Geeky – Who? Me?

That's what I was called by a couple of my colleagues! Why? You may wonder would an HR person be termed as a Geek... Well the answer lies in the following facts that came out during our conversation yesterday evening – one fact being that I had just bought my very own, my very first domain name and with assistance have managed to route it to my blog :-) Also the fact that I have started to self learn Ruby - No No it’s not a jewelery course but a software language! Yes they too thought I was bonkers to do something like this! :-) But hey why not? Why let only the s/w guys have all the fun! Just don't expect me to do this overnight that’s all!

A look of surprise crossed their faces when I also mentioned that I too had read Isaac Asimov – is that surprising?? I didn’t think so but they definitely did…;-) After discussing the various books written by Asimov, we moved onto other topics when a team member of mine joined our group. During the conversation the topic of reading technical updates came up and I casually mentioned that I had recently read about and shared with my team the subject of “Semantic Web” and carried on by explaining the concept of the new search that will be available on the Web. This was greeted with exclamations of wonder and seeing my questioning look they said that this was something they hadn’t expected me to know!! And in unison they said – Geek!!! While I giggled away at their enthusiasm I told them the source of my knowledge – PC Quest and PC Home, which gave way to a few more amused looks ;-)

So, I enjoy reading about technology, about things that surround me and interest me and if that make me Geeky – so be it!! :-)

A quiver full of questions..

Is it easy to forgive, to forget the pain, to go on living like everything is a bed of roses? How does one deal with reject, with humiliation? How can you say that all is fine with you when a thousand broken pieces of your heart pierce your very own soul? Is the grass always greener on the other side? Who made the fence?

Is there always someone out there for you? Is it important to have someone always? Why are we so dependent on others? Why do we doubt our emotions? Why do they become our weakness instead of our strengths? What is life? Does it have meaning? Where do you find the meaning? Is it the same for all of us? Why do we all strive for perfection? Do we all really require approval for the way we lead our lives? Why do we live our lives through another's eyes? Do we always feel we fall below our own expectations?

What makes us get up with a start in a pool of sweat in the middle of the night? What are dreams? Do they really explain our subconscious minds? Why do some of us live for today and others for tomorrow? Are we busy surviving or do we need to start living each day? Has 24 hours become less for some of us? Why does each minute feel like eternity when waiting for that all important call? Is love important to our life? Why do we hate? When does one stop hearing and start listening? Where does one draw the line? What is the line? Who defines it?

Do I make a difference? Am I the only one with these questions? Where are the answers?

Say what u need to say..

“Have no fear for givin' in.

Have no fear for giving over.

You better know that in the end

It's better to say too much, than never to say what you need to say again.
Say what you need to say
Say what you need to say
Say what you need to say”
- John Mayer

How many times do we stop ourselves from saying the truth with the fear that it may hurt the opposite person? How many times do we think that things are better left unsaid? A lot of times we come across situations wherein we want to open our hearts and speak our mind and then we stop and think. Why do you think this happens? What is it that we are afraid of? Rejection? Humiliation? Being made fun of or not being taken seriously enough?

These mental fears stop us from voicing our thoughts, our emotions, our inner thoughts and feelings. I agree with John Mayer’s words of advice – we should have no fear when it comes to voicing one’s thoughts and opinions. Whether it is getting closure in a broken relationship or trying to speak one's mind to one's parents one should try and speak out - get those thoughts out; out of the dungeons of the mind where it would only stay and trouble us more. Maybe the problem is not what you want to say, but how you say it, the tone you use to convey your thoughts, and also the state of mind of both individuals. It does take courage to speak one's mind, to be frank with people, but in today’s world if you are not frank to the people you care about then aren’t we all living in a fictitious world? So maybe its not bad advice to “Say what you need to say”…

HE DID IT!!!!!

Yes, Wimbledon has a new winner!!! The One Man Spanish Armada – RAFAEL NADAL!!

After a grueling finals match which was the longest (4 hrs & 48 mins) in Wimbledon history, after 3 rain breaks, after 5 long sets, after 3 missed Championship points Rafael Nadal came back to win his first ever Wimbledon championship title on his fourth championship point on his serve after breaking Roger Federer’s serve in the previous game!!

Nadal won his first Wimbledon title after 5 grueling sets ~ 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. He is only the third man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season, and the first since Bjorn Borg in 1980, while giving Spain its first men's champion here since Manolo Santana in 1966!! He was also the only player to step into the Royal Box (from the outside parapet!) after jumping in the crowds to meet his family as he looked for a place to jump down back onto the court!

