Getting back Home Alone

Its been a long long time since i posted last. I was just trying to settle down , get back to work rythm and a lot of things to put back in place. Had to overcome the jet lag and stuff.... offcourse its too long now to blame it on jet lag but believe me I took a real long time to get over it. This one month kept me busy with some action in the district. The Nagarjuna power corp. started their work at the site and it was naturally followed by huge protests. People here have been opposing coal based power projects on environmental grounds. Whatever the ground... its more now a political battle and opportunity for a few than environment. So the less dissected the better. However the scale of protests have been so low.. we had actually prepared for something really big. But we're not sure if big-trouble is still waiting to come. Added to this the naxalite problem has been active since the day i came. Infact i was welcomed to Udupi with an exchange of fire... my men had with the naxals last month. The communal clashes in neighbouring Mangalore had also kept us busy for sometime.

But of all the things what kept me really hooked 24*7 was the "Skype" window on my laptop that was logged in day and night. I subscribed to a "skype-in" number that gave me a local US number wherein i could receive calls on the laptop, while it costed the caller local US charges. This was the lifeline for me and deepu. I should say the whole of the last 20 days i was almost walking with my laptop and earphones around my head just waiting for a call frm deepu. Once the call came, it would be hours and hours of gossip. The way we kept in touch on this... was just incredible.

I write this blog now as Deepu is still flying on her way back from DC to Delhi. She took the AirFrance flight to Paris from Washington DC this morning at 3.25 AM (IST) (that is 4.55 PM EST on the 9th of Dec). As I check the flight location at the moment, I find she is flying over the Atlantic... probably sleeping... coz the earth view at this moment shows its dark outside her window.

But sorry Skype isnt good enough to get that far. She'll be landing in abt 3 hrs frm now in Paris and will be taking a flight to Delhi after a 4 hr stopover. Shes travelling alone and i know how boring it could get. That too when ur offered only french food and stupid entertainment. But its all coming to an end when she lands in Hyderabad next morning.

Its been a busy month even for deepu. She had been to the west coast for a "Thanksgiving" party and explored the snowcaped montains of Oregon and the Giant Redwood forests of California. She also had her first encounter with Snow fall and it turned out to be more than what she had asked for. She was caught in it and was just about rescued luckily. So much for her first snow fall. When she was back to Bethesda she caught up with friends in NY and further explored the city apart from getting on top of the Empire state building.

While she was doing that, i went exploring newer islands here. The dolfins off the coast of St Mary's Island here , were a new experience to me too.

Things have been very pacey for a while and will only settle down when shes back here a week later frm hyderabad. Well, before i end, i should wish deepu a happy and safe landing at Charles-de Gaulle, Paris.

Liberty the place to be

We landed in DC on the 6th and drove straight to Bethesda on that cold and cloudy morning. After getting the luggage unloaded, the next priority was lunch. We were taken out to a splendid Indian Buffet at the 'Haandi' in Bethesda. We returned back, relaxed for sometime and again went out for a walk to the CVS Pharmacy, the Starbucks coffee shop and finally collected a few provisions from a store on the way. After returning back home we cooked ourselves some daal and rice and settled for the night. The next morning it was actually planned to go out to DC but it was so cozy i decided not to get out of bed till lunch. and so it was lunch again at another Indian restaurant in Bethesda, The Saffron Lounge. After lunch it was back to bed and the evening was spent preparing some Hyderabadi Biriyani. Did'nt come out so well but managed to have it. The next morning on the 8th we had no option but to leave for DC. It was a memorable ride for both of us on the Washington Metro and after we got off at the Metro Central in DC, we both went abt exploring DC with just a map. That was perhaps something we'll both cherish forever. We went to the Washington Memorial first and then to the white house, the various museums, and then we started to feel hungry. That was tough now. We kept looking for a good restaurant till 4.30 pm and when we finally found one.. the Rasika on 6-33 D Avn. it was closed for lunch and would not open for dinner till 5.30 pm. So i had to take a visibly hungry and upset Deepu to the starbucks coffee shop for some cake and coffee. We then decided to go to Capitol till it was time for dinner. The Capitol at sunset was an unbelieveable sight. After making it to the Rasika finally at 5.30 pm, we somehow changed plans to have dinner at Georgetown's Amma Kitchen rather. So we quickly had some mango lassi and Sheek Kebabs at Rasika and head straight to Amma's. It was a nice treat of Idli Dosa stuff. After dinner we were driven across DC for some more time and returned home late.

