Monday, September 30, 2024

Book Review - The Word for the World is Forest

 


The Word for the World is Forest

By Ursulla LeGuinn

A short novel. Ursulla LeGuin writes a story on a new planetary colonization by humans. This new planet, New Tahiti, is 27 years away from Earth. This new planet has a human-like folks who have learnt to live in harmony with nature. They do not kill each other, and when they get angry, they sing. Societies are ruled by woman because they excel in politics while men excel in intellect. The best part is that they can dream while being awake and there is something called dream-time and real-time. They are surrounded by trees and in their language, the term used to describe the world is 'forest'

LeGuin's takes us into this world where such abstract concepts and imagery is brought to light in an easing manner. I wanted to visit this place, learn how to dream while being awake, live among these people for a while. They were content folks. Until the colonizers came. 

The colonizers are cliche-like brutal except one person who is a do-gooder. Earth beings, or yumens, as they are called by the natives, are cruel to the natives, use them as slaves and hunt them for pleasure. Classic tropes are done to create this duality of good vs evil. I am more familiar with this trope from the movie Avatar but as it usually is, Ursulla did it first :) 

It is a good over evil story, so native species win. In that manner, it is a positive ending. But along the way, they learn something from humans - the ability to kill each other. LeGuin leaves the question hanging on how this would change them but hints it enough that it will change them. 


Overall, a short and good read. 3.5/5

Sunday, September 1, 2024

My Vipassana experience - 2024

 My Vipassana experience - 2024


Vipassana is a 10 day meditation course where you are not supposed to talk to each other, no phones or books allowed. The idea is for you to focus on yourself and learn this meditation technique. I had no idea beyond this before I registered. A good number of my friends had done it and recommended it. Being a curious person, I wanted to explore this. 

Vipassana meditation is organized by Dhamma.org group with courses running at various centres. Some research online showed that there is something called Executive course where you get a private room instead of sharing beds in a dorm. Only a selected few centres offer this executive course, one of them was the Kathmandu one, so I signed up for it. 


Before Day Zero

My course was from Aug 15 to 24. I flew to Kathmandu 4 days before, over the weekend to do some sight seeing and work from Kathmandu for a couple of days. There is no direct flight from BLR and it takes a whole day to travel. I later realized that Kathmandu has legalized casinos and there are a few. So, before my Vipassana meditation, I spent days in either working (two days) or sightseeing Kathmandu (one day) and nights at casino (limited loss, Day 2 night, I recovered most of my money). So, I reached the centre in a very sleep deprived state. 

Day Zero 

Having slept only 4 hrs in the night, I got ready and called the cab guy. (The cab company owner was also taking this retreat, same batch as mine. So, he understood my requirements to come and pick me up and why I will not be calling him to remind of pickup) . I spent the morning in some more sight seeing and reached the centre by noon. After the formalities, I had to surrender my phone, laptop, books and everything that could distract me. I was taken to my room, given some snacks at around 4 pm and then I slept. There was an introduction session at 7 pm and then it started. 

On day zero, you also take five committments that for the period of this course, you will not kill, no lies, no sexual activity, no speaking (or communicating) etc. No kill was interesting because it applies to animals too and the centre was at the verge of a forest with lot of insects/spiders roaming in your room. This Guardian article nicely explains some of my feelings there but it is good that I am not archanophbic 

Day 1 to Day 3

The first part of meditation course was to focus on your breath. Train your mind to concentrate on your breath. It is not easy as it sounds since the mind wanders off. Within seconds. Less than 5 seconds. On day 1, that is what happened to me. I had never done any kind of meditation before beyond the Zendo retreats. So, I was aware of this phenomenon. The goal of first three days is to increase the time so that atleast you can concentrate on your breath for a full minute without the mind wandering away. 

On day 1 with no phones, no distractions, I definitely found peace. But more than that, my body complained of exhaustion. It needed sleep, it needed rest. So, a lot of my meditation hrs were spent in sleeping. 

At 1pm, you can have a 1:1 setting with your teacher and ask questions or your doubts. On day 1, I told him that I feel very sleepy and he said that you may be fatigued. Give it some time. 

The course schedule was also daunting. It had 10 hrs of meditation per day and a ~2 hr long discourse from SN Goenka (founder of the dhamma group). This discourse shared the theory behind the practice and also clarified some common questions that many folks had in their minds. The day started with a 4am gong to wake up. First meditation is from 430 am to 630 am (2 hrs). Then breakfast is served at 6:30 with a break till 8 am. There is a group sitting from 8am to 9am, followed by a 5 min break and then a medidation session from 9am to 11am. Group sittings happen in a common hall. Lunch is served at 11 and then there is a break till 1pm. From 1pm to 5 pm, there is back to back meditation sessions - 1 to 2:30 pm, followed by 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm group sitting and then another one from 330 to 5pm. There is a break from 5 to 6pm for tea and fruits. 6pm to 7pm is the third group sitting of the day and then there is the discourse to close the day. A total of 10 hrs of meditation and 2 hrs of discourse. 12 hrs of sitting without a backrest

On day 3, I went to my teacher sharing that my back is killing me and can I get backrest support. He politely declined and shared that by the time you get to day 6 or 7, it will go away. On day 3, day 6 was an eternity away. 


Day 4 to day 6

On day 4, we were introduced to the technique of Vipassana. It is a new form of meditation, I had never heard about it before (thanks to my no research policy). The evening discourse covered the theory and common FAQs around this new technique. On day 5 and day 6, we were asked to focus on this technique and practice it. The evening discourses covered various aspects around this technique and how it is different from other practices.

The core aspect of Vipassana is that you can work on yourself, both body and mind, to train them so that you are equanimous. When our Indriyan (ear, nose, skin, mind and tongue) consume some signal (food, smell, touch etc), they send this signal to the brain and then interprets this signal. As part of this interpretation, it generates sensation on the body. For example, if you read something and you become angry, some part of you body will become hot, that is there will be heat sensation on your body. The brain has both conscious and subconscious aspects, these sensations on your body as part of the reaction to signal happen instinctively, done by the subconscious mind. Interestingly, the reaction from your mind broadly can be classified into two parts - either it is a craving of something (in hindi - raag) or an aversion to something (dwesh). Both these cravings or aversions then lead to misery or suffering. 