I have stayed awake till 2.00 a.m. today to watch this amazing final match between the world’s two best tennis players and I haven’t been disappointed. I shouted (or rather yelled!) with glee as he played his last shot to win the title. Yes, you have rightfully deducted that I was supporting him!! :-) There are no words to describe the match and the drama that surrounded the match, the fantastic playing displayed by both players, the suspense on the court and in the stands – I can only say, I really really hope you saw the match, because if you haven’t you have missed one of the best tennis finals in history!

Blessings from a 60 ft gold Lord Buddha…

“Do go and visit the Golden Temple while you are here”, “don’t miss it”, “it is a lovely experience” these and other words of advice were given to us when we reached Coorg. The “Golden Temple” I asked, isn’t that in Amritsar where I had been last year??? Well this is the Golden Temple of the South I was informed.. well my interest was piqued and my curiosity got the better of me and we made our way to the Golden Temple of the South. During the drive I quizzed our driver on the origins of this great site that we were about to visit, and this is what we learned.. the Karnataka government had given around 12,000 acres of land to Tibetans to make their own township. The Golden Temple was their main place of worship in their monastery.

As we entered the township, we passed Tibetan schools, a hospital, young Tibetans on bikes while older men and women walked about doing their daily chores. We passed through the beautifully carved gates of the monastery and were transported immediately into another world.. A world where there was silence in the air, though I saw children running around, a world where the young men had shaven heads and wore the brown and maroon coloured robes of the monks, a world where I felt like an outsider looking in, a world that had a lot of bright colour where ever I looked. After drinking in the scenes around me, my eyes fell on the beautiful temple in the middle of the monastery.

As we walked towards the temple, and we came closer to the beautifully painted wall of the temple my breath left me as I realised that all the paintings on the walls had been hand painted!! I have never seen such intricate and minute and colourful and beautiful work ever!! On entering the temple there was a hush that overcame all that were in there.

I gazed at amazement at the 60 foot Buddha made of metal and completely gold plated before my eyes.. As I looked into his eyes, I felt that there was we two were the only ones around and that the temple and other worshippers had dissolved away into the clear air around me. There were two other gods who flanked both sides of Lord Buddha and looked as beautiful as ever. The pillars had dragons would around them and were painted in bright colours and complimented the other pillars, the hand painted ceilings and walls. This was one of the most colourful and beautiful places that I had ever seen!

We left the temple still in awe of the beauty we had just seen. And my advice to all that go to Coorg would be to please go and visit this place – totally worth a trip!

Welcome to Elephant Country!

Leaving Ooty at 6.30 in the morning we were greeted by dew covered grass and white clouds that came and surrounded us while silently bidding us farewell. The drive to Coorg was beautiful as we passed fields and fields of coconut trees and sugarcane plants (yeah there are a lot of sugarcane fields in the South!!). All along the way the bright blue sky was adorned with white fluffy clouds. Our drive took us through many small villages where young children pointed to our car with shouts of glee and some even tried to run and keep up with us.

We reached Coorg after being on the road for nearly 6 hours, when our driver stopped at the banks of a small river and informed us that there was no road ahead to travel – literally!! With amazement and disbelief written all over our faces, we got out of our car and stared around. Suddenly we hear a voice saying, “Madam, boat se jaana hai, Dubare boat se jaana hai!!” We watched in amazement as our luggage was transported into a boat (much like a fisherman’s boat!!) and we were asked to follow. Wow! That is some entry to a camp! Welcome to Dubare Elephant Camp!!

After settling into our cottage which was made of wood logs (cool nah?!!), and a quick lunch, we were asked to assemble for a short jeep safari. As we joined other visitors in the jeep, we were given a short history about the Dubare Elephant Camp – it started around 2-3 years ago and was a brainwave operation of the Karnataka Forest Department’s Jungle Lodges & Resorts to keep the now not required elephants that used to help in the logging operations in Karnataka. Our guide suddenly cautioned for silence and we saw a huge one tusked wild elephant break out from the trees onto the road ahead of us and after glancing around went ambling away into the forest on the opposite side. After he had gone, our guide told us that he was without a herd and he was a very angry and wild elephant and when approached could resort to violence. Going a little further we came upon some Indian Bison (Gaur) grazing lazily on the green grass of the forest floors. On hearing our jeep one of them looked up to give us a long look as if to say – Who are you? and then they all turned their backs on us and made their way into the forest.

