Independence day

Its been 62 years since we became independent. Its a day of national significance , a day to pay homage to those leaders who strived in getting us the freedom. But how long are we going to hide behind superlative statements like "the emerging super power" "double digit economy" etc..

The poverty, corruption, illiteracy & terrorism is taking a toll on India .

No amount of Ana Hazare's and Arundati Roy's wont work , People need to get together to save this great country from its fall....

But how.... give it a thought.

Kinks - You really got me going!

I've started listening to this song again!!! Wow o Wow. I'm Back.

The man is back in town, don't mess me around.  !!

This is 2.00 mins of sheer bliss, I would have heard it over a million times till date. If something could ignite a music ignorant person. this is it. Shut up and listen. This is played by one of the best band ever known to mankind - "The Kinks". This song is more than 40 years old, but still hasn't lost its sheen.

Signed.

R>A>M>K>I (Wild Guitar strumming in the background)!!!!

*Evil Smile*

Shrug off - BrrrrRRRrrrr!

I love this new coca cola commercial "Brrrrr".  Conceptualization of the commercial is awe-inspiring. The sets of the location, the star cast (from the IPL) and landscape where it is shot is aesthetically appealing.

Take a sample of the Ad :

Generally I find all the cola (Pepsi and Coke) ads to be "just gas" and no substance. Though on a funny note this Ad seems to strike a a nice chord with the audience.

I see another interesting aspect of this commercial - when the person performs the "brrrrrr" - I see that as a sign of shrug off.. a sign of let go...

Letting go is a virtue. its not so simple as it seems.

Failed relationships.                                                                       Ruthless society.
                          
                      Breakdowns.                                                    Lost the loved ones.                           

                                Betrayals.                                                       Bankruptcy
                    
                                                             Stock market crashes.

Be it whatever - Shrug it off. Its one Life - which is frigging short. So just drop down your baggage and stay light. Your life is to be lived. Even a second lost - sulking over the above stated miseries is just foolishness.

So live the moment - shrug off all the heavy weights sitting on your back. Shrug off emotions, Shrug off tears, Shrug off bad memories. Shrug off rugged past.

Shrug off is definitely a virtue, its a commitment to live this short journey in this world called "Life".

Shrug off doesn't mean giving up - it means letting go of certain things in life which delivers you nothing but crap. This "something" could be people, or that heavy thing that weighs down on your heart, or that itch in your palm that keeps you off your peace.

Get off the sticky web called agony/trauma, there is a beautiful world outside up for the grabs. There about six billion fascinating people to be acquainted with. So get out of all the mental chains you are entangled to.

Even the 'Atlas, Shrugged' - why can't you?

Life Without...

Man invented few things. those things got used by one man and got abused by another man. Imagine a life without those inventions. Here I'm not talking about "Mars Rover" or 'Drone" or "Pacemaker" kind of inventions. Its about those subtle inventions which has changed life in a beautiful way. I list down a few items below - which I feel though are not life saving but definitely interesting invention/innovation.. Just imagine a life without these!

Hand showers used in the closet. Shaving Razor. TV remote control. silent modes in phones.  table fans. ATM machines. credit cards. torrents. Google. mosquito repellents. Wii. escalators. ready-to-eat food. wipers in the car. side stand for a bike. Zip locks. noodle strap bra. Youtube. stock market tickers. straw. GPS. wrist watch. microwave oven. contact lenses. projectors. eBay. bottle opener. iPod. Laptops. Twitter.


You can take a call whether the above list makes any sense to you or not. You decide. Because I'm not your daddy!

know iPod.know Life.

Yeah I too can live the live the life without anyone of the above inventions stated above in a happy way except for one - iPod. Yeah I don't know whats wrong with me - but Led Zeppelin, Floyd, Kinks, Deep Purple are in my DNA.

Next post will be on those inventions which has made man a "slave" to his own inventions. (keep checking for the post!)

