My constituency is Bangalore South. Here, according to me, competition is hot between

• Congress – Krishna Byre Gowda: http://www.krishnabyregowda.in Krishna’s was a very low key campaign.. Trying to be very professional.. But unfortunately too soft for an Indian election.. The congress brand and clean image could work the trick for him..

• BJP – Ananth: http://ananth.org/ Ananth’s campaign was very loud.. Lot of hoopla on the roads and literal spamming using SMS and emails too..

• Independent – Captain Gopinath: http://votecaptaingopi.com/ The very popular Captain Gopi is however the toast of the corporate world.. But the general public would want to vote for a party.. He would probably just split the vote..

May the deserving candidate win..

Some useful information:

For karnataka state:

• Search for your name in the electoral list : http://stg1.kar.nic.in/searchfinalroll_2009/Search.aspx
• List of candidates : http://stg1.kar.nic.in/GE2009Affidavits/

Krishna Byre Gowda’s website gives useful information about IDs accepted:

1. Passport.
2. Driving license.
3. Income Tax Identity (PAN) Card.
4. Service identity card issued to its employees by the state/central government Public sector undertaking, local bodies or public limited companies with photographs.
5. Passbooks issued by Public Sector Banks/Post Office and Kisan Passbooks with photograph.
6. Property document such as pattas, registered deeds etc with photographs.
7. SC/ST/OBC certificate issued by competent authority with photograph (issued upto 28-2-2009).
8. Pension document such as ex-servicemen’s Pension Book/Pension Payment Order ,ex-servicemen’s Widow/Dependent Certificates,Old Age Pension Order, Widow Pension Order with photograph.
9. Freedom Fighter Identity Card with photograph.
10. Arms License (issued upto 28-2-2009).
11. Certificate of Physically Handicapped with photographs issued by the component Authority(issued upto 28-2-2009).
12. Job card issued under NREGA with photograph (issued upto 28-2-2009).
13. Health Insurance Scheme Smart Card with photograph (issued on or before  28-2-2009),
14. Student Identity card issued with photograph issued by the Recognized Educational institution(issued on or before 1-9-2008).
15. Ration Cards with photographs, issued upto 28-2-2009.
16. Ex-Servicemen CSD canteen card with photograph.
17. Sandhya Suraksh Scheme card with photograph issued upto 28-2-2009.
18. The service identity card with photographs issued by the local bodies like Municipal Corporation, CMC TMC, Village Panchayat etc.
19. Senior Ctitizen Card bearing photographs of the holder of the card, issued by the government department.
20. Computer generated temporary ration cards, in original, issued by the Food and Civil Supplies Department containing the relation to head the family.

Any of the above mentioned documents that is available only to the head of the family may be used for identifying the other members of the family provided all the other members come together and are identified by the head of the family.

After much thought and analysis, I have finally decided to move from wordpress.com to a separate hosting. We were earlier at http://indiareviews.wordpress.com.

The concept is to keep things simple, hence the name: India + Reviews + Blog. So, I hope the name itself describes everything about the blog.

IR is back ! Now to inform my co-blogger

To my surprise, I found google ads both on top of the page and at the bottom of the page..

I thought it was just the wordpress guys (matt and others) testing some new ads platform.. i thought it could be exciting.. coz the WP guys usually come out with some really cool stuff.. I wanted to know if any posts on their ads model already out there..

Then to my surprise, I found matt’s post “on ads“:

We very occassionally show Adsense (contextual text ads) on post and tag pages. Why? To allow us to focus on free features in addition to paid and to offset costs of rapidly rising traffic.

These were relevant ads on volvo and bangalore, unlike others who got nasty ads..

