Neo The Nomad

My experiences buying on ebay.in

2011-11-14T19:10:00.007+05:30

I had bought quite a number of items form ebay.in and have successfully received them, but for my last purchase on ebay.in which I did not receive and which gave me an experience in dealing with online purchases. My experiences might help you in dealing with the sellers who would wash off their hands once they get their money.

I happened to buy a Philips HQ6990 3 Head shaver from ebay seller (gadgetsadda2011) on 21st October 2011, after paying through PaisaPay online and seller was required to ship the item by 26-Oct-11 at the latest. Seller shipped the item the item on 22-Oct-11 using a local courier company DTDC with the airway bill number z48482828. The time taken by the seller was quick; the seller was required to ensure the item reaches you by 29-Oct-11 by ebay estimation. There was a note from ebay.in “Please confirm the receipt of this item through My PaisaPay once it has been delivered to you. Your payments are protected by PaisaPay. You can request a refund of your payment if the seller does not deliver the item by 29-Oct-11.”

So my waiting period started thinking the parcel will reach me fast and safe, as the parcel was expected at any time of the day I had instructed my Mom to receive the parcel from DTDC delivery boy if I was not there. As many days passed by I was still waiting for the parcel asking for my Mom if the DTDC courier delivery boy, but there was no information about the parcel. On 30-October-11 I received an email from ebay.in “Action required: You need to confirm whether you received the item or not through My PaisaPay. Important: If you do not take any action by 03-Nov-11, we will presume that you have received the item.” This is where I went wrong, I did not report to ebay.in or PaisePay. It’s a typical Indian mentality which kicked in thinking “Bidu swalpa late aagi barbahodu” and I kept on waiting and let by the deadline date 3rd Nov pass by, the ebay system automatically assumed it as I received the item and made the payment to the seller.

In the mean time I was also tracking my parcel on the DTDC website which had an update that item has been taken for Delivery. Hoping that it might arrive in a day or two I decided to wait for another two days. Two more days passed by and when the DTDC tracking portal said that item has been delivered to my home; I got alarmed, The DTDC Delivery boy never delivered the item and here on their website they have updated that it has been signed and delivered to the address. I immediately shot an email to the seller(gadgetsadda2011) the owner name is Vicky kukreja from Delhi, informing him that I haven’t received the item which he has sent. As a reply he sent me to contact the local DTDC courier support.
His email on 30-Oct-11

Dear Naveen

Please call on
9241221646
9980452368
office name shankar
nagar dtdc
call and tell ur name and address and ur courier number.
Ask him
abt ur packet.
Today is sunday may b close in ur state.
If any prob call me
on
9015588398
thanks & regards,
Vicky kukreja
gadgetsadda.com
ebay.in

As suggested by him when I called the numbers one number did not exist and the person on the other number did not know about the item and asked to called DTDC helpdesk. Then the frustration started by dealing with unprofessional courier service who. Every time I called and raised the complaint about the missing parcel the only reply was we are looking into details and we will call back to you with in 1 hour.

Call backs never happened from there side and I must have called around 10 to 15 times to get the update about my case and each time I got the same answer “we are trying to contact the delivery boy to get details”. After 3 days or so on 5th Nov, DTDC helpdesk informed that package has been lost and I have to contact the seller to get refund and they cannot help any further.

Now my fight started with the seller gadgetsadda2011(Vicky), By this time he had received the payment money from PaisePay as I did not report within 3rd November 2011. Vicky stopped responding to my emails and his phone mentioned in the email 9015588398 did not work. My last email to him was

“Hi Vicky

This is the 4th Email I am sending and you are not responding to my email. Neither you are reachable on your mobile phone. DTDC has lost the item in transit and I want the Item to be reshipped from your side. As you are not responding I have no other option but to leave negative feedback for you. Contact me asap ”

Then received a phone call from Vicky stating that he is not in Delhi and he was in Haridwar and he would look into the matter once he comes back to Delhi, Also he gave me a number of one Mr. Rohit who is from DTDC courier in Delhi and asked me to call up and check. When I called up Mr. Rohit he informed that he will look into the details and call back. He called back after couple of hours and informed that website says that parcel has been delivered, so funny I told him that your website has been incorrectly updated and someone from DTDC has stolen the parcel. He told in that case I will procure the Delivery report from the local courier from Bangalore and email the scan report and took my email address. After days passed by he never sent the report, if he had sent and if the signature was forged certainly I could have lodge a police complaint for signature forgery. As fighting with the courier guys was not headache I was concentrating with the ebay seller.

