YERCAUD TRIP

All you need after a stressful week at office is some place where you can go and have some peace. A place where you  can just relax and forget your cubical where you sit for hours and hours staring at the god damn monitor. Yercaud is one such perfect destination.

Yercaud is Small Hill station in Tamil Nadu situated around 1500 meters above sea level  on the eastern ghats. We started from Chennai around 10:30 Pm and reached Salem, the nearest town to yercaud, at morning 5 .   It takes almost 1 hour 30 minutes and around 20 hairpin bends to reach Yercaud which is around 30  kms from salem.

Picture taken from bus on the way to yercaud

You know, when u go on a tour or to a small trip you need to plan it properly and my friends who claimed to have planned everything before starting from Chennai did not even bother book a hotel room to stay, not to mention they din’t even book a train ticket for me. :x:  Luckily we met an Auto driver who said he has contacts with Hotels where rooms are booked in his names so that he could bring the “well planned” tourists like us 😛 . The hotel looked good from outside but when i got in, it appeared something similar to the rooms they show in the B-grade movies 🙂 . We had no option so we took it and agreed to pay 1000 rupees which included an extra bed’s cost because we were 5 in total. We knew it was expensive and he was charging way above the normal rate but thats ok considering the fact that only other option left to us was to sleep at a bus stand or a railway station . Wait a minute , At Yerkaud even that’s not possible 😛 .

Yercaud is a place where still lot of importance is given to the nature. The place is not much commercialized like Ooty or Kodaikanal so its less crowded  There isn’t a good mode of transportation within the hill station . So if you plan to visit it’s better that you take your own vehicle . We , however , approached the same Auto driver who said he could show us all the places for about 900 Bucks .5 people in a single auto  was going to be really difficult. But again, we had no other  option.One of my friends sat in front along with the auto driver and remaining four of us squeezed ourselves into the back .

Yercaud hills taken near Killiyur falls

Our First Spot was Kiliyur falls . The best part  is that there is no proper road to the falls . After a particular point you need to trek down to some distance.  It takes around 20 minutes in a ruthless route of thorny bushes and steep terrain to reach the place. Excitement grew just  bigger and bigger as we were getting faint sound of water Gushing through some big Source, we knew we were near and a great sense of hope and relief engulfed us 🙂 . Am i getting too melodramatic ??:P Ignore karo yaar You had to look at all our faces when we reached that place 🙂   Everyone looked so fresh and excited just by seeing the  water rushing down the huge rocks.  You forget all the pain and you just wanna take a plunge into  natural wonder .

Killiyur Falls

Because the place is not easily accessible there is less crowd , infact when we reached , there were just a couple of people 🙂 .  The Water was too cold so we all hesitated at first but couldn’t  stay back long .I gave my Digi cam to the autodriver and ran into the water straight away.

Unlike other waterfalls, this one had had steps that could be climbed so soon we started climbing although we knew that  one wrong step could just get our head smashed 🙂 . I started and my friends followed soon, except one who thought Posing for the cameraman was less risky 😛 .

We Climbed right up there 🙂

We were there for around two hours and then our guide- Cum- Autodriver cum -cameraman signaled that it was getting late and dark as well. The Dark clouds were looming a big danger for us as we had to get back up to the place where our Mercedes Auto was parked. And like we expected it started drizzling and suddenly in a span of  5 minutes  everything around changed .It was getting little foggy, Everything suddenly appeared much more green 🙂 .  Clouds suddenly were so near to us . It was an amazing sight .  Everything , i mean everything was perfect.  Had there been a Beautiful Girl along with me instead of my Friends :x: it could have been a perfect place for a Romantic Song :P.

Yercaud hills While returning from Kiliyur falls

I think this post is getting a little longer than what i expected so i would stop here and would continue my trip details in next post 😛 .

Worst cities to work !!!

New York-based human resources company ORC Worldwide has released a recent survey which has  a list of 55 worst cities to work in world 😀 . 

and Guess what ?? 3 indian cities have made it to the list …

Delhi ,Mumbai and Chennai ..

The worst 10 cities are…

1 Lagos, Nigeria
Problems: Infrastructure and crime, pollution, disease & sanitation, medical facilities, availability of goods and services.

2 Jakarta, Indonesia
Problems: Pollution, disease & sanitation, medical facilities, political violence & repression, political & social environment, crime.