With events ranging from Rock Shows, Fashion Show, Choreography, Pro-nite Performances to Debates, Jam, Quiz, Art events, Dramatics, Street Play, Music and Games, Unmaad this year will be 72 hours of non stop action and fun that promises you the experience of a lifetime. With a host of new workshops, new events, online games and the ‘War of the Corporates’, Unmaad 2008 is all set to be a roller coaster ride for everyone.

check out http://www.unmaad.com for more details on the events

The Pro-Nite shows (Music Concerts) this year:

1. Feb 1st – Rock show featuring Motherjane and Zero – Time 7 pm

They are among the most popular rock acts in the country. This being a rock show, there will be no separate enclosures or categories, nor there any seating provided. The ticket prize is Rs 100 and gates will open at 6.30 in the evening.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=715&TransDate=2/1/2008

2. Feb 2nd – Unity concert featuring Strings and Mrigya – Time 7 pm

We are proud to be host to this unique concept called the Unity concert, of which this is the 3rd edition. Strings is one of the most popular bands to emerge out of Pakistan and their shows are known to be simply mind blowing. Mrigya, with their incredible blend of classical and modern instruments, is one of the most well known fusion bands in India and have numerous international concerts to their credit.

For this show there will be 2 categories priced and Rs 100 and 200 respectively. The Rs. 200 section will be further divided into 2 categories, seating and standing. The seated section will be mostly reserved for Profs and sponsors.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=716&TransDate=2/2/2008

All ticket enquiries can be routed to Ankit Baveja ( 9986507020) and Shekhar Gupta: 9243444363.

First stop: Hidesign, 1st Floor, Garuda Mall
There were 4-5 Jackets and I found exactly what I wanted, great styling, exact color, thick leather.. But alas! Rs. 9000 (Hidesign, does it go on sale anytime ?)

Next stop: Shopper’s Stop, Garuda Mall
Surprise, Surprise.. We were sent to the 2nd floor by a salesman in the ground floor.. When we reached there, we were shown few denim jackets.. I spelt it out again, “L-E-A-T-H-E-R” jacket.. Then, he came out with it, they didn’t have any..

Next: Lifestyle, Richmond Road
We were sure, they would have good ones there, suspected that the price would be out of the budget, but you never know.. Surprise again, just one brand and one jacket to show for the “grand” Lifestyle. I was very disappointed..

Next: Bangalore Central Mall, Near Mayo Hall, Residency Road
Took the slow escalator towards the third floor. Just two brands, pathetic design and material is not the word..

Next: Brown Shop, Commercial Street
The guy showed us three basic designs. It cost around 3k. Had elastic at the bottom and not very well-designed. He over-heard us telling that and pulled out an in-fashion leather jacket. The ones with metal rivets that you see the road romeos wear. Not exactly what I wanted..

Next: <Forgot the name>, Commercial Street
He had a good collection of jackets in the top store-room. But alas, nothing in brown.. Sold out, I guess.. Price: Rs. 4k

Next: Thunderbird (exclusive leather store)
#118, 1st Floor, Commercial Street (Opposite Westside) Ph. 080-255979971, 080-41472673
As we entered the store on the 1st floor, I saw a lot of jackets in the corner of the store. Ding ding ding, Jackpot !!
We had hit the mother-ship, found quite a good collection of well-crafted jackets. Found the jacket we wanted.. a bit thin though. Price: Rs. 4500 (after 10% discount). Good choice of jackets and good service !!

Some trivia (you may or may not know):

Hidesign, a premium leather product brand from India has made clear its ambitions to become one of the top brands in the world. A strong competitive position in the domestic market, coupled with a global presence in retail stores like the House of Fraser, Selfridges, and John Lewis. Hidesign could boast of celebrity clients like Nelson Mandela and Steven Spielberg.. “Too cool or what !!” [Source: www.icmrindia.org]

Lifestyle is part of the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retail chain. With over 30 years’ experience in retailing, the Group has become the foremost retailer in the Gulf. Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant brand that offers customers a wide variety of merchandise at exceptional value for money, Lifestyle began operations in 1998 with its first store in Chennai in 1999 and now has 12 Lifestyle stores, 5 Home Centres and 1 Babyshop store across Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. [Source: www.lifestylestores.com]

If you know of other stores in bangalore, do add a comment.

PGSEM (@ IIM-B) & Cisco take immense pleasure & pride in soliciting your august presense at Convergenz-08, a forum for interaction between Industry, Academia & Alumni. It is on this day, in the environs of IIM Bangalore, that some of the best minds from the Industry would discuss on challenges of the day.

