Flick of time..

Life has many things to offer.. keeps unfolding quite a lot of surprises.. and though everything is same, we choose to brand them good or bad. There actually is not anything good.. or anything bad.. just a matter of where we are standing.. what we want.. and what we are looking at. Events are just simple events.. its "we" that dictates our smiles or sorrows.

I believe that there is always a chance.. there's always a way.. but being human at the same time does make it a little difficult at times to hold that belief. When struck, we do fall.. tend to slip.. give way to subconscious fears and insecurities.. but as wise men say - Glory is not in the number of times you fall, but in the number of times you rise after you fall - keeps things moving.

After continuous years of working.. being in control of what you are doing or where you are going.. its little difficult to see that something outside of your control suddenly changed everything around. One moment you were in, and now you are treading the hard path. No matter how hard you try to keep hasty decisions at bay, one or two do creep in from the dark side, and stay with you for sometime. I guess thats just being human. Your beliefs make you move on.. take everything on the brighter side.. shrug off the residues of the dark side and see things though.. with a new perspective. Have you been of such a long paid vacation ever? No? Then get back to making the best of it. Spend time on things which were pushed back for the long years.. things that got dissolved due to hectic schedules or priorities.. things that you always had on your mind but could not take shape.

And as the smile starts growing bigger, you feel thankful for the contentment you missed for quite sometime. The behind-the-desk-syndrome had actually caught you by the neck and strangling you day and night without giving you the slightest clue. The flick of time gives you ample opportunities to think afresh.. start new things.. break from the routine and do something else.. You end up clearer in thoughts, and in actions.

Nothing is permanent, except Change. "We" should understand that and welcome it unless we want to be where we are - stagnant, stationery, and stuck. :)

Moving on..

I still remember the day when I landed in Bangalore - 26Nov1999.. all I had was a rucksack, cotton mattress, blanket, bike and few household items. Ready to move anytime, anywhere. Took up the accommodation the same day (a friend had helped a lot in arranging the same). And until today.. I was at the same place.

This place has seen me grow - from the time when I was one year experienced professional.. new in Bangalore.. to now when it touched the eleventh year.. It has seen me with friends.. and alone.. it has seen my late night parties and endured my blasting music.. me and my girlfriends.. my friends and their girlfriends.. it has seen the days of rucksack to every bit it has now to make it a home.. right from curtains.. to bedsheets.. to appliances.. potted plants.. kitchen.. and what not.. it has been locked for months in a row when I wasn't in town, and days when we used to camp in for days together.. from the days I was a tenant, to the day when I owned it. Its been a long time here with this house.. the first thing I build from scratch in my life for myself.. It was the same house that my better half came home to.. I guess that makes you develop a special invisible connection with the things around.. no matter how small or big they are.. you are connected.

The pinch of our routine travel times to offices and the related aggravated anxieties started to make their presence felt. With the growing city and its traffic demands, couple with inefficiencies of the local authorities resulted in ever increasing commute times. The serenity of our home and ambiance of its location started to lose its priority in our lives. We could hardly spare a couple of hour for each other after spending four hours of daily travel time through erratic traffic. When you are connected, its hard to think about alternatives. We carried on for some more time ignoring everything, before we came face to face with reality - we have to move on, leave behind connections, if we want have more time together, if we want to achieve things together.

Decision making has never been tough for us.. what is tough is to build up enough pressure to push us! :D This time, we have been pushed too far. So, the hunt began. And within a week, we found what we were looking for. Another week for packing and arrangements.. and we finally we shifted. The first day was heavy on heart.. the mind scrolling through the first day in the old house till now.. remembering all the moments.. looking at old snaps.. how we planned and bought things to make it a home.

Took almost another week to set things up at the new place.. at first all our stuff from the old 2BHK did not seem to fit in the new 3BHK - left us wondering how on earth did we manage all that earlier? :D

We still remember the good times in the old house.. and see it with a smile whenever we pass by it.. but with time, you have to make practical choices.. and move on.. :)

Visiting God's own country..

