ROAD TRIP TO A COFFEE ESTATE

After cancelling lot of plans, I finally decided to take the long weekend off to a coffee estate 300 kms from Bangalore. Though I have RF 350 Classic bullet, I kind of figured that it would not be convenient to ride for long. And guess what, I WAS RIGHT!! The weather was unlike the Bangalore weather. 35`C on the dusty roads of Karnataka, the 'Baleno' (read car AC) came to my rescue. The roads to Chikmagalur were good, as they say “makhan ki tarah”. But hot dammit, these self -driven cars have a maximum speed limit and well for me it was 100 kmps. Now those of you who know the 'NICE' Road, this was a drivers ultimate purgatory; DO NOT CROSS 100 kmps. Imagine my plight, smooth as silk roads, close to no traffic, 2 wheelers whizzing by, and me keeping a tab on the speedometer. But truth be told, the roads were brilliant, and with sufficient breaks we reached our destination in 4-5 hrs. But a word of caution from my experience, don’t use Google Maps literally to navigate outside the city. It will suggest the most stupidest roads which don’t even exist in reality.(read giant dust paths!)

 

I like myself a lot ;-)

Amazing mountain view

Smooth Drive

So this coffee estate is in the hills of Chikmanglur owned by Halli Berri. They have a nice Café at the entrance. Call it ideal placement or smart location, our first stop was the was the Halli Berri Café. As soon as our tummies were full, we were taken to our rooms. Most of the evening went in between sheets lost in deep dark, KO style slumber . I mean it has to be right, after 300 kms drive, I needed a well-deserved sleep. Dinner was served by the estate staff, in a cozy dinning area. It was beautifully decorated with a lot of unique knickknacks and decorative pieces.  Then rest of the night we spent in our rooms, playing Uno. I lost most of the rounds, yeah I agree all the rounds. And I am not proud about it. I used to love this game as a kid and now see what happened to me. One of the rooms had a Carom-board as well. I lost Uno and then lost interest in all and every game, even the carom board seemed to be uninteresting and the bed was all I longed for. I loved the beds. For me trips are more about relaxing and chilling around. And I planned to watch the Sunrise as well. Early to bed early to rise, I'm sure that's a rhyme thats hard to put by.

Although Early to Rise didn’t happen as planned, I did wake up in time to enjoy the morning with a cup of Tea. Yeah yeah !! I know why would I be so nuts to have tea in a coffee estate. Well I am not allowed to have coffee (that’s a story for some other time). I was such an amazing feeling waking up to the sounds, sights and smells of nature. Such a blissful morning, amidst all of the greenery. Yeah with us living in the cities – working class, this is a luxury we can’t afford. Morning Tea was followed by Photo session and boomerangs. Then all of us went for a walk in the woods. For me it was more of nature cum knowledge session. I learnt a lot about Coffee that day. Damn I can’t drink coffee anymore!!!

Deep thoughts !!!

Early Morning Tea

So this estate of 200acres is owned by a lady who inherited it from her ancestors. They grow majorly two types of coffee – Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is a premium coffee bean whereas Robusta is more like an adopted son. Both the coffee beans look the same once roasted. However, Arabica beans tend to have a sweeter, softer taste, with tons of sugar, fruit, and berries. Robusta harsh & stronger taste with twice caffeine content.  Most of the instant coffee machines have Robusta beans. The estate had apart from coffee plants, Silver Oak trees and Pepper plants. Well those of you who don’t know about this tree, it is used extensively for all interior wood work and as shade plant in coffee estates and also used as support for pepper plants. We could see lot of the wood work in the estate was made of these Silver Oaks. Well, first thing in my mind was with min cost of production, the lady is earning good with her Homestay business im sure of it!!!

coffee plants Nursery

Twin Rabbits in the estate

The good looking centerpieces.

Pretty ain't it?

Breakfast at the estate

The walk was followed by a delicious breakfast. I liked the way they served the food. Impressed!!We chilled around a bit more and then checked out of the place by 12noon. 

