Critical Thinking: Conversation with my toddler

Conversation with my toddler while reading magic pot

Credit: MagicPot

Me: Appu, Idu Parrot ige peacock hathira hogbeku ante, adakke daari helu (The parrot, has to go near the peacock, can you show the way?)

Toddler: Heege maadi Heege Maadi.. (“Go like this and like that…” He was tracing the way on the path, I had practiced holding his finger just to get writing skills and even when he used to get a hurdle, he would go over it. I was never worried of his finding the correct one answer was what I thought. But I was wrong, as I kept making him trace back whenever he encountered a hurdle, so I was trying to teach him how to find the right solution) (There was a hurdle) Oh Amma eega enta madudu (” Amma, what do I do now?”)

Me: Wapas barbeku alwa.. Munde hoglikke agalla.. (“We must return right, as we cant go further”. I was surprised that he recognised there was a hurdle, I was like ok, now on may be he will trace and find the correct path, I dint know I would get totally different surprise and a learning)

Toddler: Amma jump maadi hogbahudu alwa.. ( “Amma, we can jump and go na??” He was actually doing critical thinking – there is no one correct answer)

Me: Appu adu baagilu, close aagide, adra key illa alwa... (“Appu, its a door, its closed and I dont have the key to open it”. Trying to reason and make him traverse back, again working towards trying to get the one correct answer, while he is exploring the space to find solutions)

Toddler: Amma, peacock hathira key untu ante.. (“Amma the peacock has the key”. For each constraint I came up with, he tried to come up with a new solutions)

Me: Howda?? (“Is it??” I was totally surprised by his argumentation)

Toddler: Howdu.. Adra pocket alli untante, parrot bandaga, avanu pocket inda tegdu, baagil open madi parrot peacock hathira bartane (“Yes, its in peacock’s pocket, He took it from his pocket and then he opened the door and hence the parrot came near the peacock”. He has found a solution!! )

Me: Awesome Bangari!! (Totally amazed and kissing him in adoration )

After coming to adulthood, I realised about critical thinking and was learning about the ways to develop it. Its a surprise to know that we as kids always have it in us, until the education system totally takes it off from us by only accepting one correct answer and everything else is wrong 😦

Hope I can be more open and mindful of the notions that I need to unlearn while exploring with my toddler 🙂

Meeting one sincere tailor! :)

I have no idea if I am lucky to find such good people or it could be totally true that I do a lot of mistakes. During those trying times, I meet these angels or it could be random luck. This event happened almost 13 years ago. I was a constant misplacer if you could call me. I had lost several precious items often.

Say, if a person places a bag outside the library in the luggage section, with cash in it, most likely he or she will lose their wallet or money. This is classic case of prisoner’s dilemma, where stealing things in crowded places from strangers gives them maximum outcome. They will hardly meet the same people again.

One such scenario was during my placements. I had cleared my written round(finally) and the technical round too for the company. After speaking to the HR, I was confident of getting a job offer. This is TESCO, the first company I worked for. It was an unusual day – there was a strike(dont ask me why) and there was no bus service to return home. One of my friend’s dad was coming to pick us from Mangalore, so we decided to go out to eat something. Our stomach was growling after going though late evening interviews and everything was closed on the campus.

There was some crowd in the tea stall outside the campus, so we sat at the seating provided in a tailor shop. The shop was closed, so it was okay for us to spend some time there, until the car came. We had our chai, samosa and were chatting about the interview and placement experience in general. We were 3 girls waiting to go to Mangalore.  After a while, her dad came and picked us. The whole way, I never realised that my wallet was missing. I would have realised if I had taken the public transport. You have to pay them right? After going home, I realised that my wallet was missing and I was sure it must be in the shop where we had refreshments as I remember taking it out to make the payment. But since it was a long weekend, I assumed that the wallet must be picked by someone. 

There was not much cash in it, so I ignored the idea of spending time and energy in finding the wallet. It was a month and I never happened to venture into that area until someone told that there was good tailor shop near the college and he stitches clothes at nominal rate. So after about a month or so, I went to the tailor’s shop with my dress material to stitch a kurta. I gave the measurements and he made the bill. The idea of finding my wallet here was in the back of my mind, but I was hesitant as to what will this fellow would say. The situation was unlikely to find the wallet – the shop was closed, by the time he must have returned, someone must have taken the wallet. I was sure he would obviously say no. So with that confidence, I did not ask him if he had seen any wallet a month back. But the thought was bugging me. I walked towards my hostel and then returned to ask this question.

Me: Sir, did you find any wallet that I had lost a month back?

Tailor: YES, I found one.

