A trip to Kuntala Falls from Hyderabad

Six of us went to Kuntala Falls on an overcast Hyderabad morning. Kuntala Falls are the highest waterfalls in Andhra Pradesh (falling from a height of 45 meters at one point) around 280 kms from Hyderabad.

We left at 6am and got around to the outskirts of the city soon before connecting to NH. On a glorious morning, it is a pleasure to travel by road especially when the road conditions are extremely good as was the case here.

En-route to the falls, we stopped over at the Sri Ram Sagar Dam which is around 80 kms from the water falls. It is a nice dam over the shimmering vast expanse of Godavari river; but on the whole, the area was not-so-clean, so we didn’t spend more than half an hour there.

Godavari view from Sri Ram Sagar Dam

The majority of the route to Kuntala Falls is covered under the North-South corridor road (Srinagar to Kanyakumari) which meant the roads were in impeccable condition. The last stretch to reach the falls is a 10km narrow road with bumps which was painful but we were still able to reach the falls by around 11.30am making the total travel duration to be 4.5 hours keeping aside one hour of stoppage for the dam and breakfast.

The falls are hidden by thick foliage of greenery, and one can hear the falls even before it is visible. We first instinctively followed the sound and ended up at the spot where there is a plain area just before the water drops off. It was amazing to see the water flowing down (not an absolutely free fall but through the rocks) with such force. We went close enough to the water from above, had a nice time and could see the downward flowing water and could see people at the bottom end of the falls in the far off distance below.

We went back and had lunch (there is no provision there apart from a small shop for chips, cold drinks etc. so better make own arrangements); and then went off to the bottom of the falls which was a more chartered route with steps (lots of them) and fencing etc. 

Finally on reaching below, and then getting a clean sight of the falls we realized that we weren’t getting the complete glimpse of the falls from above (the view was blocked off). From below, the sight was truly magnificent.

You see the water just thudding off from a height with such enormous tremendous force – if it was amazing to see from above where we could only see partially; this, from below was just plain unnerving. With the sun on us as well at noon, some of us claimed to see a rainbow at the point of impact of the water (I wasn’t so lucky to see the same).

The area near the falls is covered in frothing, steaming white which obscures visibility. The droplets off the impact of the water hitting the plain area could be felt up to a large distance of about another 50 meters or more. We had a good time there attempting to go as close to the point of falls hitting the water as we could – this was achieved by walking over a bunch of slippery rocks covered with green moss. Most of us ended losing balance and then crawling the rest of the distance on all fours like a baby. Gazing at the falls from a close distance gives a mesmerizing effect and you tend to feel how weak humans really as compared to the forces of nature.

Kuntala Falls from the river bed

Having spent some good time in the water, we turned back from there around 3.30pm. We left for Hyderabad and had a good time looking at different cloud formations in the sky attempting to spot different patterns. We were able to hit the city outskirts by 8pm all-in-all capping a nice day’s trip.

Tornado-shaped cloud (on the way back)

Link to photos: here.

Route:

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A trip to heaven in Spiti: Delhi-Manali-Kaza-Tabo-Dhankar-Chandratal

Why is it that the most beautiful places on earth are scarcely known?
I heard of Chandratal for the first time a couple of months ago while planning for a vacation. On googling for images, I immediately fell in love with the place and eventually four of us friends decided to go on a 5-day trip to Chandratal and nearby places.

Our Itinerary
14th August: Leave for Manali from Delhi (night)
15th August: Reach and spend day in Manali
16th August: Leave for Kaza early morning - via Rohtang and Kunzum Pass. Reach in the evening.
17th August: Visit Dhankar and Tabo. Return to Kaza for night
18th August: Go to Chandratal. Spend day there and camp for the night.
19th August: Leave back for Manali. Leave for Delhi in the evening.
20th August: Reach Delhi (morning)

Manali (6730 feet)
The road to Manali from Delhi is beautiful i.e. if you wake up early enough to see the first sight of the rising sun on the back of cloud-laden mountains and flowing Beas. Right from early morning when we woke up till reach Manali which was about noon, Beas walked next to us - from a soothing stream to a turbulent thrashing spitting foam at different places.

Manali was a place we had been too before and it was as commercialized as ever with people screeching behind your ears and pestering you with cheap hotels offers. We decided to spend the evening in Solang Valley and went up there and impromptu decided to go paragliding.