Theme: Innovation & Product Management

Date: Sunday, 13th Jan, 2008

Events:

1. Business Quiz (Starts: 1 PM)

• Open to all folks of the hi-tech companies from Bangalore
• Organized by Prof. Rajeev Gowda (of Karnataka Quiz Association)
• Prize Money worth Rs. 40K to be won
• Over 100 teams to participate

2. Panel Discussion (Starts: 6: 30 PM)

Topic – ‘Building an Innovation Ecosystem in India’

Panelists:

• Mr. Vinod Deshmukh, CTO, Mindtree
• Prof. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT
• Mr. Rajeev Mehtani, MD, NXP Semiconductors

Other potential panelists:

• Mr. Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies
• Mr. Bobby Mitra, MD, Texas Instruments
• Mr. K.B. Chandrashekhar, CEO, Jamcracker

3. Case Analyses (Starts 1:30 PM)

• Participation open to IIM-B students
• Business Challenges faced by the hi-tech industry in India on product management
• Analysis by students who handle technology and business with equal poise
• Judged by industry experts and the eminent academia in IIM-B

[slideshare id=224951&doc=iimbs-pgsem-presents-convergenz-08-1200075153711937-4&w=425]

[Slides above: Convergenz 08 Invite]

What is PGSEM all about ?

• Executive general management education program offered by IIM-B
• Developed in close partnership with Software and IT industry
• Customized for mid-career professionals in the Software and Information Technology industry

For the patient souls, few videos about PGSEM:

The movie is a must watch for every mom, every dad, every teacher, every kid and everyone who has ever been a kid.. It will mostly make you cry at moments when the characters are sad or even happy.. You most probably will identify with the kid “Ishaan Awasthi” played by Darsheel Safary in the movie in some way or the other.. The kid has acted really well and will mostly win a few awards this year for this performance..

This movie breaks away from the usual singing and dancing around trees sequences of bollywood.. This movie will definitely increase the awareness of dyslexia in India.. But I suspect it will definitely change the outlook of parents towards their misunderstood (so called academically weak) kids in this unforgiving materialistic competitive world..

The music and songs for the film are just brilliant and very moving.. Especially the song “Maa” will have your tears rolling down your cheeks.. Super stuff “Ehsaan Ehsaan Loy” !! I was crying and foot-tapping while seeing the songs

Debut director & Actor Aamir Khan and all the members of the crew.. hats-off to you guys !!

What is Dyslexia ?

Source: wikipedia

Recommendations to parents/teachers: http://www.ldonline.org/article/14907

Watched movie at Fun Cinemas, Cunningham Road, Bangalore

Official movie site: http://www.taarezameenpar.com/

Updates:

Found this good review on the reviews of this movie by the GreatIndianMutiny guys !!

Also read Review Rip Off – II by Sanjukta

Guess the (paintbrushed) image says it all..

Happy New Year Folks !!

Hope you succeed in finally finding the happiness you always were seeking this year..

Hmm.. 2008 New Year’s Resolution: Must post more often..

“Sun Soaked Departure – Rain Lashed Arrival”

Any trip log starts with the description of an ‘itch for a ride’ reason. So, lets go ahead and say that a bunch of bikers/wannabes wanted to ride and ride long.

[image above: the team]

Introducing the riders (from right to left)
1) Kamlesh aka ‘Sherpa Kamli’ –> the snow trekker –> Bullet 350 (Standard)
2) Guru aka ‘Guru bhai’ –> ice cool biker –> Bullet Machismo 500
3) Sai aka ?? –> Pulsar 180 (UG3)
4) Nasir aka ‘Nazi bhai’ –> team photographer, fog clearer, super entertainer, official account keeper (MBA works!!) –> Pillion on Kallu’s bike
5) Joe aka ‘Joe Rocket’ –> globe trotting navy man –> Bullet 350 (Electra)
6) Calvin aka ‘Kallu mama’ –> true dreamer (the one responsible for all 7 of us in the above frame) –> Bullet 350 (Electra) (getting a pillion who does not happen to be your girlfriend is a true achievement … its friendship … hats off to you)
7) Sumesh aka ‘somer sault man’ –> official timekeeper –> Bullet 350 (Electra 5S)

Life is very funny.
It gives you a lot of friends and lot of TIME to play around with when you are studying (ie., not financially INdependent). And now, you have a decent sum in your pocket not knowing how to get back those engineering times.
We are a lucky group (touch wood) and this discussion would always happen when we met at least twice a month. This trip is a very pleasing conclusion to that question and i pray that i keep concluding like this frequently on our future trips.