Me: (Wondering if it could me my wallet or some one else’s wallet)

Tailor: ( Showing the wallet to me)

Me: (Suprised) 🙂 🙂

TaiIor: I found one wallet a month ago and I wanted to return the wallet. So I looked inside if I can find any information of the owner. I found some numbers in the wallet. I tried calling them to return the wallet, but no one picked. ( This is 13 years back and the numbers in the wallet were all my delhi friends number – so it was a STD call. )

Me: Thanks a lot Anna.. (Literally in tears 😀 )

This fellow not only kept the wallet safe, but also tried to find the owner by calling unknown numbe rs. Man – I bow to such honesty and sincerity in people. I was super impressed by his behavior and told him enough thanks for keeping my wallet safe. It was during ganesh visarjan time. I could not believe such greatness – must be god’s miracles. 

I tried calling the numbers in the wallet , but no one picked !!

When I stumbled upon a generous doctor

I come from the school of thought that doctors are selfish and greedy people who would go to great extent to extract as much money as possible, based on the services they provide. I understand the reason for such a behavior – they have invested so much time and money and now they have a way to get it back.

By default my stand is to avoid doctor. My body has evolved so much now that with basic things I am able to sustain cold, cough and regular ailments. Only in cases of emergency, I would seek their help.

So one such situations was when I broke my leg’s thumb nail while playing football. It would be an exaggeration if I said I was playing football. The college had decided that the research scholars must interact more and his would lead to good environment, stress sharing and collaboration among research scholars. One of the ways to create more interactions was games. So someone suggested lets play football.

I reached the venue a little late and just started playing without actually knowing the techniques. Later on someone told that they had taught the basic techniques to kick.  The only thing I knew was I was supposed to kick. As I was good with volleyball, throwball, I considered I could deal with this too. Most of the time I feel this is the reason for my miseries. At times asking help and saying you dont know is so much better than believing that you know it all. A know it all will rarely ask for help.

So, I kept hitting the ball near the toe wrap. The first time I did this, I felt immense pain. Instead of questioning why was I feeling so much pain, I carried on playing the same way. This is the result of conditioning or biases that I had from previous experiences. Whenever I learnt guitar or during my initial days of volleyball, I used to feel pain in my fingers or arms. But I was told that it would make the skin hard or arms strong and was necessary to develop the skill. So these biases made me believe that the pain is necessary for learning.

There is a quote that my professor keeps giving “Every learning experience is painful as it results in questioning your biases etc but not all painful experiences result in learning”.  This painful experience gave me a learning that when you approach anything new go with a clean slate and be ignorant and unaware. Asking questions would be helpful.

So I hit the same toe several times before I realized that I had broken the nail and I should stop playing. I had broken the thumb nail 2 – 3 times now. It was due to bad shoes or while trekking down the hill, when whole body weight shifts to the toe. Those experiences were gradual pain or pain was present in various parts of the body 🙂 While coming downhill, my knee would hurt much more than the finger. So I never realized the pain so much. This time sine it was only the finger, it hurt badly.

It had turned black and that is the indication that the nail is dead. The following days I had to stop wearing shoes and strictly wear socks as touching something else would rip the nail off. I knew I had to keep the dead nail above while the new nail would come below. I managed somehow for a month. The growth was very slow. I kept cutting the extra nail but never tried to remove the old nail, though it would move whenever I wear socks.

During all this process, my husband Mr N. would feel bad. He has this notion that experts must take care of things. So he was keen on taking me to the doctor. As mentioned earlier, I was reluctant to see the doctor for such small issue. I knew it would heal. But somehow felt it was taking much more time than earlier. So after lost of insistence, I suggested to go to a skin specialist who would remove the nail. He looked for a doctor in Practo and we both went to him at the scheduled time. It is norm that you hardly get to meet the doctor at the scheduled time due to various reasons. So after waiting for 45 minutes, we finally met the doctor. I explained him the whole history of the wound and we were thinking of getting the nail removed as it kept interrupting in my daily activities and that interruption was painful.

The Doc. listened to the whole story patiently and he said “The nail could be removed by a small procedure, but it was not necessary. After the removal of the nail, you will have to band aid it regularly and see to it that there is no infection as there would be some bleeding in the process. For that wound to heal, it would take 2 weeks. But I  If you wait for a week, the nail would come off”

This got me thinking. I am a person who would never do anything consciously, that would inflict pain. By doing a cost benefit analysis, it felt that its better to wait for a week for the nail to fall off. At this point the first thing that came to my mind was that there was no need to come to the doctor. The time, money spent on this activity was not necessary at all. The most amusing part about this whole incident was, that the doctor felt the same. He asked if we have any other skin issue where he could help and I and Mr N. were looking at each other and smiling as we dint have anything else.

