a bunch of things that they like. Try them, pick a few out of the n options. Done.

Females choose a shop based on similar parameters. Pick a whole lot of things. Try some of them. Buy none. Repeat these steps in another shop. And keep repeating until you have checked all shops in the area. And then either go back to one of the shops (where she might even have picked a fight with the shopkeeper) or a very likely other option - dont buy anything at all. And repeat this in another area some other day.

My hypothesis of the cause:
Females have a particular image in their head, of what they want to buy, before they enter any shop. If they dont find things matching the picture, no matter how awesome it is, they wont buy it. The best that piece of clothing will fetch is a "ah, thats nice and cute. But not now". Well, the rationale is that they wouldnt want to subtract out from the budget for the thing in their mind. But, this of course depends on how much money one has at hand.

Males get into a shop unprejudiced by what they want. In some cases, they even dont have a model of what they already have. Buy almost everything in one shop, even though it might not be the best deal for all of the items purchased, because they are lazy to invest so much time on clothes.

Current mood: meh
Currently listening to: Indifference - Pearl Jam

DoodleTronicking

Found the word that fits what i love to do a lot these days..... Playing with the Arduino and basic electronics stuff, not particularly for any use, but just knowing that u can do stuff..... Or doing roundabout solutions to simple problems, just so that you can get to use some cool thing you have.  Unfortunately, DoodleTronics is some stupid company's name which has nothing to do with tronics, and probably a little to do with doodles. No matter, doodletronics it is!

Current mood: inventive
Currently listening to: Tuesday's gone - Metallica

Javadi Hills | 6 Jun 2011

There have been a lot of posts pending, regarding quite a few treks. Here's one more of 'em

Where: Javadi hill region, Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu

Who: Srikanth, Vinay and meself

Srikanth was back to Bangalore after a while, and he was itching for a trek. A friend had told us about this nice place called Javadi hills in north Tamil Nadu, where she had earlier gone for some social work stuff. This fit the bill perfectly, as we had only one day at hand.

We boarded a bus to Thiruvannamalai at night. And then waited for a bus to Jamunamarthur (via polur) that would arrive at ~4:30 am..... We waited sleepy eyed for the bus.... None of us knew to read tamil. Except, Vinay recognized some letters, and we would try to auto-complete the words. All of us were experts in speaking broken incomprehensible tamil though. So we somehow got our questions across to people. And we could sorta get most of their replies as well....

There's always a stampede to get into these buses. So we rushed and joined in at the first bus that showed up around that time. We grabbed and blocked our seats, and were proud of our abilities in this field! But, we were on the wrong bus, which we asked and figured out in a short while..... So, we had to do this ritual all over again, until we were on the right bus. Luckily, the next bus we rushed into was the right one.

Around a coupla hours and we were out of the bus. (I forget the name of the place presently. I guess you can ask for melchapli[pronounced male-cha-plea]  and be dropped off at the right spot).... We filled our bottles with water at the village near the road, and asked directions to melchapli. And there was a big fat wide jeep track that led there. We followed the track religiously, assuming that it will turn exciting sometime later, when we could actually do the wandering stuff. We reached Melchapli even before we could complete the thought. And by that time, we drank the water we collected at the village, and it was downright horrible to taste. We saw a dried up stream on the way up, and then realised that we will not get any water anywhere on the trail. We ususally dont carry too much  water, cos there are always streams where you can get refills.... But not this time... It was the core of summer in this region

A little beyond and downhill from melchapli was kilchapli (keeL- cha -plea), where we refilled with some water (which tasted much better. But we only had 2 litres of water for the three of us. We asked the way to the ruins of the dwarf settlements (which is a mild tourist attraction there. And if you fumble long enough to hunt for words to describe ruins and dwarves, they usually figure out what you want and direct you).... And before long, we actually hit our destination: the ruins of the dwarf settlement on Javadi. And we were there by as early as 9:30 am, thoroughly dissapointed at the lack of challenge as well as the lack of nature, as most of the route we walked on established trails from village to village.

After dillydallying around on the top, and staring at the descent down the hill into the village at the base (but opposite side to the way we came), we decided to go down the hard way, carving our own route. It was getting hotter, but there was some respite in the shade of trees and shrubs. We were making good progress initially until we started getting dehydrated.... We added electral in the last litre of water. That got over quicker than the first one

Dehydration hit me first of the three.... i started cramping while doing some tricky sections.... After some time, my steps faltered, and i started slipping quite a bit.... Slowly went into a zombie mode.... Soon, the others started showing effects of mental stress due to dehydration. We started yelling at each other for no reason.... The village was easily visible to us, and we could hear kids shouting there....... It was that close, yet so far (pardon the cliche, but those words are exactly what describe it best)..... Finally, i just gave up and sat down, saying i couldnt take it anymore.... I gave them my gps, and marked the location at which i was gonna stay. And they would go down and get back with water.