Kallu and Joe took the initiative and planned out the trip. The below power point presentation being a testimonial to that.
[slideshare id=210601&doc=cut-thru-breeze-part2-119835783220189-2&w=425]

Day 1 (15th December)

Me, Joe, Kallu+Nasir and Kamli meet up at HAL and ride to Madivala to meet the others (Sumesh and Guru). After an initial chat we start our road trip at 5:30 AM.

[image above: Band of bikers (including the photographer) at the starting point at madivala]

The ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri was very flat & smooth (literally speaking). A very well maintained road. Nice cruising, being invited by the dawn. Calls for another butt break right?

[image above: "N the road becomes my bride", the bikes thundering down hosur road]

[image above: We cross Krishnagiri where Joe, 'rocketed' ahead and found us a good place to have hot hot breakfast for the morning]

Finish breakfast and head out towards Salem. The road WERE GOOD (more on that later). We keep a good pace and stop for narial pani + celebrate a milestone.

[image above: Guru's 500 doing a 1000 for the first time]

This is the point where the evolution of ‘seating arrangements’ begin.

[image above: Nasir being coaxed to reinvent the wheel again - a butt cooling mechanism for our only pillion rider]

Once we get moving, we observe that the road widening has forced everybody to ride only on one side of the road and given the TN bus drivers’ penchant to push off the bikers from the road (yes i am stereotyping… any body want to refute?) one bullet goes tumbling to the ground while trying to avoid a beast bus coming head-on trying to overtake and being very indecent to the oncoming traffic.

We all stop to comfort the rider, access the damage, thank God that nothing serious happened. We resume our ride, simultaneously planning the stuff to be taken care of regarding the damaged bike – a completely broken left footrest and a cracked crash guard.

Destination Salem. Bike repair and food.

[image above: Happy biker without any postoperative trauma]

[image above: "Chilli Parota.... WHAT THE HELL..." the waiter chewed on it before it reached our table???? (pardon me... still a n00b, learning photography)]

A pretty uneventful ride till the foot hills of Yercaud. Then starts a very pleasant, cherish able ride uphill through the 20 hairpin bends to the top.

[video above: riding up to yercaud]

[image above: Mother nature, view from road leading up to yercaud]

[image above: Reached the top before the mist descended on the hill, to be invited by eager eyes who thought we were a "bunch of insanes coming on bikes to this place"]

Now, what happened after we checked in…
What would you guess a group of friends on bikes would indulge in? Lots of food and lots of liquid to quench our thirst!

Day 2.

Ready to go!!

[image above: Glued to the TV and sharing a good moment before we left..]

[video above: warming up the engines in the very chilly morning at yercaud]

The ride to Munnar was stop go, stop go, since it involved a lot of enquiring for directions. Scorching heat of TN, to the point of driving us to dehydration. Our average speed dips and gives rise to the general apprehension regarding our arrival time at munnar. Hence the group decides to ride nonstop through udmalpet (the awesome swarms of wind mills) all the way to Munnar. I did not like the sudden rushing up. But an individual decision comes second when compared to a team decision.

The uncomfortable heat is replaced by a pleasant chilly green atmosphere of the Chinnar forest. The best forest road i’ve travelled on. Till now i had only heard of the good Kerala roads. Now, i’ve experienced it first hand.

Lots of ‘picture postcard’ moments lost.
The mix of the setting sun, the mist, the mountains, the forest and then the small waterfalls here and there was just divine. Wish i had a cycle and stamina to ride through this stretch all the way to munnar. The waterfalls were like these gold watches embellished with diamonds. Sometimes the clouds focused the sun rays on some mountains as though God held a flash light in a dim surrounding to show us the beauty of nature. Also spotted some black faced langurs waiting to be snapped on camera, but alas, i aint stoppin now monkeys

[image above: An unsatisfactory try to quench my thirst]

Once you cross the chinnar forest, there is another check post after which you reach Munnar through the tea estates of Kannandevan. The good roads don’t seem to end at all. They keep getting more and more twisty turvy but the grip and quality of the roads were worth applauding.