After a day off that we took on the 9th, we finally decided to leave for new york on the 10th. By 1 pm we were all packed and in the car. We left Bethesda by 1.30 pm towards New York. Passing thro places like Baltimore we reached New Jersy at abt 7.30 pm and drove to the Wellesly inn . It was a very good hotel and we were in mood only for some rest coz of the tiring journey.

But as there was hardly any time and we had to leave new york the next evening, we decided to drive to new york once now itself for dinner. We had heard a lot abt the famous NY pizza and decided to have it for dinner. It was a great drive towards NY, passing by the NEWARK Airport, watching the planes land and take off right beside us, and then we finally reached the Lincoln tunnel, the gateway to Manhattan. The skyline of Manhattan was already visible from there with the red top of the empire state building sitting over like a crown against the dark sky of the evening. Needless to say the glittering skyscrapers against the night sky was a real treat. The Lincoln tunnel actually takes u across the Hudson river and it passes under the river. As soon as u emerge out, u are welcomed by a board “welcome to Manhattan” for those who wished to be there atleast once in a lifetime ( not that it requires any more visits than that, u don’t have to be there another time unless u have some work out there). For about an hour we drove across the gullies of NY most of the time bending our heads backward to get a glimpse of the towering buildings all along the way. Its just overwhelming to find ur tiny self among those tall buildings. It was decided to have the pizza at the traditional Ray's Pizza in Little Italy and it really turned out to be a good one even to me who normally does'nt like pizza stuff. We then drove through the streets of NY and the Time Square. Finally returned to hotel by late night.

The next morning we skipped Breakfast and rushed to the ferry to be taken across to the liberty island. The boat ride and the walk around the Statue of liberty on the island was an experience in itself. Later in the evening we made it to the WTC site and had dinner at the Salaam Bombay. We started our drive back to Bethesda by 8 pm and reached home by midnight.

The next day was my last day in the USA for a long time now. I spent most of the day packing and doing the last minute stuff. Deepu prepared mouth watering Biriyani for me. and after having the treat drove to the Washington Dulles airport. After bidding Deepu BYE :-( i flew out of the USA at 4.50 pm. Deepu is still in Bethesda, Maryland and will join me in mid December. I m now spending days at Udupi waiting for that day to come as quickly as possible.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

I finally landed in Lauderdale at abt 1330 hrs on 06-11-06 and walked out of the airport as i was directed by Deepu to do so. But she kept me waiting there for the next 15 tense minutes when i finally caught a glimpse of her in the car. After that momentous hug, we got the luggage into the car and drove home. The rest of the day it was just endless talking and.....( off course after a wonderful biryani treat). Finally it was decided in the evening we wud go for a drive and dinner. We had dinner at the P F Changs Chinese restaurant and drove to the downtown and then to the Lauderdale beach. I made it a point to touch down to the cold waters of the Atlantic lest i may not be able to do it again this lifetime.

The next morning again we spent the day at home till afternoon, when we finally got fininshed with some packing and decided to go out to the shopping malls. I brought myself a jacket and a Tennis racket while Deepthi was exchanging a lot of stuff that she was not happy with. We returned home and got ourselves prepared for the flight next morning to Washington DC.

Training Days

After those two wonderful blogs frm Deepu I thought I should be writing something. Actually the schedule was so tight during training that I hardly found time to write anything on it. If we weren’t training then we were either in the gym working out or, out shopping… most often just finding out the prices of things we were planning to buy for gifts. The training as such was good as it was definitely adding to our professional skills. But it was not that physically demanding as it was made to look. The Americans have this habit of actually training or rather working in between long breaks. They would work for four days and on Friday the fifth it would be weekend from 2 pm onwards. Amazing how the country still runs fine. Back here we have the habit of slogging 24*7 without much of value addition. It was something to learn.
Most memorable things about training apart from the course content itself were
1. The food- If there is one reason I’ll dread going back to the US for another stint is the kind of food they eat. Nothing much to explain… have a look at the pic.