What Gautam Buddha discovered, as part of his search of enlightenment is that you can train your mind to do two things - First, to identify the sensations being generated on your body - some sensations would be gross (like a pain or an itch) and some would be subtle (like skin reacting to air or cloth). You need to meditate here, that is focus on each body part at a time to identify what kind of sensation you are feeling. Second is that once you have identified the sensation, you train your mind to ignore it, that is be equanimous towards it - be it a good sensation or a bad one. The underlying principle here is the principle of impermanence - everything dies. These sensations are also temporary and they will go away in sometime. By training your mind to be equanimous, while you acknowledge the sensation, you are not reacting to it.  

It is the reaction to these sensations that causes cravings or aversions. When you feel angry, lets say you are stuck in traffic or you read something and feel angry, the angry reaction (which is a form of aversion) is not coming because you are stuck in traffic or you read something. What you read is a signal, that the brain intercepts and instinctively generate these sensations. You react to these sensations and this reaction created anger in you. So, your emotions or suffering is largely coming because your mind is reacting to these subtle or gross sensations. Gautam Buddha figured out that if you train your mind to ignore these reactions, you can be equanimous. 

The impermanence principle is key - just like a candle flame, even though it is a continuous flame, underneath, there is the wax that is used to create this flame. Every second, some wax is getting burnt that leads to the flame. Same applies to a light bulb which is consuming some electricity everytime to create that illusion of continuous light. Similarly, in body, even a sensation if pain is basically, some atoms or wavelengths generating a sensation of pain, then dying only to be replaced by a new wavelength carrying the same sensation of pain. So, every sensation dies in the end. If you train your mind that this sensation will die soon, and train it to not react to it, that is be equanimous towards it, you will find peace. That is how you end your suffering. 

The teaching come from Gautam Buddha who discovered this 2500 years ago and it has been passed won via Guru-shishya tradition. It got lost in India some 2000 years ago but some small group in Burma kept this going. SN Goenka was in Burma and he stumbled on it, found its value and got it back to India. 

I was able to feel the gross sensations and sometimes the subtle ones too. I was able to ignore them and I did observe that they went away. My back pain also got resolved in this period. Day 4 to day 6 was the period to try this new thing and see what it is.

One of things that they ask you from day 5 onwards is 'athishtaan', that is when you sit for group sitting, you make the strong determination that whatever happens, you will not move your legs, arms or open your eyes. For the three group sitting that happen in a day, one is supposed to meditate without moving any part. I found it incredibly difficult and max that I lasted was about 48 mins. 

Day 7 to day 9. 

I was doing quite well till day 6. But from day 7, I started feeling homesick. The technique was also becoming difficult and while my backpain resolved, my pain in legs was still there. It was not the feeling of talking or the need of phones that was there but just the idea to leave this place and go back to the comfort of home and family. Day 7 to day 9 were very difficult. 

On Day 7, we were introduced to this concept of Shunya-ghar - Zero-house. It is a small 3 ft by 6 ft room, where you can sit and meditate. The idea is that for your non-group sittings, you go to this place and then meditate there - by yourself in silence. I liked this since here I could stretch my legs atleast and I had back-rest too :) 

However, this longing for home, which is a craving and hence the exact thing that we were asked to not generate, was strong. From a technique point of view, we were taught of some optimizations to the core technique. While I had made some progress on the core technique, I was still far away from where they expected me to be and these optimizations were next level. 

I also met with my teacher everyday during this period to ask if I am doing things correctly or not. His responses were helpful but many answers lie within myself. It was becoming clear that I needed a lot of work on myself to see the gains here. My homesickness was not helping but it has been 10 days away from home and I wanted to go back.

Somehow, I survived day 7 to day 9. The weather here was extremely rainy. On day 7, it rained for 36 hrs straight. My room was next to a waterfall/stream running down a hill and it had the nice sound of water flowing. The view from my room was this giant mountain covered with dark green dense trees. When rains came, it became very beautiful. I spent a lot of time just watching this scenery. It gave me a lot of peace. 

From day 2 onwards, I also dropped the 5 pm fruit thing and instead used the 5-6pm hr for working out. Being on a hill, the space had about 6 storeys  worth of stairs and walking path. I used to go up and down for about 40 mins each day and that also helped me. It also made my intermittent fasting for 19 hrs - having sone Kannur, this was easy. 


Day 10 and Day 11

Day 10 is when you break the noble silence and can interact with your peers. You are expected to meditate only for three hrs. It is a day to get you accustomed to real life before you leave the centre. Otherwise, it would be a big shock of transition. While you can talk, phone or laptops are still not given.

While talking to peers, we realized that there was only one more person from India there. Everyone else was from Nepal. There was also a book exhibition, a documentary on Vipassana courses in Tihar and some other things to keep us busy. It was also raining the whole time. 

By day 10, all I could think was to get back. I was counting hrs. At the start, I had made the determination that I will not quit this course no matter what happens. I was happy on day 10 to have survived it and now only it was a matter of time that I would be back.

On day 11, there is discourse at 430 am for a couple of hrs before it ends. In this, they share to practice what you have learnt everyday - an hr in the morning and an hr in the evening. It is a very tall ask and if I can do 30 mins each day, I would be very happy.

With all the challenges of the program, I found the experience to be very rewarding and grateful that I have done it. I definitely feel that I am not ready to incorporate this in my daily life but when I get ready, I know that it will be this technique and this way. It is the only way that I have learnt that does not mix with any religion or any other influences.  It asks you to work on yourself, just shows the way on how to do so. I liked this aspect. 

On day 11, after the morning discourse, I collected my phone, laptop etc and rushed to the airport for my way back. 



Saturday, August 31, 2024

Life In 24 Mar to 31 Aug'24

 

No time to waste, so lets get down to the deets. In no particular order. 