Many repeated calls to Vicky from gadgetsadda2011 went by and from 5th of Nov he kept on telling that I have contacted DTDC for refund and I will reship a new item. My argument with him was that the shipping issue was his problem with the courier company and I should not be made to wait. Seller was in consistent with his commitments he repeatedly changed his statements by saying “ask ebay for refund if you want” or “wait for 24 hrs I will ship a new item”. I opened a claim case with ebay.in(eBay Guarantee Claim # 65957 (KMM56960844V42673L0KM)), For any honest ebay store true to his salt will know that his ebay store is at stake. So pat came a reply from his side.

Below find the Case details.

Purchase: DIWALI OFFER Philips HQ6990 3 Head Rechargeable Shavers Pop Up Trimmer (#250914970606) sold to neoakanav on 21-Oct-2011.

Case status: Open - the seller has not responded yet

Please review the response from the seller below and choose an option indicating how you'd like to proceed.

neoakanav 14-Nov-2011 at 15:52:32 IST

I have been chasing you wasting on phone calls, and you do not seem to be interested in resolving my
issue. Either reship a New working item via Registered parcel. or Refund. It has been frustratinng
to deal with you and I will make sure I will not deal with you in future.
sir

please try to understand my prob.

i alrdy send u a shever,,

when i gt back my shaver

then i

send u another

neoakanav 08-Nov-2011 at 22:58:39 IST

As per your commitment on 8th November 2011, I am waiting for 24 hours. Kindly inform me as you reship the item once again so that I can close this claim request.

Thanks

Naveen

gadgetsadda2011 08-Nov-2011 at 18:58:38 IST
The item has been shipped.
Shipping Company: DTDC
Shipping Date:
Tracking Number: z48482828
Additional Details: SIR I TALK TO THE DTDC COMPANY
PLZ WAIT 48HR
neoakanav 04-Nov-2011 at 22:36:23 IST

Item Not Received: DIWALI OFFER Philips HQ6990 3 Head Rechargeable Shavers Pop Up Trimmer (#250914970606)

Payment Method: Credit Card

Payment Date: 21-Oct-2011

As he did not keep his promise and my repeated phone calls to him from 7th November he changed his commitment as asked for another 50% of the cost of the item as he has also lost the money by dealing with the DTDC courier company. I clearly said that it is his problem to deal with the courier company and insisted him to ship a new item and categorically said that I will not be paying 50% of item cost. As I had enough of fighting with the seller, Today on 14th November 2011 I gave him Negative feedback which was pending from my side for my buying. Believe me the very next minute of me sending the feedback I got a call from Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) stating that he will be shipping a new item by Speed Post and I had to bear the courier charges only. Anybody who is a serious seller on ebay knows about the Negative feedbacks for their stores in turn it’s a negative feedback for ebay.in that provide their space to such sellers.

Here Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) may not be the directly defaulting, even he might be victim of the bad service from his courier company DTDC. By directly dealing with the DTDC courier company, I came to know that this courier company and many other courier companies like Professional courier have a very bad reputation in service.

Local Delivery boys stealing the parcel by forging the receiver signature, delivering broken items, Opening the parcel and stealing few expensive items before delivery are the norm and well know from these courier companies who operate in India. If you make a Google search for “DTDC courier complaints+Bangalore” you will find thousands of result, check this link and you will find the complaints http://www.consumercourt.in/other-services/18401-complaint-against-lost-consignment-dtdc-courier-services.html.