He looked at my face and I had quite a few pimples. So he was like I shall write few medicines you could use for pimples. I could see the desperation in him to be of service and that was something very unusual. The reason we went to him was due to the recommendation of people in Practo. But we felt it all the more by interacting the doctor. So I really wish that the kindness and goodness shown by the doctor is returned in double and triple fold.

I am sure you would want to know who the doctor was. Since I know the person who showed goodwill, I would not mind advertising him. You can find him here.

P.S: Its not a paid review and this incident happened 3 years ago. No doctor would pay me for such timely reviews 🙂

Credits: https://www.123rf.com/

Manjarabad fort : Hope to get a bird’s eye view some day :)

There are some trips which you plan for weeks and months and they flop totally. And there are some very impromptu. This was one of them.

We had planned to attend my husband’s friend’s marriage in Sakleshpur. It was an early muhurath wedding, so we left by 5 AM from Bengaluru. We reached Sakleshpur by 9:30 AM. His friends were still on the way to the venue. While driving to Sakleshpur,  I had seen a board about places to visit and Manjarabad fort was listed in them. I always wanted to see this place and had planned several times to visit this place (You know about all the trips you plan with friends and the success rate of implementation :P) . But never got the chance. This time, since we were in the car and we had enough time, I asked if we could go to the fort. Initially he was a bit reluctant and suggested we could visit after attending the wedding. But since his friends weren’t ready(people who were already in Sakleshpur) he was happy to go. I changed the location in the map and we reached a curve in the Shiradi ghat with a board written Manjarabad fort.  We parked the car near the shops, where people generally stop for break. The curve was wide enough for cars to park and many cars had stopped for snacks etc.

Board showing the presence of Manjarabad fort

We asked a shopkeeper how far was the fort. He told us, we need to climb 267 steps for the fort. But we could not see the fort, all we could see was mud road going up the hill. I was skeptical if we have to walk a lot until we reach the base of the fort. The shopkeeper  mentioned it wasn’t much. My husband( Mr N.) was skeptical of me climbing in the sari. I was too excited to worry about climbing in the saree :). We wore sunglasses as the sun was glaring on top of our head . Mr N. held a water bottle and we started climbing up the mud road. I tucked the sari a little high( my mom always does that when she has to do some physical activity) to walk comfortably.

 

Steps towards the fort

We did not see anyone on the way probably because it was a week day . As we started  climbing it felt easy in the beginning but as we climbed higher it was tedious. As usual he was ahead of me, turning once a while to see if I was following and at times asking me to buck up. It must have taken 10 to 15 minutes to climb. As we reached the top, we saw a huge stone wall which looked not so old. The place looked quite neat. I am not sure due to less visitors or good maintenance. As we walked further we saw an entrance with a gate. It looked closed from far but the lock was open. We were greeted by a dog scowling and barking. I, as usual was scared of the dog. We dint have anything to feed the dog who was wagging his tail. Mr N. gave the dog a little water. I was amused by this gesture as i was sure the dog wouldn’t bother for water. But I was surprised to see it licking and drinking water. After that gesture of kindness showed by Mr. N we were taken care by the dog as if, it was his responsibility to return the kindness. It followed wherever we went and as usual I stayed far away from it.

The faithful dog that accompanied us around

The entrance was beautiful with engraved pillars and roof. The roof had the shape that the Manjarabad fort was famous for, the octagon shape. After clicking a few pictures we went ahead to an open space. It was beautiful but almost empty like all the old forts. I always wonder how the fort looked like when it was constructed.

In the center there was a stepped tank in the shape of plus. There was an elevated pathway. We climbed to see the beautiful surroundings. The splendid green Western ghats is all you could see 🙂 (So much oxygen!!). The corners had an oval shaped watch tower. It was like a secret passage, well lit and had space enough to accommodate 5 humans. We saw a fellow in this lonely fort. As we approached him, he asked us about the history of this fort. We both were dumb struck. We dint know anything about this fort other than the fact that it was built by Tipu sultan and had a particular shape. He told us, he was from Andhra and could only converse in English. We lied to him saying that we were from Bangalore and dint know much about the fort.

Octagonal shape engraved in the Ceiling near the entrance of the fort

All the while I was curious of getting the top view of the fort. I looked for any hill at a close proximity from where I could get the view but disheartened as I couldn’t find any. I wondered how anyone got that picture showing the top view. After trying our luck to get a picture from the wall fence we walked through the ground. Two more men came and were talking about the water getting in stored in the reservoir from the stepped tank. The stepped tank looked amazing and as always I was in awe with the skills of our ancestors. Reverse osmosis to purify the water. We returned back and the dog accompanied us till the entrance like a good host.