Thindi Walk in Rajajinagar with Aarti. 

Thindi Walk

  1. We started at a Chiblu idli van that is yet to be found on Google maps. Mandya Halaguru Chiblu Idli, Rajajinagara. -pillowy, fresh chiblu idlis, love rice bath items (pudina, puliyogare and chitranna), masal vadE. All good!
  2. THE Ajji hotel with the sakkath khara kanninda neeru baruthe chutney, fantastic chitranna, idli and bondas.
  3. Sri Guru raghavendra dosa and veg corner. Shavige bath, Kesari Bhat and vade
  4. Siri coffee Mane for some fresh coffee
  5. Manjunatha fast foods - Puri with Sunday special tarkari sagu (brilliant!), garlic chutney smeared masal dosE, soft thatte idlis with a dash of ghee
  6. Davangere benne dosE angadi, open dosE, benne Khali, benne masalE
  7. Lastly, we went to O.G. Varier bakery - a very famous one 

Restaurants explored - 


  • Kampot Bellandur - Went with office colleagues for Kajal's farewell. Good Asian food. Not much crowded and no music.
  • Biergarten Bellandur - Went with Rick and team. Good beer and near to office. It is a huge place inside. 
  • Street 1522, Sarjarpur road with Masi - Good variety of food. Nice combination of food court and restaurant. 
  • Multiple visits to Deck of brews from office
  • Hotel Annapurna Tiffin Center - Nearby office. Took a cab once and had breakfast before going to office. 
  • The Filter Coffee - Tried both Indiranagar (with Manas) and the Brookfiled one (with Rick)


Movies / TV Series
  • Kill  - John Wick equivalent from India. Loved it. 3.5/5
  • Amar Singh Chamkila - Biopic done well. I liked it a lot. 3.5/5 
  • Barbie - 3/5
  • Watched Oppenheimer again. I think it is just brilliant. 4.5/5
  • Broadchurch - Season 1 & 2. 4/5 . Both David Tennant and Olivia Coleman are awesome! 
  • The Bear season 3 - 3.5/5 Still has a lot of heart but story does not move that much forward. 
  • Masala series - Tracker (2.5/5), Poker Face (3/5) 
  • Masala movies - The Union, Twisters (2024), Twister(1996), Anyone but you. 
  • Rewatched Ted Lasso during my Dengue time. 


Travels
  1. Trip to Mussourie
  2. Surya Top Trek with IndiaHikes
  3. US trip - LA, Vegas and Grand Canyon. Details to come
  4. Kathmandu + Vipassana  - Details to come. 

Books
Started a book club in office to read management books. 
What Else
  • Got Dengue - Was out for 2 weeks. Kanishka and mummy fed me lot of juices which helped me recover soon. 
  • Did a fruit only detox diet from Team Sharan for a week.















Saturday, May 4, 2024

Mussoorie 2024 - An Ideal itinerary

 

Mussoorie - 3 day itinerary (28-30 Apr)

At a time when rest of India, particularly Bangalore was dealing with dealing with ~40 deg weather, we were using room heaters in Mussoorie. It was truly a hill station experience in summers. 

Day 0 - Land in Dehradun

Dehradun is like Bangalore - a concrete jungle with lots and lots of restaurants and malls. Kanishka landed at around 330 pm. I was already in Dehradun back from my Surya top trek  . I had alerady packed a quick lunch from Chetan Swadisht Kachori. It was amazing - one of the food recommendations that does not disappoint. 

Next, we went to Buddha statue and Stupa. It is written that all your 'paap' will go away if you visit the Stupa. So, there you go, we are now again in net-zero. Stupa paintings were wonderful. Good place to visit. It started a heavy downpour while we were there. We could not visit the Mindrolling monastery which was just next to us. Our next stop was a quick stop at Ellora's Melting moments bakery - a very highly rated bakery in Dehradun which is now 60+ years old. We packed a few sandwiches for our trek tomorrow. Our dinner was at Orchard restaurant and on the way, we got to witness a BLR nostalgic traffic jam. Food was ok at Orchard but we were tired and full from the Pudis. They had a live band which played Local Train and Lucky Ali, so it was good. 












Day 1 - Benog Tibba hike, Landour

We hired a trek guide from Easy Prime Holidays to take us for a day hike to Benog Tibba (tibba means top) It was a ~7.5KM round trip hike. It was awesome, I loved it. The trail is very clean, easy to walk. Goes through a nice forest cover first and then opens to a ledge walk. Benog Tibba - from the top, you get to see Mussoorie and other mountains. There was no one else, so it was very peaceful to walk. Our guide also delighted us with local stories. We started from Dehradun at 7 am and reached the starting point at around 830 am. The weather was also good - not too sunny, not too hot either. All in all, a perfect day hike. 

From Benog Tibba, we visited the famous touristy spot of Company garden. It was past 1:30, so we were hungry. The local chana chat was yummy. COmpany garden is decent, small garden park, but it attracts lot of crowds. It is maintained well. Our lunch was a typical Garhwal food at Hill-e-ishq in Mussoorie, near to Landour. The food was good - a particluar delight is the saag from stinging nettle leaves . Rotis were made of bajra and we also got Pahadi Rajma, Stinging nettle kebabs, all was good. Place could use better hygiene though - it was very dusty.

Our car dropped us at our airbnb homestay which was right next to CharDukaan. It was a steep walk down but there was a guide to help us. Our homestay was a 1BHK so it had a kitchen too. In the evening, we walked to the famous Landour Bakehouse  where we had coffee and orange marmalade cake. We also packed some salad items, eggs and break for our breakfast the next day. 














Day 2 - Landour walk, Mall road

We did yet another walking tour in Landour on day 2 - Landour Infinity walk, again with Easy Prime travels. Landour Infinity walk is almost on a plain surface and covers the famous lal tibba, Bakehouse. Landour is a corner of Mussorie and is famous for being Ruskin Bond's place. It was also an old English settlement which has not been commercialized much. So, it is pretty good to walk. Our guide regaled with the history of Landour, who has houses there, took us to bakehouse (again), churches etc. This walking tour was a really good idea.