[video above: ride to munnar]

We reached Munnar by 6.

[video above: reached munnar & view from balcony of our home stay]

We walk through the temporarily put up weekend eating stalls of munnar and purchased some food. The night spent on food and some hydrating and dehydrating liquids The round table discussions were full of things ranging from Joe’s foreign escapades and other stuff… no details, censored you see.

Day 3.

Kallu comes back from the Mass in a church at the foot of the hill we stayed on. I am basking in the sun to get off some hangover. Every one else is asleep, its 7 and the sunlight is playing with green tea estates and white mist, which made us pull out our bikes and go out on a small ride. By the time we started our bikes there were two more companions on the mini ride. So, 4 bikes head out.

[image above: Our home stay bungalow basking in the morning sun]

One of the bullets makes the cardinal sin of using the front disk brakes on a high speed, super leaning, tempting, well-tarred corner. The fall was a scary one, the first one i’ve seen first hand. The bike takes a lot of damage and luckily the rider is safe. We cut short the ride and get back to the lodge to find to our surprise that there is a small tin hut with a bullet and its internals opened up for repair.

out comes Jerry, a student of MS Ramaiah college and a very knowledgeable mechanic. All of a sudden everybody start seeing problems in their bikes which weren’t talked about till then. He gets on with every body’s problems patiently while i take a tablet to stop the headache and dose off for an hour or two. Getup after that to watch the group still with Jerry, in the hot afternoon sun.

A proposed short munnar trip got postponed from 11 to 4:30 due to the heat.

We take a beautiful ride through Munnar – Madupetty – Eco Point – Palar – Kundala – Top Station and back. The view at the Dam was amazing and so was our group dynamics while on the ghats…. evenly paced and evenly distanced, with every bike in view and riding up and down the roads like a snake with red dots on its body (our tail lights!).

[video above: Ride on amazing roads from Munnar to Mattupetty dam]

[image above: view of mattupetty dam]

[image above: "Nature's playground", anaimudi peak in the distance]

While biking back from the ‘Top Station’, there was one sunset, which was half visible due to the tall trees. This was the only time my mind got into destructive mode … it wanted to chop down the trees so that the view was a complete one. I can understand why heavy pocketed celebrities buy villas and want to cut down trees for a better view.

[video above: Night ride from Mattupetty dam to Munnar]

[video above: Dinner at "Lonely planet recommended Rapsy Restaurant", Munnar]

Day 4.

The sun bathing ends here. Give way to the rain lashing!

I decide to leave a bit early than the others so that i can catch up with the lost opportunities on my way to munnar. Kamli and Sumesh agree to do the same.

We leave Munnar at 6:15. The weather is dry and we cross the first hill. All of a sudden we are in the mist of munnar and getting pretty wet too. I am confused, we were not mentally prepared for a rainy weather. We still force ourselves into assuming that its just mist charged with water… hence the wetness.

We cross two more hills and the truth finally hits us. I forgot that there was a camera pouch dangling on my shoulder. Take a quick stop, and put it inside the saddlebag which i always water proof from inside no matter where i go.

Now, when its raining cats and dogs in a beautiful forest, what do you do…. i saw a sign board reading the direction to a water falls 2 Km ahead and i grabbed this opportunity with both hands!

A wonderful experience. Thigh deep, crystal clear water… all the pebbles washed and laid out as in a costly aquarium. I always think twice before getting my feet wet (given the distance we have to cover in a wet sock and wet shoe). But here? No second thoughts. I readily jumped into the stream, which initially sent a shock through my spine due the chillness. Enjoyed the water while Sumesh was mobbed by a big band of monkeys… it had spooked him enough… he was ready to hurl his helmet at them in case they had come anymore closer to him.

Me at the falls (shot on a K750i)

By the time we were out of the falls and heading to the check post at the tea estate we see the rest of the bikes already heading towards us… we were overjoyed since it was raining heavy and now the group is complete.

