Random clicks -05 Wildlife at Annamalai Ranges

All along wanted to take few photographs of various wild animals and birds during my trip to Conoor, Top Slip, Parambikulam Tiger sanctuary  and Coimbatore. I was able to take a photograph of a giant squirrel, deers and monkeys at the Top Slip and Bulbul at Sims Park

Wild Monkeys

Giant Squirrel in Top Slip

Deers in Top Slip Forest

Red whiskered Bulbul at Sims Park, Conoor

Two Minutes

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 29; the 29th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'TWO MINUTES'.

Image courtesy Google

Well this is the topic a noodle advertisement be it for Maggi or any other brand that tells us that the noodles are ready to eat in this time frame and is slurped hungrily down  .Two minutes generally seems to be a very short span of time but then it is not true as lot can happen during these 120 seconds…a life can be evolved or a person can die and there are quite a lot of instances that these 2 minutes had been detrimental to the outcome that has resulted in life or deaths… strange isn’t it !! Well it is a fact is that most people cannot hold their breath for so long underwater either a swimmer or not! My post is neither about swimming nor to do with holding your breath for 2 minutes but about incident that took place my life and has relevance to the title of the post. Here it goes and this is a true story that took place at New Delhi in 1979 August.

Way back in 1979 as a youngster who had just completed engineering exams and back home, each day was spent along with friends from the quarters by going to movies and loitering in crowded South Extension market New Delhi ogling at pretty girls. One of these days we suddenly decided to go for a movie from South Ex for a show at Chanakya Theatre starting at 6.30 pm……..worries amongst us since we had not informed our parents/guardians that we would be returning back late in the night and especially those days we had no options of mobile phones and yet we took the decision to go ahead with our plans as the movie was “10” starring Bo Derek and she looked damn sexy in two piece swim suit on the posters of this cinema. Alas little did we expect that this decision would have an profound impact on our entire lives. 

Well four of us are from the same from the Quarters as our fathers worked for the same organization and we had great fun that evening and by the time we reached back to our houses at Maharani Bagh New Delhi it was 9.30 pm and we found our guardians were worried since we were late without any information. One of our friend‘s mother was bed ridden and his house was run by his brother’s wife and that evening since he was so late he got a massive firing from his father, then his elder brother and to top it all he was told by his sister in law that he would have to forgo his dinner as she has cleared the kitchen. This friend of ours had completed his B.Sc Chemistry from Delhi University and was working in a small scale industry dealing in chemicals. The tone of his sister in law coupled with the treatment meted out to him by his brother and his wife agitated him so much that within next 2 minutes decided that he would not continue living in this world. We never took his statements seriously and tried to bolster him stating that it is usual of elders to scold us for all silly issues. Later in the night he had swallowed some chemical compound samples which he normally carries with him as samples on empty stomach with an intention of committing suicide. 

Image courtesy Google

But then after having swallowed the chemicals he had puking sensations and a fright of dying that he started banging the door of the neighbor whose wife was a doctor and as the door opened he just dropped down vomiting and at the same time sobbing that he does not want to die…….but then it was too late for the doctor to save him as the chemicals he had swallowed had traces of cyanide and he passed away in few minutes and even before we could rush to his side. A young life extinguished at the age of 24 and for what reason… for being scolded for going to see a movie and coming home late.. I mean at 9.30 pm!! Thinking back about the incident it was quite sickening and atrocious of the actions taken by our friend. Had he given a thought for 2 minutes of his decision to swallow the chemicals in anger against his bhabi and his father, maybe he would not have taken the extreme step and he would have been alive that day. Banerjee RIP.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Lost my way in dreams !!!

For the past few days I have been having dreams…I know it is not unusual for one to dream but then in my case it has been after a span of 3 decades. In most of my recent dreams generally I am lost and I seem to be searching for something or someplace and I am loss of words as to why I get these dreams and that too now. The latest dream was that I have been trying to get back to the place where I have parked my car at a shopping mall and each time I took a path back I seem to reach back to the same place where I had started and I think I dreamt of taking a very long time to locate my car. It is said that dreams could have a definite meaning and I am trying to decipher the meaning of my dreams with the present context. 

Am I lost by taking the wrong turn in the cross roads of my life??  Well in my perspective as a committed parent the path selected by me was the right one though it does not elicit the same fervor it did some time back. Maybe it is because I am growing older and would like to anchor down at home port or is it the male menopause that setting in and I am not so sure!!! J. The initial euphoria of the return back to the same company and the project has waned and there is a definite change in me and my attitude and the normal happy go lucky guy character in me surfaces only sometimes these days. I really need to analyze the feeling and the dreams now especially that I am staying alone in a far of land away from my family. 

I have started asking the very question that I had written about quite some back " Why is it always me " and why is it happening to me. I sure need to introspect and come to terms with whatever be the reasons for I need to be here for some more time and earn moolah…petro dollars since I have a huge commitments to be taken care off. Once that is done I can take semi retirement …I sure liked the sabbatical break of 6 months I had when life was quite relaxing except for the thoughts of diminishing savings.

Amazing Beaches of Oman - Qantab Beach

This Friday morning I and my colleagues went to picturesque Qantab beach and a rocky coastline quite early in the morning to avoid the heat later in the day. This beach is quite scenic and has rocky coastline that has been eroded by sea water for ages and is quite amazing to look at .Some scenes in the Tamil movie Kandasamy was shot here extensively and I believe including a song sequence. 

Boat ride in a similar boat..see the wooden slats as seats

Reaching the beach around 7.30 am stopped at the tea shop for the tea and there we met a middle aged boat driver by name Hammis Mashri, who said that he would take us around for a trip on his motor boat right till Barr Al Jissah for RO 15. At first I was hesitant to take the trip because of the fear of the deep blue sea but then his statements that he would not be speeding and rushing like most of the teenage boatmen there and that he is a licensed boatman won over my fear and we set out on a brief ride. 