After the walk, we decided to have something at CharDukaan :) - Kanishka had ginger lemon tea and I had Chilli cheese sandwich. The walk started at 8 and ended at 11. We had salad and boiled eggs for lunch. Our plan in 2nd half was to walk down to Mall road (2.3 km walk to Picture Palace) and then do some shopping and do a food walk on the Mall road. 

The walk to Mall road is all downhill, so it makes sense to walk down and take a cab back. Transportation in Mussoorie is incredibly expensive. There is no Ola/Uber and you should call 3-4 vendors and negotitate the best price. People are good though. The drive from Mall road to our homestay, we heard rate of INR 800/INR1000 but eventually found a person that took only INR 500. 

Mall road runs from Picture Palace at one end to Library Chowk at the other. We walked from one end to another (almost till Library Chowk) and then turned back. Along the way, we did some shopping from Kashmiri sellers. In terms of food, we had - 

- Delhi style Suji golgappas - A food walk without golgappas is not possible. 

- Corn roasted on coal - It was a very sweet corn

- Jalebi with Rabdi at Kulhad Rabdi wala- a local delight 

- Amritsari Chole Kulche, street food vendor. The chole kulche were so good that I got it packed for next day breakfast. We had only Kulcha to taste it there so that we can save appetite. 

- Wood-fired pizza and beer at the Tavern  - Their pizza was decent. They had pizza named after interesting folks such as Tom Alter, we had the Bill Aitkens pizza and this is the first time I heard his name. Pretty amazin guy

We were pretty tired after the walk and the food, so we took the cab back. 













Day 3 - Museums and George Everest

We checked out from our Airbnb and our tonight's stay was at Everest base camp. Along the way, we stopped at the Soham Himalayan Centre - a private, family run museum that displays local arts. Run by a couple, the husband is a sculpturist and wife a painter. Their crafts depict local traditions. They also have a good collection of coins, stamps, manuscripts, old photos. A really good place to visit and know about the history. We got a local tour from them. 


After Soham, we headed to Everest Base Camp. This was a luxury stay, even though it was in a tent. Little at the outskirts but still a lovely one. After checking in, we decided to check out the George Everest cartography museum and hike up the George Everest mountain. 

George Everest was the surveyor general of India, responsible to map out the Indian terrain. It is the museum of cartography and a very well managed museum. One of the best museums that I have seen in India. We got to know that the Everest mountain is actually named after George Everest because it was under him that the right height of mountain was identified. Even though it was done by a guy called Sikandar who did the actual work. We also learn about other folks who played a key role in understanding the terrain, one example to know that how both Tsangpo and Brahmputra is the same river. Overall, I would highly recommend this place. 

After the museum, we hiked up to the George Everest hill. Pretty easy 1Km hike up. It is known for good views of sunrise and sunset. We were nearing the sunset time and had really good views from there. After coming down, we had maggi at a local shop :)

At dinner., we played Jaipur board game and had good. Night time temperature was ~5 deg. 


Next day was just drive down from Mussoorie to Dehradun, a brief stop at Ellora again to pack some goodies. When we landed in BLR, at around 8pm, BLR was nearing 37 degrees and it felt so hot. If I had known this, I may have stayed there for two more days :) 




Surya Top - Himalayan Trek


Surya Top Trek by India Hikes 

20 Apr - 26 Apr.

One of the new year resolutions, that I made in Jan, was to do an Himalayan trek this year. I joined a running group, all with this aim. I am so pleased to have finally done it now. 

A month before the trek, back in March, I saw that most of the well known treks on India Hikes were already booked. I was contemplating a private trek group, called couple of places but none materialized. IndiaHikes had a requirement to do 5K in 35 mins for a moderate trek and I had not reached the milestone. On a Sunday evening, I called them and told that I have reached 5K in 40/39 mins consistently. Can I sign up? They said yes. In a matter of next 2 hrs, I had booked a trek, flight hotels and planned a Mussorie trip with Kanishka after that. 

Surya Top was pretty. It had a ridge walk, meadow walk and a summit climb - you do not get all three in a trek. It was moderate but on the easier side. Most importantly, it was labelled 'crowd-free'. It is a new-ish trail close to Dayara Bugayal which is very popular. Trekking has become popular and few of the well known trails are now getting crowded. When you to go to Himalayas, you do want to spend time alone.  So, crowd-free is an important consideration. The top altitude is ~13K feet only which is not that high but if I want to get back to Himalayan trekking, this seemed a really good choice. 

I loved Surya Top trail. There are so many good things that I have to say. Foremost, I loved the fact that I have done a Himalayan trek, 5 years after the last one and a decade after the previous one with India Hikes. Second, the summit, even though it is at 13K feet only, it is reasonably steep and takes an effort to get on top. I didn't give up and pushed myself to get there, so that was also a strong sense of accomplishment. The trail itself is beautiful. It has stony-trails, forest walks, ridge tops, steep ascends and descend, valley stops, Rhododendron and Cherry blossom trees - a lot of variations, beautiful sceneries and devoid of any plastics, a very clean trail. Also, after an hr of trekking, for the next five days, we didn't see a single soul, outside of our group. To be in India and not see another person, just be there in the wild is almost impossible these days. The views from the ridge are incredibly beautiful. IndiaHikes has only uplevelled its operational side and it was so good to be doing this again with them. The food, camps, tent etc were managed well. And to top it off, we saw snow - two days of snowfall, a small blizzard, and a Spring trek suddenly became a winter trek. Walking on snow, with white ground all around you is amazing. So, is the cold weather that comes and it becomes a different experience altogether. 


In trekking, you choose to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. 


At the beginning of the trek, Sayantan who was our trek lead, asked us why are we here? If you wanted to enjoy your vacation, you could have gone to Goa, stayed at a resort etc but instead you are here, going to live in cramped tents, walking daily, sweating, carrying loads etc. He told us that you have chosen to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. He asked why? And he also gave options - (1) To enjoy nature. (2) To spend time with yourself/discover yourself (3) Make new friends (4) Live minimally. He went round the room and along with introductions, you were expected to share why you are here by choosing one of the options. I, ofcourse chose, to spend time with yourself.  