For someone, who has never participated in any adventure sports; and has a fear of heights - this definitely wasn't a piece of cake. Scared to death, and asked to jump of a cliff; I came to my senses only when I was in the air and looked around.

And then it struck me. We are so crazy about capturing the best possible pictures, from different angles, posing to the best of our abilities. I realized that the best memories are ones that laugh at cameras pitifully. Cameras can't come close to even attempt to capture those.
(However human nature being what it is, we still took tons of pics on our trip.)

As I looked around clutching tightly to the parachute grip for my life; I saw glorious greenery on the gregarious mountains along with the Beas river flowing far down below looking miserably thin from far above. In the monsoons, Manali is especially beautiful and green with all the pine/conifer trees on its mountains. It is a sight which would be imprinted in my mind for ever.

The place from where we jumped for para-gliding. Those small dots in the bottom of the pic are actually huts a km or so below in Solang valley and our destination once we jumped.

Kaza (11800 feet)

We left early next morning (4am) for Kaza (a 10-12 hour drive) and the route passes through two high passes - Rohtang and Kunzum. Rohtang Pass at 13100 feet is 52 kms from Manali and is a heavy traffic area with muddy/slushy road conditions in monsoons and faces regular traffic jams. We were caught in one such for a couple of hours. It is advisable not to bravely take your own city vehicle to this place (at least in monsoons) as bravery only showcases foolishness here since simple vehicles are not being able to cross these roads with their low suspension and just cause jams.

On the other side of Rohtang is a rain-shadow area which means it barely rains there and the route from there onwards was a dust-bowl of rocks and dry swirling sand. The mountains on the other side of Rohtang at 13K feet looked across at us majestically clad in snow and hidden by clouds. That sight alone made my trip worthwhile. Little did I know, there were better things to come.

As the day progressed, we saw the brutal nature of those mountains - barely inhabitable we realized why the entire Spiti Valley (a Himachal district) has just a population of approximately 15K (two large gated communities might cover that number in cities).

The greenery reduced dramatically and we saw muddy/rocky and other variants of coloured mountains but never greenery. The Spiti river flows alongside these gigantic mountains which look coldly and proudly as you pass by them seemingly scornfully challenging you to attempt to make it your resting place.

We also passed the Kunzum Pass on our way which was the highest point travelled in our trip at 14931 feet.

View from Kunzum Pass

Finally after a long, arduous journey in our Sumo with multiple breaks, we reached Kaza at 4pm. The rest of the day was spent in acclimatizing to such height (make sure we didn't suffer AMS) and exploring the small town of Kaza inhabiting close to 2000 people.

One thing of note was that it requires a lot of bravery to live in such conditions. These towns - Kaza, Dhankar, Tabo are blocked for half a year and they stock up on supplies for six months around November. (Though there is another way via Shimla/Kinnaur).

As we neared Kaza

At night, we stepped out and accidentally looked upwards. You would have to take a measuring tape to find an inch of space which wasn't covered with glistening stars. The sky was stunningly beautiful and stuffed to capacity. Bright ones, faded ones, twinkling ones, lively ones and so on. You don't need Planetariums in Spiti. Just look upwards.
To add to all this, we saw a line of white in the middle of the sky densely covered with stars which was actually our Milky Way. Apparently this sight can only be seen from such sparsely populated hilly areas; or islands (where no nearby city lights) across the world.

Tabo (10760 feet)

Having established our base in Kaza in a hotel, we visited the village of Tabo the next day (hour and a half from Kaza). Tabo is a very small place with one of the oldest monastries - a place of note there which was created in 996 AD. We visited the quiet monastery but did not spend too much time in Tabo overall.


Dhankar (13570 feet)

Dhankar is another quaint town but at a much higher altitude that Tabo (hour and a half from Tabo), which has another extremely old monastry. We spent some time there but the main attraction there was Dhankar lake which is an hour's uphill trek from the town.

View of Dhankar

Two of us were already feeling varying effects of AMS; so only me and another friend decided to venture out on the trek to the lake. Not used to exercise at this altitude, we were soon panting while going uphill. However, we persevered and eventually reached the shimmering emerald green Dhankar lake in the evening.
We were the only ones around the lake along with a couple of locals. The crystal calm of the lake soothed us and we were willing to spend hours there. We just lay down listening to soothing sound made by the water movement and wondering why did we have to go back.