On our way back to Bangalore we stopped by the 2^nd largest lake in Karnataka - Ayyanakere Lake. It was huge and beautiful. But as I mentioned it was too hot for us to stay longer. One tip from my side, always save the offline Google maps for the area you are travelling. We almost got screwed up. I still don’t understand how without Signal my google maps worked in some areas.

Ayyanakere Lake

I'm glad that I was able to take this mini trip. It's always a good way to recharge our batteries to go on to face the realities of City life. But most of all memories were made and we took time to pause for a while and take in the immensity of the vast wonder that is Mother Nature. Certainly a weekend well spent.

P.S. In the whole trip we ended up killing a grasshopper. I don't feel good about it but then I remembered the Food Chain that exists and everyone is eaten by another species !!!

Books I read in 2016.

Well i started 2016 with Shiva Trilogy. If you haven't read these books, please hit the bookstore asap. These are one of the finest works of Amish Tripathi. The flow of the story is amazing. Although it took me more time to finish the third one. It is a bit slow, but then Amish compensated that by a mind-boggling Climax to the book. I wish to see a movie made on these books and i believe Farhan Akhtar will play the character of Shiva perferctly.



Then i shifted to romantic novels. Well as they say there are moods and i have a habit of reading novels depending on the moods/ state of mind. I read back to back three romantic novels. Not a big fan of either Durjoy Datta or Ravinder Singh. However, these books were a good read, esp if you are travelling. They were more like quick snacks. I remember finishing off one of these books in 5hrs train journey.



After getting over with my romantic mood, i was looking for my next book. And one of my friend who has deep interest in history and mythology suggested Ashwin Sanghi's books. He has a way of telling the indian history in a contemporary way. I loved his style of story-telling. People who want to get a feel of mythology in the form of fiction go for his books. Among his books, i read the following two - Chanakya's Chant and Sailkot Saga.



Then i was looking for inspiration and found these two books. Coincidentally, both the books are based on Women. I was looking to draw inspiration from personalities and i encountered these two books. I was so inspired by them that i went on to write blog entries on them. Here is the link of my blog entries.

Lean In - http://redzvida.blogspot.in/2016/03/why-should-you-read-this-book-lean-in.html
I am Malala - http://redzvida.blogspot.in/2016/06/who-is-malala-yousafzai.html



Then in the later part of the year i struck to fiction only. The White Tiger will simply show you the harsh realities of the world outside. I bet you will start looking the world with different perspective. Clifton Chronicles Series by Jeffrey Archer is another among the fiction novels I took up. This series has 7 books and i started with Book 3 - Best Kept Secret. Well it was not on purpose, purely out of ignorance. Then the last one 'See Me' by Nicholas Sparks is a special one. Well i was once again in romantic mood and this book helped me a lot.



Well the count for 2016 is 13 books. This is a personal record for me. However, then there was atleast half an dozen other books which i started but they couldn't hold my attention for long.

Now as 2017 has started , I have already started my reading journey. As of today, i am reading three books simultaneously. I aim to double my count by the end of 2017. Hope for best and best of luck to myself :-) And please recommend books for me to read in 2017.

My Trip to Gokarna - A Weekend Getaway

Even before we started off our trip to Gokarna, we almost cancelled it. Well one of our friends got caught up at work. He almost scared me when he said , “ You guys go ahead I might have to skip the trip…..” I mean What ??!!!? Although he smartly finished the work and joined us, but I decided something at that moment – ‘Job is just a part of your life, it should never become your life ‘

Bro fir se nah kriyo aise kaam !!!

We left for Bus stop on Friday evening directly from office by 7pm. Now we had solid 2.5 hrs to reach the bus stop. Yes yes, bus stop is within the Bangalore city only, remember here we are talking about Bangalore traffic. So somehow we are able to reach Bus stop on time ( read 9:30 pm). I thought finding the bus would not be a big deal, but No No I was very wrong. For next 15-20 mins we kept looking for our bus, I almost thought my trip to Gokarna stands cancelled. Now like some 2-3 mins before the departure we got our bus. Bus was comfortable. I mean real comfortable. Next 10-11 hrs in AC sleeper went pretty smooth. Although I didn’t like my seat but lets not talk about it.  So I would recommend if you plan to visit Gokarna from Bangalore – take a KSRTC Bus. You will easily get seats if you book say 7-10 days in advance.