Day 0 - Travel from BLR to Dehradun
I booked a connecting flight via Delhi. Delhi airport has street food shop, so I had Golgappas. Reached Dehradun at around 2 pm. The airport taxi was charging us a bomb. I met another passenger/stranger and we shared a cab and split the fare. It is interesting on how you make friends/acquaintances during travel. My stay was at a place called Cocoon which had a very nice lawn, online pics were very appealing. But the lawn doubles down as a wedding venue in the night and there was a Mehdi ceremony in the night. They blared loud music but I was too tired, so I slept soundly, though after some challenge. In the evening, I tool a long walk and had Samosa at this Motashow sweet shop and it was pretty good. Dinner was at Pind Balluchi. 

Day 1 - Travel from Dehradun to Raithal.
Met with fellow trekkers at 630 am and boarded a Tempo for Raithal. A journey of 6-7 hrs. It was good to see a 16 year old trekker, just finished his 10th boards, came solo - a break before he starts his JEE prep. I was impressed :) . The drive was comfortable. We stopped at a Rawat restaurant at Rautu ki beli and I had tandoori Parathas - loved it. Lunch was also homely. At Raithal, IndiaHikes as created its permanent basecamp with Swiss tents for staying, overlooking the Gangotri range. It was awesome. First glimpse to see how IndiaHikes has grown so well. Felt proud and happy for them. 




In the evening, we did our intros, met our trek leads, Sayantan as the primary lead, along with Alok and Yashbir ji - both locals.  IndiaHikes also gave us a thermal inner lines to use inside the sleeping bags since they are clean. Along with an eco-bag to carry garbage from trails. My backpack was heavy so I decided to skip the eco-bag. Abhout 40% of trekkers decided to offload their luggage to mules. I was tempted but decided to carry. 

Day 2 - Drive to Barsu and hike to Pichkiya
Barsu was about 75 mins drive from Raithal, at a similar altitude. We started walking at around 10 am. It was sunny. Today was all ascend. Initial trail was stony but after an hr, we entered the tree cover. Forest was beautiful. Dense, green and clean. We made several stops while going up. At a stop, Sayantan played a game, each person shares their name and their hobby. Next person repeats this for everyone who came before him. Good ice breaker game. 
While my backpack was heavy, I did not feel any pain on my shoulders while carrying it. It has a very nice cushion, even when empty, the backpack weighs couple of kgs. So, I was comfortable. Today was the day of packed lunch, we had roti, cabbage sabji and two slices of bread sandwich. 
Pichkiya is a good campsite - has water supply, flat ground and a good view of Yamnotri range. Weather was good through out. No need for any jackets yet. 




Our welcome drink upon reaching campsite was Aam Panna. It was tasty. Evening snacks was Chana-Alu chat. While there was hot water too, I decided to drink natural normal water to acclimatize myself. 

Day 3 - Pichkiya (10264 ft) to Utron (~11K)

Surya Top typically also covers Dayara Burgyal, in some parts, but that part is now steeped in snow. So, we were taking a different route. Day 2 was a short walk - ~3.3Km but it became ~4Km, since the usual Utron site had some issue. We walked extra 0.6Km to get to upper Utron (forgot exact name). This camp-site had views to Surya top, our summit climb for next day. Day 2's trail was all forest trail. We saw Cherry blossom trees, Rhodendron trees. The mountain views were really good. There was no other soul in sight. We are in the wilderness now. 




Our campsite had georgeous views. We reached, had lunch and decided to relax inside the tent. Inside tent, we could hear rain coming down, only to later realize that it was snow. In just a matter of 2 hrs, everything around us was all covered in white. Our trek transformed from a Spring trek to a Winter trek. It became cold. All of us were surprised, shocked. It continued to snow till late in the evening. Our next day Summit climb was in question now. Sayantan said that we will decide in the morning, 4-5-6 am - 4 am wake up, hot water, 5 am breakfast and 6 am we leave for summit climb, provided the weather is well. If we can not leave by 8 am, the summit is a no-go. 
I have been to previous bad weather scenarios, so this was not new. 4-5 hrs of snowfall had made people realize that if this continues, it will be trouble. So, there were not many questions. 




Since we could not do much, I lied down in my tent and spent time chatting with my tent-mate who is a startup founder too. Many stories to share :) 
I had a really bad sleep in the night. It was cold and I messed up my sleeping bag arrangement. So, in the night, I was constantly tossing and turning. But I did sleep, but it was broken up many times. 

Day 4 - Utron to Surya Top (12900 feet) and then to Pichkiya (11679 feet)

Morning was clear. Infact, it didn't snow at all during the night. So, we were on for the summit. We left sharply at 6am. It was a steep ascent in the beginning followed by gradual ascends and flats. You could see Surya Top all along the way and it didn't look too far :) This was also a day of a lot of ridge walk, it was beautiful. There were mountains all 360 degree around us, all covered in snow now. The walk was amazing. 

Summit climb was tough. The last km gradient is steep. It takes effort, lot of breaks, heavy breathing to get there. Snow had made the climb slightly slippery too, so we had to be careful. There is a point where there was an option to leave your luggage and only carry a small day pack with water and Ponchos. I decided to carry my full pack. The challenge with Surya top is that as you are climbing, you will see a peak but it is not the eventual peak. The local peak hides the bigger peak. This happens atleast three times. You would push yourself that you have reached only to realize that it is not the top. So, the mind games go on. I took short breaks but was able to reach the summit at 9:53 am. The earliest person came at 9:35 am and I was somewhere in the middle. Not bad I would say :) 








The climb down was interesting too. We left the top at 10:30 am and around 10:45am it started to snow. Soft round balls of snow. We pulled out our Ponchos and slowly climbed down. Round snow touches the Poncho and falls down, it does not leave any wet water mark, pretty interesting phenomenon. 