Being a Panda

Whats World Wildlife Fund's logo? 

Well yeah you are right - its a panda ! why was it chosen as the logo for WWF?

Ok all right, no one likes too many questions. Panda is the most endangered creature on this planet earth and is the most threatened too. According the WWF survey there are only about 1600 pandas in the whole world. So the WWF guys thought it would be apt to have Panda's symbol as the logo for the WWF. 
There is also another reason why panda was preferred - it can be sketched out with a pencil - black and white and there by is just simple to be reproduced on handouts etc.


There is yet another reason - why Panda was used as the logo (my version) : See the Pandas in captivity does not mate - the zoo authorities tried so many techniques to aid its mating like showing them the videos of giant panda mating. They also went to the extent of giving viagra (if you dont beleieve it "Read on! " )to the male panda. All this techniques doesn't seem to work with panda. The only way they are bred is through artificial insemination. one panda in two years. Thats not too many . Isn't it rare for a species to mate and keep the population spiraling up? That is what as mankind are specialist at.

So panda has to be bred in the artificial way to keep the species from extinction. Pandas don't care about their extinction - they refuse to mate, remember it. So (i think) that is another reason why WWF thought Panda would be the apt logo for its project to save the wild life.  They must have thought there is no way that pandas will be alive when left to themselves - so the organization must go all guns to keep the species allive.

So here comes my theory and the new term I've coined.

world is falling, help me.

"Being a Panda" - represents a person who is sulking over all his grief to the world, and chest beats all the grief to everyone he meets.  He fails to take corrective action for all his misery. In short it represents a person - who is plunged into an ocean called the "self pity" and waits for the world to solve his problems.

Illustrative Usage : Ram to Laxman
Ex no 1: Ram : hey how's shyam doing?
Laxman : Dude you know what, he's just being a panda man, he keeps brooding over his failed university exams. god save him.


Disclaimer : the facts used above have been culled out from http://wwf.panda.org/ . Pics used are from WWF website and http://www.clipartof.com/details/clipart/21318.html. Panda logo shown above is the registered logo of WWF.

Car Festival In mylapore - then and now!

It was way back in mid-90's when I was a kid I used to love the mini- sized giant wheelscalled the "raatanam" (ராடனம்). I will pester my amma for doing rounds in that. During the month of March every year - there used to be this festival called - "Panguni Uttiram" (பங்குனி உத்திரம் ) where a lot of festivities are planned across the temples in India. Of all the places the one that happens in Mylapore Kapaleeshwara temple is one thing that stands close to my heart. One for the reason, I'm a resident of mylapore since 1989 and two the same reason. Schools in mylapore used to remain closed during the festivities and the kids take active participation in the proceedings. 

Lot of things used to get distributed free during the festival time especially during the two days - தேறு festival  (car) and அறுவத்திமூவர் (63 nayamars). During these two days at least 20,000 people assemble in mylapore around the all famous mylapore tank. Residents of mylapore distribute food, water and cool drinks to all the devotees who throng the place.

There was energy in the air all through the festivities. I would take part in every single day of the function. I used to be so happy those days.

Now its that time of the year when the festivities have started - but i look sober and pale. Reasons are too a many or only one? I'm not sure. 

But Happiness is just a state of mind and no body can steal my happiness. So i decide to put up a smiling face and enjoy the festivities that has just begun.

Japan - Thy will rise again

over 750 dead and 1000 missing, cities inundated, dams broken, train missing and Nuclear plant in a critical state of emergency- all the debacle within hours from the deadly earthquake measuring 8.9 on Richter scale. Japan is one of the most highly prepared country to deal with natural disasters of high magnitude but this quake was a lot more than what they were prepared for.


What always amazes me is the discipline with which the Japanese operate, the orderliness. I read a news report, that even after this catastrophe, people stand in queue (in Tokyo) to get into a bus and wait for the signal to turn green. A salute to such meticulous orderliness. This is rare, and one of a kind.

japan with the world's largest forex reserves of over a trillion dollars will quickly rebound. The people of Sendai will get back into business fast and will give the mother nature a pleasant surprise by rehabilitating so many displaced people and structures. Thats Japan!