When I informed this to my friends one of my friend informed that this is what we get if we use cheap couriers and he uses FedEx, UPS or DHL. NRI from US return are so used for good quality of service for the price it’s hard for them to understand. A layman in our country cannot afford to ship a shaver or a puncher kit from FedEx or UPS. We have to deal with the existing system or stop using them and use alternate inexpensive but safe system in India. This entry in my blog is to make all my friends and readers aware about the existing courier service or rather lack of service in our country and how ebay.in buying can go wrong due to the existing system.

As of 14th November 2011 I am still waiting for Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) to ship a new item but this time using “India Post- Speed post” & I will have to pay for postage charges extra.
Below are few things that I plan to do if this does not work out.

1. Contact ebay.in again for refund.

2. If speed post works out. When I buy next on ebay.in in insist the ebay seller to ship it by India post-speed post.

3. Put a RTI and get info as to who forged my signature and received the parcel, so that if needed I can file a forgery complaint.

If you find this post information and if you think my experience help you in online buying on ebay.in Kindly comment on the page.

Thank you for visiting and visit again for more updates.

Cheers
Naveen

Photographing Birds of Bengaluru

2011-10-17T20:12:00.005+05:30

I have been doing bird watching from past 10 or 12 years but seldom I have documented or kept a record for reference. Now as I have started Bird photography, I would be keeping a record of each and every bird that I have seen along with the photographs that I have taken and their location. Learning there behavior, habitat would gives an insight into the avian world and to understand the nature better. Detail features of the bird's and there classification can be seen here.

Dated : 15-Oct-2011
After the last birding trip to Byalkere this time we headed out to Hesarghatta lake. It was over 1.5 years that I had been to Hesarghatta lake and to the flat land near Nrithyagrama when we generally call it as Indian Scotland or Indian masai mara depending on the season. Below are few birds that I was able to capture. Equipment used Canon 1100D, Sigma 100-300mmf/4.5-6.7 DL lens. Even though its not a high end equipment I have got some decent pictures of the birds.

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

How to identify a Black Kite?

Medium sized bird
Appears dark without any rofus
Upper plumage is brown
Black bill, yellow legs & black claws.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

How to identify a Paddyfield Pipit?

streaked grey-brown above and pale below with breast streaking.
long legged with a long tail and a long dark bill.
Call "chip-chip-chip".

Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus)

How to identify a Red-wattled Lapwing?

A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye.
Wings and back are light brown with a purple sheen.
head and chest and front part of neck are black.
White patch runs from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown.
Tail is tipped black, long legs are yellow.
loud and scolding did-he-do-it call.

Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

How to identify a Oriental Magpie Robin?

Distinctive black and white bird.
long tail that is held upright when feeding on floor.

Update : 1st November 2011

Me & my friends, Planned for Kokkare Bellur today(Nov 1st Outing), but it didn't worked out. landed up again in Byalakere. Weather was very english and low lighting, got very few good pics.

Cattle Egret in Flight

Cattle Egret

Trip to Byalkere Peacock Reserve

2011-09-18T03:19:00.003+05:30

I wanted to test my newly acquired Canon EOS 1100D Digital SLR camera. On the previous night I had texted my friend Nagaraj and suggested him about a drive nearby. We being dwellers of Bangalore North, the most frequented places are Nandi hills, Hesarghatta lake and nearby grassland; we call it as Scotland or Indian Masai mara (depending upon season)

My friend Vishwa had informed us about a peacock reserve on the way to Hesarghatta. As are visiting Hesarghatta from past last 12 years or so, we hadn't heard or seen any thing about Peacock reserve nearby. So this time we wanted to explore this unexplored place. Google map informed us that it's just 10.4 Kms from my home and drive time of 22 mins.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon on September 18th 2011 after picking up Nagaraj from his home in Vidyaranyapura my trusted GPS girlfriend (Female Voice directions) took us exactly in front of Byalkere (lake). This Byalkere was very near to a housing layout and we were sure that this was not the right place to look for peacock's. However we were not disappointment we were greeting with variety of birds on the tank bund. We did spend an hour and a half taking pictures and video of the birds. Below are few birds which I were able to capture.