Siyari is a beautiful valley right at the footsteps of Surya-Top. We reached at around 12:30. But it was all white and snowing. Snow stopped after couple of hrs, enough for us to pitch tents and have lunch. But it snowed the whole evening. 




They had given us trail mix to carry this day. It contained horse-grams, peanuts, and those white golis that you get outside temples :) . Day 4 night was also very cold. It snowed all through the night. Our tents and gear were of good quality. My sleeping bag setup was ok, so inside the tent, it was not very cold, but still, I had many breaks in my sleep. 

Day 5 - Siyari to BarsuKaDera
We climbed from the Siyari valley to join back the ridge walk. From now onwards, we were going to retrace the same trail back to Barsu. There was some talk to go directly to Pichkiya, lower altititude will lead to less cold nights. But, along the way, at BarsuKaDera, it was so beautiful that we decided to camp there only. The walk down was easy. Sun came out well. We walked for about 4.5Kms today. Snow also started to melt down




At night, we played multiple rounds of Mafia and it was fun.


Day 6 - BarsuKaDera to Barsu and then bus to Raithal
Just plain descent :) We started at 7 am. This was our last day with the mules and staff, so we introduced them, said our thanks and gave some tip. The kitchen staff too, in their enthu, made Chole Pudi for breakfast, at 10,000 feet level :) 






After reaching down, I had an omlette at the local Tapri. Raithal basecamp of IndiaHikes has no shower facility, but someone asked around and told that there is a homestay, about 10 mins walk who is ok for us to take showers. I did that. Costed INR 200 :) Went to a local temple and there was some folk dance happening. Since, it was only women and children, I didnt stand there for long. Had maggi at another tapri. Trek was done and now time to pamper. 
As I got down, I got network for the first time and saw that Rubrik is going public today. Felt happy about it. At 630, I joined the remote call and saw the proceeding for 30 mins. It was fun but not as much as folks who were there in office. I logged off and went back to mountains



Day 7 - Drive back to Dehradun
Nothing much to report. Dehradun was hot, very hot :) I ended up going to cinema (watched Ghostbusters flick) just to avoid the heat. I stayed at Lemarq on EC road, an okay-ish hotel. 




I liked his phrasing - yes, we choose to live in discomfort during a trek. But what you gain is to just be with nature, in a lifestyle on how our ancestors, lived (I know not exactly but still better than the city life) - in between these giant mountains, trees, streams, meadows. Walking, climbing, is a physical challenge but I get to know more about my breathing in these days than ever. Carrying your own backpack, each item is evaluated on why is it needed and there is a trade-off. I discarded two items to reduce my weight and they were a big mistake. I didn't carry a Sun-cap since I sweat a lot, but I got badly sunburnt as a result. Big mistake. I also didn't carry any goggles thinking I can manage without them. But it snowed a lot and after 5-6 hrs in snow, I could feel a difference when Sun rays reflected from the white. Fortunately, clouds game and it didn't hurt much after that. Back to the discomfort, it is difficult to describe the joy but it is there, an inner peace kind of thing, a sense of accomplishment too. At the summit, after the gruelling climb, I got teary-eyed, the same feeling that you get after running an long HM. It is a feeling that makes one go there again and again. 








Saturday, March 23, 2024

Life in 7 Jan - 23 Mar 2024

Udupi The new year resolutions are gone and dead now. Book reading, work life balance, instrument, gym are now fantasy land. Yet three quarters of the year remains. What will it be?

But this year has been to a beautiful start. Amazing things have happened. My movie viewings has been at an awesome level. My no-travel plan has resulted in two travel trips already :) Also, one of the amazing milestone is me being getting promoted at work. Good to see the recognition coming and in general I am at a happy place. 

Movies

Laapataa ladies By Kiran Rao - 4 out of 5 (may be 4.5 too)

An amazing down to earth, cute, niche Bollywood movie that says what it want to say, with simple humor. Just a good humanity movie and I loved it. It reminded me of Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor but it is even better. 

Dune 2 (4/5) (may be 4.5 too)

The finale of first Dune book asks a lot from its reader to imagine. There is a siege in the middle of a dessert storm and many things happen in parallel. I had always wondered how will this even come to screen. Dennie Villevue has done it. It is perfect. I would have liked another 1-2 mins of the siege action but it is just an ask to satisfy. Overall, Dune 2 and Dune 1 should be seen together only. They are amazing. 


Anatomy of a Fall By Justin Triet 4 out of 5 (may be 4.5 too)

Husband and wife are having difficulties in their marriage. The husband dies by falling from the roof while working on some home-repairs. Was he pushed or did he slip ? The answer is for the reader to decide - an excellent court room drama that poses questions to think long after the movie is done. 


American Fiction By Cord Jefferson (4 out of 5)

It is awesome when an actor gets a movie to showcase themselves. This is Jeffrey Right's movie and he just nails it. A satire, masterfully written. This kind of drama movies need to be celebrated more and more. 


Toni Erdmann By Maren Ade (3.5 out of 5)

I discovered Sandra Huller in Toni Erdmann and then saw her in Anatomy of a Fall. She is brilliant. Toni Erdmann is a silly movie that makes sure that you also do not take it seriously. Yet, it is a poignant portrait of a father-daughter relationship in this work obsessed, self obsessed world where we do not have time for our loved ones. 


To compensate for these amazing ones, I also saw brain-dead ones like Upgraded (1.5/5), Anyone but you (2/5)True Detective Night Country (3/5) (BTW, Alaska Daily did it much better) 

I started Wheel of Time but could not go past episode 2 of season 2. Didn't like it at all. 


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Travel

Weekend travel to Delhi to attend Wedding reception of Aabhas. Met with family and had good fun. Went and watched a play Ghalib in New Delhi in Little theatre. Play was ok. Also, had golgappas in Bengali market and that was amazing. Got golgappas packed too for BLR. 