Japan will get out of this fast and get back quickly into business and the Nikkei will soar once again! My prayers are with the people of Japan.

Celebrating silence

Have you heard of the word speech is sliver, silence is golden. I've always believed in it but have never practiced it. But off late I've started practicing it. See I'm generally this sort of guy who wants things sorted out by words and by justifications. But over time world has changed me into a guy who is more measured in his talks and who believes that silence is stronger than 10 tonnes of steel.


But coming a long with this approach, now I've realized that there is another set of people to whom even the silence doesn't mean anything. These are the indifferent people - people who think that they don't give a #$@# about anything. These are the people who are tough to handle. The best way to handle these people is to do nothing just be your usual self and be natural and go by their same "don't give #$@# attitude".

But on any given day people "silence is golden". There is an eternal peace amidst the sweet silence - enjoy it and live the moment and discover oneself.

You might be a really outgoing person but still some moments of silence makes you to get a new perspective of life.

new year

2011 born.2010 dead.
you still have to win the daily bread

world goes gun-ho in taking resolution
most of the life's problem have a solution

The urge to succeed

"How did you become this successful ? " a young boy asks Socrates - the Greek philosopher. Socrates takes this boy to a near by river and the drowns the boy's head into the flowing water. The boy tries to set himself free to gasp some air but Socrates tightens his grip over the boy's neck. After two minutes the boy through his effort gets himself released from the clutches of the philosopher and the pale turned boy looks up to Socrates in disdain. Socrates grins at the boy and says " what did you want when you were underwater "? "Air" - the boy replies. Socrates with a stern voice says "if you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will succeed".

The above four lines means a whole lot in one's life - if one can draw parallels to the story - If success is treated as the only thing for survival, then success is guaranteed. Success should never be an option, it should be the prerogative. There should always be a craving in you to succeed in whatever you do.

Success means different things to different people - If you are an archer try to become William Tell, if you are an aspiring football player - Messi should be your pick, or when it comes to tech stuff - Never settle for anything less than Steve Jobs or if you are the business of stock markets - Soros should be your benchmark.

Always pick a person whom you can associate with and slowly march towards them and one day you will definitely get past them.

Success is not attained sitting on a La-Z-Boy recliner - it is achieved by greased shirts. Success is not easy - the windows auto-correct for success is "hard-work" and unstinted devotion to the goal. There was once an art Connoisseur who is immensely moved by the master's depiction of the guernica bombing by the Germans - and exclaims " I would give my life for creating such a master-piece". Master in his mellowed voice replies " I did give".

That is the degree of hard-work we are talking about. There are about half a billion babies added to the planet every year. Only a handful of them grow up to be achievers. what makes them different from the rest? the answer is simple - hard work and more hard work.

We are living in a world where free-thought is highly revered. A person's intellects fetches more ROI than a block of cash. Google was born in a garage in Menlo Park in 1996 as a project in the Stanford University. The initial funding for Google was a $ 100,000 check from Andy Bechtolsheim, Co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Today Google is worshiped and is currently a $ 166 billion company. Google is a classic example of where your intellect can take you.

Mere survival in this world without leaving a mark is an insult to the creator. Japan after the nuclear debacle has come a long way to be the country with second largest foreign exchange reserve in the world of $ 1 trillion. All this was built from shambles. If Japan can do it - why not anyone?

An urge to succeed supported by a strong will will lead us to glory!

Where do you belong?

Roshan gets up in the morning later than his usual time and grudges at his alarm clock and nudges past chaotic city traffic to his programming job. This is his daily routine and all through his work hours his mind is somewhere else - Books ! Yeah, he always wanted to be an author but his financial condition did not give him that freedom. So here he is, crunching some monotonous codes, debugging some bugs, and answering some on-site calls at ungodly hours. All for what - Money! Does he get to follow his dream of being an author? Only he got to tell.

