TRIP TO OOTY

The team comprised of Shastry, Naveen, Satheesh , Abdul from and of course me.

Following is a brief description of our journey:-

We started on the 26th of December at about 10:30 pm from Chennai for Coimbatore and reached Ooty on the 27th of December , at about noon time. The first day it was raining cats and dogs which was expected but which did not hamper the plans we had set forth for the day. The spirits of the team was at its peak (NW team is known for this) and we started of for the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. On reaching there we booked the ride (the last for the day) through the forest which in all sense was an awesome experience one that we shall never forget. Given a rainy day we were very lucky as we were able to see herds of deer as well as peacocks in the forest. Last but not the least the jungle safari was complete with the viewing of a tusker in the wild.

The next day was one that I believe the whole team will remember as we went on a 25 km long ride in our Tata Sumo to Coonoor. The road had witnessed massive landslides the day before and major parts of it were closed. However our journey was not hampered as the driver ( Mr. Saravanan) was well versed in the route, and various shortcuts later we found ourselves in the midst of a mist filled tea garden.

After having visited the tea garden we set out for the highest peak of the Nilgiri hills namely "DODDABETTA". Our ride to DODDABETTA was nothing short of a roller coaster, with breathtaking hairpin bends and blind turns. Visit to Ooty is not complete without visit to the "Botanical Gardens" and the "Pykara Waterfalls & Boat House". Thus with visit to these two places we winded up our two day journey to the "Pride of Tamil Nadu - Ooty".

CHAI PAANI !!!!!

After having written about food yesterday night , I was given some suggestions by a very beautiful friend of mine who happened to have sometime to read my blog. Following were some of the suggestions I received:

1. Chai paani
2. anda dahi
3. bread omelette
4. chawal , dal , sabzi .. anchar

However nothing appealed to me as much as the "CHAI PAANI" !! The reason behind my selecting choice # 1 is not much of a big surprise, i suppose. Being an Indian by birth we are proud to say to have been born in a country which has been ranked in the world among the topmost consumers of "CHAI PAANI" !! Yes, wherever you go and whenever you want to get something done chai and paani are the foremost things that anyone asks of you. Nowadays we ourselves ask whether the person wants some "CHAI PAANI" so that he can do our work sooner/faster.

There was/is (not very sure as I haven't been watching television for quite sometime now) a very good serial which used to be aired by a popular TV channel which although a satire showed a very comical charaterisation of the very crux of our government workers who consume so much "chai" and "paani" such that in a place like Chennai where we have to buy water to drink the common man is actually in dire straits. The poor guy does not have water to give to his family and for himself , how does he spare some for the government official !!

Anyways , I was trying to find the reason for the shortage of water in Chennai and also the reason for the growing price of the tea even though tea exports have gone down. Well I have given the economists some food for thought and with that I shall call it a day.

See you all tomorrow and happy blogging !!

You all might find it strange but I am yet to understand why and how this originated. Well am speaking about saying "CHEESE" just before somebody is about to click or should we say shoot (shoot with a camera of course).

Besides with the ever growing consciousness about low calorific food which are being advertised and thus consumed by people the world over, why would we, as the so called the intelligentia want them to remember about cheese and also ask them to say it. Sometimes in a family photo we have a few for whom the doctor would have advised -- "Inko ghee, paneer aur kum tel yuqt khana khilayiega agar aap inko zyaada dino tak zinda dekhnaa chhate hain " . So when the camera guy asks them to say "CHEESE" how much pressure would their family members be going through knowing the fact that the doctor has strictly advised against any cholestrol enabled food ... "doctor ne toh ghee aur tel se manaa kiyaa tha ... "CHEESE " bolna kya sahi rahegaa inke swasthya ke liye ??!!! ". For those people who fail to understand the read between my previous lines please check out this link for info on GHEE and its importance in an Indian household)

Recently I came across a very talented young guy name withheld -- these kind of disclaimers are usually seen in news sites as if the talent would be lost in case the name is NOT withheld. He has this awesome talent to shoot great pics with an ease and flare which I find strange as I never imagined someone in real life would have. His pictures are straight out of the Discovery channel calendar. He is married so the Kingfisher Calendar is currently out of reach for him !!

Its like he is the creator who knows why and when the object is there where it should be. So I asked him .... "Hey , why would anyone say cheese when you are about to capture him/her/it". This is what he said "Kuch bhi bolo yaar .... cheese , butter ... end of day when I see my snaps it should tell even after 20 years what I was thinking the second the snap was taken".