Climbing the fort wearing a Saree 😛

I was worried about climbing down the steps due to my knee pain. But a friend of mine from Sandakphu trek had told me, “you shouldn’t walk slowly when you get down. It hurts the knee more when you restrain the natural tendency to walk down due to gravity.” So I started running down the steps and the steps weren’t as steep as usually old forts steps would be. So it did not hurt much.

A bunch of girls and a guy who were climbing during the scorching afternoon were amused to see me get down wearing a sari. The guy commented something like “Look at her, climbing in the sari” to motivate those girls I guess (Normal way of motivation in India: Peer pressure :P) I was happy to be a part of the motivation. After a satisfied break of an hour, we headed back to the marriage venue.

P.S: For more pictures click here or on the image below

My take on the fort:

• Good architecture to experience. Inside the fort, there is vast space and some structures to store arms. Outside periphery is sturdy like most forts in India.
• Can become a great picnic spot for families, if basic amenities are provided.
• Need to carry water and food,  nothing is available on the top.
• You can park the car on the ghat road(its better as during rainy season, the mud road will be slippery) and bikes can be taken till the start of the steps that lead to the fort.
• A view point, that shows the top view of the fort would be great attraction for everyone and the USP of the fort.

After returning, I did some reading about the fort and found many interesting things in these links [1] [2] [3] :

• It was built by Tipu Sultan in 1782, Tipu noticed mist around the fort which is also called  “Manju”  in Kannada and hence kept the name Manjarabad.
• The fort was used to store arms and ammunition and keep a watch on British and Kodagu army.
• Article here , says that there is mud road that can be hiked for 6 kms to see the top view ( Will try this next time).
• An interesting video gives you a tour of the fort.
• On a clear day, Arabian sea can be seen from the fort.
• A tunnel inside the fort is said to connect to Srirangapatna.

Hope to see this view in the future…  PC: goo.gl/BLzecH

 

I would love to see the fort during monsoon. The stones may be slippery due to rains, but the greenery adds to the visual treat. Lets see when this wish gets fulfilled. Till then.. Keep travelling 🙂

 

 

Mobile phone that I kept losing and finding!!

I have lost track of the number of times, that I had forgotten my phone in one or the other place and some good soul has returned it back to me. This generally has happened in a private space like college, office etc. I generally tend to forget my phone in wash rooms and  realize it after many hours and then I have to run helter skelter to find it. But losing mobile phone in public space is futile and you rarely get in back in a place like India. Larger the crowd, smaller the chance of finding lost things.

So this is the story of our final year college trip to Kerala back in 2008. It was fun to experience Munnar, Vegaland, Cochin, party boats etc. So on the last day, the last stop was a beach. I am not sure of its name, it was almost sunset and I was totally exhausted after the long trip, so was sitting in the bus and did not intend to go out. Finally on someone’s instance I went out to catch some fresh air. We clicked a few pictures and I was enjoying the breeze. After some while, my friend Suchi came running to me saying that my mom called. I was surprised as my mom would call me first and not my friend. She wouldn’t bother others and had faith that I would call her whenever I am out. So I took the call and first thing my mom asked was – Where is your mobile? I was shocked. I told her it must be in the bag. She asked me again. I was totally confused. I was sure I had not taken my mobile out.  She told me that she got a call from my mobile saying that it was fallen in the beach of Kerala. So she asked me Where was I now?? Luckily I was still at the beach. I was still too confused as to how am I supposed to find the person and my mobile. I called my phone from my friend’s mobile and that fellow picked the call. He was standing a few meters away from me. He waved his hand and I finally found him and my mobile. He told me, the mobile was lying in the sand and he dialed the first contact that I had stored as Amma. I was still wondering how did the mobile land up in that place and the only way I feel that it must have fallen from my trouser pocket as I dont remember taking it out in the beach. I thanked him with all my heart and returned back embarrassed about my carelessness. God bless that noble soul. Wherever you are I hope you have experienced much more goodness in return.

So you may think, that I have become much evolved after that incident. That is not true. I do constantly keep a check when I travel (once in a while). It is not that I am careless, certain situations make you lose your conscious alert self that leads to you in doing such mistakes. Such less alert situations are looked for by people who rob or steal. I have lost many such things and not found them back. But the situations like these leave an impact on you. So I wanted to share them.

Let me know if you have some experience where people have been kind to return your stuff. I have many more incidents to recite.

