A Trip to the Mountains

Last weekend was spend in pure bliss. A much delayed trip with few folks from office finally materialized !The fact that we made it to the trip was an achievement in itself since i hold the record of planning the max number of trips and never ever making it to even one. So finally to everyones delight we set to kemmanagundi, the land of red soil and vast stretches of greenery.




















It was a two day trip. we reached kemmanagundi by Saturday afternoon. After a quick lunch we kept our baggages in the modest gov cottage and were all set for the afternoon activity .Task was to cover a treachery terrain to reach what they call the Z point, the plan was to reach there intime to catch the sun setting.Albeit the guide's assurance , the terrain was not at all a walk in the park. Springs , waterfalls , exotic flowers and a narrow path ..with high mountains on one side and deep forested valley on the other side gave us company all along. By the time we reached on top the sun was gone and we could only make out eachothers face in the twilight . Relying on torch light and the guide we started downhill .It made even the most enthus a tad nervous .Zillions of stars and a perfect full moon led us back to the cottage for some steaming coffee and pakodas. Later they drove us to the forest where the campfire was set and a tent to sleep in .Games and fun around the fire followed and when the darkness grew and the moon played hide and seek we had our dinner and retreated to the tent . News that four beers were set loose in the forest by the authorities dint stand in our ( two share a tent ) way of having a sound sleep .























Second day of the trip !! woke up by 5 in the morning and we were driven back to the gov cottage. post a quick shower and a good breakfast , we were briefed about the days activity . Unlike previous day it was downhill climb of about 12 kms through coffee plantations to reach Hebbe falls.We had to take a jeep halfway and rest of the climb by foot. By the time the roller coaster jeep ride thru red soiled path ended we were all painted red from top to bottom and all ecstatic to start the climb down . The trees , sounds of birds everything were so breath taking it was as if time stood still there. Crossing three streams on the way , we finally reached the water fall. After spending some time there playing in the ice cold water , we started back and by the time we took the jeep back, it started drizzling slightly exposing us to teeth chattering cold breezes and the damp clothes were not helping either.


















By afternoon we had our lunch and bid adieu to kemmanagundi, the place i spend two wonderful most adventurous time of my life. Will stay in m memory for a long long time :)

Orange sky by Alexi Murdoch

This is about one of my favorite songs..

I heard thins song quite accidentally.....a delightful accident i wud say... lost the count of times i heard this song once i got hold of it... never heard of the singer before, never heard any of his songs, but what a heavenly song it is,atleast to me.

Orange sky, sung and written by Alexi Murdoch and song is from his first album Time Without Consequence released in June 2006.its a soft song in the rock/folk-rock genre , played with acoustic guitar coupled with Murdoch's gentle soothing voice.This song was featured in o.c , prison break etc..one of his other song "home " is also featured in prison break series .what drew me is the profound sadness in the song .. every time i hear it all i can picture is a scenic countryside with sloppy green hills ,a grandfather tree with an abandoned swing under an orange sky..

just thot i will share it with ya people..

heres how the lyrics of the song goes :

Well I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
Yes I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother standing by
With my brother standing by
I said Brother, you know you know
It’s a long road we’ve been walking on
Brother you know it is you know it is
Such a long road we’ve been walking on

And I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my sister standing by
With my sister standing by
I said Sister, here is what I know now
Here is what I know now
Goes like this..
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, in your love, in your love

But sister you know I’m so weary
And you know sister
My hearts been broken
Sometimes, sometimes
My mind is too strong to carry on
Too strong to carry on

When I am alone
When I’ve thrown off the weight of this crazy stone
When I’ve lost all care for the things I own
That’s when I miss you, that’s when I miss you, that’s when I miss you
You who are my home
You who are my home
And here is what I know now
Here is what I know now
Goes like this..
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, in your love, in your love

Well I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
Yes I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother and my sister standing by
With my brother and my sister standing by
With my brother and my sister standing by

U can download it free from beemp3.com .Try out his other songs too
Listen to it and lemme know if u liked it :)

Americans , Indians and Math

Came across a post in the NYtimes .... It was about how weak Americans are in math ..basic or advanced, compared to their Indian counterparts . The article points out the flaws in American school system and how skools reserve advanced maths for the brighter students letting the average to cope with the world with basic skills.surveys shows Asians students are 3 years ahead of American students of the same age in math .

Out of the responses to the post, some blame cultural differences to be the problem , some blame the education system , lack of parental supervision etetera. According to some the problem lies in the attitude where mathematical proficiency is not respected and valued and how a person proficient in math is considered nerdy or how the importance is given to sports and athletics and not academics. One even commenting kids in skool are discouraged from taking up interest in math beyond their syllabus and how they are still taught basic arithmetic in higher grades.One of the interesting take on the issue was that Indian females are 50% illterate and hence the american kids cannot be compared to some upper caste Indians who had the liberty of educating themselves and also India is a failed state on basic necessities due to volience.The answer to this comment was ofcourse from an Indian asking to check the number of Indians accepted in american universities and how many of them are upper castes!!!

Anyway voices are being raised , thoughts are being put together by intellectuals , reseachers and commom man to fight the math stigma ..to save american kids from failing in the real world and one of them is a website "Indian math online" to help students learn the mathematics techniques the Indian way!!!