The Sikh Connection

Though Bidar is not a very heard of place at the national level, in the state though it is known for being the most backward districts for various reasons. Historically this place has been a part of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region administered by the Nizams till its Independence through Police action on 17th September 1948, along with its other sister districts of Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal. Modern systems of administration were introduced here very late unlike the other districts of the state which belonged to either the Madras or the Bombay Presidencies of the Raj. Even post independence, developmental projects never came to this region in the same proportion as the other parts of the state. Weak political heads never bothered beyond getting elected to the legislature. Being the farthest place from the state capital did prevent good administrators from getting posted here. Even if posted they didnt hang around this place long enough to make a difference. An ideal cocktail for what Bidar District is today.

Over the years the image of the district has taken shape of a far off, backward, dry and a hot place where only the damned get posted to be punished. A posting to Bidar sometimes invokes a feeling of sympathy for those who seem to have got there for no fault. Surprisingly though the tag of being a dry and hot place are far from true. Bidar has a rainfall that is on an average scale with the rest of the state though lacking in any irrigation project worth the mention. The city of Bidar is one of the coolest places of North Eastern Karnataka for bieng geographically located on a plateau. But unfortunately it still carries this tag of being the 'Kaalapaani' of Karnataka's administrative setup.

Of all the things that people have heard about Bidar, I guess the Sikh connection of this city is the least known. Bidar has one of Karnataka's largest Gurudwaras and a sizeable Sikh population may be a matter of surprise to many. Historically it is said that the first Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Nakak visited Bidar during his tour of the southern part of the country. The city was then reeling under a drought and Guru Nanak is supposed to have moved a rock on the ground, to give the people of this city a natural fresh water spring, which to this day is flowing round the year. The Shrine thus built here, came to be known as the Guru Nanak Jhira. It is the only Gurudwara with a fresh water spring in the country. Its a very important place of Sikh pilgrimage and thousands of Sikhs from all over the world visit this place everyday.

I am again continuing this post after a gap of nearly six months. The intention with which I started this post was to write about a very important Sikh festival that was hosted at the Bidar Gurudwara in the month of October. It was the Guru-Ta-Gaddi, the 300th anniversary of the Guru Granth Saheb. Though the actual festival was held at Nanded in Maharashtra, Bidar being just a 4 hr drive from there, attracted all the pilgrims from Nanded. It was a massive gathering for nearly one week, nearly a lakh every day and for the police it was a challenge to manage the crowds.

Now after six months so much has changed, I got my transfer from Bidar to Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore ) on the 2nd of March. Before I start off with the Mangalore edition of our lives I'll just sum up the last phase of our Bidar story in the next blog.

Basavakalyan- A piece of history

The funny part of Bidar to me professionally is that it seems like a light place to work, not much of a Law and order burden, hardly any political pressure being out of the radar of the powers at Bangalore and a relatively challenging place as far as getting people to work is concerned coz of the laid back attitude of the general populace and my own subordinates. The reason perhaps is because of its historical connection with the Nizams administration. Being away from the state capital has also led to rampant corruption which is silently taken as apart of everyday life by the people. Not that there is any less corruption in the rest of the country, but i guess theres atleast some resistance in most places. Two thirds of my energies are wasted in trying to monitor my own men rather than any real policing job. Its almost a year now since we've been here, but little did i realise that the quality time we got for ourselves despite this situation was hardly anything compared to the earlier places we stayed... untill Deepu really started complaining that she was getting bored. We just realised that apart from our regular visits to the Bidar fort and the Gurudwara along with guests who visited us sometime, we hardly took time out explore either the district or even the nearby places. We almost started to beleive that this is all about Bidar and resigned to our fate till perhaps the next transfer.