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)

It is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, They have a reddish brown plumage and a contrasting white head and breast which makes them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey.

Green Bee-eater, Merops orientalis

We successfully drew all the birds out of the lake and we started towards main road. Upon enquiring we got to know that Peacock reserve was still further. we drove until the Peacock reserve gate and got to know that it was a restricted area and if we trespass we would be prosecuted. It clearly mentioned that no one can enter with out proper approval from Forest Department. Although we got the new place but we were not able to enter. We drove around the reserve forest peripheral road thinking we might come across some peacocks but to our disappointment we didn't even hear there call.

Driving further we reached a location where they mange Bangalore city waste and garbage. Along side there was a lake, There were lot of bird activity in the vicinity. Took few more pictures in the location and headed back to home. Even though we did not see any peacocks, we got a new place for bird photography where we get variety of birds. Also if we go early morning we might get peacocks as well, It's just a matter of time and patients.

Update: 25-Sep-2011
Nagaraj called me early in the morning 6:30 AM and said "Lets Go" again. Took my ALTO as usual picked up Nag and headed out to our newly discovered birding site. By the time we reached the site it was around 7:45 ish. To our badluck there was no Bird activity, Sunlight was harsh and we could sense the heat already. we were only able to see Kites, Myna's and Common Crows.

That was a kind of experience and learning. We got to learn that bright sunlit day, hot and humid days is not a good day for Birds. Best time to photograph is when on a moderately cloudy mornings or early evenings when it is cool for the Birds. Only one good pic which I got from the session was of a Bee.

Keep looking for more updates as we intend to visit this place more often.

BSNL 3G Datacard Review

2011-05-06T17:08:00.000+05:30

As my job required me to login from home (WFH) to the office network, I was looking out for a fastest yet affordable Internet connection. My previous Internet was an old Broadband over the telephone connection which served my purpose for general browsing, but now I wanted something where I can connect while I am on the move. After researching thoroughly on the Internet I zeroed in on BSNL 3G. I had other options like MTS, Tata Photon, Tata Docomo 3G, Airtel 3G etc but BSNL was the best VFM.

My Dad is an ex BSNL employee and he was kind enough to get one for me when he had some work at the BSNL office. When I went home I saw a TERACOM LW273 Datacard Modem and a BSNL 3G simcard Lying on my Ham Radio shack.

Opened the datacard pack and found a shiny cute little datacard modem which looks like a pendrive, pack contained only the datacard modem and small handy instruction sheet. Installing the Datacard modem was very simple, as per the instruction I just plugged in to the USB slot ran the setup.exe file. All the necessary drivers and a program called Bsnl 3G got installed on my laptop. All necessary connections were created automatically and on the Datacard modem the Red colour LED was flashing. Every thing was set and tried connecting to the Internet but it refused to connect, although the signal strength was showing 4 bars. The connection status was showing Red in the Bsnl 3G interface program, after a bit of googling I got to know that if the new SIM card is not activated we get Red status and Red LED will be flashing, thus ended my attempts to connecting to the Internet using my new 3G datacard on that night.

Next day morning woke up bit early due to a incoming call from an Ham friend, Since I was already disturbed from my slumber I dragged myself to my laptop to see my luck. Booted my laptop and connected the 3G Datacard. I was thinking of contacting the Dreaded BSNL Helpdesk which is known for pathetic service, but to my luck as soon a I connected the Datacard the LED turned RED to GREEN. Voila the Sim card has been activated, the connection was verified and authenticated. I selected the Internet option and clicked on the connect button for the first time it did not connect but for the second it got connected.
I wanted to feel the speed of the Internet so the sure or my way of testing was playing a video from Youtube.
Just logged on to my FB profile and played a video which was posted by one of my friend. Wow it was superfast, there was no buffering and no stopping of the video in between to buffer, Was able to feel the speed. Wanted see how much speed I am getting so I did a speed test to get some quantifiable numbers.
Below find results.

The first test result I Got.