Weekend travel to Mayiladuthurai for Mamaji's sixty'th birthday puja. Attended half of it. Went to Nagore Dargah, Thircudaiyur temple and Velankanni Church in a day. No one is more secular than me :)

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Attended Lucky Ali's live concert at Mall of Asia, Bengaluru. Also, Swarathama came and performed there. Concert was ok, more nostalgia than concert :) Lucky Ali is getting old and this may be my last concert of him. 

Attended Ruhaniyat at the Jayamahal palace this year. Saw performances from 

  • The Blissful world of Tamil Mystics - By Sivasri Skandaprasad and group. 
  • Through the Eyes of Kabir by Prahalad Singh Tipaniya and group
  • Secret Path of Javanese masters to peace by Ida Lala
  • Invoking the feminine force - Bharud of Maharashtra
  • Ubuntu - The spirit of togetherness Dumza Maswana
  • Qawwali by Warsi brothers

This year's anniversary celebration was a discover-city walking tour of Indiranagar. We covered the following places

  1. Bao Bangalore Indiranagar - Veg bao was amazing 
  2. Lavonne Cafe Indiranagar - Tried the Dule Tres Leches for the first time. On the sweeter side but good. 
  3. Calcutta Victoria Chat House (Jeevan Bhima Nagar)
  4. Taco Street Indiranagar - Bad service and bad tacos. 
  5. Nirula's Indiranagar - Butterscotch icecream at Nirulas. 


Did the Walking tour of Pete - Pete Walk by Unhurried - 4.5/5 

Covered Chickpete, CottonPete, three temples, one church and food at the oldest Darshini of Bangalore - Udupi Sri Krishna Bhawan hotel. Went with the office crowd as part of team outing. 

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Puchka Taco continue to delight us




In other news - 

- Sold the ND Sunspurge apartment. 

- Sobha daffodil apartment has massive governance issues. Attended a 3 hr long internal RWA meeting to discuss these issues. 

- Water problems are plaguing bangalore. 








Saturday, February 17, 2024

Wheel of Time Book 11-14 Review

 

Wheel Of Time

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Book 12-14)


Phew! A project comes to an end. I finished the last 14th book last night and it is 3 pm Saturday today and I am still not out of the Wheel of Time World. I liked the ending, I liked that it has ended. It has delivered on many promises, not so much on few. One of the reason that fantasy books, especially series are so popular is because there is a community around it. For WoT, it is the fandom and each one has a different take on it. Since yesterday, I have been reading reddit forums and watching youtube videos, watching secret-sharing videos from Brandon Sanderson - all this to share what has been a fairly significant emotional journey. 

For a series like this one, ones where a final battle has been promised, the ending carries a lot of weight. More so in WoT because there has been so many characters, side characters and we have spent so much time with them, before starting book 11, I had began to wonder that how will all this end. Fore the most part, I had stayed away from the fandom while reading books, but I did check the book rankings and everyone shared that it gets better from book 11 onwards. So, I was prepared for this set. 

I had high, or maybe more expectations. I did not like the 8-9-10 (didn't read 10). My grouse was less with that pot did not move forward but just the environment of the books. I felt that almost all characters were not supportive of each other, lacked empathy, even to folks who were helping them. I was unable to root for anyone of them and that made me didn't care. Plus, the writing was repetitive. But, I am glad that all was fixed and 11-14 are worth a read, infact the series is a worthy read. 


Book 11 - The Knife of Dreams

Jordan definitely got his mission back and this is a book when many threads are resolved and we start to see a beginning of the Tarmon Gaidan - the final battle. First, it is Perrin who rescues Faile and that whole arc comes to an end. It is a good battle scene and this is also an end to Shaido Aiels.  I think we spent more time with Shaidos than we needed to but it is ok. Next this is Egwene's book - I really liked the whole arc of Egwene from book 11 to when she becomes Amryllin in Book 12. Yes, she is not yet an Amyrlin in book 11 but this is a slow burn that I enjoyed. Also, this is a story of grit and you root for her. This has been missing for such a long time. Mat also fares better, marries the daughter of the nine moons and again shows off his battle stratagems. Rand is still annoying, albeit a little less. Overall, the pacing is much better and many arc closures are well handled. Some world building tropes are good such as dead-people walking but others like rooms  or building architecture changing seem more far fetched. 

What I absolutely hate about this book and the whole series is the Elayne character. Absolutely reckless. Even though she is the queen of Andor, such entitlement without much struggle. Yes, she becomes the queen and has affairs to manage etc but her character just did not work for me. Like at-all. 

Nyaneve as a character in book 11 is awesome, in particular, how she encourages Lan to ride. Perhaps the best setup here and that too for a character that is so much loved but so less cover. 

Book 12 - The Gathering Storm

The reins change - now we are in the Brandon Sanderson writing world. And to be honest, I preferred Sanderson over Jordan.  Gone are the repetitiveness, the cut of blouses, the spankings the braid tugging. Sanderson has a mission to tie all these threads together and take us to the promised final battle. 

I loved book 12. It may be my second (or may be third, we will see) most favorite book of the series. This is the book where people come together to help each other. The underdogs win - the long arc of Egwene becoming Amyrlin is closed with a fantastic Seanchan siege of the White Tower - one that was promised some 9 books ago. It is epic and it is awesome! The second best part is the change in Rand. In such epic series, the main characters are not the best, it is the side character that drives the series. But in WoT, I just didn't care for Rand at all. Book 12 still has the same aloofness, and he is even pushed to the extreme but he returns to sanity. This transition is deftly handled and I liked it when I read it. Elayne, Matt, Perrin are absent and it is ok. But the twists in this book are amazing - in particular the Verin one. Books, the good vs bad ones, need to re-confirm your faith in humanity. WoT had stopped doing so for so long that it was so refreshing to see it. 