I sat there exhausted, muscles sore from all the cramps, and slipped into delusions. Every few minutes i hallucinated that someone was calling my name.... And then, i slipped into a dream maybe where i was sitting at that spot waiting until the next day..... And in some i was in a much more crippled state, and was getting down like the guy in Touching the Void. When i woke up from that, i was so glad that nothing serious had happened..... I just needed water, which would slowly arrive, and all would be fine. The triviality of my situation compared to the one in 127 hours and Touching the Void, brought me instant cheer and inspiration..... With some more time spent with hallucinations and dreams, i heard the real voices of them calling out for me. I gupled down a litre and half of water in one go! (plus electral), waited a while, and then started down the descent through some thorny brush.

Soon we hit the village and gulped down more water. Then it was a long boring road to the bus stop where we had to wait two hours for the bus to come. We hitched a ride on a tractor until some distance. Then it was the bus to thiruvannamalai.

Thiruvannamalai was another big mess! There was some festival or some auspicious day, and devotees crowded the bus stop, waiting to swarm into any bus that gets in. And we were in no strength to fight for seats. We booked a room and went back to Bangalore the next morning.

That day definitely made it to the top 5 of the most exhausting days in my life.

Directions:
Bus to Thiruvannamalai. Bus to Jamunamarathur from there, via Polur. Ask for Melchapli(mel-cha-plea near Javadi, and the conductor will let you know at the right stop).

Head to Melchapli, then to Kilchapli (KeeL-cha-plea), and then ask for dwarves' houses and ruins). Someone called them 'pyramids' as well!

If you want to go down the steeper face of the hill like we did, carve your own way down. But here's our overall track, in case you need some idea.

The splattering of co-ordinates are either because we roamed around a bit in those regions, or when the gps recception was inaccurate due to interrupting foliage.

Current mood: Dehydrated just thinking about that day

Currently listening to: Given and denied - Poets of the Fall

Fooood please

The world record for most number of food items on display in a single day is 5845. And that was a cheese based theme. i.e. they made 5845 cheese dishes (well..... the sponsor was some cheese company!). The total number of dishes in the world must be a hundred fold more maybe? 584500?

Now let's say i've got a hundred years more to live (i hope not though).... And say i eat a new dish every  time i have a meal. I'll eat 3*365*100 = 109500 meals..... And yet i wouldnt have tasted all the food in the world!

And thats why, every time i eat something i've already had before, and am not so fond of, i regret that its taking the place of something exciting and unknown, which i'll never have a chance to even try!

Current mood: vagabond-ish

Currently listening to: My body is a cage - Peter Gabriel

Paithal Mala | 17-18 Sep 2011

After hearing enough complaints of me not blogging about many things, i thought i should put in some extra effort straight away and finish this trek-alogue and post it, before it goes into the ah-now-its-too-late-to-post-it state.

The crew:
Bejoy, Deepthi, Richa, Shanid and myself.

The plan:
Sync up at Kannur. Then a bus to Taliparamba. And from there to Kappimala. Then a jeep to however high up the hill the jeep track could take us. And then head on the trail, until we reach the top of Paithalmala. Find a way to get to the adjacent Purathoty mala. Camp somewhere near the KTDC resort there.

The next day, we would ascend the purathotymala to the north, with mostly grassy slopes. Then head eastward, on a mild descent through rainforest proper, but still stay on top of the hill ridge, untill we reach the next clearing. And all this would be on unmarked trails carving our own route, unlike the previous day. And we would go on further, on the day after that, to reach somewhere near Choma kunda or Thadiandamol.

And of course we expected rain, as we were doing a monsoon trek in rainforest. Consequently we also expected helluva lot of leeches. We went armed with high spirits, some deisel and salt.


The map above was sort of the limits to which we could stretch the plan, rather than the plan itself. The above marked route might take 4-5 days or maybe even more.

The way it turned out:
Day1: We reached Kappimala by bus through a coupla hours of some rather run-of-the-mill kerala views. We gobbled some food there, and packed some for the night. All food for future days were already packed. Then we hired a jeep to get as much up the hill as we could.

The jeep driver kept asking the locals on the way about the situation with the elephants. It turned out that elephants had messed up with some plantation and was driven back into the forest, just the previous night. He warned us about the elephants, but didn't obstruct our intention of continuing our trek. He informed us that there are a few kiddo elephants who could innocently wander our way, but we'd be in trouble if their parents saw us anywhere near them.