Off course the Indias restaurant and more than all the Priya and MTR readymade foods saved us for the last part of the training.
2. Shopping – I’ll always remember those huge malls like the Wal-Mart, Steave & Beary’s, J C Penny’s, Dillards, the Dollar tree, Academy sports, Circuit City, Comp USA, Best Buy and many more.
3. Bus journeys- the evening return journey on the bus from Zachary training facility were very memorable for the singing sessions we had on them.
4. Weekend visits- weekend visits to New Orleans ( the equarium of the Americas, movie at the IMAX, and off course the Bourbone st.), the White Oak Plantation, The Nottoway Plantation, The flea market, the Swamp tour…
5. CQB exercises- shooting hostages will off course linger in our minds for a long time.
6. Mayor of Baton Rouge- Being made the Honorary Mayor of the city for a day was definitely a nice gesture.
On 3rd of Nov we had our graduation at the Oak Lodge and on the early morning of 4th I left for Fort Lauderdale to join Deepu. I think this should rank amongst one of my most memorable journeys in life. That anticipation of seeing her after a six week long wait was something that’s to be experienced. Six weeks I was kept alive by her phone calls and I was just glad on that flight, that all that was coming to an end and I don’t have to depend on that instrument anymore.

Together in D.C.

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Finally my wait has ended and subbu has joined me in Florida and we flew to Washington D.C. together. from the flight the veiw of fall colours was breath taking. we had a great time exploring the city all by ourselves. We also went to Newyork and saw the amazing 'Statue of Liberty' and the beautiful Manhattan. it was great being in the financial capital of the world. but we couldn't help comparing the city to 'aamchi Mumbai', which in many ways is similar to New york. Both of us enjoyed the experience and offcourse being together added to the joy.

waiting for subbu

its been a long wait for me in Miami. i was waiting for subbu to finish training and join me. Florida is a beautiful place and i wanted subbu to be with me, but i know he is doing a better job being in the training. He was made the 'Honorary Mayor' of the city of Baton rouge for one day and was also given the 'Key' to baton rouge and i feel very proud of him. i visited 'Disney world' in Florida but the joy was not complete as subbu was not with me.

10 days into training

Its been ten days now and folks here have started getting home sick already. I for one want to go to Florida ; ) , no marks for guessing why?.
Last week it was all pistol firing and now we've an added weapon the Colt SMG. Its been firing all day long. Nothing much to add. Just wishing if Deepu cud just put something in here.

For Deepu

I took this picture for Deepu. Just started my training at the Louisiana State Police Academy this morning.

We landed in the USA on the 22nd of Sep, both me and Deepu taking the same flights upto Atlanta via Paris. From Atlanta Deepu left for Fort Lauderdale in Florida and i had to take my scheduled flight to Baton Rouge in Louisiana. Eversince i've been missing her and guessed she would be missing me too. So thought i could take this pic for her.

Good Shot..

With our Louisiana trip coming closer by the day, things are getting a little busy. Though i've put in all my papers , lot needs to be done regarding Deepu's VISA. Yesterday we hurriedly got our Marraige registered. Hey ! I forgot to tell... i've been selected for a training course at the Louisiana police academy at Baton Rouge from the 25 of Sep to 3rd Nov. It is called the "India Crisis Response Training". I want to take Deepu along... just hoping she gets the VISA .

Last week we took some time off and had a little firing practice. Deepu laid her hands on the AK-47 and got a feel of that adrenaline rush. She also did the GLOCK-19 pistol. I should admit shes a gud shot. We also re-visited some old locations and as promised, we're bringing better pictures of that place called Ottinaane. Its a Hillock overlooking the sea at a place where the river joins it. Spectacular is'nt it ? the sunset here is even better.

Over the Top...