How many of us have the guts and kill in us to do what our heart thrives upon, where the your passion lies? Very few people take up things which are close to their heart, most of the people follow their mind. Mind follows money.

I'm no different. I've been chasing money and doing something which dosent give me the satisfaction. Do I atleast take time off to do things which are closer to my heart? Not till date. But now the time has come.

I've always had this urge for doing a trip to himalayas for a long long time. Its still unsatiated due to nature of work I do. I feel i should take a sabbatical sometime and make a visit to the god of the mountains the Himalayas.

Waking up to the nerve breaking chill, putting on you hiking shoes and scaling the himalayas is like a dream for me. A bath in the one of the natural geyser will be just amazing. I will also make a trip to Mt. Kailash (meaning Crystal in Sanskrit - so is the place) - the abode of Lord Shiva and take a dip in Manasarovar - the purest lake in the world.

My next wish in my bucket list is to make a trip to the Khadrung-La - The highest motorable pass. Sipping a tea out there would be my life's most fulfilling moment.

I would also like to spend atleast a month in Leh, Meditate at the shanthi stupa and live life on bare minimum necessities. I want to be snapped of communication with the outside world, have just a back pack with stuff which will make just make me survive.. I would want to be like Christopher McCandless - enjoying my solitude in the land of purity/sernity/divinty call it anything

Himalayas is like Shangri-La to me- the land of no worry, outside the human interference and a place where serenity still prevails....

So when is this desire of mine be fulfilled, I wont say the usual dialogue "The time will tell" may be it will... but I will make it happen...

My time has come. My footprints in Himalayas are not far away... My Salute to the great Himalayan mountain! That is where I belong!

Signing off....
Ramki

Jillinu oru life: Review of Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya!!

Jillinu oru life: Review of VTV!

Review of Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya!!

I Got to watch the vinnai thaandi varuvaaya this sunday. Went in with lots of hype created around the movie.

The movie started with the usual girl-boy relationship, the boy madly in love with the girl, the girl being one year elder to him and caste issue being at the fulcrum of the love story.

But I felt something fresh in this movie - Simbhu - sporting a guy - next door looks, Trisha - Never found her so beautiful - she is fresh as an apple. Every reel of the film has been shot with a feel in the heart which could be sensed from the picturesque the movie has turned into.



The shot in the final leg of the movie where Simbhu - describes his new found girl which happens to be trisha, Romance was up in the Air!!

The songs have been shot in jaw-dropping locations and Trisha looks eye-candy all through the movie.

Overall an amazing light hearted feel-good factor traversed my heart as i was leaving the theater.

I will watch it one more time for sure - this time not to miss the first song - Hosanna!!

Ramki

PS: I intentionally have not commented on the music of the film, I never comment on gods!!

Break on through to the other side!

Music - What does it mean to you?

To me music means everything, I embrace music in whatever form it is, be it Acid rock, heavy metal or hindustani. Basically I dont care about the genre of the music. If a song can put you into a state of trans - why care about genre.

I started tripping on english music 2 years back - I was influenced by few of my friends from the previous company and later i got sucked into it. By English music I mean the legendary bands like - The DOORS, Led Zep, The Kinks, Grateful Dead etc.

Listening to the the LedZep's stairway to heaven and no quarters have made me have mood swings - whenever I'm low on morale I play these tracks and i get back to my full vigour. No day passes without listening to Kinks - "You really got me going" - The voice of Dave Davis puts me into a world of "no- worries". Any music lover would love that song - its just a 2.11 minute piece but delivers an ever lasting impact on what music was during the sixties.

If ever God grants me a wish - I would ask me to put me back into 60's where i could grow up listening to these great bands.