We finally got onto our feet, stuffed our socks with salt, and started moving. We were anxious, excited and all of those on-the-edge-ey adjectives. And when we smelt elephant poop, we were reminded to keep staying alert. The slushy terrain preserved a lot of the footprints of the giants as well. But, after some time we were all possessed with de-leeching ourselves that, we couldnt spare it enough worry.  The occasional drizzle, lots of uprooted bamboo trees, streams, slush and leeches later, we were out of the forest and on the grassy hilltop of Paithal mala. Roamed around a bit, soaking in the awesome views of moving clouds all around us, and headed to the watch tower on the southern end, for a pitstop. Enroute we saw the trail to a jeeptrack to get onto the adjacent hill, Purathoty mala, which we followed after having a yummy food break at the watch tower.

The trail to purathoty mala was more or less a steady gradual descent through the forest, which we hurriedly went through, so that we wouldnt be caught in it during the dark. We emerged out into the grassland again, and the trail led us to the KTDC resort. To our astonishment, we found a rather well tarred road there (compared to a trail that we saw in google maps). This meant that we probably should have gotten to this side of the hill by bus in the first place, to have more time on our hands to do the more challenging bits. Anyway.... it got pretty cold quick, and our mildly rainsoaked clothes didnt make it any better. We pitched our tent near the resort before it got dark. After a final leech check, we were all inside, 5 people in a 3 person tent. We decided to cram ourselves, as it would be easy to stay warm, and less of a burden to carry the extra weight of another tent. Food, some spirits to warm us up, and a lot of chit-chat and laughter later, we were off to sleep.

Day2: We woke up at 6:30 and went about the regular morning routine, but with thoughts completely on the exciting day ahead. This was the day, when the actual interesting part would start, as we would carve out our own way, and into nicer denser forest. We packed our stuff, coated our legs with deisel (for the leeches) and started out at 8:30. Our first goal was to reach the top of the hill we were already on, by a mildly steep hike through the grassland-ish section. Most of it was easy, as the grassy parts were easy to grip. The occasional boulders werent too much of a bother, as we could circumvent it (They were too slippery to climb on directly).... The occasional patch of the rainforest trees, were a bit tricky as it was really slippery. But we got through without much incident. There was an elephant trail more or less around the way we were taking, easily noticeable through the uprooted grass and plants, and a LOT of poop. The poop wasnt stinking much even after getting wet in the occasional drizzle, which meant that this shit wasnt fresh enough to cause us much bother. We kept ascending while drizzles and sunshine were battling it out. Soon, we hit the top and saw the majestic view of the overwhelming amount of rainforest spread in all directions. Although we had expected the exact same thing from looking at the google map, actually seeing so much of rainforest covering you in all directions.... is an awesome feeling.

Except..... we hoped to see a grassy hill top in the distance, towards east, where we would aim to get to next. The grassy hilltop was nowhere in sight (probably occluded by stuff closer to us). We had just done the easy bit of the grassland ascent. the core of the rainforest seemed a little daunting. We decided against going into it, because the forest we faced until now was really slippery, and our rate of covering it would be too slow to reach the grassy hilltop before nightfall. And there was no realistic hope of camping anywhere on the slopes within the rainforest either.

The weather up there was changing every minute. One moment, it was all clear and you could see all the hills to the distance, and the next, everything is all covered up, and the next it pours, and then some mild sunshine, except its much more feebler than the sun we are used to. A much colder sun. We, saw clouds approaching from both sides of a hill ridge, and then colliding and forming a single big blanket..... Much of all the amazing stuff was happening when i couldnt take my camera out to take pictures due to the rain.

We stood there on top, hoping there might be some spark of thought that would give some new twist. We grabbed a quick bite, and relaxed for a while. Slowly, and heavy-heartedly, we were trying to get down to the reality that we would have to head back. And then it rained. And it rained heavily enough to not leave any room for second thoughts. We still waited a while for the rain to subside though. We heard some distant thunder. And realizing that the peak was not the place to be when there is a possibility of lightning, we soon saw ourselves descending through the elephant trail. Many slippery portions, a few not-so-nasty falls and few thorn pricks later, we were down onto the road again. Then it was a rather dull walk down the road to civilization.

Directions: Kannur => Taliparamba => Kappimala by bus. Then a jeep to go some more distance up. Then followed the trail to the watch tower. Then the trail to the KTDC resort.

Alternatively, you could come to the  KTDC resort side of it first, through Kannur =>Taliparamba => Pottem Plavu (via kudiyanmala), and then catch a jeep.

And then we went up the hill we were on, towards north (and headed back the same way down)


We hope to get back to it sometime probably during late winter, so that the rainforest bit wouldnt be too hard.

Current mood: Lazy
Currently listening to:  Blue sky - The Allman brothers band

No news yet!