We finally made it to the top of the Kaup Light house this evening. Though it was a tiring climb.. t'was worth all that trouble. The top of the light House has this 105 year old mechanism still intact as new. All in shining brass and the wooden furniture taking you back to the days of the Raj. Take a bet you wont be finished untill you've touched and felt every bit of that nostalgia. Once you're done with that, theres a small door to the side welcoming you to a spectacular view of lush green coastline on one side and the vast expanse of the Arabian sea on the other. And to add to all this today the sun was just about setting....... cud u think of a better setting than this?

With the intense phase of monsoon finally coming to an end, we're having clearer skies now. The Malpe port has also resumed fishing. After returning from the light house, we had dinner and head straight to the fishing port. At 11 in the night the place was teeming with activity and it was almost like a festival (nothing to do with Ganesh Chathurthi tomorrow). Its an amazing sight.. all those fishing boats filled to the brim with fish., at one end the loads of fish being auctioned off and at the other.. the fish being unloaded into trucks filled with huge chunks of steaming ice. Todays catch was mainly the Indian Macarel. We're back now satisfied that it was an evening well spent.

Tomorrow is Ganesh Chathurthi and we've been invited by the KMC Manipal students to the pooja there. Happy Ganesh Chathurthi to all.

Sita Nadi retreat

After a long time we kind of.. got a weekend again. With Deepu's hospital schedule extending to 14hrs 7 days a week, we're now searching for time. Saturdays she has her night duty and so we find some time on Sundays. This weekend we returned back to the forest rest house in Hebri on the banks of Sita Nadi. As good as ever, but could'nt get on to rafting again. We thus decided to extend our drive uphill to Aagumbe. For those from Karnataka... needs no mention, but those who have'nt heard this name... it should, i can doubtlessly say rank among the top 5 sunset view points in the world. The sunset spot is directly raised from sea level to a height of 930 feet. Between sunset spot and sea (at a distance of 30 km), there are no obstacles and hence, one can have a spectacular view of the sunset from this spot. The best possible months for viewing sunset from Aagumbe is December to mid of April when the skies are clear. There afterwards, clouds will obstruct view, and now at peak monsoon you can understand what it must have been. The place was enveloped in a cloud and we cud hardly see the person standing beside. In any case Aagumbe can be enjoyed in the monsoon just for this cloud and rain. So we just stood next to a tiny waterfall for a pic

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Back to school...

Its been a week since Deepu was back to school. Now Sr. Resident at the KMC Manipal, Dept of Medicine. The first day, the 1st of Aug was offcourse tough. We both went to the Vice Chancellor that morning. I was strictly asked be out, and so had to give Deepu (with heavy eyes and swollen cheeks) a small nudge across the threshold where she was picked up by her HOD. On day one she decided she'll just get introduced to the staff and be back home, little realising that she wud'nt return home till evening untill her HOD was thro with all his Patients. The next two days were equally tough untill she got used to her colleagues. Now after a week shes more comfortable and enjoying her work. But frm my side... i miss her 12 hrs a day and a whole stretch of 24 hrs once a week. So to make up for that... i make it a point to drive her every morning to the hospital (4 kms , a 10 min drive), take her lunch if possible and try to drive her back home in the evenings too. This morning i decided to take a pic of hers at her institution, but she refused and so had to shoot them without her. If she obliges t'morow u'll see a pic of hers somewhere down here. Now look what poor Deepu does at 6 in the mornings in the courtyard :-) , coffee, books, laptop aur kya kya... ?

Week full of meetings

This week was surprisingly packed with meetings and endless discussions and all of them at the Deputy comissioners office. Half the time my presence was just decorative, with items on the agenda being developmental projects, or about HIV cases being reported in Udupi, or about ration cards being issued in Karkala and similar stuff. All that I did was nod my head and say 'yeah it could be done that way' or sometimes 'why dont you do it this way' , and when the subject was health, the DHO would be surprised who this cop was, suggesting us how we should be controlling chikungunya or how national programs are to be implemented. Nevertheless most doctors in Udupi are now comfortabe when i suggest something, coz they're aware by now that their SP is also a doc.