The next morning was filled with excitement as it was the morning when we were allowed to help bathe the elephants – yes you read it right! We were taken to the banks of the river nearby where there were these huge elephants and one baby elephant in the water and the mahouts were bathing them and scrubbing them with coconut hair brushes. We were encouraged to join them and join them we did!! It was so much of fun!! And I must tell you that they have really tough and thick skins and the hair on their bodies are thick and coarse to the touch. While we “tried” bathing them, they would suddenly move around in the water and one of them even sprayed us with water from his trunk!!

This was the wildest experience with wildlife I have ever had!! I think everyone needs to do something like this at least once in their lives!! The bathing session went on for about 2 hours and then there were elephant rides and a short knowledge sharing on elephants and did I learn!! Did you know there are two kinds of elephants – the Asian and the African? The Asian elephant has 5 toes on the both the front two feet and 4 toes on the behind two feet whereas the African elephant has 4 toes and 3 toes respectively! The Asian elephant has a hump on the back while the African one is flat backed. And did you know that elephants have 60,000 muscles only in their trunk!!!! Whew!! That is a lot of muscles!! After learning about the elephants we were allowed to take snaps and pet them after which we were all treated to an elephant ride!

As a special treat, we were introduced to one little bundle of naughtiness. She was 1.5 months old and she was one of the naughty calves. She let us pet her and play with her but when she got bored she would give you a push with her trunk and her head and trust me it was a little more that a “small” push!! :-) But she was an adorable little elephant calf and she kept us entertained for almost an hour! She was oblivious to the fact that we were humans and that we were totally amazed with her, she also thought my camera pouch was something to eat! As we tore ourselves from her my heart wanted to take her along with us home… I wish we could !

About Roses and Tea and a Memorable Train Ride…

As we walked down the steps into the garden I wondered how it was possible to have so many varieties of roses and No, I didn’t get an answer to that question! :-) We were at the Rose Garden in Ooty – one of the must see spots over here. As we made our way through the garden, we saw a variety of roses, in a variety of colours and sizes. I noticed that most of the roses were named after a person and wondered if they were instrumental in coming up or discovering the particular rose.

The roses ranged from different shades of red to different shades of pink and from bright yellow to a mellow yellow colour, there were some which looked like buds and others which greeted the clear blue sky in all its bloom. We came across a board which informed us what each colour of a rose stood for – have put it up for you to see and learn! I came across a very interesting named rose – check it out… ;-)

Wah Taj! We have heard this common phrase as we grew up and immediately associated it with a cup of tea. Tea - the staple drink of a lot of people all over the world. We got a chance to visit a tea estate and factory at Coonoor – a lovely experience. It was spread over 2000 acres boasting a strength of 150 workers out of which 50 were only tea leaf-pickers. The air around us was cool and icy. As we stepped out of our car a guide came up to us and started our tour of the tea factory. We learnt quite a bit that day! Did you know that tea leaves are picked every 15 days? And that only the top few leaves are useful? The other larger and dark green leaves are considered a waste! After the leaves are picked they are kept in large trays while air is blown through them, this dries the leaves which are then sent down a chute to a machine where the leaves are chopped finely and then sent to a huge roll where they are fermented for a couple of hours. The tea leaves are then cooled and they come out as the brown tea leaves that we use.

Our visit to the tea estates ended on a high when we were allowed to go into the tea estates and see the tea bushes up front! As we were leaving we were invited to taste the 3 different types of teas available at the factory - Masala, Chocolate and Regular. Did you know to make chocolate tea they add few well ground cocoa beans to the tea leaves? And all the flavouring to the tea is done after it has been processed? Interesting! We bid farewell to the beautiful estates after purchasing our tea pouches.

The Nilgiri Express. The mini train ride from Coonoor to Ooty started off amidst cheers and yells from the children in front of us. One thing I should mention is the different ticket prices for the train - the 1st class tickets were Rs. 76 while the second class tickets were only Rs. 4! As the train wound itself onto the tracks the weather became chillier and the surroundings alternated from green trees next to us to greener valleys away from us. As we chugged our way on we suddenly felt and saw droplets of water falling on us - it was drizzling! :-) With the drizzle the temperature dropped even more and we relished the change in the air around us. On the way, we halted at a station with a very quaint old English name – Wellington! This took me back in time and I imagined the station being scattered with well suited, well trimmed mustached gentlemen with pipes in their hands accompanied by ladies in colourful flowing dresses holding their parasols to shield them from the bright sun. I was snapped back to the present when I spotted this amusing sign on the tea stall at the station "Combined Fruit & Vegetarian Teastall" and I just had to take a pic of it for you!

The experience of the train ride was made more enjoyable by watching the motor guards waving their red n green signal flags alternately as we passed through tunnels and stations! All in all a really enriching and very memorable experience!!