For those of you who are curious of what has been happening to the startup..... well.... there's no news yet :(... We (me,bro,sis-in-law) have been building arbit stuff that are needed for the startup ultimately..... i.e. Everything is still under construction.... Mostly we have been building stuff to build parts required for the machines we are planning.... We were thinking of either building a reprap, or a cnc-mill..... The cnc-mill is just a few steps short of complete.... And u know, i guess these are the hardest.... And we've been doing things in bursts, rather than a continuous effort, cos we are easily distracted

And for those of you who were thinking that, my cycling, running and treks would have increased in number.... it has actually turned opposite.... Its hit such lows like before i started cycling/running

Current mood: the trying-to-get-back-on-track
Currently listening to: The Night - Black Lab

Free?

After my long stint at ncbs, now i've stepped out, hoping to rough it out in the real world.... Me n my bro, going the startup way, attempting to automate some lab work, and making some bucks out of it as well. Working experience in a fly lab, and knowing the rate limiting factors in experiments, will hopefully provide us an edge in the niche.

The past few chaotic months, spent in jitters over taking the plunge, are now to follow with more months of uncertainty, before something shapes up....

And i hope to be more regular at the blog than i've been before

Current mood: Confused

Currently listening to: Weightless - Enigma

Arrhythmia

Free to go wherever i choose to...
But, in the middle of the ocean
Not drowning...
But is that all there is to life?

There are great voids to cross
Can be trudged through...
But why bother?

Lost, not just the heart,
But the hope as well

Skipped beats here n there...
And now its arrhythmia

But why the love for order?

Current mood: Unproductive
Currently listening to: Heartbreak warfare - John Mayer

Post Excitement Stress Disorder (PESD)

Wanted it to somehow be pisd, But pesd sounds almost like it...

I thought i was the only one with this! But i thought i'll call it a syndrome, once i heard Venkat also cribbing about feeling low and finding issues with everything he's been working on, on the days following the awesome BCB race

Symptoms:
- Generally feeling low, although you have to be proud of what you just achieved
- Hating the stupid work thrown at you, all of which seems pointless (mostly rightly so :)
- Inability to concentrate on the bullshit and smalltalk others are spewing
- Inability to continue reading a book you were reading just before the excitement

Suggested medicine (experimental, awaiting FDA approval):
- Good food
- Rock or metal (some might like sad and depressing songs too)
- Mindless insane pace running/riding
- Start doing some mundane chore religiously (like clean your room/desk)
- Beer
- A tight slap
- Another one
....

Current mood: pesd
Currently listening to: The wicker man - Iron Maiden

Bulldog UltraBCB experience

"Ooh, look at those carbon wheels"..... "Why am i feeling like i am gonna write an exam".... "Shit! Look at his calves!"...... "First time i ever shaved my legs".....

11 riders, ~300 km, Bangalore -> Chamundi Hills(Mysore) -> Bangalore

3 participants from my team, Cleated Warriors - Venkat, Anita and yours truly... The flagoff was flooded with the red of our jerseys, as most of the 15 member strong team had come to cheer us on

My support crew: On a motorbike, Vinay, my close friend since high school, lugging a rather heavy bag containing spares, tools for any mechanicals, food, electrolytes, energy, first aid....

First ~10 km was worthy of nothing more than a yawn.... Steep downhills, but we were doing a dull 15 kmph pace in the 'neutral zone' where no one is allowed to overtake the lead car.... When not yawning, we spent our time almost bumping into Sriram's car, or yelling out curses at Sriram....

Once the neutral zone was done with, and when Samim waved us through on the Mysore highway, the pace shot up in a snap and everyone were at each other's throats setting an insane pace.... Yours truly here, however, was still taking it slow n steady, fearing that i'll burn out too soon..... But in spite of all my efforts of keeping myself calm, i was going at a much faster pace than i had planned, thanks to all the mental battles with everyone around...

But, once i saw one of the riders burn out at ~75 km, i got back to my senses and rode a comfortable pace.... At around 130 km point, close to mysore, i took a 2 min break to eat up, stretch my back, happy with the 30.5 kmph average i was keeping, but still at 6th position... My pace soon dropped to 29.5 by the time i reached Chamundi base, full credit to the crappy state the Mysore ring road was in.....

A rather easy and dull climb, and i overtook Shreyas taking a break at Chamundi top and moved to 5th position.... and i saw that Venkat and Craig were just a few mins ahead of me..... Venkat was looking strong, and i assumed he'll take on Craig, and i took an easy pace (which dropped to 28.5 kph avg).... But seeing Venkat take a break at Mandya (200 km), it was now all up to me to catch up with Craig for the 3rd position, who was just 4 mins ahead

Cranked it up like crazy trying to take on Craig..... The insanity burst lasted all of 20 km, after which i too burnt out..... Now, i slowly turned into a zombie, getting hypnotized by the rhythm of my clean shaven legs going up n down.... I would look at how the muscles contract and relax, showing the new formed cuts in my quads..... Occasionally get inspired and pump it up for a while

The zombie ride took me uneventfully to the next time station (Chennapatna).... I was hoping that Craig was too far away, so that i could give up the chase, and ride in peace.... But alas, that was not so.... He was just 10 mins ahead!