This week we also had some guests at home, with two of our friends visiting us. So all that i've been doing between these meetings was to take them around places in Udupi. So you can imagine, i've hardly been to the office this week. From August 1st Deepu is planning to start working at the KMC Manipal. So next week on, home is going to be very depressing when I dont find Deepu around . But I guess lifes like that, and we got to get used to it. So we got two days left and we're trying to make the best of them. The other day we'd been to a forest rest house at Hebri, the foot hills of Agumbe. Its a beautiful place on the banks of river Sita , and in this part of the year, it runs full with lots of rapids., ideal for river rafting. But since we reached there late in the evening, the rafts were all out. better luck next time.

Kaup light house

Last evening we spent some time at the Kaup ( pronounced as Kaapu ) light house. About 10 kms from here, its a half-an-hours drive from home (Udupi). The location as you can see is splendid, built on a massive rock on a beautiful rocky shore. The light house itself was built in the year 1901, and you can see how it originally looked like and how itz today., some colour added and only the faces on the stairs have changed in 105 yrs. This is one place where you can spend hours together gazing at the vast expanse of water from a decent height. The silence would be broken once in a while with huge waves breaking against rocks below you. We stayed there till it got dark and and returned home. As we actually reached there a lil late, we could'nt make it to the top of the light house. Definitely this place deserves regular visits in future. Its isolated, quite and you are all by yourself.

Bangalore and back.

After a five months wait, finally we made it to Bangalore. This was perhaps the longest i've ever waited to get home. Actually i had two official engagements, one in the High Court and another in the Secretariat with a gap of one day in between. So we got 3 days to take off and the free day falling in between was the world population day which I celebrate for having come into this world and Mumbai would remember for having lost abt 200 of their bretheren in one of the worst terrorist attacks. Deepu made it a more memorable occasion to me , than what happened in Mumbai later in the evening.

Most of the time as usual was spent driving thro' the traffic and offcourse movies at PVR. Most memorable of all was offcourse the drive from and to Udupi itself. Driving across the western ghats in the full monsoon splendour is itself an experience, doesn't matter where ur heading after that. Where else would u shop next to a water fall (pic).

Discovery weekend

Despite the heavy downpour, we decided to drive to Karkala and then to Hanuman Gundi falls yesterday. Karkala is a small town falling under Udupi district about 45 mins drive from Udupi and is famous for a few medieval jain temples called Basadi's and a magnificent monolith of Bahubali on a rocky hillock among the western ghats. The Bahubali statue belongs to 1432 AD while the jain Basadi was constructed in the year 1586 AD. Both the places are so serene in location, the added attraction being... u'll not find a soul around to disturb u..... absolute silence. After spending some time here we drove through the Kudremukh National park to reach the Hanuman gundi falls. Subbu had a tough time driving in the ghats but i was enjoying going through the clouds and watching the lush green meadows was wonderful from such a height. But unfortunately the downpour was so heavy we could'nt make it to the bottom of the falls and decided to turn back home. Spent the rest of the evening at the 'coffee day' at Manipal.

Weekend drive

Its been about 10 days since Deepu returned from Hyderabad. With the monsoon in its full splendour we're spending most of the time indoors watching the rains pour down. Coastal Karnataka is next only to the North East ( Chirapunji) in the amount of rainfall it receives. For about 3 months of june, july and august, its almost raining continuously. Everything turns green, all the rivers running full. There are about 15 small rivers cutting across this district of Udupi from east to west, and its beautiful at the places where the back waters of the arabian sea and the rivers meet. This weekend we went on a drive north, crossing all these rivers and reached a forest rest house at a place called "Oththiinaane". Its a guest house on a hillock overlooking the arabian sea and u've to be there to experience it.... out of the world... hard to believe a place like this even exists. On our way back we stopped over at the "Maravanthe" beach. Its a two kilometer drive on the national highway on the side of the beach, and i'm sure ur drive could'nt get closer than this to the sea. Truely breathtaking. But the sad part.. all that we had was a nokia mobile camera. So we'll get u better pictures of that experience, the next time we're there. Offlate Udupi had been quiet peaceful (touch wood) and we're both getting some time to spend the evenings with a game of badminton at the officer's club. Some good work also on the professional side and we just started a district police blog www.udupipolice.blogspot.com to put that work online.