Resting at Dhankar lake after the uphill trek

At times like these, one may ask what is so special about Dhankar and Chandratal lakes that you wouldn't see in Sankey Tank/ Ulsoor lake (Bangalore) or Hussain Sagar/ Osman Sagar (Hyderabad); I would be stumped to give an answer. Let's just say, forget the purity of the water at a place thankfully away from too much human impact; forget even the gladiatorial mountains in the background which make for a picturesque viewing; its just the sereneness of these places which literally made me want to gaze into the water and get lost for ever.

View while climbing down from Dhankar Lake in the evening. Rain-clouds hovering over Kaza which thankfully exploded the next day after we left Kaza.

Chandratal (14100 feet)

And when we felt we have seen all that is possible, in cometh Chandratal. We left for Chandratal from Kaza the next day (a five hour drive) crossing Kunzum pass back and reached around 1pm.
The route to Chandratal is especially beautiful with Chandra river flowing alongside and the stretch is covered with ridiculously artificially painted mountains. As if a child painted them, and she wasn't told by her teacher that mountains are only meant to be boringly brown.

We stopped the Sumo at a 20 minute walk from Chandratal beyond which the vehicle couldn't go further. It had rained the previous night in the nearby areas of Kaza, and the first astonishing thing Chandratal noon sky greeted us with was a circular rainbow (an optical halo). After having lunch from a nearby tent (there is no scope of proper habitation there); we went out to catch our first glimpse of Chandratal.
As a side note, let me mention that Maggi at 15K feet is a lot tastier than when having it sitting at sea level in our cemented houses on a boring day when there is nothing else to eat.

 

Circular Rainbow / Optical Halo at Chandratal

No amount of google images or a sense of expectation could have prepared us for that sea of absolute stunning blue that greeted us in the afternoon. If we were left wondering at Dhankar lake why do we live in cities; at Chandratal we were nearly about to forego everything and settle there for ever.

After gawping the lake for some time, we lazed around, took lots of photos; and walked across the circumference. On the other side, we realized it was even more beautiful with snow clad mountains visible in the distance.
As I read the above description of what I 've just written about Chandratal, I am filled with a sense of hopelessness and inadequacy of words about how to describe heaven. You 've to experience it rather than read about it.

A hard choice to choose just one Chandratal pic. This is just one of many exotic ones, not claiming this to be best.

After spending what felt like minutes (but were actually three-four hours); we regretfully proceeded back up to set up our tents (a piece of advice: make sure your guide knows how to set up tents). You aren't allowed to camp next to the lake which is probably all for the better - humans really don't have a right to mess up that place.

                          A panoramic view of Chandratal taken towards evening.

We camped the night there, and went for a quick glimpse of the lake the next morning 5.30 am before leaving the place. The lake was black in colour (reflections off the adjacent dark mountains) giving some kind of slope effect which I didn't understand. As the sun rose behind further away snow-mountains away from the lake; it gave an unreal effect.

We regretfully left Chandratal; made our way back to Manali crossing Rohtang pass (without traffic jams this time); and reached around 2pm.

Thereafter, tired yet delighted with all that we achieved over the trip; we headed back to Delhi via bus in the evening.

Word of Caution

Road trips over hilly areas aren't planned such that x distance over 2 lane road at y km/hr can be covered in z time. There are landslides and mud and roads get routinely blocked for hours or days. If snow, then all the tougher. We heard of other stories before our trip which had ended in failure to reach Chandratal. Chandratal - between Rohtang and Kunzum is anyways blocked for majority of the year - however even during June-September (not sure if these are exact months) when it is open; you could easily hit roadblocks. The day after we left Kaza, we heard Kaza being blocked because of rainfall.

However, if you want to just stroll into heaven without making any effort you better think again. We were just plain lucky to have the gods on our side.


For further pictures visit this link.

Route:

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Ghonchu watches Cricket

Ghonchu was excited. He was watching the India-Australia one day match with his friends Sweetu, Superstu, Logicu and Irritatu on a big TV and the match was poised nicely for any team to win. Sachin was hitting fours and sixes at regular intervals. He had made a difficult target achievable by his batting.

Ghonchu’s friends were excitedly discussing the possibilities of the match’s result – the various ifs and buts. India still needed to hit more than six runs per over; so more fours and sixes were needed. However, soon disaster struck. Sachin got out and so did another batsman.

As all of them were sitting in despair, Ghonchu got up to go to the washroom. Unsurprisingly with the Ghonchu’s of this world; catastrophe struck. He turned around to go to the washroom; and in the immediate 3 seconds after that the following sequence of events happened in order:-

  -Ghonchu promptly tripped over Sweetu who was sitting just behind him.