Till Then.. Keep spreading kindness 🙂

My favourite Ratt Mobile 😛

PC: https://nokiamuseum.info/nokia-2630/

 

 

A generous BMTC bus conductor

This incident happened during my Tesco Days. It was a routine to travel from Marathahalli to office and back, through BMTC buses. Another pattern was that once in two weeks atleast I would forget  my phone in the PG and leave to office. It wasn’t an issue back then, we could live a day without our phone :). I had to just  call up my parents and friends and tell them that I dont have my phone. But on this unusual day I left my wallet in my house. Unaware of this fact, I boarded the bus and by the next stop I realized that I had left my wallet and to my bad luck there wasn’t any money in the bag too. It  was already late to the office. So I really did not know what to do. As the conductor approached me for the money, I told him that I had left my purse in my house. I was expecting some scolding or he would ask me to get down in the same stop.

I have experienced many situations where the conductor either did not return the change( They just write it behind the ticket and would pay back only when your stop arrives. If you are a forgetful person then you would lose that money) or scolded back when you give Rs. 100 or Rs.500 saying “Change illa”. So it would be totally OK if the conductor behaved similarly this time. But to my surprise he said its OK and in a loud voice asked me “What will you do when you return? Do you want money?” I was astonished. I couldn’t believe what he just said. He iterated “Duddu beka?” I thanked him for his concern and told him that I would pay him back the next day. He told its OK. But i kept saying Thank you and I will pay you tomorrow.  I completed my journey with gratitude determined to return his money the next day. But little did I know that it wasn’t the regular bus. I waited in the bus stop for 3 to 4 days after the incident, around the same time, but could not find the bus nor the conductor. But this act of kindness makes me believe in goodwill of human beings. Whoever you are..  May god bless you 🙂  

Signing off,

Praseeda

Picture used only for Illustration. Credits:  news18.com

 

 

A small act of kindness by a two wheeler

After marriage I have been travelling quite often in the car and that too next to the driver(my husband :P). His craze for driving has made me “the conductor” and I have got a few(read it 2) chances to drive too :). Whenever we travel in the night, the only problem is high beam light that literally blinds you. The strategy that my husband uses is “Tit for 2 Tats” 😛 So he would switch to low beam whenever a vehicle approaches him. Give a dim dip for a while, so that the opposite driver also switches to low beam. If the opposite driver is still adamant to stay on high beam, he returns back to high beam to blind the other fellow. I wonder how many deaths happen due to this blinding in India!! But the strategy with two wheeler is, No matter what state of beam they are in, my husband lowers the beam, as he understands their plight. The issue of dim dip comes mostly in single roads.

So we were travelling from Mysore to Bangalore via Kanakapura road. Its mostly a single road but due to less traffic we prefer this road. As usual while returning the game of high beam and low beam was on. A two wheeler was approaching us in the opposite direction. I knew my husband’s strategy and he had lowered the beam. To my surprise even the two wheeler lowered his beam. We never had this expectation nor we did we receive this reciprocation. I was so surprised that I really wanted to stop the car and give a big bow to that fellow. Whoever the fellow was.. God bless you!!

Image for representation.  Credit: Caspar Benson Getty Images

Signing off!!

Praseeda

Thorns, Slips, Tumbles and much more at Yerikallu, Charmadi Ghat

YHAI Mangalore planned to visit Yerikallu, a trek in the Charmadi Ghat during the last weekend of November. I convinced two colleagues to accompany me. It is a tragedy for the girls in India. You always need to have some company to go to a trip else you wont get permission from your parents. We were 6 girls out of the 25 trekkers that day. I and my colleagues gathered a little late at the meeting point behind Hindi Prachar Samiti, Lal bagh and started our journey at 6:20. It was quite chilly that morning.

We had a delicious breakfast at Jain hotel,Belthangady. After sipping hot tea, collecting our packed lunch we moved towards the Charmadi base,30 km from Belthangady.Florine ma’m kept us entertained with singing and dancing during the Antakshari session.She is one awesome lady!! 🙂

After reaching the base of the ghat section we had a photo session. We could see the mighty Yerikallu at a distance. It looked like we had to do a lot of climbing. We met our guide and he boarded our van. I was glad to know that we would begin our trek from the 5th curve of the Charmadi Ghat.