In Udupi

So finally we set foot on Udupi. Took Charge as SP Udupi on the 28th of May. Its abt 10 days now and things have been going pretty smooth. The day we set foot here, there was a huge storm and abt 300 fishing boats went missing on the seas. Thought i was in for some busy time, but fortunately things settled down qiuckly (offcourse we lost 6 lives in that storm). The monsoon has set in here and in this place like in Puttur... it rains so heavily for 4 months, u can grow sick of it. Deepu is leaving for Hyderabad today on a short (hopefully) visit. So yesterday we spent the evening at the Turtle Bay... a splendidly located beach resort... returned home watched a movie ... and now just out of bed.

Honeymoon...

Truely… my coorg posting was just but a honeymoon. It lasted precisely 15 days. Yesterday as I was celebrating the completion of the second week of my charge here, I was handed over a transfer order as SP Udipi District. Shocked ? yes it could be that bad. But as for me.. it has been a welcome change. Actually I was myself getting a lil worried abt being forgotten in the police circles if I spent too much time in this cold storage. Udipi as most of us know, is popular for its Udipi restaurants serving Idlis and Dosas.. but theres much more to this place than just them… Contrary to popular belief Udipi is a highly communally sensitive place. Theres a lot of underworld activity coz of its close links to Mumbai and the Middle east. Offlate there has been a spurt in Naxal activity too. On the whole its a place full of life and lots of work to do unlike coorg. The Udipi Sri Krishna temple is quite popular and legend has it that the idol of Sri Krishna turned backwards to give darshan to Kanakadasa, when he was refused entry into the temple. Even to this day darshan is had from a small opening called the Kanakana Kindi. There other temple towns like Kollur ( Mookambika) and Shringeri. Udipi is also known for a few good beaches and beach resorts. And offcourse the famous Manipal is also part of Udipi. I think I m writing too much on this place even without setting foot on it. Coz news is that a few guys ( politicians) are trying hard for my retention in coorg despite the fact that I’ve expressed my keenness to leave this place. Not that I’ve done these guys any favour, itz just a crazy game this.. the mechanics of which u’ll never understand. Just got to play it carefully. The actual reason why I m being so quickly transferred is that.. the chap who had to actually report in Udipi refused to do, coz of his personal reasons and another officer on the verge of his promotion to DIG wanted to cool off his last few days in this place, so I was the only soft target. But never mind “ jo bhi hotha hai, achche ke liye hotha hai”. Udipi will be gud for both our careers as it has some gud hospitals too like KMC Manipal for Deepu. So if all goes well I wud have taken charge of Udipi this weekend.
We’re now spending the last few days here exploring the place. To start with yesterday we made it to Orange County. The orange county is a honeymoon resort over about 375 acres of coffee plantation on the banks of river cauvery at an altitude of abt 2500 ft. Wonderful place but a lil expensive.

Subbu gadu SP ayyadu

Subbu is promoted as Superintendent of Police of Kodagu district [popularly known as Coorg or Madikeri]. My hubby really makes me proud. I am also very happy with the place b'coz itz beautiful with hills and valleys, waterfalls and coffee plantations. Itz a tourist destination with a lot of resorts. Madikeri town is itself amidst the western ghats and the climate is cool throughout the year [no other place u'll find misty evenings in mid-summer] with heavy rainfall like Dakshin Kannada dist. where we stayed earlier. But it was hard to leave Puttur [D.K.] as it was the home where we spent our first days after marriage.

Our house here [Madikeri] is an old british bunglow, more than a century old but its well maintained and stands tall with itz high roofs and spacious halls, one place where u'll have fire places in every room. This house is actually named "Rose Banks" for itz sprawling gardens with lot of roses and other flowering plants, which always stand first at the annual flower show.

Some of the popular destinations in this place are the Abbey falls, Talakaveri (birth place of river cauvery) , Nagarahole wildlife sanctuary, Kaveri Nisarga Dhama ( nature reserve), Raja seat ( view point of the erstwhile king) and a whole lot of resorts for the honeymooners among the coffee plantations ( heard of orange county?).

I hope we can enjoy the place together if subbu finds some time for me :-) .

The wait continues...