On 14th of this month I had a mojor police deployment in Basavakalyan town in view of the Ganesh procession. For those who haven't heard of this place, its a small town on the south-western part of the district and is about 75 kms from the district headquarter Bidar. Bsavakalyan being a communally sensitive place ( like almost all towns in this country and getting to be ) and also had a history of a small communal skirmish last year during the same procession, I decided i'll camp at that place for this year so that I am available within minutes, if theres really some trouble again. As all these processions go all through the night I had to stay overnight at Basavakalyan and when I broke this to Deepu, she said she would come along too. So we left for Basavakalyan that evening and halted at the Inspection bungalow for that night. One funny thing about Government Inspection Bungalows here (or anywhere perhaps) is that all of them look so much similar. Once you are inside the room, you tend to forget the place where you are except for the fact that you are in an IB. They are all panelled with wood saving only the roof, no natural ventilation and atleast two split airconditioners chilling you to death. You could really get claustrophobic if your alone. So here we were two of us wondering about plans for the rest of the evening. After having dinner at the guest house itself we decided to watch a movie on Deepu's laptop. As usual, halfway through this movie called "Get Smart" I was lost into deep sleep. I should definitely thank the people of Basavakalyan now that I didnt have to really bother about the rest of the procession and had an undisturbed sleep for the rest of the night.

I was woken up by a call from my Officer at 5 a.m. telling me that the procession concluded peacefully. Now we had the whole morning to explore to ourselves. Deepu woke up by 7 and both of us quickly got ready to leave after a short walk aroung the inspection bunglow. Our destination was the Basavakalyan fort which we decided to visit 10 months back.

To recollect a little bit of history, Basavakalyan earlier known as Kalyani was the capital of the Western Chalukyas between1050 to 1195 A.D. It is now known as Basavakalyan after the great Saint Basaweshwara or Basavanna. He was a great revolutionary who is known to have established a spiritual democracy called "Anubhava Mantapa" in 12th Century. The Anubhava Mantapa is also known as the worlds first Parliament. Basavanna's main aim was to establish a society where there is dignity of labour, spirituality, creativity, free thinking, no caste or creed. In the process Basavanna founded a new Relegion called " Lingayata". Today the Lingayats form a separate caste within the Hindu fold. Basaweshwara served as a minister in the court of Bijjala, the Chalukyan ruler.There are a number of relics relating to this period all around Bsavakalyan town. In 1270 AD Basavakalyan fell to the Kakathiyas and in 1322 AD it was taken over by the Thuglaqs by Mahammed Bin Thuglaq. Between 1347 AD and 1619 the rule of Basavakalyan passed on from the Bahamanis to the Barid Shahis and finally in 1656 AD it was taken over by the Mughals. In 1724 AD the Mughal rule was succeeded by the Asif Jahi Nizams of Hyderabad till the momentous day of 17th September 1948 when the Nizams districts were releived from the Nizams rule by resorting to Police action of Independent India.

So now you can expect what a treasure this place must be for a history seeker. Unfortunately we just had time for the Basavakalyan fort that morning. Even more unfortunate was the news that, being a general holiday the fort would be closed to tourists. I then had to get in touch with the Archaeology authorities and get it opened for a brief visit. What we encountered after we entered though those massive fort gates was nothing short of treasure. All that history that I had written here about Basavakalyan was unfolding like the pages of a history book by every step we took. The massive fort walls with remnants of the Hindu rule embeded all over, the Palaces, courtyards, the dancing halls, the ramparts with beautifully carved cannons all telling us the tales this place has gone through. To top it all it was nice cool and cloudy morning. We finished our short walk through by 10 AM and left for breakfast at a nice Kamat Restaurant on the national Highway. Returned back to Bidar by noon.

What a relief !

I have conducted a few elections before, but not like the one this has been. The elections to the State Assembly this year were a new experience altogether. From the moment they were announced on the 2nd of April to the 25th of this month, the day of counting., it was all targets , deadlines, planning, reviews and meetings after meeetings. Offcourse I haven't been in the thick of an election of this magnitude earlier. The extent of co-ordination required was huge. It was an experience to remember and when its all over, it seems so simple. I would actually love to bring in all the details of the election process on this blog, but i'm sure there would be no takers for an excercise as boring and dry as an election to state assembly, more so when all of us know that we eventually end up electing the better among the worse offered to us.