Planning is something without which things don't seem to appeal to the better half.. And as usual, planned things don't quite really turn out as planned! Flight plan changes at the last minute, and we had to go ahead with the weekend getaway without the planned company. But sometimes unplanned things fall perfectly into the failing plan and give it a good shape again.. yes, another couple decided to join us, and we have company! :)

Had it not been for dependency to pick the other people, we would have slept for couple of hours more and been late as usual. It was almost midnight for us, I mean around 5 in the morning, when we left our house to pick up friends and start zipping away from Bangalore.. this time to God's Own Country - Kerala. Actually, its Wayanad we were visiting.. Sultan Bathery to precise.. Chulliyode to be more precise! :)

The whole idea of driving though the Bandipur National Park had us thrilled and excited over the trip. Yes, it was our first drive through a national park.. and yes we had imaged a lot many things that we would see on the way in the 'jungle'. Drove through the regular Mysore route.. fantastic roads.. clocking 140kmph whenever I got a chance.. later to realize that we had a minor case of motion sickness at the back seat.. Dropped the speed to more comfortable level and stopped en route at places for refreshment.. After final halt at Gundlupet Coffee Day which in on the highway itself, we diverted towards Wayanad and soon entered the Bandipur forest.

Still away from Monsoons, it appeared little dry.. Green but not as expected.. quite a lot of bamboo.. definitely a good drive at 30kmph throughout.. a little disappointed due to lack of wild animals which we thought would be roaming around freely in the forest and on the road during the broad daylight. ;) Besides that, the drive was quite fascinating with good road, forest all around, and cool breeze. We crossed the Kerala border soon.. the forest thickened a bit more and we were in the God's Own Country!

The drive through the beautiful Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary lead us into Sultan Bathery town and we took sometime to figure out the direction to our homestay at Chulliyode. The roads became narrower and little rough, but fun to drive through the countryside. The homestay was on the main road itself - Techno Green - with loads of plantation inside. Actually its an estate with tea plantation, coffee, pepper, beetle nut and rubber, occupying one complete hill side. The scenic views are very pleasing with good accommodation for a comfortable stay. Without wasting time we took to our rooms to freshen up and be back at the common dining areas for tea. Had a small walk through the estate to explore and have a feel of the place and please ourselves with as much fresh air as possible. The good news is that the place is coming up with new set of rooms, suites and tree houses which would soon be open for accommodation too. The night started to bring in a little cold and soon had a delicious home made dinner from a very humble and caring staff.

Time for some adventure - how about a drive through the forest once again? We drove back into the forest in the dead of the night.. with a hope to see some wildlife.. which perhaps, we missed during the day. We drove on, followed different routes through the jungle, only to spot a few deers and a Nilgai (Antelop). Moonless night offered us a slim chance to spot anything more substantial. We returned quite late and don't remember when we hit bed.

We woke a bit late, fresh and ready to explore again. The morning walk through the estate was a blessing. After we had collected a few coffee pods and pepper pods (thank god we did not go for the rubber!), it was time for some breakfast. A few tourist spots were on our list - Edakkal Caves and Kuruwa Dweep - had heard a lot about them from the local people and our net surfing. And soon we were heading towards them. The spots were rather disappointing - with maddening and unruly crowd. There was complete loss of any sort of management and people were happy pushing each other of the slippery rock slopes while climbing onto the entrance of the caves. We had not come prepared for this and were definitely not game for losing our lives in a stampede or to uncivilized acts we Indians display at such places.

We thought again about the next destination - Kuruwa Dweep, but the hunger pangs broke the whole process. We had a good lunch on the way in the town at a decent restaurant and decided to go ahead with the plan. It looked like we were driving on and on, and decided to ask for direction. We relied completely on the sign language with two locals on a bike who lead the way to the destination. Finally we arrived at the island situation on Kabini river. Water levels were low.. and at places little stinky. But it did have a very nice view around it, very quite and scenic. It was already late in the evening, there were no boats available to cross the river and go to the island (dweep). We spent sometime near the water.. enjoyed a freshly brewed tea and coffee, and headed back to the homestay.

Done with the dinner, we though of venturing into the estate in the darkness of the night. With no moon to shine light, we relied on a small flashlight which proved good for nothing. The plantations were full with many different varieties of noises as if the whole jungle had come alive. All the time we could think of the 2m snake skin that we had found earlier in the day while taking a walk in the estate. After around a 100 meters, we decided not to push ourselves to the limit and returned to bed! :D

Morning was quite and beautiful as usual.. After a little breakfast and settling the bills, we headed for a short trip to a local nursery which we had spotting while searching for the homestay on arrival. Few quick picks, adjustments in the boot, and we were headed back to Bangalore. To keep the spirits high, she offered to drive a bit - her first drive on a highway if I remember correctly. Besides one or two scary moments, the drive quite good and substantial for the first time. With original driver back on his seat, Bangalore was not far away.. :)