1st Attempt
PING: 353ms
Download Speed: 0.35 Mbps (358 Kbps)
Upload Speed : 0.06 Mbps (61 Kbps)

2nd Attempt
PING : 356ms
Download Speed: 0.80 Mbps (819 Kbps)
Upload Speed : 0.09 Mbps (92 Kbps)

This average comes up
Download speed : 588 Kbps
Upload Speed : 76 Kbps

The above average speed is in par although it is no where near to 3.6 Mbps for downloads as promised by BSNL. So keep visiting my blog for further updates as I keep using this connection. Your comments and discussions are welcome.

Cheers
NEO

Contact on second bird HO-68 HOPE-16th December 2010

2010-12-17T04:29:00.000+05:30

Pic courtesy AMSAT

After regular contacts on VO-52 it was time for me to work on other birds. I had been trying constantly to work on other birds with out andy success. As I was having QSO with OM Shankar VU2SWG he informed that at 21:35 hrs HO-68 will be switched on. This was an opportunity for me to work on a new bird. Earlier I had worked on U/V mode , i.e, Tx on UHF and Rx on VHF for VO-52, but working on HO-68 would be V/U mode Tx on VHF and Rx on UHF.

After the not so successful VO-52 pass I changed to HO-68 frequency, at first I did not hear any signal from the bird and I patiently waited then after few minutes I started to hear packet on the downlink. Hope for making a contact on Hope was good, Then all of a sudden I heard OM Guru VU2GUR calling CQ then followed by OM Shankar VU2SWG felt so good as this would be my second satellite to work with. After monitoring the uplink for few minutes and making sure no one is transmitting I gave a call to Guru and Shankar both of them responded. I gave them a report of 59 and 59+ respectively; They also gave me a report of 59. Wow that was my second satellite that I worked with and was successful.

Looking for many more birds to work with, now the satellite bug has really bitten me.

My next project is to put up an UHF Slim Jim and to homebrew a Arrow antenna. I will keep posted about my project.

Thank you for stopping by.

73’s

DE VU3NEO

My First Satellite QSO

2010-11-26T04:26:00.000+05:30

Pic courtesy AMSAT INDIA.

24th November 2010: It was late evening pass for Hamsat VO-52, The elevation for the pass was good around 87 Degree Max and total duration of the pass was 13 minutes over my QTH. Armed with Dual band handy Wouxun with stock Rubber ducky with ear phone which came along with the kit. The pass was at 20:55 hrs IST, I went to my terrace as I haven’t set up my external UHF antenna yet. I first tuned to the center frequency on the downlink at 145.900 MHZ with a opened squelch but there were no station heard. After few minutes I tuned down by 10 MHZ to 145.890 and out of the blue I heard a familiar call sign VU2GUR, OM Guru was operation from Chamarajpet around 13 Kms from my QTH. I gave a report of 59 but looks like Guru did not copy me as the bird was well above my head and it was out of reach for Guru. I gave a couple of CQ calls. And out of excitement I gave a couple of calls on the down link frequency itself and then I corrected it and gave few CQ calls. Except guru I did not copy any one. After the pass while exchanging reports on the local repeater I got to know from OM Daya VU2 DPE that I was heard through the satellite via downlink, out of those couple of CQ calls Daya was able to copy me on downlink, thus making my first Satellite QSO ever. OM Daya and Guru congratulated me for my first ever sat QSO, Wow what an accomplishment. It felt great and a since of accomplishment for having made my first QSO via HAMSAT VO-52, India’s first ever Amateur Satellite.

Equipment used: Wouxun KG-UVD1P with stock rubber ducky with ear phone.