The last blog on places in and around Bidar did draw a few comments that were very encouraging, and that has made us more aware as to do a more genuine and truthful reporting on the places that we visit. We take up this responsibilty with more seriousness to make this blog more and more informative. This time offcourse, having not visited any place during the last month, i'll restrict to this much. Shortly we'll start our discovery weekend trips and enrich this blog regularly.

We start off again!

Itz been about 90 days since the last post and it also seems like ages. A lot of water has flown down the.... what river flows in Bidar ?... may.. be Manjira. Well the district is so dry you forget about the those fast flowing rivers and the vast expance of the sea of coastal Karnataka. Nevertheless with all the limitations of rain and water, Bidar is still a very beautiful place and a place to really go around and discover. A very historic district of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, its been in the thick of medieval history since the 12th century. The Town of Basavakalyan, earlier known as Kalyani, was the capital of the later Chalukyas in the 10th century. It became famous as a centre of wealth and prosperity, a seat of learning and an abode of spiritual wisdom. Even today, Basavakalyan is remembered for the saints who made this city their home-Basaveshwara, Akka-Mahadevi, Channabasavanna and Siddharama.

The fort city of Bidar offcourse is famous for the largest fort of southern India. Built by Ahmad Shah Bahmani between 1426 and 1432 A.D, has five Darwazas(gates) with imposing bastions leading into a little town nestling within the ramparts. After a drive through the town fort and the royal fort, all you can do is just run your imagination free, as to how this great capital city of the Barid Shahi rulers must have looked about 600 years back. It is offcourse difficult to delete the filthy streets, the overflowing drains, the overpopulated town to aid your imagination, but is still a marvellous experience. Its also shocking to learn how the city has degenerated to its present state.

We still have a lot to see and discover in this treasure house of history. We''ll continue to do it as and when we get some time and keep the experiences posted on this blog.

First Diwali together

It was the third after marraige, but the first Diwali together. So finally the jinx was broken. At the new house it was a memorable diwali after all. Life here has been busy as far as policing is concerned. A bigger district than my previous assigments, and to add to it, the place is pretty backward, people are more laid-back. Many systems that we take for granted down south, dont even exist. So my task for most of the last 50 days of my charge here has been to get systems working, checking and re-checking. Dont know how far i'll be able to establish them, coz i'm sure my predessesors too have tried their best at them. Nevertheless temporarily I do expect some change.

Deepu has been busy for most of this period, trying to set the new house right. Lot of modifications in the rooms, garden and the surroundings kept her busy. The best part was her birthday which we spent together again after a break last year. We didnt do much, but I atleast decided to bunk office and spend the whole day with her.

We haven't still settled down to a routine. A couple of days we did go to the officers club for a game of badminton. I tried my hand at the Police Tennis courts for sometime, but nothing seems to be falling in place. Thats on the agenda next, coz my waistline now seems to have reached a stage of concern. Otherwise things have been fine. Once in a while we do runaway to Hyderabad for a movie or settle for one in Bidar's Sapna. Offcourse nothing to beat the home DVDs on projector.

We'll write more on this historic place Bidar in the coming posts and I wish Deepu takes that initiative, coz she hasn't written for ages now.

New Home

Sixteen months into Udupi, I was handed over another transfer. This time the northernmost tip of Karnataka,Bidar.The order was handed over on 6th and we packed our belongings by 8th and left for a new home. Deepu was not really unhappy about the whole thing coz she was going home. Bidar being just a two and a half hour drive from Hyderabad, she would never have to plan a visit home. After a short flight to Bangalore from our beloved Mangalore we halted at home in Bangalore and spent most of the evening losing our way on the packed streets of Bangalore because of Ramzan. The next morning we flew to Hyderabad and after lunch drove to Bidar. This was the first time I was stepping on Bidar, and on first sight it did seem tome like a dusty old town. We were put up at the Government guest house and worst part of every transfer is the stay in these guest houses for the first few days. I took charge of the District Police the same evening. The ordeal started from the next day. Coming from the thick of the western ghats, we just couldnt digest the fact that we are going to have to stay here for atleast some time to come. The next morning we went to have look at the SP's Bunglow, and Deepu was not impressed with it. We missed Udupi and home that night like never before.