So Gokarna basically means Cow’s Ears. Literally you will see a lot of cows there. It is a holy place and if you plan to visit along with your family. Stop reading this post further because it won’t be of any help to you. Moving ahead, a small introduction on Gokarna. It is famous for temples and its beaches. You guessed it right we went for the later. There are basically 5 beaches – one after another along the west coast separated by small hills – Gokarna beach, Kudle beach, Om beach, Paradise beach and Half- moon beach.

We were told Om beach is pretty famous for locals and is crowded mostly on weekends. Gokaran beach is more of a religious beach meant for taking dips in the Arabian Sea before heading to temples.  So our next question was where do Tourist go ???   ‘Kudle Beach‘. As you get out of the bus stop, ask for the way to Kudle beach. It is some 15 mins walk, in case you don’t like to walk – you will get autos as well. Kudle beach has lots of Shacks along the beach, so don’t bother looking for accommodation in the Gokarna Town. Shacks are pretty decent, you may not be able to book those online but on the spot you will get accommodation on the beach. Atleast we got the shacks very easily, may be coz it was just the start of the season. (Oct – Mar is the season)

Our Shack at the Kudle Beach

Kudle beach is very beautiful and less crowded. The view was mesmerizing, Sun setting down from behind the clouds – its slight reflection on the Sea below. You could see the whole of sea in a single frame. I kept looking at the horizon, my eyes were glued to that skyline where sky met the sea. I could probably sit there for eternity. One more thing I like about the beaches is taking a walk along the beach – water kissing your feet. Although I would have loved to take that walk with someone special. May be next time. 

I immersed myself in this view

Well some more information for first timers – alcohol is not allowed on the beach but Beer is served on Shacks along the beach. Also one more thing to keep in mind, don’t order Indian Sabzi , Roti there. The mistake, we made. Go for sandwich, burgers, pancakes, pastas etc. They are fulfilling as well as tasty.

After a tiring but fun session in the water, we headed back to our rooms. The one thing I hate about beaches is the sand that gets inside your clothes. So it took us some time to clean up and deal with our dirty clothes. We headed back to the grab some dinner. This time we didn’t repeat the same mistake. We ordered some nice sandwiches, rolls, stuffed Parotas.( ya that’s what it said) . The sea was beautiful in Moon light. We decided to go into the waters again. But to our surprise the sea receded back, some good half a kilometer. With not much of light around, walking into the sea, it was pretty scary. It is then we decided of a business plan, you see MBA grads ;-) It is called Chandra Namaskaar (well my friends restrained me from giving out more details).

Well since there was nothing much happening on the beach at night, we headed back to our rooms. Although I heard in the peak season, beaches in Gokarna are lot more lively. We jumped inside the Mosquito nets and started playing cards. Well you read it correctly, mosquito nets. It reminds me of my childhood, some 17-18 yrs back -sleeping in those nets with my grandparents. Memories Aahaan -  Good old memories !! I loved playing cards – we played a special game called Higanna – it is a Sri Lankan game.

The next morning, we decided to explore other beaches, but first we wanted to have some breakfast. Beach side, it was so pleasing to eyes that we ended up staying at that same beach (Kudle) for rest of the day. This day was dedicated to Photography. All four of us took turns to try our hands at photography. Well the other three are pro at it, I was the one learning the skills. I did learn some new terms – Shutter speed, noise, concept of wide lens etc.  It was a good start for me. Below are few pictures I took.

Increasing the shutter speed !!!

Before leaving for bus stop, we went to a hill top.I shall not describe the view, see for yourself in the pictures below. You can’t stop yourself from going there.

 

View from Hill Top

Clouds approaching us on the hill

This is the place where we plan to build our Hotel (Environment friendly)

Sun's reflection on the Arabian Sea

Subho at his best

I simply Love this picture

i told you this picture is worth framing it

Budget : Travel and accommodation(one night) per person will not cost more than Rs2500.

Food is tasty and reasonable on beach side.

It is a good weekend get away from Bangalore.

