AD (AnnaDomini) - What the hell just happened?

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I know there's been a lot of talk, blogging, fbing, tweeting, tree-side talking and what not about the same damn issue. Everyone right from the maid in our house to the least politically inclined friends of mine is rattling on and on about the same bloody issue. From the TV to the newspaper, even Bangalore times is not spared.

Kick my ass if you want but I just don't think anything is going to come out of this "activism" unless we do something more.

When I see the videos on youtube of the rally in Bangalore's freedom park, a major portion of the people I see are college-goers. As a passout of an engg college, let me tell you 99% of the students will do anything to get out of a boring lecture and if its for pseudo-patriotism for which they are being given free attendance, it is literally student bliss.

Another part of the crowd in Bangalore, Software engineers. Being one of that colorful demography as well, I'll tell you we are no better. I'm sure there are readers out there who are already making up their minds to gimme a piece of it for generalising stuff, but come on!! We are software engineers, for god's sake, the same crowd that passed out of the colleges. We'll do anything to bunk office, believe me.

Another trait which stood out in this Great Indian Drama is the Bollywood-ness of it all.

Agreed, Indians are the biggest perpetrators of melodrama in this side of the universe, but naming their new born kids "Anna". I mean, what the fuck is that? People, you are against corruption, do something about it, don't carry stupid banners with "I am anna" written all over them.

Calling politicians "Ganwaar"??

Mocking them wearing a shawl on your head? Kiran Bedi, I used to be in awe of you!

Americans thought Obama can single handedly solve all their problems, could he? Neither can Anna/Akka./Kiran bedi/Om puri/Baba Ramdev for god's sake.

I just want to see what comes out of this whole drama.

You wanna know what's the most effective thing one can do to prevent corruption

Stop handing out bribes!

Its as simple as that, but can you do it?

Will you wait for an extra two weeks to get your passport? Will you stop giving bogus driving tests to get your DLs? Will you go and argue in a court if a policeman gives you a false ticket?

Democracy is built to prevent corruption, and yes, its not democracy's problem, it's the human psyche. As long as you are handing out money, there is always someone to take it, it doesn't matter how many days you fasted or how many days you wasted in the hot sun.

The quieter side of Ooty

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When I planned a trip to Ooty, all I got from people around me was discouragement. They said its too commercialised, it is too dirty, and stuff like that. But I decided to go on, as I had to attend a friend's engagement party on friday in coimbatore and had a whole weekend to spare. I checked some hotels online and decided on a hotel with pretty decent reviews. I had absolutely zero expectations regarding the trip, as I had been there twice already and seen all that the tourist packages had to offer.

Anyway, 2 of my friends and I, we hopped onto a local bus, literally a can on wheels, to take us from coimbatore to Ooty. The driver blazed at around 10-20 km/hr and we covered 80 km in 4 hrs. Since, it was an off season in Ooty, I was worried about the weather too. Luckily, a cool breeze welcomed us. We got down and took an auto to the hotel which was on the outskirts of the town and hence, as a principle, the auto driver ripped us off royally. On the way, we had listen to his pearls of wisdom about how he would've got us a room in a decent hotel inside the city at half the price, if we hadn't booked it already. We sulked and got down ten minutes later in front of a three storey hotel directly overlooking the Ooty lake.

It was neat, I thought. We got a room on the second floor, it had a beautiful view and a swing to laze around. We were just sitting there enjoying the view and in walks Giri. He looked around 50, with a friendly face, and seemed keen to make conversation. He told us that he is a civil engineer working on another of the hotel's projects nearby. I had once heard that the best way to explore a place is with the help of a local. So I tried my luck with him. I told him that I don't want to see the same old botanical garden and Doddabetta and wanted to do something else. He recommended a place called the "Cairn hill". He told us that it is one of the "last surviving original walks" in Ooty. So we decided to give it a go, as we hadn't planned anything for that day. He called an auto driver Stephen to drop us there. It was around 2 km from the hotel. He also told us to visit the fernhill palace, a summer palace of the Wodeyar kings which has now been converted  to a hotel. He told us to buy a cup of tea, the cheapest item on the menu and look around the beautiful property. So off we went, with our new itinerary in hand.



We reached Cairn hill and started walking. Suddenly we heard some strange noises, we freaked. Clearly amused, Stephan explained to us that it's some tribal wedding happening in the forest. We continued, saw a lot of drunk tribals on our way. As we continued, the path became more desolate and I got more excited. We were on our way to a watch tower following a route that none of us was sure of. Finally, we reached it. It looked creaky and I was skeptical of climbing it, but I thought what the heck, I had walked so far. It was exhilarating. The feeling was just great, even if the view was nothing compared to so many other view points in Ooty, it was an amazing feeling.

Then on the way back we stopped at Fernhill Palace. We ordered Gajar ka Halwa, a tad overpriced but the visit was completely worth it as we roamed the corridors of the hotel for more than an hour looking at around thousand royal photographs. The view from the "Princess Suite" as it was called was awesome. For 18k a night, that's the least they can offer. Coincidentally, I'm watching an old Telugu movie Geetanjali as I write this, and I realise that the movie was shot at the same hotel.





We completed the day by going to Charing cross for a bout of shopping and had dinner at this amazing cafe called "The sidewalk cafe". Completely bowled over by the choice of continental stuff available at the place. We went back there for dinner the next day too.



The next day, we went on the routine Ooty-Coonoor trip as one of my friends had come for the first time and also, we wanted to save some money by taking the hotel bus. It was okay, but we had an amazing time on the first day, all thanks to motormouth Giri.

Next time you are in Ooty, try staying at Darshan hotel,















Sometimes

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Sometimes there were words,
meaningless, often
they were written, just to be written,
so that it seemed full

Sometimes there were colors,
trying hard to make sense,
but that's what they could be,
they were there,
just to look colorful

Sometimes there was murk,
pushing hard to fill it up,
blackened it without a spot left,
murkier than murk could be,

but now, there it is,
just a clean slate and nothing more