3 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Problems: Political violence & repression, political & social environment, culture & recreation facilities.

4 Almaty, Kazakhstan
Problems: Pollution, disease & sanitation, medical facilities, physical remoteness, housing, climate, education facilities, infrastructure, communications, culture & recreation

5 Mumbai, India
Problems: Pollution, disease & sanitation, infrastructure, political violence & repression, climate, medical facilities.

6 New Delhi, India
Problems: Pollution, disease & sanitation, infrastructure, climate

7 Nairobi, Kenya
Problems: Crime, infrastructure, disease & sanitation, political violence & repression, political& social environment.

8 Bogota, Colombia
Problems: Pollution, political violence & repression, crime, political & social Environment.

9 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Problems: Disease & sanitation, climate, pollution, medical facilities, infrastructure, crime.

10 Chennai, India
Problems: Climate, pollution, disease & sanitation, medical facilities, education facilities, infrastructure, physical remoteness.

Ps : I guess i need to change my place of work soon 😛  .

MILE SUR MERA TUMHARA !!!

I hardly get to watch Tv these days and even when i do  get time , most of it goes by just surfing around the channels . There arent any genuine entertainment programs available these days . All one could see is sick mega soaps where one women plots against another or  the reality shows where people do everything to disgrace themselves in front of public  or lame news channels which covers  a tiger-tigress love story . And living in cities like Chennai doesn’t help either because they bring in some crap Set top system and remove all the good channels saying that they are not free . Now i understand the meaning of Nothing Comes Free.

Let me come to the topic without deviating anymore 😛 .   Changing channels with a stone aged remote is a big pain in the ass hands 😛 . Bang it here ,bang it there and then press the button and it   will work . Thats the mantra for operating the remote  which no one in my home ,except me, understands . So i was changing the channels .. 1 …. bang bang …2… bang bang … ..67 . and then it stopped .I could not beleive my eyes .I was seeing the good old DD channel  in malayalam though . and guess what ??  The channel showed Mile sur mera tumhara ad  . I dint move an inch during the whole song . Even even my mom who was running from one room to another , stopped to watch it .

Created in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad, and promoted by Doordarshan and India’s Ministry of Information , the song still remains in the heart of millions of people . 6 minutes of complete bliss .thats what the song is .A song which describes our country as a whole , which teaches the meaning  of Unity in Diversity ,harmony and National integration .Too bad that no private channels show it anymore when it is most needed.

Political Parties dividing the country for vote bank is not new these days . I think those people should be locked in a room and this song should be played 24×7  😉 .

Anyways here is the song ..

WHEN TERROR STRUCK MUMBAI !!!!

TAJ UNDER ATTACK

60 hours of terror that shook not just mumbai but also the whole nation ,not to forget the other countries ,is finally over . Mumbai is free . Its not that terror is new to our country but the scale of this one in particular has left us appalled and speechless . When was the last time we were glued to our TV sets day and night changing one news channel to other . When was the last time mumbai came to a complete halt for 2 days .

The more i think about it , the more I feelsick. I mean , anyone can come to our country and kill a couple of hundred people . As a citizen of a country there’s nothing more disturbing that this . Is there any place that is secure . Anyone could would walk in to the station and go on a rampage . Five star hotels are under seige so  no point  thinking about the security of normal hotels. A complete lapse of security . Cctv footage shows two terrorist carrying guns and entering the railway station . A railway station as busy as that one has no one guarding it.What a shame!!

IT has been complete failure of intelligence  . ITs not the first time . There have been many terror attacks in the last couple of years . There’s no excuse for this .What’s the use of having such a team when they are not able to avert these kinds of attacks .

I really dont know what these terrorists are trying to achieve by killing innocent people . These inhumane bastards are out of their mind . ITs really shocking to know that the terrorist who has been caught alive says that he has no regrets in killing people . What a coward!! These guys shoot kill people without any guilt and when they are given death sentence ,human right activist come and fight for them . This is  so silly .

Pakistan taking a U-turn and refusing to send ISI cheif is not at all surprising .Infact i would have been surprised if he had come . India-Pak relations are  only going to get worse . Pakistan government always says that they will co-operate with india in removing terror but why dont they do something about the militants in the pakistan occupied kashmir (pok) .IT has indeed been proved that these terrorist were trained in that region .

