Tuesday 28 February 2012

The ITTIAM Day.....


27/05/2011
The next weekend was more of a techno week. I had to attend an annual function hosted by the company in The Grand Magrath Hotel. The company which i worked was celebrating its 10th year of its successful venture. The company was Ittiam Systems Pvt Ltd which was started in 2001 by ex-employee of Texas Instruments - Srini Rajam, CEO of the company who was present in the function.


Srini Rajam...


Puneet Gupta, Principal Engineer - was the anchor of the day.



Me and my mom inside Grand Mcgrath Hotel..



Awards and achievements to be given away.....


 ITTIAM meant “I Think Therefore I AM” a more of a conceptualised version representing your mind. The function was less formal and with inclusion of more excitement in it. Each team in the company hosted its unique level of contests and giving away prizes for the contests as chocolates. The participation was so high that even for participation there were prizes.





Dus ka Dham...


My Team... 



As for my team, was concerned their contest was more into the field of geography. The contest was called as “Dus Ka Dham” which is you have to find the name of 10 places in the given 60 seconds of time. My mom, dad & my cousin had real fun. Some of the events were real funny. There was an event - Eating biscuits by stacking them first with your mouth and not using your hands. And there was another one which was like one person was forced to rotate his hips so that the Yo-yo tied to his hips can strike all the bowling bottles placed around him.

I had real fun..... The day was really a memorable one......

The venture continues.................


Finally Wayanad!!!!


21/05/2011
It was nearly 20 days spent in the tech city. But I hardly noticed those days in the city expect for the last weekend. The days were passing and my stay at Bangalore was nearing the conclusion. So as planned earlier, my cousins decided to go on a trip with us (me and bro). Our cousins were really positive that driving to Bandipur national park would enlighten the complete pack (me, bro and cousins). Unfortunately, the plan seemed to be sabotaged due to the fact of accommodation in bandipur. So, I came up with an excellent plan which was by visiting bandipur and then staying at Wayanad which has a lot of accommodation centres whose rates are almost half the rates in Bandipur.  It seemed that Sulthan Bathery – a place in Wayanad seemed only 25 kms away from bandipur. Bathery was a major touristic centre in Kerala. We found a KTDC hotel in bathery namely “Pepper Grove”.
We (me, bro and the two cousins) left Bangalore at 6 am in the morning. As usual, we pit stopped at Kamat Lokkaruchi for breakfast.  The food was every energetic. We decided to move on. As it was already 9 am and the highway was starting get congested. We reached Mysore by 11 am. We had our lunch break in a Cafe Coffee Day shop near Gundelpet.


The Last Cafe Coffee Day Shop on the way to Gundelpet....


NH 212 Mysore-Calicut Highway

After having our break we decided to continue our voyage. We travelled through the NH 212 Mysore – Calicut Highway. The road was really amazing.

We finally passed through the gates of Bandipur reserve at 1pm expecting to see some wildlife action. On the way we witnessed a group of elephants on the side of the road. My cousins even thought of taking some photo shoots with the elephants. A move like that might result in fatality.


Group of Wild Elephants....Part-1



Part-2....


Mountain Squirrel found in Muthanga Range....


We enjoyed the song the nature from there on. When we passed the border check post, the highly vigilant Kerala police scanned and verified our identities to make sure that everything was safe. Finally we were in Wayanad the beauty of Kerala. It is the one which makes Kerala as the Land of God’s Own Country. Wayanad is only place which has both tea and coffee plantations.


As we drove through the roads of Wayanad, I smelled the scent of godly nature of Kerala – place where i was born. We took a stop at Muthanga Wildlife Reserve before heading to Sultan Bathery. The reserve offered jeep safaris into the reserve. The reserve was famous for its tigers, leopards, jaguar, black macaques,
bears, vultures, sambhar deers, etc.


Safari point at Muthanga Reserve



Entry Point to Muthanga Wildlife Reserve


The cost of a Jeep safari was close to 1500 rupees for a jeep which can accommodate max of 8 people. In the safari, we were accompanied by a forest guide. He showed us the crazy route-ways within the reserve.







Safari Route


Elephants in Muthanga Reserve...

He even showed us a group of vultures feeding on a dead bear.


Vultures feeding on Dead bear..


Vultures


The sight of the reserve was similar to the one which we see in the Discovery channel. It was a tropical forest for sure as there were areas where we witnessed elephant grass. It is grassland area where the tiger hides itself for capturing its prey. When we moved across the elephant grass the monkeys which were sitting on top of a tree were making alarm noises in order to alert all the deers in the area. Then we came to know that indeed there was a tiger which was present in the grassland area which was camouflaging itself from everything. We weren’t allowed to wander in that areas as those areas came under the Buffer Zone. Therefore, we were made to leave the territory.


Deers in Muthanga... This part of the reserve came close to the Buffer Zone...

We did shot a documentary on the safari trip to the Muthanga Reserve. It was shot by my cousin (Vicky)...


Jeep safari- Documentary part-1 by Vicky(mycousin)



Jeep safari- Documentary part-2




Mountain Squirrel



Deers in Safari route



On the way back we had chances of seeing some wild elephants and also some macaques. We left the reserve at about 5 pm for Sultan Bathery.


Pepper Grove (outside view)



Dining Room-Pepper Grove


We stayed at a place called as Pepper Grove in Bathery for the night. Pepper grove was hotel which, was under the KTDC (Kerala Tourism Development Corporation). The stay & food was amazing.
We played badminton in the court at night just for enjoying our stay at the hotel. The hotel had 5-star look.




22/05/2011

The next day was a memorable one as we decided to pay a visit to Edakkal Caves one of the UN Heritage Site in India. The caves were considered to be one of the oldest ever.






It had the most dangerous trek route. The region in caves was considered to a plastic free zone. We were forced to deposit 10 rupees for the plastic bottle which we carried to the caves. Before entering the caves, we were checked for any plastic materials like bottles, covers, etc. If they find any, then we were forced pay a deposit of 10 rupees per item and a label is tagged to the item which we carried so that we can renew the deposit on the return trip. Thus, they can make sure that plastic waste in not disposed in the caves area.



The view from the top of the caves was a memorable one. From the top we were able to see the famous “Phantompara” – rock hill which is naturally carved like face of a phantom.









View from the top of the caves...



Trek route in Edakkal Caves....



Phantom Para.....




 The route to edakkal caves was very treacherous. There were steep areas which were very slippery. Route was very narrow as only one person was able travel at a time.
Finally, we reached the caves. The walls of the caves had the encryptions of ancient art. It was an experience which can never be described by words.
We took some photos to mark our arrival.........




Inside Edakkal Caves......





That's me. Behind me is the rock engravings found in Edakkal Caves...





Inside Edakkal Caves....


Rock trails found in Edakkal Caves....





In the caves, we noticed something really familiar, ‘rock trails’ – trails used by the people who regularly do mountain climbing or rock climbing. When we enquired about it, we came to know that rock-climbing was very common in the caves area as people do it often especially in the Feb-march time which is the perfect season at which rock climbing is easier.

We left the place at about 2 pm. We reached Bathery town and had some lunch. And left the town in the evening at 4 pm. On the way we saw a wild elephant taking bath in a pond...


elephant taking bath in a pond...




We crossed Mysore at sunset expecting that we can reach home at night. On the way, I took some really amazing sunset photos which looked so picturesque.







We reached back in the tech city at 11pm.
It was trip which never be forgotten in my life.......

The Journey Continues.......................