On our next trip to Gokarna, we plan to cover the Paradise and Half Moon Beach. Hopefully few of our friends who couldn't make it, may join us next time. :-) 

A Weekend Well Spent - Happy Weekend

Well its been a while since i wrote my last blog entry. Lately, i was wondering how to make my Weekends Happy??? Since i moved to Bangalore, most of my weekends were spent in household chores and rest of the time sleeping. I became lazy.....very lazy and i didn't like it.

So what was so different this weekend. Well to start with i had hell of a time on Friday night @Happy Brew Kormangala. Trust me it is one of the good places to be on Friday nights if you love Bollywood music and stuff (rest is self explanatory) ;-)

After friday night, i wanted something kick-ass to start my Saturday. Guess what i bumped into 'Sully' Movie. That was it, precisely thats what i wanted desperately.

Chesley Sullenberger says, "I've had 40 years in the air but in the end, I'm going to be judged by 208 seconds. "



Yes the world is so cruel, you will be judged for one bad day at work. All the amount of time u spent delivering projects on time goes under the carpet. Well for me the message was clear - Bro the World is ruthless, strive for excellence and achieve perfection !!!

I was all pumped up and the next logical destination for me was GYM. One of the best workouts in a while. I was pumping iron like this guy below (not literally though with lesser weights :-P) All the credit goes to my flatmate for this workout session ;-)

And then to see your team thrash the so called Champions of England 4-1.

Its was magical see Manchester United play with such fluidity and control. I wish Rooney and Fellani are benched for future games as well. This combination is working fine, more than fine actually.Well see Paul Labile Pogba score was priceless. i was waiting for this moment for a long time.

After a fun filled Saturday, i wanted to relax and chill out, and what better place then to visit your old friend. This was only the third time we met in the past 8 years (after we left school) but it never felt that way. We could talk endlessly, and the time just flew by. What was left was smiles all around. :-)

My definition of Happy Weekend may be skewed, but i was Happy on a weekend after a long -2 time. I will remember it for quite some time.

Who is Malala Yousafzai ???

I got to know who is Malala,when she was shot in the head by a Taliban. But I got to know who the Real Malala is only after reading this book.

You want to know the Real Malala.....stay with me on this....and read this post till end.

I wonder, how would a 12-13 yrs old Me respond if I am told no need to go to school. Sit in home and play. May be I would jump in excitement. But not Malala. She raised voice against Taliban, went on air publicly fighting for her right to Education. I mean a 12-13yrs old kid - no way. Right. But she did that. I wonder how. After I read this book I think one of  the major motivations behind her was her father. Since childhood she saw her father talk about the importance of education in life. It was so much ingrained into her mind & soul that a kid was ready to fight the Talibans over her right to go to school.

Now imagine, if you are being awarded by President of the Nation, a kid would go nicely dressed up, excited to be on TV and enthusiastic about the award. But Malala is different, she prepared a list of demands she wanted to put in front the govt officials. Damn. She is no ordinary child.

When she knew she was the target by Talibans, I don't know from where she got the courage to go around in public. It is such an irony that the day she was shot, she was returning from school after giving an exam and the last thoughts of hers before the bullet struck her skull were....what she has to revise for the next exam. "Education!!!" Damn !! She only wanted to study in peace.

The strangest thing is that Taliban later issued a statement that she was shot because she preached Secularism and for calling Obama one of her favourite Politician. As far as I know Malala didn't speak about Secularism , so I assume Taliban have a skewed understanding of Secularism. She was  all out support for Education and Taliban didn't even had guts to openly claim the real reason for the attack.

This girl never stops surprising me. When she regains consciousness in Birmingham, her initial thoughts were that I don't have money for such expensive hospital and she plans to work to earn money and call her parents back home. You are an inspiration for millions on how to fight the battles in life.

Read the book to know more about her Courage, determination & Conviction. For me I have become her fan for life and want to follow her work. I also think that someday she will go back home - Swat Valley - Pakistan. I only pray and wish that she achieves what she wants to - Peaceful Education!!!