After all the sweet things i had been having all day for food, i longed for something different.... A plain boiled potato tasted so friggin awesome at this point.... Got myself to crank it up again, but this time i fizzed out even faster.... but still maintaining the 28 kmph average, riding like a zombie.... With ~20 km remaining, and knowing that Craig was >10km ahead, i finally gave up and went into survival mode....

The final 10 kms from Kengeri to the finish point was harder than the chamundi climb, probably even steeper..... Now, totally spent, knowing there is a huge gap between the rider ahead and behind, i was managing with a slow 10-15 kmph pace, and outsourced all the direction finding to Vinay

After struggling through the inclines, was done with the ~300 km distance in 11hr 14min (riding time of 10hr 54min) in 4th place, happy with my pace....

Ultracycling has officially begun as a sport in Bangalore! Thank you Samim, Sriram and Bulldog for this event.... Lets hope it gets bigger and bigger

And once again, thanks Vinay, for the awesome support.... I couldnt have maintained that pace without ur help.... And thank you Cleated Warriors for all the moral and logistics support, and the super awesome jersey

Current mood: Phasing back into reality
Currently listening to: All those yesterdays - Pearl Jam

The 24 hr ride! (Oct 18-19 2010)

Finally got my roadbike (will be a post on that soon).... And without time to get used to the new posture (or take pretty pictures of it), i set out on my biggest ride ever.... Multiple laps of Chickballapur - Yelahanka CCD plus multiple nandi climbs was the vague ride plan

Started 5:15 pm, where a whole bunch of Cleated Warriors (Nalla, Anita and hubby Sandeep, Venkat, Anke, Reena) had come in to flag me off... They were riding with me for a while, and then i zoomed off, hoping to get as much distance covered before the sun would be switched off.... The sun was gone soon enough, and i rode on with my adequate enough headlights.... And it was drizzling, and i was now worried of all the slush that would get into my drivetrain

At the railway level crossing near devanhalli, the thin roadie tyres got into the grooves of the track and i had a topple, a 360 degree side way roll, with one leg uncleated in time to soften the fall. And for dramatic effect, all this was in a puddle of muddy water... Only scrape wounds, so carried on without much trouble, except that i was a bit unnerved.... Killed a lot of time cleaning it up and fixing the bike after i reached ccd.

Had a relaxed meal and set out again, but decided i would do airport laps instead of chikballapur cos the roads were well lit, and that particular nasty stretch of construction work near the railway crossing could be avoided.... Still was maintaining a 25 kmph riding average... But the handlebar position, saddle angle etc seemed a little uncomfortable... For quite a lot of time to come, it was all just tweaking all these settings.

Anita, reena, sandeep were there till 1 am taking care of me, and also meanwhile doing their own night centuries.... Sachin and Ramesh dropped by too, to check out how things were going

By the time i had done 150 km, and finally found the right settings of saddle and handlebar, my wrists were already hurting like crazy.... So took breaks often to stretch and relieve.... And on my way back, saw that the lights were slowly being turned off on different sections of the road.... I had my headlight, but i wouldnt be able to maintain a good speed.... And Thammiah and his friend Yashoda came in at the right time, and supported me with their car lighting up the way... Did a lap of chickballapur and headed to Nandi base(with the light provided by Nalla's car until it got bright) where other riders would sync up, and there was an RFL nandi run happening to add to the active crowd on the hill

Took a nice break, took in some salts and energy, and some rest before the first climb... Nalla was riding with me.... Gave my everything to it, hoping to beat my mtb time... Missed it by 2 secs! But, anyway, a 36:28 is still a good climb in my books.... But i exerted so feverishly on this one that i started shivering once i was done..... But, i was feeling strong and invincible.. Took a break, descended and turned back again, with Sachin and Ramesh joining in as well.... But this time i took it real slow and shifted into granny gears pretty early on.... Started cramping inspite of all the salts i had taken in..... Had to take a coupla breaks, and did the climb in 61 min (including breaks)..... Had breakfast of set dosa after descent.....

The third ascent was a killer.... I took a power nap of 15 min, and another 5 min break, and finished the climb in 68 min... And only two climbs before i felt invincible, now i was feeling dead! The descent was crazy, everything started looking dreamy, i somehow felt i was riding down a twisted ribbon... All i needed to do was to straighten the ribbon instead of negotiating the hairpins etc... And the curves looked a little exaggerated... Had i bonked? Or was it the sleeplessness? Or worst still, was it both? Took it ultra slow, and just concentrated on following Nalla's line..... the only other thing that registered in my mind was Athreya who was running 60 km up n down nandi.... Man, what an inspiration!