Boatman Hammis and Rahul who made the boatman accelerate

All was fine initially when he going slow and once he crossed the rocky mountain across the bay he accelerated the motor boat…the boat was jumping across the troughs in the deep waters really spilled my guts….it was quite scary with no hold on the boat each time the boat flies up and then comes down. We guys were literally holding on to the side and shouting to the boatman to slow down. He in turn was asking a friend who was facing him..Enta kof?? Meaning is “are you frightened”…and in the event my friend answers no, then he would accelerate even more. 

Natural opening in the rocky mountain jutting up in middle of the bay

Well our round motor boat trip right up to Shangri-La resort bay then on to Oman Diving club and back to the Qantab beach after having stopped for few photographs of the rocky mountain with a tunnel at the waterline finished and  all of us were thanking our stars to be back on ground safely. Thinking back about the boat trip..well it is quite risky for the following reason…no life jackets being provided by the boatmen, no proper seats…you are sitting on wooden slats place across the width of the boat, no holding points on the motor boat in the event the boat hits a large trough or wave when the boat rises up and slams down, . By the way we did see some boats with proper seats, holding rod and so forth but looks like they are more expensive and is suitable for larger groups of people.

Scenic view of the Qantab bay

The trip concluded at 8.30 am and from there for breakfast at the new Vasantha Bhavan at Ghala then straight back to the air conditioned confines of the home even before the day became hot!!! Another weekend is over here and a new resolution by me...not to travel in these speed boats again !!! Only proper powerboats that we saw moored in the Oman diving center henceforth.

Till death do us part !!!!

Warning… a personal post and would be boring to most readers

6^th June 2012 was the start of my 30^th year of married life …(am patting my own back)  24 hours/7..365 day x 29 years is a very long time indeed and you would not believe it that I did send my wife a message over mobile thanking her for having kuppai kotifying with me for so long( surely not a romantic message I know)….you must be wondering if it is a foreign language, well it is a phrase in Tamil which means putting up with garbage and I the response I got from her was that she was overwhelmed by my message and she felt that it was the other way around. This surely seems like the short story “The gift of Magi” that I studied during my higher secondary..each one trying to outdo the other by sacrificing the item most important to them. A nice feeling indeed and it is quite hard to describe the same.Only regret is that we are miles apart..me in Oman and she at Chennai !

During the last 29 years both of us have had myriad experiences that has been quite difficult at times and I thankful that my wife Revathi stood by me. I have not been a perfect husband for sure and that is what I meant in my message to her on the eve of the anniversary. There were few difficult times when I can tell with certainty that both of us have considered that it is difficult to continue together and yet  we have forged ahead and the reason attributed to this that one us would stop arguing and thereby deflating the heated discussions . I know life is not a bed of roses and all couples have problems in their lives but then one partner needs to let go of his/hers ego for continuing relationship. My parents were together for 54 years till such time my mother departed in 2010 and it has been an inspiration to me …their life experiences did help me to overcome few difficulties in our lives. These days we tend to read that divorce rates have gone back because of the lack of compatibility and the main culprit is arguments …neither one of the partner are willing to back down..a question of ego I would say with my limited knowledge.

Thank you Revathi for a lively experience during the last 29 years and I pray that we continue like this for a long time ahead, till we are able to see our young daughters well settled in life.

Silent Hunter...

                     Chameleon on the bush ...standing very still waiting for the insect to come by !!!!
           
   

Real hot news...

A very hot day here at Muscat and temperatures reeling at 48º C at noon time and hot wind blowing makes you feel as though one is being cooked in a microwave oven. In spite of being well hydrated feel irritated……beja (brain) fried I suppose and hence an unrelated post of various news items I have come across today that seems to have some kind off connection to heat…;)

Irregular supply of Fuel (Petrol and diesel) for the last one week at Chennai has affected the general public…long queues at the Petrol bunks for the fuel that is rationed because of the shortage, non-availability/ increase in cost of vegetables, increased cost of commuting by share autos or auto as these were charging double the normal rates. A friend of mine from Chennai mailed me yesterday stating that his company employees are not able to work since there is no stock of diesel to run the generators during the power cut which seem to extend for longer period of time and is frequent. To top it all the sun god is not showing any mercy with temperature hovering in the region of 42º C….. kathri veiyal should be waning now and hope it brings some respite to all my friends and relatives at Chennai.

A Chennai company’s managing director currently in jail for rape and assault of an employee from May 3^rd   has once again been charged by the police on fresh rape charges by another employee Pooja (name has been changed)of the company who has been working there for last 6 months. She has said that he has sexually exploited her for the period of her employment and only after the knowledge of his arrest for the earlier rape of another employee she has come forward with her complaint. It is believed by the police that this person has done the same with about six other young women whom he has employed in his company and I am quite surprised that these women have borne this for so long time ….. maybe a matter of “sour grapes”.

IPL tamasha is over couple of days back yet off field gimmicks are still continuing ….today’s News Papers carried the news of Poonam Pandey honoring her promise to pose nude should KKR win the IPL finals. Really gross and a cheap publicity stunt by an unknown model that is willing to strip for almost everything and I say this because she made the similar promise during the World Cup should India win the final. Indian media and public strive on such sensational news…..cannot understand what sensation would Poonam Pandey will arouse in the minds of the public posing nude. Other news IPL related is the SRK’s public apology of his misbehavior at Wankade stadium at Mumbai few days back now that his team has won the finals. Had KKR lost the finals than I personally doubt if he would have come forward with the apology…again a publicity stunt to increase his star quotient.