Its now two weeks since we moved into the new house and with all our stuff coming in from Udupi and after making a few changes in the house, things seem so much better. The best part of this house offcourse being the sprawling 5 acre garden in front of it and the best part of Bidar is its Bangalore like weather.

We are still settling down, but we have now started to like the place. We only hope we dont develop any attachment to it, coz we never know when the next transfer is coming.

Struggle to stay alive

The struggle to stay alive continues, with just a fews lines to write. It was a memorable month though with friends coming in. I was also busy with elections to the Urban local bodies, the climax of which is gonna be today.

Extended monsoon

It was a good extended monsoon this month.

Something to say

Its been more a monthly exercise than blog documenting our happenings here, for the last six months or so. Deepu has also not written much, probably because of her exams that concluded last month. The last month has definetely been different from all the others that we spent here in Udupi. With heightened naxal activity in the fringes of the district... i've most of the time had to keep touring on operations and did not really get time take Deepu out anywhere. The worst part is that, this being perhaps the best time to be exploring the district. We kept waiting all year, for the monsoons for the waterfalls to spring back and rivers to run full. Now i'm hardly finding the time to explore. Anyway before itz too late we have planed to make it to the river rafting on Sita Nadi at Hebri about 40 kms from here. Its a wonderful experience... i managed to do it last year but Deepu had missed it out. The are also a couple of beautiful trek routes among the western ghats with gigantic waterfalls, which are also on agenda. The beaches offcourse are always there, but not the best places now during the monsoons, coz you hardly get to see any clear blue sky or any glimpse or that majestic sunset. Moreover the beaches can hardly be kept clean during the rains, with the tides bringing in lot of weeds to the shores. The Kodachadri peak near Kollur is another place we have'nt been and we'll plan to get you pictures of that misty peak in a couple of days. All this offcourse if things permit. As it is , it seems a little tough, the way things are moving.

That apart, i've been shuttling between office and jungle operations and it seems things are going to be like this for some time to come. Offcourse i forgot to mention the most special event of this month. Not that it was my birthday... which i hardly ever celebrate, but the fact that Deepu made it so special.

One for June

Our frequency of blogging has gone down to the extent that I am now having to post one in emergency, that we atleast have one in june. Two days to go and this month hasn't been any different. The monsoon rains have hit with a bang though a little late than usual. These are the best days of this part of the country. You will long for a clear sunny day but still enjoy the dark clouds that engulf you throughout. We havn't been out anywhere either. Even our exercise schedules have been disturbed. The silver lining is, our Police officers mess and indoor sports complex that was my dream when i took charge here in Udupi, has finally been completed. The indoor sports complex now has a full fledged multi-gym, a synthetic badminton court, a motorised treadmill, cycle etc., For a place like Udupi that receives rains for almost six months, this was something everyone was waiting for. So we may now be shifting from our routine at the Manipal stadium to the treadmill here.

Onset of monsoon here also means, suspension of all fishing activity . Malpe has the state's largest fishing port, and at its peak of season its teaming with activity, with boats full of fish upto the brim all lined up at the dock to be auctioned off. We sometimes paid a visit just to have a look at some exotic fish that may have been caught. Another activity that is suspended for the monsoons is the boat rides to St. Mary's Island. All of them resume by 15th of September. Till then the best palces to visit are the Sita Nadi resort at Hebri for river rafting, the numerous water falls like Hanuman gundi near Kudremukh, Jhomlu and Kudlu thirtha near Hebri. Kodachadri near Kollur is a good trek route. Some places, I haven't been there myself and hope to make it sometime before August. So there will be some pictures of them too.