We had the best breakfast of trip in the smallest of the huts with the smallest expenditure.

Freshly made vada… what more can you ask for when you are soaking wet and a hotelier is ready to entertain you with hot crispy food. The icing on the cake was ‘Palam Puri’ which Nasir’s probing eyes discovered. They are hot crispy banana fry whose taste cannot by described.

Holla?! Whose there??

A camera less journey ahead.
We take nearly 13 hours to cover the total 336 Km to our destination – Yercaud.
You would ask, why come back again? Well i asked myself the same question even before the trip started. You need to look logical, so i put it this way. Every good place has to be visited twice no?

Destination Yercaud. Every body is wet to the bone. The only consolation till then was a very good food served at a ‘irani hotel’. Me, Kamli and Sumesh had waterproofed our luggage. The same was not the case for the rest. We immidiately ordered for room heaters and then for an iron box.

Kallu gave us a scare by showing us black fingers when he pulled out his biking gloves. And to our relief, it was no frost bite or what ever, it was just that the new glove’s color had given way and got on his skin

We get warm, have food, no one wanted to have a conversation … so we hit the bed pretty fast.

Googled up the weather map for that day (thanks Sumesh)

Day 5.
I had enjoyed every bit of the rain infested ride, but was feeling bad for the group who were shivering with no dry clothes to wear. I can understand the discomfort they have been through. I just hoped that every thing would be back to normal by the morning and i was right. Every body woke up with a smile and determination enough to get us back to Bangalore even though we knew that the rain would not stop.

A chilly one, tough to capture on camera

Joe, Nasir and Kallu went out shopping for raincoats and were back by 10:30. We decided to leave by 11 since the checkout time was 12 noon. But to our surprise we find that the checkout was 24 hours from checkin. Hence we decide to leave Yercaud at 3 in the noon so that we dont have to bear with the traffic after hosur towards madivala. We did this factoring in the ok experience we had with the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

After having the most comfortable lunch of the trip at the hotel itself. We leave Yercaud as planned and reach Salem.

We did not expect the roads on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch to change so drastically in a matter of two days. It’s surprising that all the seven of us had a doubt that we had chosen the wrong route. This niggling thought was despite watching the same landmarks on our way. The stretch has changed that bad.

The roads looked like mine fields laid out for the bikers riding it. Again the rash TN bus drivers gave us a hard time. I say hard because, you are not riding alone, but are riding as a team. Any bodies weakness is your weakness. This stretch, with the rash driving busses were hell bent on exposing those weaknesses… and adding to the complexity was darkness.

You had only two options:
1) Ride with the helmet visor down…. find yourself in a pothole.
2) Ride without the visor down…. bear with the slush hitting your face when you overtake or get passed by an oncoming vehicle.

Obviously, we chose option 2.
We took nearly 6 hours to cover the first 100 Km (all the way to Krishnagiri). But even the good roads ahead did not help and we took three hours to cover the second 150 Km.

Reached Bangalore at 11 in the night. Exchanged celebratory hugs and headed back home. Not a memorable way to call it a day. But we were tired and shivering, and could manage only that much jubilation.

A lot of firsts on the trip.

1. Group dynamics. It gave me a good perspective of team work, role of a leader, what it takes to keep a team as one. The birth and death of conflicts. Importance of formation riding, laying out the basic rules, forcing to conform to it (i am much better prepared for all the three in future). The importance of a close interaction b/w the first and the last person in the formation – i was ten minutes from peeing in my pants since we lost contact with one bullet while on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

2. The joy and scares of riding on a fog filled ghat section with visibility to less than 5 meters.

3. Stretching my mileage in the rain. New experience with the hostile bus drivers. Hadn’t done a 13 hr bone drenched trip so far.

4. A journey covering three states (my previous being only two)

5. A trip that gave me many more biking buddies

6. Finding the weak links in my waterproofing armour. The cramster jacket needs a lot of tinkering around and so does the saddle bag. Finally found out a comfortable way to protect my neck using a muffler – 5 days gave me a lot of time to ‘live test’ my ideas.