  -Ghonchu’s left arm went up at 10 o’clock w.r.t his body.

  -Ghonchu’s right arm quickly grabbed Sweetu’s shoulder in an attempt to balance himself.

  -Ghonchu’s right leg was on the ground while the left was in air.

  -Ghonchu’s right arm went up at 2 o’clock.

  -Ravindra Jadeja hit a six.     

  -Ghonchu’s left leg contacted the floor; he landed on all fours, behind Sweetu and his face hit the leftovers of cheese burst domino’s pizza which they had ordered.        

“Six!!!”, screamed Superstu, Logicu and Irritatu while Sweetu tried to help Ghonchu get up. Ghonchu, eventually got up looking totally bemused and his head was rotating 360 degrees.

Then, Superstu looked at Ghonchu and exclaimed in delight, “Ghonchu is the key to our success.  He must be in the same position, for India to continue playing well.”

Everyone got excited by this theory. Ghonchu however snapped, “What rubbish! I don’t believe in this all this nonsense.”

However, everyone shushed Ghonchu. Superstu ordered, “Ghonchu, stand with your face away from the TV. You ‘ll not watch the match.”

Irritatu added, “Both your hands must be up in the air, and left leg off the ground.”

Ghonchu refused angrily, “No, I will not.”

Sweetu added, “I think you should, Ghonchu. What if this actually helps.”

“Et tu, Sweetu”, thought Ghonchu reminded of Brutus and Julius Caesar.

“But I want to see the match, it is in such an exciting stage,” moaned Ghonchu. “Also India was hitting fours and sixes earlier too, weren’t they; and then I was watching every ball.”

“That was Sachin, Ghonchu. Gods don’t need your help. Mere mortals like Ravindra Jadeja need all the help they can get from us”, reasoned Logicu.

Ghonchu looked left and right for support, saw none coming and miserably twisted his body in the desired position. Soon, however something struck his mind.

“When that incident happened, I caught hold of Sweetu’s hand to balance myself. Should I be holding her hand too?” asked Ghonchu, hoping that some good might come out of this situation.

“No”, said Irritatu coldly. “At the exact moment when the six was hit, both your hands were in air. Do just that.” Ghonchu subsided quietly.

After sometime, Ghonchu’s body reminded him why he had gotten up in the first place and what caused the accident. “Ummm”, he began. No one paid attention to him. Superstu ordered him to shut up.

 “Ummm, actually the reason I got up then was because I wanted to go the washroom”, mumbled Ghonchu. They all looked at each other and then eventually Logicu said, “Okay, go at the end of this over and come back quickly.”

Irritatu further rubbed salt in his wounds, “Seriously, Ghonchu!! People are fighting for our country, here they are playing hard and trying their best to win; and you can’t exercise a little control for your nation.”

“Ya, well easy for you to say! Its not your bladder”, thought Ghonchu but did not voice his thoughts.

After this happened, another ten minutes passed by where India continued to play averagely, scoring singles but the required run rate kept going higher. Ghonchu unable to see, was depending on commentary as to what was happening behind him.

Soon, however his left leg started aching. He humbly requested, “Can I at least change the leg which is off the ground?” Just as he said that, Ravindra Jadeja got run-out. 

Logicu explained, “Changing legs is like doing the absolute opposite. Hence even your suggestion to change legs had this terrible impact.”

Superstu and Irritatu both looked at him angrily,”Ghonchu, why don’t you just keep your mouth shut?”

Ghonchu resigned to his fate decided probably that was the best thing to do. He stood quietly in the awkward position as the match neared its end. However, despite Ghonchu’s best efforts India continued to lose wickets and eventually lost the match in a close finish.

With a sigh of relief, Ghonchu came back to normal posture as the others around him looked forlorn at India’s loss.

“See, I told you this is all superstitious nonsense. You just had to trouble me”, Ghonchu feeling he should prove a point.

Superstu looked at him and said angrily, “Because of our belief in you we brought the match so close. If you had a little belief in yourself, we would have won the match easily. It is your lack of faith which cost us the match.”

Irritatu ended, “yes, now you will be made to stand like this for the next match too.”

Ghonchu uses a smart phone

Ghonchu was the proud owner of a new smart phone. He walked proudly in his office cafeteria and strategically took the phone out of pocket in a place where there were more females around and pretended to type busily on it. On looking up, he realized nobody was paying any attention to him (or his phone); then he remembered; his company had gifted the same phone to everyone.