Before monsoon

Itz been a tough summer. This was my first summer this close to the coast, and it was real hot. In any case itz all gonna be over in about a weeks time. It was also lots of work both on my professional front and also at home. Deepu was busy with her studies and I was with my work. With family also visiting us, the evenings were fun. we'd either go to the beaches or some times just video chat on skype with Aravind and Amar. But otherwise, we hardly went out anywhere apart for the evening walks on the beach or for a movie to ADLABS at Mangalore. Our new schedule in the evenings has been the newly developed Manipal University grounds. The lush green grass and the flood lit atmosphere in the evenings is tempting to the extent that I now finish off with my office by 6 and Me and Deepu drive to Manipal for an evening jog on most of the days. The problem is, after about a week it would be difficult to use it during the monsoons.

As with the Udupi Stadium, I had mentioned that we were planning a complete change over, and work has just begun on this. We are now hurriedly trying to complete with the ground leveling work and the storm drains before the rains and probably in August when the first phase of rains are over we'll try to put up the grass part. The stands are all done and it has come up pretty well. The month of May also kept us busy with changes in the City traffic. We have planned out One-Way Traffic on two major roads of Udupi and to get this launched we had to first get a lot of roads widened. Udupi being a historic medieval temple town, the roads are hardly planned for any vehicular traffic. All that we could do was, to get removed all the petty shops and encroachments along the roads that had mushroomed in the years. The work is still progressing and lots of appreciation from road users too. But the plight of the petty shop keepers who have to shift their decades old business, overnight was definitely not something I perhaps wanted to do. We are still trying our best to resettle them as quickly as possible. I'll keep updating on the blogs to come.... hopefully soon.

Long break again..

Breaks have become too long and too frequent. Its been only one post per month. Partly coz' Deepu is busy with her studies and partly also because of the other blog that we started and has been taking all our attention www.ammavanta.blogspot.com . Basically a blog with South Indian recepies, should be an interesting read for those struggling with cryptic recepies overflowing on the web. Nevertheless Dopanchi being our personal blog will always remain our first priority and will continue to carry events and issues we want to put across.

Summer is catching up and the next 6 weeks are going to be the worst. Evenings are offcourse pleasant especially at the beach with a gentle breeze and we are most often trying to spend the evenings there. For the past two weeks me and Deepu have started a routine of making it to the Manipal Stadium by 6 AM and return after a good two and a half km jog. On our way back Deepu has been driving me back home and i should say shes picked it up pretty fast, that too through the narrow roads of Udupi. Its been a good progress as far as our fitness program is concerned and we've been able to make it on most of the days. The rest of the day both of us have been taking refuge under the air conditioner, me at the office and Deepu in her room. I am just waiting for the end of May when the rains start here, and as i did mention in the blogs last year at around this time, when the monsoon begins here, it just pours and pours like theres no tomorrow. The whole landscape turns green and with all the rivers running full its a spectacular scene.

In the previous blog I made a mention of how we transformed the Malpe beach here in Udupi. Work is still-on, on it and the weekend crowds that are pouring are very encouraging. My next mission is the Udupi Stadium. The Udupi athletic stadium, though has come up well in comparision to what it was earlier, thanks to the Inter-District sports held in Udupi in 2006, it still is not the ideal place for a sports enthusiast. With not a single blade of grass, it presents a very depressing picture of barren ground and a dusty track. The construction of the stands has been completed recently and lot of concrete and gravel still lying on the rim of the track. So i've decided to do something about changing the landscape of this stadium. A meeting of the executive comittee will be called shortly and lets see whats gonna come out of it. Will update in future blogs.

Adrenaline Rush ...