Another issue i would like to mention is the sms  thats doing rounds relating raj thackeray and his MNS activists .

1.Don’t know where he is when you need him. We want him to go and save amchi Mumbai. Army, NSG commandos are not marathi manoos….why should they fight and lay down their life for Mumbaikars.

2.Where is Raj Thackeray and his “brave Sena”? Tell him that 200 NSG commandoes from Delhi (no marathi manoos, all south and north indians) have been sent to Mumbai to fight the terrorists so that he can sleep peacefully tonight in Shivaji Park. Please forward this so it finally reaches the coward bully.

I personally dint receive any message like this . Some people are infact taking the sms too personally  and feel that it has been intended towards maharashtra or mumbaikars. I ,however second their thought. I dont’ think that the message has anything any communal meaning. It is a message directed at raj thakeray and his supporters . The message is just a sarcastic way of mocking at raj thackeray and the politics he plays .Although i don’t support these type of messages , i cant accept when people say these messages show hatred for maharashtra .

Well, Only solace during these three days was to see the NSG commandos ,Marine commandos and other security personal keeping their lives on line to save others . Not to forget the fire department guys who too were present all the while .Special mention to the hotel employees who have been spoke off so greatly. Some of these people probably lost their lives trying to save the guests and hostages .

News channels did a fantastic job in bringing the live coverage of the developments going on there. I certainly do not agree when people say it was just to increase the TRP rating .. I want to ask -what do you want from them ?? They were putting themselves in danger for us ,for keeping up us updated about the issue . IF someone feels that they show the same thing again and again .They should  just change the channel rather than cribbing about it .Although now i realize that the media could have been a little responsible . (Line updated)

My heart really cries out for those who have lost their loved ones ,for those innocent people who did nothing wrong except for being in that place at a wrong time .May the people who have lost their lives, REST IN PEACE .

If terrorists think that they are weakening the country’s integrerity and unity by doing such acts then they are wrong .We as a country are only getting stronger.

LAW and ORDER !! What’s that ??

Photo source : HINDU

Dr. Abdul kalam has asked young bloods to dream but Guys like this are still fighting over petty issues like cast .I really dont understand when our country is gonna learn from the mistakes we have been committing since ages. WE just keep doing this again and again .

For those who are still unaware about what i am talking , Read this.

I was shocked, so were my parents after watching the video in a local news channel. Students attacking each other like maniacs with sticks and iron rods .  The evolution of a  man from a  pre-hestoric man took millions of years but now after seeing this incident i really doubt the very term of ” Civilized Human ” . The issue actually as gone beyond the caste due to which attack started .

Were they really humans ??  . How could they behave in such a way ?? . One side we are basking in  the glory of the chandrayan probe’s successful landing on the moon ,  and the other side guys like these are acting like barbaric pre historic man fighting for a piece of meat .No wonder we are called Social Animals (pun intended ) .

The most disappointing thing  in this whole incident has been the police force , who were mere watchers . They witnessed the whole incident and coudn’t dint do anything . Its really difficult to digest  . If i am not wrong there were more than 20 police personal present there  and they could have easily stopped  the rampage .But they dint and what a lame excuse – the college principal dint allow them to enter . I wonder what those police officers would have done had the boy being assaulted was their son . Even if the principal dint allow them to enter the fight it was their moral responsibility to stop it .  It was not one there few more who were attacked brutally by a gruop of other students .

The Government cant do bring to proper justice to this whole issue even now . The police official have been transferred . What kind of punishment is this  . ??? They would be partying by now for being let scott free . As far as i know they are equally responsible for the whole issue . They should have been atleast sacked for negligence of duty , if not jailed . The future of law and justice assaulting and attacking each other in front of a Police force which is meant for maintaining a proper order  .This is the pathetic state of law and order in our country .

AS for those Future lawyers I don’t think they deserve to be lawyers and i really feel for them as even 12 years education has not made them even close to the definition of civilized. What standards are they going to set for future generations . If this is the face of indian youth then like DR Abdul Kalam said we would just have a dream of India 2020 and the dream will remain a dream .

I managed to find a video of the incident in you tube

Light hearted please dont watch this !!!

[Youtube = http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=d5AsWevkj1A&feature=related%5D