Why should You read this book – ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg

Before I read this book, I had my beliefs and stereotypes in life, which I believe now as false and I am glad this book helped me change those beliefs. I believed I had a progressive ideology but NO NO, I was wrong about myself. To start with when my friend suggested me this book, I was like book by a women talking about her ups & downs in corporate world is no good read for me anyway.  What will I learn from her. Then few weeks back I stumbled across the trailer of a Bollywood movie “ Ki & Ka”. It shows a women taking up the role of sole breadwinner for the family and the guy taking up full time job of housewife (see I couldn't find a gender neutral word). Trust me I didn’t like the feel of the trailer – it pinched me hard on the so-called ‘Male Ego’. We are raised since childhood with certain social norms and I was not ready to accept this role reversal. But now I am eager to watch this movie, I simply understand the issue to the core.

The day I started reading this book, I came across a quote on Facebook which said, “ Men are impressed by the looks of the women and women by what they hear men speak……” See the stereotyping here.  I have a friend of mine who is fighting off her parents so that she can pursue her career but her parents don’t give a damn about her career. Their only aim in life is to get her married off. I don’t blame the parents; it is the social pressure and unquestioned norms of society. Now imagine her, even before entering the corporate world which is full of struggle she is fighting the battle with those who are supposed to be her support system. Well there are many more examples like this which reinforces the fact that there is a long way to go for Equality to prevail in the society. It needs much more than just educating our daughters. And Men and Women need to take their share of responsibility to achieve this.

This book has raised lot of issues that women face in corporate world and how to tackle them. But I will not delve into that  and would rather recommend all females to read this book themselves. It is a must for them. What I want to talk about is what can men do to make this World a Gender-Neutral Equal Society. Rather I would say why should men read this book???

 There were some clear take aways for anybody who is entering the corporate world.

1. Always have two fold plans – Long term dream and 18 months plan. For the 18 months plan, keep a professional target for yourself/your team and keep a personal target like new skill to learn or XYZ fear to overcome.
2. Whenever you wana make a switch – look for Rocket ships, that have growth potential. When Sandberg got to choose she switched to Google in 2001 (way before it was known to public). And if you can’t find a Rocket ship, then look for teams/projects in your company that will act as rocket ships.
3. As far as looking for a Mentor in Corporate world, she says Don’t look for mentors. Simply excel at what you do and Mentors will see their protégés in you. And many more snippets of tips here and there.

 Moving ahead, apart from the take aways, I came across certain startling observations about women at workplace. Some of them are as follows.

1. Women seldom seek leadership roles in workplace compared to men.
2. Whenever somebody praise them for any accomplishment, they feel embarrassed, undeserved and guilty.
3. More successful a women is, less likable she becomes among her peers.  I remember when girls used to be rank holders in my class, people around me used to say no play only study why will she not get marks, it is easy for her.  Our society doesn’t believe in giving value to the merit when it comes to girls.
4. Sandberg observes that years before a female gets pregnant, she subconsciously takes decisions at workplace to factor-in the baby. She will stop taking major responsibilities years before. Now imagine, what kind of setback it is for females, how can then one expects them to stand as equals at the workplace??

Further there is a chapter on Role of Husband. Sandberg claims that women behave as maternal gatekeepers and not let husbands take up household responsibilities. Then she talks about other  things that Men should do at home, remind me to read this chapter when I about to get married – not now for sure J However, there is pertinent question in my mind – Women have come a long way at workplace, but has Men progressed at the same pace at home ???? ( have they taken up enough responsibilities at home to let women excel at work???). It is easy to say I would love to have working wife as my partner but it is difficult to be this “ Husband” to that working wife !!!

I need men and women both to think over and change certain  social biases today. Whenever a lady gets a promotion, we give credit to everything else ( u know what I mean), except the merit of the candidate. We need to remove “Gender” from our conversations. I shouldn’t say this book is written by Female COO of Facebook rather Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook.

If we are planning to work towards Equality, then a women needs to have a supportive Employer, supportive Colleagues and supportive Partner ( to share the family responsibilities). The ideal world would be- ‘ Half of the institutions run by women and half of the homes run by Men’. I know there is a long way to go there, but all of us need to ponder on these points/issues to make this world a better place to live in.