Initial view of Yerikallu from the Charmadi Base

There was some confusion between the organizer and the guide. He was expecting us to climb some other peak and took us ahead. By the time we realized it was difficult to turn the van in that ghat. While the driver figured out how to reverse the vehicle I got down and clicked good pictures of the hill we were about to climb. The view from that place was amazing. I wonder if I would ever get a chance to stop the vehicle in the ghat section and click pictures like this. As they say all happens for a good reason. This is the good I see in the confusion 🙂

Lucky shot of Yerikallu I got due to the guide’s confusion 🙂

We returned to the curve and found a narrow entrance from where we had to start our climb. We picked our food that comprised of pulav, 2 oranges and a juice packet. I did a bit of warm up and started the journey. It was a dense forest right from the beginning but just the half the way through. The sun was playing hide and seek. My colleagues were excited as they had to climb a steep path right from the beginning. It was their first experience of a real trek( As they called it :P).  One of my colleague found it difficult to climb. Florine mam motivated her and held her hand and dragged her up the hill.

Initial climb with hide and seek of sun’s rays

I found the trek doable initially. I held a tree or a plant and pulled myself up. I barely managed to climb the hill. I really don’t have the stamina to pull others. I am sure many of my co trekkers would agree to this fact as they have motivated me to complete my treks :P. I am also a slow walker. The agony is I take all the more time if I have to take photos of the scenery around (which i often do). The people who had organised the trip asked me to go ahead so that they could finish things on time. The only disadvantage of walking slow is that you get very less time to rest. When you go in group you can’t leave people behind. So the people ahead rest until all the members arrive. By the time the last person arrives they begin their climb. The last person has no other option other than continue walking. But that is how I like it. I enjoy the climb, I enjoy the journey and it’s not a competition to reach early. I guess I have the record of being the last person in all the treks that I have done so far. (Kinda proud of it :P)

We found wild mushrooms fixed to trees called lichen(my colleague told the name) . She mentioned that they are grown in places that have lots of oxygen. No wonder I was felt my system was getting cleansed during the trek. The forest was dry by now. Luckily we did not find any leeches, only dry leaves scattered around. We took a break to sip water and started the steep climb. After half an hour of tiring climb we saw sunlight and yerikallu in the background. The first sight of 180 degree view of many hills of charmadi was mesmerising. It was a breathtaking view to see hills in all the direction and greenery far and near 🙂 Nagendranath sir showed us each hill and mentioned its name. We clicked quite a few pictures and panorama shots.

Lichen – I got one back as a souvenir.

All the hills marked by Nagendranath sir.

Other set of hills of Charmadi

We had finished our trek in the forest and next was sunny grasslands. The path was filled with thorns and tall grass. The grass had turned dry by the this time of the year and they were making the climb all the more difficult. The dry grass made the path too slippery and we could not see the land because they had overgrown to almost my height. You had to push them aside and make your way. Since I was behind someone had already paved the path for me. You dont even know the topography of the land below – whether its narrow or steep down or at a height as you could only see the grass, not even its roots. Despite all the problems I used it as a tool to balance myself whenever I was about to slip. It behaved like a dangling stick that came to my rescue when I felt I was about to fall.

Can u see the path?? 😉

We could see the rock right ahead of us but we couldn’t go straight as it was too steep. We walked by the circumference of the hill and that’s how most of the trek paths are laid. I was the last one and Nagendranath sir accompanied me. We kept looking for fellow trekkers so that we don’t get lost. It was very difficult as you need to only look down at the path. We were walking on the edge and the path was narrow with grass on both sides. We couldn’t even judge the width of the path because of the grass. I slipped once and got a cut on my knuckles. By then there were many cuts on the hand because of the dry grass. The key thing for such treks is that you need to wear full sleeves shirt to avoid getting hurt by the thorns or grass.

More climb

After a while few fellow trekkers started climbing from a different path. It was very steep and short cut. I did not want to strain my knees as I knew the consequences while returning. So we moved our direction and reached one step ahead where we could see 270 degree view. The way to the rock blocked the 360 degree view. My friends took rest there as the guide told that you would get the same view on the top. Since they were tired they did not want to climb further. We took a few pictures together. We had a very good photographer – Shenoy Mamu who was always ready to take pictures. I wanted to climb further as I never like to leave a trek incomplete.

The task of climbing alone is tough as there is no one to guide you and tell you the right path. You could hope that wherever the grass is bent would be the path as people must have walked over it. But due to wind you never know. I could see people climbing straight ahead of me. But they had taken different route. I realized I took the most difficult path. I guess I should compliment my judgement 😛

Panorama with Nagendranath sir

After a while I could see Nagendra sir convincing my friends and they agreed to climb up:) It was a bit tough with rocks around. All the journey till here was like skiing. They hold the sticks and I held the grass with two hands. It wasn’t possible without that. Somehow I managed to reach the top and everyone clapped as we finally reached.;) I know the sarcasm but I consider it a compliment. It wasn’t breezing up there as the rock was blocking it. We could not climb on top of that rock. That was quite huge and 90 degree inclination.