Met Suma at the base, and we rode as a bunch till Bellary road, where i took another power nap in Nalla's car..... The dead me got alive again, and felt really strong, doing a 26 kmph average on the chikballapur laps.... Suma went to CCD, fetched me sandwiches and brownies..... And by the time i was on my way back to CCD, Reena and Anita started riding with me, and venkat was on his mobike chattin and pumping me up.... Except for my hurting wrists, i felt as if i had just started riding, and was feeling i was good to go at least another 100 km

I'm sooooo super proud of my team, who did a collective ~1000 km supporting me.... I owe it all to you

Although, initial plans were to be able to do atleast a 450 km, the amount of breaks i took dint allow it

Ended up with 372.76 km in 16hr 32min of riding.... (Which means all i need to take care of is to manage my breaks better)

Current mood: the kind when you are just waking up after you fainted
Currently listening to: Reload - Rob Zombie

ultraBOB

636km including the climb up Ooty, with a time cutoff of 72 hrs. I hope to do it atleast in 48 hrs, or if i'm good enuf, even lesser.... Training going well for it. The biggest of my training rides coming in this weekend..... And hope my raodbike is ready by then!

More details of the race here

Current mood: Anxious
Currently listening to: War - Poets of the Fall

Inspirations

When you are inspired to do multiple things, you are pulled in all directions with great force, but you end up staying where you are.... But, ultimately, what the forces actually do is rip you apart!

Current mood: sciencey

Currently listening to: Half of my heart - John Mayer

In search of memory....

"In search of Memory" is the autobiography and a layman level summary of Eric Kandel's work, mainly on how memory is stored in the brain, some of which led him to win a Nobel prize.... Its a really nice book, as it taught me more about the stuff than the many reviews i have read before..... He also puts all of the studies in context with the state of the rest of the fields like molecular biology, cell bio, biotech, etc..... Add to this, weaving his life and conversion from a emigrant survivor jew of the WWII era, to a literature guy, to a psychoanalyst, to a neuroscientist

Ok, my intention is not to write a review of the book... but to write what i learnt about life from it.... My confusions about what to do with life seem to be too trivial if i zoom out and look at a bigger picture of where i want to be.... Kandel only had a few paragraphs to describe any of the work he did as a phd student.... And that's all this period is gonna be in my book of life too... So i should just get my work done and move on..... And it is okay to wander around and enjoy life..... One doesnt need to be a prodigy to be a good scientist...

Current mood: Trying to be as Vulcan as possible

Currently listening to: Science - System of a Down

Promises

Its been a long time since the last post.... The usual course of action is to promise that i'll be regular from now on, right?..... Well, let the times to come tell it rather than my untrustable words :)

Meanwhile, i did have quite an eventful time since my last post..... races, cycle rides, training, treks, learning experiences, bro's wedding, potential life changing decisions...... Ah, there u got it... 'potential life changing decisions' is usually what sets someone to blog again..... Let me see if i can pull myself together to write all of it....

Current mood: Nostalgic

Currently listening to: Echoes - Pink Floyd

Langtang trek (Nepal) | Dec 25th '09 - Jan 9th '10

I'm more than a month due on the report, for reasons more than plain laziness.... Anyway, here goes

The overall breakdown:

Dec 25: Having only one day after returning from TFN, the packing was hurried.... But left to Attibele to help Vinay finish his packing.... Then took a bus to Hosur.... And from there to Tirupattur... and from there to Jolarpettai, where we waited till evening for our train to Gorakhpur....

At Jolarpettai railway station

Dec 26: Lot of dumb charades, pictionary, cards etc on the train... nothing particularly interesting through the windows, as we were goin through the drier regions of Andhra

Dec 27: There was fog all through the day, even at noon, as the train chugged through it.... Reached Gorakhpur at ~8pm and took the last bus to Sinauli (Indo-Nepal border).... The bus conductor entertained us with poetry and songs, as the driver rode through zero visibility fog at terrifying speeds.... Halted at a guest house at Sinauli for the night.... Faced a low of ~12 C

The foggy northern plains

Dec 28: After a cycle rickshaw ride to the border proper, we walked into Nepal.... Took a Mini (a van kinda thing that seats ~12) to Kathmandu.... The road was almost entirely on the banks of the Trishuli river..... After checking into a hotel, we went shopping in Thamel, particularly for gloves.... At Kathmandu, the temperature was manageable at ~12 deg.

Trishuli river

Dec 29: We missed the morning bus to Syabrubesi cos of some confusion.... So took a bus to Kalikasthan..... This was a useless step, cos the next day, we would catch the same bus that starts from Kathmandu.... The final bit of the bus ride, meself and Vinay decided to sit on top of the bus like many other passengers..... This was one helluva experience...... With the bus rattling along the edges of the road with just a few cms off cliff edges..... And we holding tight and somehow just managing to stay on it..... And the guy sitting next to us finds it the right moment to tell us "People keep falling off the bus often... And sometimes buses fall off the cliffs too"..... Scared to shit, we gripped with hands and legs, while this chap happily lights a cigarette holding onto nothin.... Finally reached Kalikasthan well before sunset..... And this tiny village in the middle of nowhere, and far from touristy activities.... had a snooker table!