Book 13 - Towers of Midnight

Or in which everyone gets ready for Tarmon Gaidan. Book 13 starts when Rand visits Egwene, ow Amyrlin and shares that he is going to break the seals of the dark one. Interesting! But this time, he wants everyone to be together. So, folks are indeed coming together. This is Perrin's book since he finally accepts his destiny to be a leader. This transformation is awesome! The whole sequence of forging of his hammer is amazing. Elayne continues to be the most annoying one and I would just not talk about it. My next favorite bit it Nyaneve and Egwene and how Nyaneve comes to call her as Mother but she is her own one. Nyaneve's tranformation in the series, her arc is one of the best one. Mat kills Golam, arranges for the dragons to be manufactured and finally rescues Moraine. Moraine rescue is brilliant with many reveals in those pages. Mat is the comic relief and he does a good job. At the end of 13, everyone has assembled at a common field - fields of Merrilor and we are now ready for the final instalment. Overall, now we have the sense of mission and camaraderie that is expected. 

Things that I did not like - Morgase's reveal was meh. Could have been much better and then she goes to a really side-y character. Gawyn/Egwene has little weight, it was flimsy before and continues to be so. I also feel that Siuan's arc could have been much better handled - she deserved better. 

Things that I like -We do not read more about Kinswoman or the Seafolk, beyond casual mentions. It keeps the series focussed.  Faile/Berlaine peace was nicely handled.  There are many wonderful nuggets such as the chapter where Matt gets stuck in a village where folks are zombies. 

Book 14 - Memory of Light 

There is a section in MoL where Thom is wondering how to describe the last battle - is it magnificent, epic? He finally settles on 'exquisite' . I think it is wonderful that Sanderson takes a detour here and I think it is introspective. 

MoL is exquisite. It is 1000 pages of battle, it is truly the epic battle that was promised. I liked the book and I read it through the week Mon-Fri, often spending my morning and late evening hrs, post-office hrs, finishing this. There are so many things that I like - it is the one which makes all the character arcs finally worth it. Sanderson also does justice to so many characters that it is amazing. An epic series has to land the ending and WoT does and it is for this reason that the journey is worth it. 

And as expected, many good people die in the final book and it is why it is truly heart-breaking. But, this is Lan's book. Lan is the Aragorn promised in book #1 and he is delivered in book #14. The fact that Lan gets justice makes up for many injustices :) 

There are many things to like here - some small and some big. I am going to talk about all in this long-ish post below

I really liked the meeting before the battle where Rand lays out his plan. It leads to bickering between houses and Elayne continues to annoy here. Rand wants to break the seals and let the dark one free and here Egwene behaves immaturely. Rand, though, is now the hero, the one who is trying to take everyone together. For this itself, it is just amazing. Perrin is the loyal friend and hence supports unconditionally. The deal clincher, the maker of truce is no other than Moraine and it is just so satisfying to read those pages. YES! YES! 

What follows next is the the creation of four battle grounds, the four generals and distribution of all characters in between these four grounds. Oh my! This scale is EPIC now. All characters have a purpose now. Faile is in charge of organizing food, Beralin for maintaining hospital for injured. Sanderson shuffles through each battle scene masterfully, it is just fascinating read. We see Uno, Hurin, Tam, Alliandre, Talmanes, Ituralde all side characters and now we know each one. What I absolutely hate here is that Mat is missing and Elayne is chosen as the leader of the battle. I had to make peace with Elayne and I did it. Amongst so many goodness, this was a duh. 

I just loved the plot twist of what the forsaken does here, in particular the Granedal's one where each general is now under compulsion. Massive hordes of Trollocs, we witness scenes when the strengths of men fail yet they continue. The prose is okay-ish, shines on few pages but lands a few punches. But, the screenplay is just amazing. 

What I also liked that in this book of final battle, we have a new character Andhrol, an Ashaman of low power who architects a plot to save the Black Tower. A problem created by the chosen one but fixed by normal (or non-chosen) people. It is an amazing story development and that it happens in the last book is just amazing. 

I also liked the few scenes which just make the book shine. For example - the banter between Matt and Rand on who has done more for the world. Or how gateways are used to spy on the war by spinning them in the sky, at drone level. There are many nuggets which are just too good. 

What I absolutely do not like is the whole Seanchan bit - this is a closure that I needed but did not get. It was told from book #2 that the empire will fall when it is discovered that Suldan can also be damane but nothing happens. Seanchan, in particular, Tuon, are shown to be little sympathetic, because of Matt's marriage but it does not land. 

Eventually, the three fronts loose and are forced to join hands and take a last stand at the Fields of Merrilor. Now, this is where the battle is epic because you know who is in charge now - Matt. Matt in his characteristic style drives the battle and it is a ~200 page chapter and just a delight to read. We say goodbye to many favorite characters but it is ok. I think 80% of the armies are dead. It is also a battle of both one-power and non-power people fighting alongside. It is interesting to see how it comes together. Because so far, be it Dumai Wells or in Tar-Valon Seanchan attack, once the one-power is involved, it is all one-power. In Perrin's rescue of Faile, one-power is disabled via Forkroot, so you see battle of only strength. But the final battle has forsaken going against people who is non-Rand. 

Things that were satisfying but could have been better - Role played by Perrin and Nyaneve in the final battle. They did a lot but they could have done better. Egwene is satisfying but could have been better. Ashaman and in general the conflict of Logain is good to see. 

Things that ticked me off - Galad and Gawyn - why o why. Elayne should have just died. 

Things that where extremely satisfying - Lan killing Demandred. Death is lighter than feather. Loial  and Ogier joining fight and singing while fighting. Matt's moves and his whole attitude lifts the pages - Demandred thinking that it would be Lewis Therin himself.  Lanfear's last gamble is great too. I am also pleased with Rand's battle with the dark-one. 

Finally, Tam al'Thor - man, after Lan, if there is some character with minimal presence and maximal impact. Two Rivers is awesome

Overall, it was a satisfying end. 

And this is where I am reminded that why the ending of LOTR is so amazing. There is no saving of Shire here, there is no post-credits. The saving of Shire brings things home in such an amazing fashion that no other fantasy book has done it for me. 

My rankings between these books are 12>14>13>11.  Here are my book 1-5 and book 6-10 reviews 

My overall rankings are - 

4 > 2>12 >14>13 > 3 > 6 > 11 > 5 > 1 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10