Disappointed, Ghonchu kept the phone back in his pocket thinking that he couldn't catch anyone's attention (as usual) even with his new phone. However, while thinking of such thoughts, Ghonchu forgot that his pocket didn't usually hang (in thin air) outside his jeans, and dropped the phone with a loud 'clunk'. Twenty pair of eyes turned towards him with an expression of stunned disbelief. Ghonchu quickly picked his phone up (which thankfully suffered no damage) and walked away wondering what gave him the idea that his phone couldn't be used to catch attention (albeit not in the way he expected).

Ghonchu went back to his desk and decided to show off his phone on the internet. He logged into facebook intending to publicize the fact he had a smart phone. However, on checking other friends' updates, he was thoroughly disgusted to realize that each and every company employee had already done the same. Facebook was flooded with posts from employees flaunting their new phones.

Now, baffled Ghonchu racked his brains as to how he could show-off his new phone. Not being very techy by nature, he didn't know too many features of the phone which he could rave about. He decided to flaunt it in circles outside his company. He went to a restaurant outside with friends where he sat on the corner seat next to a table where some girls were sitting; took his phone out and kept it on the table. The adjacent table's nearest seated girl looked at his phone, completely ignored Ghonchu (no admiring glances or eyelashes); and continued chatting to her friends.

Tired Ghonchu went back home and decided that phones are meant for only one thing and nothing else. To make/receive calls. Ghonchu kept his phone on a table and decided to go to bed.


However the new phone had something better up its sleeve. Ghonchu, who didn't usually get many calls, got a call that night. It was from Sweetu. Startled, Ghonchu managed to drop the phone again; when he finally picked it up and talked to her, he could barely talk coherently. The reason for the call was a mundane one.


Ghonchu slept that night clutching the phone close to himself and with happy dreams. "This is a lucky phone. On its first night, I got a call from Sweetu. So what if no one was impressed by it!"

A decade-long tryst with football

I fell in love with football on a wintry day in 2003 when I first got cable and started watching ESPN. At that time, for some health reasons I could barely walk, far less run or play football. It started as a dream; a standard teenager's dream of wanting to play, score goals to a rousing applause. That dream stayed for a long time, being nurtured and cherished everytime ESPN telecast football. Those early years of following football went by dreaming of outstanding tackles, stunning overhead kicks resulting in goals and playing in front of a large audience who would explode into rapturous ovation.

Dreams have this beautiful nature of having absolutely nothing to do with conscious reality. Despite knowing all of the above to not be plausible, I never stopped dreaming. The years rolled by steadily; the early years of college going in making lame excuses to why I couldn't play any games and being laughed at. Years rolled on, by the final year of college I had made feeble and cautious attempts on trying out sports again, little bits of cricket, basketball etc but not football yet. Thou desires most what thee don't haveth. My craving for playing football only increased in all these years.

That chance finally came in IISc when I felt confident enough to be able to challenge my body into playing. Five years after following football on TV like any average youngster, I finally was able to play it for the first time after school days. I still remember the thrill of kicking the football on that summer day in 2008. I felt like a winner on that day. My initial days in playing were more around finding more about what limits I could stretch to.

As luck would have it, one of my first achievments while playing for those initial few months wasn't scoring beautiful goals or making outstanding tackles but to break my left hand in such a way that it needed surgery. Bang went my chances of playing for another few months by which time I had to graduate.

However fates gave me another chance when I was fortunate enough to join a company with a sprawling campus and lovely lush green grounds. After now playing regularly and freely for the last one year, I felt I had achieved my dream. I couldn't have asked for more really.


Last month, we had an intra-company soccer tournament. I can't sprint, would be wheezing after a couple of minutes of hard running; I am not a great dribbler or anything like that; I don't kick the ball the correct fashion because no one ever taught me how (those who 've seen me play know that); all the things I can't do on a football field could fill out a couple of pages.
Yet on the evening the tournament ended, I looked into the mirror; and saw a broken toe, a bruised and battered body (a small price to pay), the captain of the runner's up team and the player of the tournament standing there. Not a bad achievment, considering I once doubted my ability to walk normally again. Indeed, dreams can be accomplished within the same lifetime if you try hard enough. Our team lost in the finals (in extra time), but we were still magnificient throughout.

I must take this opportunity to thank all those who believed in me, encouraged me to go out and play, and many of those who allowed me to play with them.

A couple of photos after the tournament!