And if given a second wish I would want to meet Jim Morrison - the god of music. His song "Light My Fire" made every person in farthest part of planet run crazy. His voice was magical and the songs he has given to the world during his short stay in the earth (he died at 27 - yes same like Jimi Hendrix; Great people die young!) is still raved about. I love this guy just for his attitude. You guys must have heard of this phrase : " Dont live in this world like you rule it; Live it like you dont give a damn whoever rules it". He was a epitome for this phrase.

Let me quote an episode which reiterates this. The Doors was given a chance to perform in the Ed Sullivan's LIVE show - then considered the Mecca for the rock bands. They had to perform their No.1 single - "light my fire". The production manager of the show made one small request to the band and asked them to change one world in their first stanza of the song which goes like this :

"You know that it would be untrue,

You know that I would be a liar,

If I was to say to you

Girl, we couldn't get much higher"

The production manager wanted the last word changed from "higher" to "nicer" as it was provocative and vulgar those days. After some confrontation - the band agreed.

When the show was aired LIVE - Jim continued with the original script and stuck to "higher" as he didnt want to change the song for anyone.After the song was over the band was thrown out of the studio and the remaining contract to perform for 4 more shows were terminated. Ray - the key board and pianist of the band, came to Jim and asked him " Jim, Do you realize that we will not be allowed perform the greatest music show on earth "the Ed Sullivan's show" ?

Bang came the reply " Ray, we just peformed on the Ed Sullivan's show". This shows the attitude which he owns and flaunts.

Apart from the english music scene I also love our Tamil music.My all time favorite is Munbe Vaa.and I love hindi music too! The latest peppy numbers by A.R.Rehman Masakali and Dilli-6 has made me go crazy.

If english music and filmy music makes my head turn, Carnatic music is not far away.

we have been blessed to listen to the likes of Smt. MS Subhulakshmi, Shri. Maharajapuram Santhanam, Shri. Madurai Mani Iyer and other great souls.

"Kurai ondrum illai" rendered by MS soothes every nerve in the body and "Bhaja Govindam" sets in you a sense of self realisation.

Okay let me take a break now. I dont want to bore you guys anymore.

My Farewell letter to my co-workers!

How lucky I'm to have something that makes saying Goodbye so hard

I passed out my CA exams in July 06 and I was almost clueless what I was going to do next. Whether to continue what I was doing till then - Auditing or to try my hands at something new. I somehow landed up a job with ThinkEquity in Oct 2006. the words "equity research" sounded too exciting to me.

As the dust settled I got introduced to exciting world of equities. There was not one day I repented my decision for taking up the equities as my career path. After a while my stint at TEP was like a song so melodious and soothing.

After 30 months or so the time has come for me to depart this beautiful company ( I mean it - it meant everything to me) I want you all to know that I am truly leaving here with mixed feelings; happy about my new career opportunity but sad to be leaving many wonderful friends and colleagues. The last three years as a member of the TEP India team was the best period of my career so far.

I always felt that TEP India was my second home and never felt tired even after staying for 2 days on a trot in office - this place was so enthralling, believe me! I became addictive for staying in office. You guys made the office so beautiful - I doubt whether I would get such a great set of friends in my future professional life.

Now its the time to say goodbye!

I always believe good times are always punctuated and never gets terminated. So our good times together are to continue.

I part with a heavy heart and I'm sure we only part to meet again!

Thanks for everything guys! Please stay in touch - I mean it !

My personal email ID is ramakrish.pt@gamil.com

For good times to come!

Ramki

www.thinkramki.blogspot.com

Go go, they say you got to go!!

The song by Jim Morrison - "Light My Fire" comes calling at these distressed times.