Its been nearly a month since the last post. The last one month had been a little busy with some anti-naxal work, but we still managed to take some time out during the weekends. Offcourse we also had our Wedding anniversary and the Valentine's day, both of them were celebrated quitely with me having to switch between office and home on both the days. Deepu was visibly upset... but it was all patched up when we spent the evening at the Palmgroove resort here on the beach . A great sunset followed by dinner on the beach side

The highlights offcourse of our outings were the Water scooter rides on Malpe beach and the ride to St Mary's island again. That was the first time that I was on the water scooter... needless to say it was a thrill of a lifetime. The adrenaline rush could actually be felt shooting up my head. The Malpe beach which is about 3 kms from home which is now a tourist paradise, was actually never all this good. Infact when we moved to Udupi in May last year, it was a real mess. With all sea weeds and waste lying all along the beach, it was never a pretty sight. There were hardly any visitors to this beach. The worst part was that the beach was just a easy place for the local fishermen to ease themselves in the morning. Accidentally it just happened once in the month of August that Deepu suggested we go to the beach for a morning walk. It was a sight we will never forget at 7 am in the morning, we literally escaped from that horrible sight on the water side. Deepu immediately suggested that I take up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner and do something about it. When you see it from a distance... the Malpe beach is one of the best beaches on this coast.

So when I took up the matter with the DC, I just discovered that I was myself a member of the Beach Development comittee. So there started the overhaul. A meeting of the Beach Development comittee was immediately called and it was decided to completely change the face of the Beach. Funds were dug up, people like the womens self help groups were enlisted, a proposal to clean up the beach was drawn and immediately we started off the mission with a session of shramdaan. The wheel was set in motion and two bulldozers kept working all day levelling the uneven weed covered beach, removing all weed and in about a weeks time we had before us a miraculously changed sparkling white sandy beach nearly 4kms in streach. The next stage was to continously keep it that clean. The Self help group women came in to the rescue who promised to clean up the daily trash in place of a small remuneration. Boards were erected prohibiting anyone from dirtying the beach, encroachments were removed and about three kilometers of beach was reclaimed, trash bins were placed and finally a musical fountain was erected in the middle of the beach, and all this in about a months time. Initially the boards were not sufficient to keep the morning easers away... so I put up some police patrolling at that hour of the morning... and all problem was solved. Even to this day I have a couple of cops patrolling the beach at 6 am everyday and its made a huge difference. Offcourse the affected persons have been provided with alternatives like construction of modern toilets (but its just so convenient to squat by the beach isn't it).

The change ?... now the weekends are just packed. People rush to the Malpe beach like there is no other place to go. So then we just introduced a fee for those coming to the beach with their vehicles. The money that is generated is now being used to maintain the beach clean and also bring in newer things like a walk way, illumination, seating etc. These changes have now encouraged the Paradise isle resort to bring in the water scooter and a few motor boats. You can even have a camel or a pony ride. There still is a lot of work that is to be done to turn this beach to one of the best beaches in the world and we are at it. But you now know where all the change started and how, what was the key issue that changed the course of this beach. There are a lot of morals to take from this story. We'll discuss that in the next post.

Long weekend

After Deepu returned from Hyderabad, this was our long weekend. With a second saturday and and sunday following a tiring friday, i had enough reason to take the whole two days off. Actually friday was by far the most tiring days in the recent past. With some extremist information flowing in, we planned a large scale operation into the forests and not only was it long lasting starting 0100 am and closing at 1400 pm that day but also was tough with a steep uphill climb for about 8 kms. Added to that I wore the wrong shoes that day and ended up limping half way through the trek with a shoe bite. The only solace was that I found Deepu waiting for me when I returned back home half dead. The rest of the friday afternoon was spent resting and nursing my sore heels.

For all that we went through on friday, saturday was well planned out. After lazing out the whole morning, post lunch we drove to place call Padukere about 5 kms from here. This place is actually an island with the Udyawara river on one side and the vast Arabian sea on the other. the strip of land is just about 50 mtrs wide and about 5 km long , the best part of the drive is having water on both sides passing through beautiful coconut groves and fishing villages.

That was not all., a visit to the St Mary's island was planned out for later part of the evening. We got on to the boat to the island at 4.15pm and after a great ride landed on the island at 5 pm. Though there were a couple of tourists along with us, me and Deepu made it a point to quickly dissapear to an undiscovered location. We spent the rest of the evening at the northern most tip of the island waiting for the sunset. It was a splendid sunset at 6.30pm after which we slowly walked back to the last boat that was waiting for us.