I got a place and started hogging Pulav. It was an amazing lunch and the greenery added all the more joy to it. General norm during YHAI trips is we begin with introductions and then start the journey. But since we got late at the beginning we had our introductions in the top. There were variety of people who came for the trek – teachers, priest, business man, bank employees. There was no common background but only pure passion to hike, explore. Few were retired and they inspired us a lot.

After a few group pictures we started back. That’s the irony – you walk up 3 hours and back may be 4 hours just to be there for not even for an hour. I guess that is also the law of nature. Since it is for a few moments we cherish it and value of those things are less which we get in abundance. I knew that the return journey is going to be very difficult as it is very steep and I have a problem in my left knee. I was very cautious as I did want any injury and a lot of them slipped . We had lot more breaks this time as we were getting down a different way. We were walking to the base of Charmadi and not the 5th curve.

The steep walk down

Initial grasslands were alright, but later on in the woods it was very difficult. I was avoiding all the shortcuts as they were steep and steep means my knee would hurt more. They were making sure we stick to one group as no one knew the way very well and there were chances of missing. My eyes would only concentrate on the path and at times would look for the person to know the path.  When in dilemma I would shout and ask for path. Shenoy mamu had brought lot of toffees – jeera toffee. At every break he would give us or we would ask him for the toffee.

Once we entered the woods it seemed never ending, At times we would hear vehicle horns very close by and would be excited that the road has arrived just to our dismay that we had to walk further. I would hold a tree or a branch and move down. You need to look for thorns and even dead branches as putting your weight on them would make you fall. There was a point where i could not walk down as it was very steep. I started sliding down. After a while some guys started screaming. I was hopeful that we reached the base. There was a very long wooden log and they assumed that to be the road. I guess excess of oxygen may lead to hallucinations too 😛

My knees were hurting now. I started walking with only my left foot ahead and put all the stress on my right knees. A senior sir told that you need to keep the foot cross to avoid slipping. After walking for almost one and half hour we could hear a stream. Since I had enough water there was no need to go to the stream but wanted to wash face and feel fresh.

YHAI secretary was with me motivating to keep moving till the stream. But later I got alone. It wasn’t that steep and I knew that road is not that far. Shenoy mamu constantly kept a check on me by shouting my name.They wanted to reach the base before it got dark. On the way we found a scorpion. It was posing with its thongs raised. I guess it knows what the shutterbugs want 😛 After clicking pictures we moved ahead.

The posing scorpion

Once we saw a house we were all happy – Civilization – end of the steep descent!!! It was a relief to everyone.  Before reaching the vehicle we took group pictures trying to have yerikallu in the background.

A group picture with Yerikallu in the background

My legs were aching especially the fingers due to the descent as all the pressure were on them. While returning we had antakshari and Florine mam was energetic then too. I wonder how does she manage to be so fit and energetic after that trek!!  We stopped back at Jain hotel for snacks and had Paper sweet and hot mixture and chips. They were yum. We reached home by late evening. I hope to climb all the peaks of Charmadi which looked majestic from yerikallu. Thanks to the organizers of youth hostel Mangalore unit.

Key things:

• Grab atleast 2 litres of water during this season as you have no source.
• Wear full sleeves shirt and full length pants to avoid scratches all over your body
• A guide is a must – it is not easy to figure out yourselves
• Keep the area clean so that others can also enjoy 🙂

The Elusive Pithrody beach (Udyavara, Udupi)

There is always something that catches your attention and becomes your motivation to go explore that place. It could be your friends relating their experience or Google’s search which says what to do. For me it was a picture that i came across in the net.

Pithrody back water found at http://udupitourism.blogspot.in/

Too good to believe right?? I was very curious too. I love to explore new places. Most of my Google search would be “places to visit in some place”.  I try to utilize my time after work to see some new place. It was mid-July and my cousin who shares the same interest like me was also free. So noon 2 we decided to visit Pithrody beach which was at the top of my bucket list. I had done some research  to reach the place through public transport (my only hope) . I asked people around if they knew the place to get the directions. But this place wasn’t that famous.  I found some information in the Udupi tourism site and Payaniga blog(page does not exist). I looked up in the Google maps and found a bus stop near the beach and a ferry line. According to me a ferry line is indicated in Google maps if they have ferries moving to and fro (which was not the case here)

We reached Udupi city bus stand and a bus was waiting to go to Pithrody around 2:45 PM. Without asking anyone we got our tickets to last stop of the bus( assuming it to be our destination). It was a nice ride through Ambalpadi towards Pithrody. I had never been to this part of the town. A lot of development surprised me but there were still traces of trees that made me happy. As we were approaching the last stop I could see the narrow strip of land that had caught my attention in the picture. But there were houses around so was hoping to see a way to reach the place. I looked around to ask the conductor the exact stop but he was not in the bus. There was only a lady sitting behind us. Looking at our confused face she asked where we wanted to go. I told pithrody beach and she asked us who told us about it? We got down in the last stop called Pithrody Kamaanu stop. We reached the place around 3:30 PM.