View from Kalikasthan

Dec 30: This time, we dint have an option of getting seats inside the bus..... So, all of us were on top..... And learning from yesterday's lessons, found a comfortable spot, cushioned by bags on all sides, and put my center of gravity in a potential well, to ensure stability.... So, i was stable enough to venture taking photos from the top, although still a pretty unnerving thing...... And whenever a town or village came.... we had to duck under the cables running across the street..... We took the trekking permit at Dhunche, where the bus waited for us to finish the business...... And finally reached Syabrubesi after a scary descent from Dhunche...... Some of us ventured to take a dip in the friggin cold stream.... Vinay actually got swept by the strong currents, and was saved by a quick reflex rescue by Santosh

The road to Syabrubesi

Dec 31: The actual trek begins! In all our excitement, we actually missed a junction, and went the wrong way.... We climbed all the way to Thulosyafru, and then realised that we had to descend all the way down in a different direction, and we might actually make it to Pyro (aka... Landslide lodges).... We also went and bathed in the hot water spring (Tatopani) there.... But we ended up being stinkier, cos of the hydrogen sulphide(the rotten egg smell u should remember from chemistry lab) dissolved in it!..... The nights were getting colder..... But, the dining hall was warm, thanks to a wood stove.... The folks at the lodge we stayed (Namaste guest house) were really hospitable... and together we chit-chatted, sang, listened to music, exchanged knowledge about each other's culture etc.... It was a lovely new year's eve.... the only thing lacking was the booze!

View of Langtang from close to Thulosyafru

Jan 1: We started as quickly as the sun let us, cos we had to cover for lost time...... By lunchtime, we reached Rimche..... And around tea time, the group split, as my vision is terrible in low light... so, me and vinay headed off, minimizing breaks.... while the others came at a leisurely pace...... We encountered our first few patches of snow..... We made it to Ghoda Tabela before it got unbearably dark.... And the others were there soon enough..... And this night, we got drunk on the local brew Nepali Rakshi, and splurged on food, celebrating new year!

View from Rimche

Jan 2: From Ghoda Tabela, we went to Langtang Village.... And there again, we split due to light reasons..... Me and Vinay again managed to get to Kyangjin Gompa just before it got dark, while the others came in when the temperatures were negative Celsius, and the light low..... We managed to get the last two rooms available

View of the Langtang range from a little before reaching Kyanjin Gompa

Jan 3: From now on, it was all descent.... So we could be much faster...... But thanks to my stereo vision problems, i usually descend slowly...... So it again meant the group had to split...... We had lunch at Ghoda Tabela and reached Rimche by evening

Sayin goodbye to the snow

Jan 4: Late lunch at Pyro and Syabrubesi by evening.... More Rakshi and laughter

Fragile bridge on a gushing river

Jan 5: Syabrubesi -> Kathmandu, this time, inside the bus!..... Shopped at Thamel for souvenirs and gifts.... And ate amazing Buff momos at a small eatery

Jan 6: Took a bus from Kathmandu to Bhairav (Nepal side of Indo-Nepal border)..... The bus was totally crowded. And although i was sitting, i couldnt move my legs even by a cm..... To top it, there was a Maoist strike blocking the highway.... if it stayed, we would definitely have to miss our train next morn...... One peculiar thing we saw: As soon as the vehicle stopped due to the big long queue of vehicles waiting for the strike to get over, folks got down from the bus, spread a towel on the street, and started playing cards..... They'd pack it all up in a jiffy when the vehicle moves forward a little..... Then onto the street again when it halts, to start the card games..... After sitting the longest duration in a day, for 13 hrs, and with the butt threatening to commit suicide, we finally reached Bhairav.... we got to the border by Cycle rickshaw and crossed the border by foot. After a brief interrogation by the immigration office, took a cab to Gorakhpur

The first vehicle from the other side..... sign of the end of the strike

Jan 7: Train to Jolarpettai from Gorakhpur

Jan 8: Recollecting trek..... Dumb charades, pictionary, cards

Jan 9: Got down at Jolarpettai. Jolarpettai -> Tirupattur -> Bangalore

Notes:

- The whole trip costed ~7k, batteries included, Bangalore to Bangalore.....

- The train to Gorakhpur is always four hours late at destination!