Sunday was again lazing around at home and in a desparate bid to move out.. we went to the beach in the evening just to watch the sunset. Running out of choices to spend the rest of the evening, we decided to go for a movie to Manglore. The movie was black friday, and it was worth the time & money . An evening well spent.

Lonely Start

Its been a very lonely beginning to this year, after Deepu left for Hyderabad soon after the New Year celebrations ended. Offcourse it was an emergency , but even before we could talk about our US experiences or plan out the year ahead, she had to leave. Nevertheless, by all probability, shes gonna be back in a couple of days.

It was still a busy fortnight for me. The power plant protests picking up momentum, we had to do a lot of preparations to handle the 90 km National Highway Rastha Roko they had planned on the 13th of Jan, But it all fizzled out with the Chief Minister intervening and things are now back to normalcy for some time atleast.

All alone i've been contemplating on that exposure that i recently had.... and it somehow seems to have set the cat among the pigeons. A sudden exposure to a lot of things new has made me rethink on my present job disposition. The urge for more variety and technicality in job has increased and now i've started eagerly looking forward for opportunities to explore. Options like the private sector which i thought were as good as closed when i joined the civil services... now seem so much possible and inviting. Though i know this is not the right time , especially when i m holding an important position in the district..... itz been forcing me to make preparations for such lateral movement when time is ripe. The question that stares at me now is.. am i atleast prepared ? for that lateral movement. At the outset i m now planning to make an early entry into a deputation to the Govt of India. The next step would be to take to my Sabbatical for a management degree at any of the IIM's or institutions abroad and make sure i am prepared. A lot of churning is still going on. I will keep writing on this subject in the posts to come. As of now the very fact that, mind has accomodated a whole new line of thinking ... is giving me a lot of pleasure. In the days to come Deepu will also get busy with her career and it would be fun exploring my options too at that time. Till then.. i'd better concentrate on the district... for which i got into the Services.

The pic above is before the US Capitol in Washington DC. It was only two of us and nobody to take a picture of us together.

Great year gone

It was a great year gone. It was the year we started the blog and carried it for twelve months. We tried bringing the best and worst alive through words and pictures. We just hope to continue blogging this year too in the same spirit. Instead of just sticking to happennings and places visited we feel we should be blogging more on issues. Regularity was another problem... sometimes it was just one blog for a month. We'll try to set that right too. 2007 is going to be a very important year for us. Deepu is gonna get into her DNB, i'll have to get more busy and serious into my job... more be'coz deepu would be busy herself, many important decisions to be taken. So itz going to be a year to remember too. We'll try to bring that alive on the blog.

The highlights of the last year were offcourse the promotion and our shifting from Puttur to Coorg and again that quick transfer to Udupi... and next our memorable two month trip to the US.

December, deepu and me got back together. After her reaching Hyderabad after that long journey from Washington, she stayed there for abt a week and joined me in Bangalore. I was incidentally in Bangalore for the "Senior Police Officer's Annual Conference". We drove back from Bangalore and spent the last two weeks in Udupi trying to set the home back to shape and visiting the beaches sometime when bored.

The new year night we decided to spend it our own way.. so we decided to go out for dinner and after that just spent about 10 minutes at a party in a hotel coz those hotelwalaahs were insisting and then, when it was quarter to 12 midnight we drove to the beach from where we had a great view of the fire works at Paradise Island beach resort. We wished each other and made calls to everyone (despite the jammed mobile networks) and wished them all a great new year 2007. We spent about an hour at the beach and got back home coz the real party was yet to come. Actually the new year is celebrated in the police by all the junior officers coming to the senior's house.. where they exchange wishes and a small breakfast is arranged. So the morning of 1st jan 2007 was a busy one. We had to get done with all the arrangements to recieve about 200 guests. Guests started pouring in from 8 AM onwards and by 11 AM we were thro' with all the guests and it was a great way to welcome the new year.

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.