Nothing much to report here this week. Deepu returned on the 26th of April, and since then things have stabilized a bit. With the theatre scenario changing in Mangalore after the multiplex came up... we've been watching more movies. The latest being "Darna Zaroori Hai" and yesterday we almost made it to The Pink Panther... until Deepu opted out.

Needless to say that i've been waiting too long for my postings to come, almost about 2 1/2 months now.. and every day i get to hear that the orders'll be out this evening. With a coalition Government in the state... things were expected to be this bad. Nobody ready to take decisions. The whispers in the corridors of Vidhana soudha are that the Government will collapse with the first shuffle of official postings. So the wait continues... not that i'm fed up with my present disposition.. but because i want the inevitable to come thro & settle down quickly. Despite our stay here for a year and a half now... we hav'nt been able to make it to a few palces around Puttur. I think this week we should be trying to do that. Toping the list would be the Bekal Fort in Kasargod, Kerala which is about an hours drive from here (This fort shot to fame with Mani Rathnam's 'Bombay' where the song Uyire Uyire was filmed). The next on list would be St Mary's Island off the coast of Udipi. To begin with we managed to make it to the Beerumalai betta in Puttur [pic].

Puttur Mahalingeshwara Jaathra

It was a good show.. the Puttur Mahalingeshwara Jaathra last night..

Here r some pics we promised

Inertia

Just random thoughts. The amount of inertia in the Government of India is directly proportional to time one spends on his chair. My subdivisional office accommodation here in Puttur is about 50 yrs old, the first officer who occupied this chair was A R Nizamuddin way back in 1957 who during my school days went on to become the DGP of Karnataka. Since then this chair has produced about four DGP's and even the present Police Commissioner of Bangalore is a product of this Chamber. Every officer who has held charge here has commented on the unfitness of this place to house the subdivisional office but could not manage to get a new building constructed. Finally in 2005, with fund from the police modernization kitty we managed to get about Rs. 18 lakhs ( 1.8 million for those who've stopped counting in lakhs) and got a nice spacious building constructed on a scenic hillock overlooking the western ghats, cutting down part of an acacia plantation. Lot of work went on in levelling the top of the hillock, creating a road etc. Now finally when i m frantically trying to shift the office, before i myself get shifted out of this place.. i see myself up against my staff. they seem to be having a lot at stake here. Every time i talk to them abt the move .. all they have to say is " sir, r u sure we're going to shift". But come what may i've decided we're gonna do it on the 22nd of this month. We'll get the building inaugurated quietly by the IGP and push thro' the staff till they get used to the new place. Yesterday in a hurried move, we went selecting some good furniture for the office. Deepu has promised to help with the screens and the interiors, when shes back frm Hyderabad. If everything goes on well, i would have overcome an inertia of 50 yrs this weekend. About 30yrs later, i can come back here and say... we did it...

As i mentioned earlier Puttur has always been a place for posting fresh IPS entrants as ASP's for a variety of reasons. Communally a very sensitive place, in the pre-independence days.. the RSS and post-independence the Bharthiya Jan Sangh and now the BJP and its sister organizations have always been very active here. In addition the subdivision is huge, area wise for a beginner. Off late the Kudremukha National park area has been witnessing an upsurge in the Naxal movement. Every senior officer i met after taking charge here, has told me that i was sitting on a ticking time bomb. If i m lucky i would have got out of this place without a blast.

Badi mushkil hai...

badi mushkil se use waapas laaya thaa ! now deepu is back in hyderabad : ( .. these last days of puttur would get this lonely ... i never thought. Anyway with a lot of time at hand i m trying to do some proactive work before i leave this place. A wonderful place it has been and during the rains it is a different world all together. We would both be missing it this monsoon. I m now spending most of the time with memories of those wonderful days.

Summer is slowly catching up in puttur (the typical coastal weather) but the only solace being things getting much worse in many other parts of the country. This part of the year is also filled with festivities here... especially the "jaathraas" and all these conclude before the monsoon. The last one being the Puttur Mahalingeshwara Jaathra... beginning today and concluding on the 17th night... and the last night is a not-to-be-missed event. More than a lakh of people gather to pull the chariot amidst a spendid display of state-of art- fireworks. People in this part of the country are very orthodox, pride their culture, language(thulu), folk arts (yakshagaana) ... and hold their festivities in the same granduer that they were being held a few hundred years ago, in addition to being highly literate and economically very progressive. If i m still hanging around here for the jaathra... i'll bring u some pictures of that sea of humanity.