The ‘dry feet’ idea – contributed by guru and sumesh

7. Need for new methods of cleaning my visor quickly for improved low light visibility. I will have to purchase an AGV due to the famed protection and the ease with which you can pluck out and snap the visor back in. This way i can keep the tinted visor on the present helmet and use an AGV with a clear visor.

8. Need for a spare camera (the best would be a mobile phone camera – water proofing would be very easy).

9. Importance of a small umbrella in case main camera is required.

10. Pair of sandals. Without them on a rainy day and a wet floor in the hotel, you are screwed.

————————————————————————————-
Trip Stats.
————————————————————————————-

14th Dec
Filled 11.65L of fuel (Rs 600 @ Shell)
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km

15th Dec
Odo Reading 28594.8 Km
Started the trip at 5:31 AM
Reached Yercaud at 4:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 261.3 Km
Distance travelled – 261.3 Km
Time taken – 10 and 30 Minutes

16th Dec
Left Yercaud to Munnar at 8:02 AM
Reached Munnar at 6:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 571.5
Distance travelled – 310.2 Km
Time taken – 10 Hours

17th Dec
Second day in Munnar
One trip in the morning
One trip in the evening
Tripmeter reading – 653 Km
Distance travelled – 81.5 Km

18th Dec
Left Munnar to Yercaud at 6:25 AM
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 2.17L (Rs 100 @ Maryoor, Kerala)
Tripmeter reading – 113.3 Km
Reset trip to 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 6.32L (Rs 300 @ Palladam, TN)
Reached Yercaud at 7:15 PM
Tripmeter reading – 223.0 Km
Distance travelled – 336.3 Km
Time taken – 12 Hours and 45 Minutes

19th Dec
Left Yercaud to Bangalore at 3:05 PM
Refuelled for 4.2L (Rs 200 @ Yercaud)
Reached Bangalore (Madivala junction) at 11 PM
Tripmeter reading – 476.6 Km (Including the distance to my house from madivala)
Distance travelled – 253.6 Km
Time taken – 9 Hours

Total Distance Travelled –> 1242.9 Km
Total Time Taken –> 42 Hours
Average –> 27.7 Km/H

Pulsar Mileage Statistics
Mileage for the initial full tank
Fuel 11.65 Liters
Distance 653 Km
Mileage 56.1 Km

Mileage for the second refuel
Fuel 2.17 Liters
Distance 113.3 Km
Mileage 52.2 Km

Mileage for the third and fourth refuel put together
Fuel 10.52 Liters
Distance 476.6 and counting

Projected average mileage (worst case scenario for the third refuel) – 51.2 Km

Added attractions of the festival, apart from over a million books on show, are the cultural programmes that happen everyday – ranging from children’s dance programmes to carnatic jugalbandis.

The added sweetener for Book lover is the hefty discounts offered on all titles – including the latest releases – I bought Dev Anand’s autobiography at a neat 140 Rupee Discount!

There over 300 stalls in the book fair – with a sizeable representation of all classes and languages of books. I had gone there with my family – and there was something for everyone. My parents were rather delighted to find the range of Kannada books and magazines on display – and they bought quite a few, with discounts ranging from 10 to 20%.

There was a stall with Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings displayed – and with reproductions available for sale as well – at reasonable prices – starting from as low as 50 Rupees!

There was this gorgeous paiting – printed on Canvas, which I thought would fit right onto my wall, but at 4,000 Rupees was slightly beyond my means – so I bought a paper reproduction of the same! (Unfortunately no web link seems available!)

There are also various book publishers – Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall India, Navkarnataka, Cambridge University Press, and many more!

For the spiritually minded, there are various stalls from publishers and spiritual organisations alike – Ramana Maharshi Ashram, ISCKON, etc., – although notable absentees were Art of Living Foundation.

Exclusive stalls on Islam, Gandhiji, on rare books etc., were among the niche stalls

Kannada Language book, littérateurs profiles are available in a wide range – stalls from Navakarnataka, Sahitya Parishad and the like display the best of Kannada literature available – so if you want to discover Kannada literature, head straight to the Book Festival.

Update: Another Book Festival is on at Palace Grounds, off Mekhri Circle. 2 & 4 wheeler parking is widely available, and hassle free. Open on weekends till 9pm from about 11 in the morning