P.S> I would like to thank my friend who recommended this book to me. I would like to give credit to her as well for the change of beliefs I had after reading this book. J

The Road trip to Lansdowne

Date : Feb 27th to 29th 2016

Me along with two of my  friends started our Journey from Roorkee Saturday early morning.  Red bus ( local bus) we took at 6 from Roorkee and by 8am we were in Rishikesh. We planned to take this 150Kms journey to Lansdowne by bikes. Sardaar ji is famous for renting bikes in there. We reached the shop well before the Bohni time but still it took us 3 hrs to finally rent bikes and start our Journey. BTW in the meantime I had breakfast, obv I can't stand empty stomach u know me guys. Bread omelette - aunty was very sweet.

Waiting outside Jumping Heights

Started our journey towards Lansdowne

My friend wanted to experience Bunngy Jumping but with 3 hrs delay at Sardarji meant we had to postpone our Jumping Heights adventure to Sunday. Now we headed for Lansdowne by 12 noon. I don't know how but we took the road not taken !!! These are the deadliest mountain roads with few remote villages Enroute. Trust me small Kankar can be as deadly as a rushing truck towards you. Yes you guessed it right, on the lean curvy roads bikes slipped a few times. With few snack breaks enroute we reached Lansdowne by 5pm. The place is not famous for much of site seeing, its the journey it is famous for.

Maggi break enroute

Tea break

Avengers and the Bikers

There are two major tourist attractions - Artificial Lake and Tip Top Point ( customary sun set point @ every hill station ). But we were too tired and sleep deprived to roam around. After checking In @Windor Cottage hotel, we directly went to market to have some food and rushed back to hotel. Obviously who would want to miss Ind vs Pak T-20. Chilling out at a hill station and watching the match with buddies, what else you want in life.

In the morning we got up and as planned we had to leave for Jumping Heights for Bungy Jumping. But none of us wanted to move our asses. We wanted to chill out and lie down, that's it. So we decided to return to Rishikesh and stay the night there. We checked out of Lansdowne by 12noon. But this time we took the road most travelled - smooth and fast. It was a memorable ride back coz of the conversation I had with my friend. In 125Kms back we discussed - business, friends, family, philosophy, past life changing decisions and what not. However, there was a small glitch while returning, we lost sight of other bike and ended up in Rajaji National Park. Well I was the Navigator on the trip so I take the blame for the glitch. Anyway finally we reached Rishikesh by 5pm. We checked In at a hotel near Laxman Julla.

Where Mishra got into the Ganges and played with fishes

Tip-Top Point @Lansdowne

We decided to go ahead with what we planned I.e. firangi toota spotting and lying besides the Ganga bank. It is one of the best experiences for me on the trip. Soothing feeling, blowing wind and friends company. And by the time I returned to hotel after appreciating the firangi beauty, my friend made me realise why is that we Indians by default like 80% of the foreign girls we encounter. Well since then things have been screwed up in mind now, I no more able to appreciate a Firangan :-P. 

So after postponing twice finally on Monday morning we left for Bungy Jumping in the morning @ 11.  But how can a road trip be complete without bikes creating problems. Bike chain got off twice. But we had our mechanic with us ;-). At last we reached Jumping Heights by 12:30.  Among us, only one wanted to challenge his fear of heights. Another friend of mine was not in an adventurous mood and as far as I am concerned damn I am damn scared of free fall. I can't even take a jump in the swimming pool damn it. So I was nor ready to challenge my fear. My friend was a bit  nervous going into this Bungy Jumping but when he actually took it, he was pretty chilled out. Standing at 83metres and smiling, it takes a lot of guts. He overcomed his fear with a BIG Smile on his face.

Before the Jump- the
Nervous look

After the Jump - the ecstatic  feeling

So before i end it here, i want to list down my top 3 moments of the trip -

1. Delicious Lotus Maggi on our return to Rishikesh.

2. Conversation i had with Subhanshu on the bike.

3. Lying down on the bank of Ganges and feeling the flowing river

P.S>  We missed our other friends who couldn't make it to the trip. Hopefully we make a trip together soon