We asked her from where we could get a boat to go to Pithrody beach. She kept asking if we were referring to Kudru. Kudru means island in Tulu. My cousin knew about it, so she asked if we could get a boat to Kudru. She told us they don’t have boat service. They have private boats owned by residents. They live in the island and called someone from their house through mobile and asked to get the boat. Earlier when they did not have phones, they used to make special noise to signal their family members to get the boats. She was surprised as to how we found the place. She could not believe that we came just to see the place.  She was an inquisitive lady. She asked about our details, where we came from and what were we doing and even what caste we belong to. My cousin just answered that we were Hindu. This was the first time it ever mattered when I was travelling in Karnataka. Had we belonged to the same caste she would have arranged for a boat. (Who knows). She walked with us to the place where we could catch the boat and see the island as well.

The calm shore. You just want to sit and retrospect 🙂

This was not the land that I wanted to see. I could see the coconut trees at a far distance. I asked her how to reach the far strip of land. She asked us to take an auto and go through land. I wanted to see the same through boat  :-(. She was in a hurry but asked us to catch the 4’0’ clock bus and return and not stray around. She stressed that point minimum 5 times during our conversation. We really felt like intruders at that point . The place was calm and peaceful. But my mind was only searching for ways to reach that narrow strip of land. I tried to find my location but due to bad coverage I could not locate myself.

A boat approaching our shore from the kudru (island)

After a while we saw a boat coming from the island. A man near our side of the shore said something to us aloud. We ignored as we were habituated to ignore any stranger talking to us in India. That’s the rule of conduct we follow. Later we realised that he was asking if we wanted to take the boat and we felt really bad for ignoring. We clicked few pictures of the island and the strip of land that I was interested in. As it was nearly 4 we decided to move towards the bus stand. We met a lady taking a cow back home after grazing the grass near the shore. We asked her if we could go and see the narrow strip of land closely. She showed us the way but asked not to go as there were lot of dogs. They have a tough time with the dogs and we as strangers could find it even harder. My fear for dogs prevented me from exploring that area. We asked if someone would take us through boat to that place. She told us all the men were either busy or away, so there was no one to take us to there. Disappointed we waited in the bus stand to get the bus. It came around 4:15. We hopped into the bus and returned to our respective house.

The land I want to conquer 🙂

I still have the strong urge to see that place. I hope I could see it very soon 🙂

It happened in my class room

The stories written about people often portray that one fine day due to one incident their life transformed and they looked at life with a new perspective. But for me realisation happened over a period of time. I began my career as a lecturer in an engineering college. I handled Database subject in the Information Science Department. As usual there was a bunch of naughty and disinterested students in the class. It did not affect me as long as they solved questions given to them. Among them there was one student Rahul (name changed) who could not execute programs in lab. I used to feel programs require thinking and problem solving skill unlike written exams which involve a lot of mugging. I noticed this and I decided to help him. When asked for  reason, he told that he had difficulty in understanding English. I felt bad for being judgemental and decided to devote more time. I asked him to meet me after class hours to explain the topics that he could not understand in class. Initially he was punctual and attentive during these sessions. But later he stopped attending them. I realised that he was ignoring me when I overheard him in the corridor telling other students that I was forcing him into this. I felt bad as I was devoting extra time just to make him understand the subject. I explained him that the extra sessions were for his benefit and not mine and I will not bind him to take these sessions. I am not sure if that explanation helped him but he showed progress in studies after that. I had given difficult queries in the class test. He was one of the few who could solve them. I was happy and rewarded the students with chocolates for solving the queries. I realised that you need not force someone to do things but simple explanation to make them realise would be enough.

A placement preparation class was set up to help students in various activities of campus placement like aptitude, group discussion and interviews. During one of the sessions of group discussion I gave the topic to discuss “Pro’s and Cons of recession” since we were experiencing recession then. I being a victim of recession could not think of any benefits of recession. But Rahul mentioned that due to recession all the distinction students have become lecturers waiting for companies call and they got a chance to be guided by good lecturers. I could not believe that this guy was smart enough to think such a deep thought . I learnt that day that no matter what, there are always two sides of every situation. We just need to identify the good part and be happy. 🙂