" you know that it would be untrue...
you know that i would be a liar,
If i was to say to you,
Girl i was never fired"

In this tumultuous times getting fired is is like catching a cold so common and contagious. People are just being thrown out of their jobs in a very systematic and smooth manner and Pink is the color in vogue. Axing, sacking and other job cuts adjectives take the headline in all the dailies starting from Financial Times to Mylapore Times. Once the famous hailed upon Wall Street is cracking up and the so called dooms day has become a daily affair. United States, the Goliath of the world's economy was diagnosed a Cancer patient a few months back, sticking to its basics the disease started spreading into other countries and every economy started imploding. The economists of the world are still trying to arrive at a magic formula to treat this cancer which has already taken a toll on the most part of the body. The economists of individual countries though had a different opinion, they thought their economies were intact and was de-coupled from the world's debacle. Yes they thought that the world could take a shelter from a few growth economies like India and China. These countries once considered piping hot economies has started showing signs of influenza. What could a panda and tiger do when the whole forest is on fire.

So is world coming to an end? Are we in for an another depression, apologies, let me be honest, when do we get out of this depression? When do we again see John Thains and Vikram Pandits start raking in millions through bonuses?

Even the world's best economists don't have the answers for these thought-provoking questions. We are in deep muck and it should take years (how many??) before we come on a firm footing.

Whos responsible for all this? or may be whats responsible for all this?

May be that's like the first question in the show - "who wants to be a millionaire?" so easy and so insulting - "Greed". If there are 12 gods as per greek mythology, there are hundreds of gods of greed and Wall street was abode of these gods - One stop shop. Wall Street housed classics like like Bernie Madoffs and Dick fulds (of the Lehman's fame). Wall street people always thought that they were straight descendants of the greek god of wealth Pluto conned every investor (victim of greed??) and company to amass sacks and sacks of money through complex derivative (considered WMDs of the financial world) instruments.

It is often (mis)quoted that even a sweeper in wall street earns about $600K per annum. I used to be surprised at this fact and used to think to myself that may be the wall street analysts and fund managers sitting on high rise building have too many dollars that some of that might overflow on to the roads of the wall St. Wall street was always like wonderland and we were like Alice. I hope atleast now people come out of their perpetual derangement and realize that the cliche "wall street" is now in history books and its time to get on to the main street. The raging bull has been tamed long before!

I'm stopping here right now as I got to get back to my work - hope its still on!!

More to come ... stay tuned..and stay in a job!!

Steve Jobs – Larger than Life

Being part of the finance fraternity we appreciate the basic funda of how a company is different from a mom & pop store. And the first think to strike our mind on this will be the trade mark Solomon & Solomon case - which states that a company is separate from its members and the company goes on even if its CEO, CFO or any top brass quit the company. We may also remember this famous line which throws the importance of this case – “Men may come, Men may go, but the Company goes on forever”. Being a core finance guy I’ve never doubted this principle. But some recent news in the Wall Street has made me rethink.

There happens a tech expo in SF every year, MacWorld, in January where all major tech companies unveil their new products and this is considered the mother of all tech conferences. Steve Jobs, the most revered CEO of the most celebrated company Apple, delivers the keynote Address which is the most sought after speech in the tech world and has had the widest media coverage so far. There came a shocker from Apple’s desk on 18^th Dec 2009 that Jobs would not be delivering the speech for the January 2009 event due to his health conditions, instead the company’s SVP Phil Schiller would take the spotlight. Wall Street, which is off late not new to bad news, brought Apple’s share price on its knees and the shares slumped and closed that day at $89.16, down $6.27 (6.6%). The market sent a strong signal stating how crucial Jobs was for Apple. There came another letter from the Steve Jobs himself on 5^th Jan 2009 stating that he is facing some minor health problems due to some hormonal imbalance which is perfectly treatable. The letter also stated that he will continue to function as CEO of Apple for the times to come. Remember Wall Street is not deaf to good news either; the stock price skyrocketed by about 4% in yesterday’s trading.

All this brings me to rethink whether Solomon and Solomon still holds good. In case of Jobs he is consider having a larger than life celebrity status. Research houses across the Wall Street have started discussing on Apple without Steve Jobs and most of them paint a grim picture on that scenario.