Team 'Lapak Khiladiz' - Microsoft Soccer Fest 2011, Runner's Up

With the "Player of the Tournament" trophy

Ghonchu eats Vegetarian food

Ghonchu stepped into the city of Hungryland with a look of awe. The cities of Europe were beautiful and Hungryland was no exception. He was impressed. However although Ghonchu was impressed, his stomach wasn’t. He hadn’t had much to eat since he had stepped onto his flight from India to Hungryland a few hours ago. His stomach which had rumbled politely earlier now voiced its displeasure more powerfully. Though it is the season of fasting in India, Ghonchu’s fasting ability extended to fasting from dinner to breakfast the next day.

Ghonchu decided to look for food options. He could see multiple options nearby. He discarded some of them after concluding they would be too expensive. He chose to go to a dingy little place which sold burgers and sandwiches.

Ghonchu walked to the shop and asked the shopkeeper, “Do you have anything VEGETARIAN?”

“Eh?”

“Vegetarian!! Anything without meat.”

“Aye, aye! Of course”, she replied happily having understood what Ghonchu wanted.

She took out two sandwiches (both looked similar) and told Ghonchu, “Theeese twoo sandwiches are vegetarian.”

Ghonchu happily paid for one of the sandwiches and just confirmed before unwrapping it, “No meat eh?”

She replied airily, “No. No. No meeet at all. Only feesh.”

Ghonchu mentally puked and kept back the sandwich.

The shopkeeper then pointed to the other sandwich and said, “Thees one has no feesh, no meeet. Only vegetables.”

Ghonchu took the other one and quietly walked away. It tasted okay.

PS: Ghonchu still doesn’t know whether what he ate was vegetarian or was the shopkeeper trying to avoid returning money to him, but he is happy with the fact that he ate whatever he bought thinking it was vegetarian.

Living your dream..

What does the above heading really mean?

We crave so often for something from the bottom of our heart. Night and day, one might have had vision, that desire. It could be a moment or a period of time what one craves for.

And one day that dream materializes! It might have happened unexpectedly or might have been achieved through a lot of hard work. Do we even realize that it has materialized.

Does it really taste sweet then. Do we really appreciate it when we get it. Do we realize we 're now actually living our dream - this was something one longed for all this while. Do we maybe just sit back and enjoy whilst it lasts or do we've a tendency to start worrying about what next.

Maybe we realize and understand better when the end of that dream is nigh. And how do we react when we realize that that dream is close to coming to an end. We sit up and begin to appreciate what we had. As we look back, we see that it was a beautiful time; a wonderful dream that is now coming to an end. We remember those times when we craved for that dream; and the sheer delight that filled one's heart when that dream materialized.

What else does one feel when the walls begin to close in, the dream begins to fade. Feel satisfied at having lived one's dream! Or remember those earlier times with a sense of pathos! Or be pragmatic and just forget about it! Or develop new dreams and look forward to them! Or write such rambling articles!

Education and its uselessness ..

Incident one :
Last Sunday, the AIEEE exam took place. It has been taking place for the last nine years or so. However this time there was a glitch. The exam paper got leaked. As a result, the authorities had to take some drastic measures, cancel that version of the exam paper, postpone the exam by 4-5 hours.
Now what shall thou do, ask some "so-called educated" parents (at one of the prominent 'global' schools in Hyderabad)? What can we do to vent out our frustrations, spend this time more efficiently. They beat up the security guard who was doing his duty by just not allowing students in the exam hall...


Incident two :
Observed recently at my "highly-esteemed" company! At the cafeteria, you gets idlis and vadas at one counter.  You can get either two vadas or two idlis and one vada for Rs 15 (vadas being rated costlier than idlis). An employee who didn't know this logic, asked for three vadas. The person serving at the counter politely explained the rules to him. There is no excuse for the rudeness shown by the employee to a man simply doing his job. And surely this employee is "highly educated".


No doubt, these are everyday things which are visible in all walks of life. No doubt, education is highly useful. After all, it helps to stamp down on others who haven't been so fortunate and  then gloat in pleasure.

Two years completed

Today this blog celebrates its second birthday. The first post was on Feb 16, 2009. This is the 49th post.

(Thanks to Rupesh, again for pointing this out)

Roses are ...

[A true story]

A friend's six-year old daughter got 'Fill in the blanks' for homework.
Roses are ______ and beautiful.
...
...
She wrote - Roses are hot and beautiful.

When asked why, she said that is what she heard people saying on TV..