- Nepali women look absolutely gorgeous! And Nepali men think Indian women look gorgeous (specially the tanned kind)

- The price of accomodation was a uniform 200NPR (~120INR) per room throughout the trek route, irrespective of whether the room could hold 2 people or 6

- On the trek route, the price of food increased with the distance from Syabrubesi.... At Kyanjin Gompa, a plate of Dal Bhaat(Rice + cereal curry, their staple food) costed 300NPR (~200 INR), where a room costed only 200 NPR..... The price hike is cos the porters need to lug it on their backs, for multiple days, for it to reach there.... The food prices are standardised by a committee.... So, there wouldnt be a point to go hunt for cheaper food

- Their local drink, Nepali Rakshi, tasted awesome.... Tasted a bit like port wine, and only mildly stronger if at all

- The porters lug upto 60 kgs on their backs and climb all the treacherous slopes for such long distances.... And, the earnings from a 15 day trek, can suffice to run the porter's family for 6 months!

- Transliteration into english is not specific.... i.e. Syafru, Syabru, Syapru are all the same (However, Thamel and Jhamel are not!)

- The Nepali script is the same as Hindi script... So an Indian can often read Nepali signboards... But u still cant read an essay and make much sense.... However, lots of the locals know at least broken hindi

- The Nepalese listen to a lot of flop Bollywood songs from around a decade ago..... Refreshed my memories of nauseating songs that were around when i was a kid

Current mood: Nostalgic

Currently listening to: Why go home - Pearl Jam

Tour of Nilgiris 2009 | Summary

From the rainy starts of the initial days, to the sunny-as-heck ride on the last day, ~70 riders made cycling ~800 km look like piece of cake.... There were artists, photographers, techies, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, students, unemployed folks..... all bonded by one common passion: cycling..... And they rode their heart (and lungs) out during the 8 day party.....

For me, Day1 (Bangalore->Mysore) had nothing much on offer in terms of scenery..... I took it as a race..... a race against myself to get my fastest 150km+ ride...... The remaining days, it was more time behind the camera than on the bike for me...... And the time spent on the bike too, was at a relaxed pace, soaking the surroundings in, conversing with curious onlookers..... Pumping down a descent hoping to scale up the next rolling uphill with ease...... but only to stop midway, for a nice photo opportunity (and then cursing myself for it as i battled the uphill later).....

Pics from the ride:

All the pics of riders are in a separate album and shared only privately..... (unless they are arbit subjects aiding in telling the story in a picture)

A few moments that would best refresh my TFN09 experience:
kids jumping around looking at us.......... The speed battles with Bharani (which he always won)..... Dumb charades..... Rum Charades...... The collective roar of a bunch of clicking freewheels*........ The Neil Armstrong** roads...... The sunset ride at Hassan w Manjula et al..... The friendly sound of someone shifting gears when you thought you were alone on that nasty long uphill stretch...... The ooty tea breaks...... the once in a few minutes butt breaks, on the way up ooty...... Following Srikar's wheel when he got into his maniacal dont-wanna-get-swept mode..... The dryfruits of the carb pack...... The 36 hairpins..... The lonely peaceful roads of Wayanad and Bandipur

*Freewheels are those things that go click-ick-ick-ick-ick-ick when you are not pedaling and going downhill......
** Quoted from fellow rider Anand Mulky's statement, "On that stretch, I was like Neil Armstrong going around craters. But after Wayanad, I was like Lance Armstrong ripping the road"

Do look at previous posts to look at the day-wise breakdown

Current mood: missing the good times
Currently listening to: All we ever do is say goodbye - John Mayer

TFN09 Day8 | Ooty -> Bandipur + getting home

Distance: 72km
Saddle time: 4hr 8min


A bunch of us decided to get down-to-earth and ride in jeans instead of the spandex sporting bunch we usually are..... (Actually, i did not have space for the jeans in my bag, making way for a kilo of ooty-homemade-chocolates).... And birthday boy descended down the 36 hairpins of Kalhatti with a few breaks to cool the brakes, and also to take pics...... I was faster on the descent than last time, so am happy..... The descent was followed by a nice peaceful ride in the jungles of Mudumalai and Bandipur..... Went slowly and almost dint pedal, as i wanted to enjoy the lonely roads and the forest sounds around..... Immediately after Bandipur, we had our last lunch together...... Got our bikes loaded in a truck and left to Bangalore....... And the tour ended..... How we wished it lasted longer... a thousand more kilometres even?

Current mood: lost in thinking about the previous days
Currently listening to: Better together - Jack Johnson

TFN09 Day7 | SultanBatheri -> Ooty

Distance: 101km
Saddle time: 7hr 3min


~2200 metres of climbing...... Awesome views of tea estates...... And going brrrrrr at the top as we sipped chai amidst the estates....... Took a zillion breaks for pics, chai and well.... butt relief.... Srikar gave me good company as a photographer and pacer..... The final steep climb to the hotel was the icing on the cake (well.... for a masochist).... Followed by celebrations of the conquest, by the heat of a campfire, and of whisky and Vodka

Current mood: Powerful
Currently listening to: Six feet from the edge - Creed