My Bottomline: Jobs gave Apple the cult status and orchestrated the company from rags to riches. He re-joined the company in 1997 as CEO after being ousted by a boardroom coup in 1987. In 2004 he survived a pancreatic cancer which nearly brought him close to death. Jobs has been a phenomenal CEO all through.

But I still think Solomon Vs. Solomon Case will hold good. Though Apple will not be the same without Jobs but will still continue to innovate and retain its celebrity status. Apple, though has mainly been the result of craftwork of the Great craftsmen Mr.Jobs, also has the hands of other great innovators in the company. I’m pretty sure whatever the employees have learnt from the “Master” would be put to use once he’s no more with the company. So the overreaction by the market to the Jobs health is unwarranted.

Anyways long live Steve Jobs, long live Apple!

Ramki

Photo Credits : Picture taken from Wall Street Journal

Rock Climbing – The Dan Osman Way!!

Every trek with CTC has loads of surprises, excitement in store for you, and the experience so fresh and reveling. Yes this trek/rock climbing to Ramnagar was no different; it was fun, frolic and a sense of satisfaction all through. Before this trip the only thing I knew about rock was the phrase “on the rocks” – Pun intended!
Here goes my write-up on one of a very beautiful treks organized by Vinod Hari
No respite from rains for about 10 days, water clogged roads, City’s traffic running haywire due to human chain, Chennai offered all the excitement it could and made the travel to a Central railway station a nightmarish experience. But twenty-five like-minded guys coming from various pockets of Chennai still made it to the station in nick of time.
After exchanging usual pleasantries all the guys, fatigued from the hectic weekly schedule, hit the sack. But Reddy and I had some secret discussion before we crashed for the day- okay let’s not keep it secret anymore. This story runs way down to the day Vinod put out the participants name list for the trek. My eyes got glued to a very peculiar name called “Trinka”. Reddy immediately started figuring out which part of the world this “Girl” belonged to? Reddy after some research, true to his reputation, concluded that “she should be somewhere from Eastern Europe. I was also convinced, because “in Reddy, I trust”!
The early morning on Saturday was characterized by chilly winds and murky skies. After basic freshening up we alighted the train at 6AM.
Vinod did a head count of all the guys. Meanwhile we introduced ourselves to the rest of the guys. My wandering eyes were on the lookout for “Trinka”. One deep voice said “Hi” from behind and then came the shocker: “he” said “I’m Trinka”. His full name - Thirugnanasambandam. Reddy and I quickly exchanged glances and our feelings then is left to anyone’s imagination.
We had 5 more people joining us in Bangalore. We boarded two vans and set on our journey to Ramnagar which was 60 kms from Bangalore. We broke for breakfast after some 30 minutes of drive. We had an interesting menu for breakfast - Idly – which was as big a dosa and masala as side dish. After the breakfast it was another hour’s travel to the spot.
We were warmly greeted by the adventure group which was headed by Kamlesh. He took over the proceedings from there.
We were distributed our ration of juices, snacks and some energy boosters. We were then briefed of our itenary for the day which went something like this –
 Trek some 6 kms in deep froest
 Rock climbing
 Take lunch
 Start the descent
We started with what we were good at – Trekking! The ground was sluggish due to overnight rain and rocks were slippery. After some simple walking for 10 minutes the group came to a halt. There was a 60 degree rock which we had to climb. The rock was slippery but Kamlesh climbed up the rock seamlessly and we followed the suit, indeed we were helped by guys in the adventure group. Immediately after I checked with Kamlesh as to whether there was any change in itenary as rock climbing was supposed to be at the last. Bang came the reply – this is no way rock climbing and that kept me guessing.
We encountered many such rocks, much steeper and taller, on the way and due to this we gained altitude real fast. We stopped at a few places to take some photos and yeah to grasp some breath too.