Ugaadi Subhaakaankshalu...

Our second Ugaadi at puttur got more exciting than before with a lot of guests coming in . Our ugaadi pachchadi also clicked and subbu had a taste of it early in the morning. The speciality of our pachchadi was that all ingredients were from our backyard... the mangoes, neem, coconut etc., As the summer is catching up in this part of the country.. we're busy counting our days of Puttur. With subbu's posting likely to come somewhere in the next week, he's keeping his fingers crossed. I hope atleast as SP he lands up in some cooler place and has some time for me ( fat hopes ???). Today subbu has promised me an ugadi treat with a movie at the Mangalore's first Multiplex "ADLABS". We've just half an hour to go, but i'm not sure of the movie till i've finished watching it... so wish me and offcourse subbu also LUCK.. for he's gonna have it,. if something goes wrong in his jurisdiction. Have a nice telugu new year all of u.

Holi hai ...

Finally Subbu made it to Hyderabad to fullfill my dream of going back to Puttur along with him. He stayed there for precisely 52 hours but we had a great time with everybody at home. Surprisingly Hyderabad had a few showers during that time and it was nice weather for a change. Subbu also had a taste of his favourite Hyderabadi biriyani and had to pay with the Hyderabadi traffic. We spent most of the time outing... day one was spent at the Imax and "Eat Street", and day two subbu took us to his Alma Mater.. The National Police Academy where he had his 10 months of grilling... and for the whole evening we had to bear with the running commentary of his feats during training. We also had a look at about eight places where his name was written for acheivements during training.

We spent the rest of the night driving on the open and inviting roads of the hi tech city till the early hours of the morning. The final day was spent pleading subbu to stay back for another day, little realising that it was never to come. Still it was a memorable return journey back home to Puttur.

Well ! aaj holi hai.. but in this part of the country its not even heard of. So i'm spending the day cursing subbu and his busy schedule for not letting me have my holi at Hyderabad. Have a colourful Holi.... : )

Thanhaaaii !

Its been a week since Deepu left for Hyderabad for her PG Entrance Exam. All of a sudden i've started to find a lot of faaltho time. Back to Thanhaaii mode.. heyy ! as i say thanhaaii.. i remember this incident at Delhi last september. Myself and Deepu were at "Delhi Haat" shopping and were suddenly approached by a Punjabi TV channel crew. We were asked to talk something on camera... something like what wud u do if u were given an opportunity to get invisible etc etc.. i dont recall what we actually said then, but one thing i surely remember is that they asked Deepu to sing a song and u know what she sang................... thanhaaaaiiiiii... ( frm dil chaahtha hai) hah ha haa .. i just got panicky and started lukin all around and found the TV crew also getting suspicious as to who this joker beside her was.

Rest of the evening u shud 've seen Deepu confessing not knowing why she remebered that damn song ; ) . Next week i m planning to go to Hyderabad.. to bring her back... this " dulhan ko waapas laane ka rasm" which i cud'nt fulfill last year... m trying to play it now... better late than never... wish me all the best.

Doctorni Girafthaaar !!!

Its now one year since Doctorni's Girafthaari, and the event was befittingly celebrated on 13th and 14th of this month. ya ! it did deserve a two day long celebration is'nt it, 't was my prize catch after all. But the week that followed kept me pretty busy throughout. Could'nt go anywhere except for a couple of short visits to a forest rest house in Chickmangalur and Mangalore beach. While Deepu was busy studying for her entrance exams, i was kept busy with the inspection of my own office and then had to conduct a workshop on " crime among youth" along with the School of Social Work, Mangalore. The last week was also eventful with my promotion coming through. We're now counting our days at Puttur till my posting orders come. But sincerely this place was so wonderful i never wanted the promotion to come in so soon. But changes are inevitable, and i am now looking forward to the District assignment.

This forest rest house below is so isolated ... we could'nt get someone to photograph us together.