At around 11:30 am we came to a place where were surrounded by huge rocks on both the sides and there was another structure which was laden with huge stones right in front of us. Have we hit on a dead end? As CTC’ns are no new to dead-ends we were figuring out as to how to get past this! Soon came the answer – Nagu, a national champion in rock climbing climbed the structure before us like a spider. He made it seem so easy. We were warned by Kamlesh as to not to dig our hands or legs to deep into the rocks as there could be snakes! Being a nature lover and one who cares for ethical treatment of wildlife, I didn’t want to disturb the snake’s natural habitat, so I obliged to that request.
After that climb there stood a majestic rock unseen by chennaites. It was a massive structure, a 90 degree 100 feet tall rock. To be geometrically correct it became obtuse at the top! We were perplexed to know that this was the rock we had to climb! Our Devil-may-care attitude made the rock seem scalable!
Seeing the Harness, saw powder, ropes and clamps and other paraphernalia gave the feel of being in film shoot of Mission Impossible. We were given some basic instructions and rule 101 was not to panic as we are bellied to a guy standing below and whatsoever it is 100% safe and there is no chance of mishap. But our human minds kept pondering over the same.
Vinod was the first to call the shot. He was harnessed and started the perilous climb. After making some progress he decided to come down as the climb takes a toll on your fingers and bruises your legs/hands.
Then more people started climbing and were cheered by people standing down. But most of us were just able to make some half way on that gigantic rock. But Rajesh made a stupendous attempt and made it all the way to the top. It was great to watch a member of our group make it. Ian was the next guy to make it up, he made on a tougher side of the rock! This inspired many who were struggling to make any progress. Vinod made a yet another valiant attempt, and yes this time he made it very close to the peak. After that we had so many success stories.
Who said its only nice up the corporate ladder, ask the guys who made it to the top, they will vouch that its much enchanting up there. We were so much engrossed into watch other guys climb the rock that we developed stiff neck! I felt that the rock climbing instilled so much confidence in me and made me realize that we could draw parallels between life and rock climbing , Like rock climbing life is tough , yet life is beautiful.
After about 2 hours of rock climbing whistles were blown for the lunch. It was always nice to eat after a hard day’s work and we hogged on the food. The spread was so good and it was delicious too!
After Lunch we were told by Kamlesh that there is still trekking in store for us. Our excitement knew no bounds!
We started our way up to a local peak. In the final stretch we had to encounter some really steep steps. Once the climb was over we ended up in a plateau which gave us views of the entire mountain range! And the view was breath taking. I thought to myself that these steps were stairway to heaven! For the uninitiated, “Stairway to Heaven” is the rated the number one rock song of all times and is from the legendary rock band “Led Zeppelin”. Usual things followed – we took photos, enjoyed the magnificent views and grabbed some quick rest.
Then we started our descent and reached down in 30 minutes time. Once on the foothills of the mountain, we felt a sense of accomplishment creep through us.
What’s a trek without a water body on the way? All that begins well ends in a well. Yes, we were taken to nearby well where people jumped and enjoyed the ice-cold water. We spent an hour lazing around in the water.
After coming out from the well, we thanked Kamlesh & Co who took all the pain in the making this total trek a memorable one. Each one of his guys treated us so warmly that it doubled the fun of the trek. I still can’t believe that how they could offer the whole package at a dirt cheap rate. Anyways we made it clear to them that we still have unfinished business in Ramnagar and will soon be hitting that place once again very soon.
We boarded the van again and started our journey back to Bangalore. After two hours we reached our bus stand. As we were well ahead of time, we (except a few) decided to top our journey with a few glasses of beer. And it was like “Oktoberfest” in Germany. After some merrymaking we came to the bus stand and crashed in the bus like a set of falling pins.
We reached Chennai by 5am and we took the opportunity to thank Vinod for his contagious enthusiasm and his “cool as cucumber” attitude. It was a trek engineered to perfection!
The memory of the trek is so vivid and will stay with us for a long time.

Addicted to Trekking!
Ramki