My first 2 Way Satellite QSO

25th November 2010: Having made my first ever sat QSO on the previous day and wanting for more I reached on to my terrace to catch the bird. Before working on the VO-52 I checked into “Chandamama Net” a local daily evening net conducted by OM Subbu VU2ZUB, subbu informed me that HAM from Chennai OM Radha was able to hear me yesterday’s pass, this was anothe feather in the cap. This time I wanted to use two HT’s as I wanted to hear my own voice from the downlink and it was also suggested by OM Daya that using two Handy’s will be effective for working with satellite. I tuned my VHF handy on the downlink center frequency on 145.900 and UHF on the uplink center frequency on 435.250. After the previous days QSO I read about how Inverted linear transponder works but still I was not confident to play with frequencies to compensate the Doppler Effect, rather I waited for some station to be heard on the center frequency. This time again OM VU2GUR was heard strong, I replied to his call but he could not copy me, again I gave my call sign when VU2DPE OM Daya came in through sat and gave me a report of 59, Wow that was a two way QSO Daya was able to copy me and I was able to copy Daya. This time I was able to hear myself in the downlink. Post sat pass QSO’s on the local repeater confirmed that I was heard by Guru as well and thus established double 2 way QSO.

Equipment used: YAESU FT 411E with 5/8th Whip telescopic antenna and VOX Headset, Wouxun KG-UVD1P with Stock rubber Ducky.

Catch you on the bird 73's
DE
VU3NEO

Fixing Yaesu FT 411E audio problem.

2010-11-07T01:41:00.003+05:30

It has been a long time that I updated my blog. Thought of putting up some information about my latest tinkering on one of my VHF radio.

It has been quite some time that my Yaesu FT 411E had developed a weird malfunction. ever since I had bought from my friend the audio was coming on and off from the rig's speaker and upon that one of the fellow ham opened up the rig without my permission (this is one quality of VU hams that I dislike) and screwed it up. when ever I open the squelch it was automatically transmitting, Shees that was a nightmare. I search every where on the net about Yaesu FT 411E problems, but not a single piece of information about the problem which I am facing.

Today on Deepavali day 6-Nov-2010, I thought of putting one of my favorite Radio Yaesu FT411E, under the knife. I am a novice in servicing radio's and this was my first attempt to tinker with radio's.

For such kind of operation you need the right tools, Fortunately I had the tools handy. Removing all the three Knobs SQL, VOL and DIAL knobs was easy. There are 5 Star screws on the top plate and 4 on the back plate (including the one's on the steel clip. Also below near the battery pack steel plate there are 4 tiny screws which needs to be removed.

After removing all the screws a slight nudge separated the back and front end sections. Both the section's are connected by a thin strip of wire which is very new and I haven't worked with such setup before so it was bit tricky for me. On the front section you have the Speaker,Mic & and the PTT switch's, strip of wire connects both the PCB's boards together. Connected the Ni cad battery and switched the rig on, Thank god it was still alive. Connected my VOX head set to check the audio via connectors it was loud. Now got down to the delicate and risky part, separating the board from the front shell.

Using the smallest of phillips screw driver I removed 3 tiny screws and tried to lift the board but the board refused the come out of the shell. keen inspection led me to another screw on to the left side of the board just below the strip of wire, Even then the board was not parting. I was seeing 1 inch by 2 inch copper plate which must be some kind of heat sink, I was afraid to lift it as the copper plate was soldered at two places. I just slowly lifted the copper plate and saw fifth screw hiding beneath the plate. I had to lift the copper plate fully which broke the soldering, but I had an access to the last screw which was holding the PCB to the shell.

Now I fired the rig again, It was still breathing. touching the Speaker and mic socket some times made a hiss noise from the speaker, It was a sure case of Dry solder. Took out my old faithful soldering iron and delicately soldered off the dry solder, fired the rig again Voila the squelch hissing was blasting from the rig speakers. Reassembled the rig back in the reverse order. connected my external Yagi antenna it was time for evening R3 net. VU2QNY Ismail was taking the net, Heard the net for some time while tapping and fiddling with SQL knob. Auto transmission had stopped and audio was coming from the speaker. Now connected Yeasu YH2 Headset and checked into the net, 59 was the report both ways. At-last my rig is back in action.

Note: Don't ask me to fix your rig problem, never know I might screw it up !! :)

DE VU3NEO
Handle: NEO
73's

Annular Solar Eclipse Trip January 15th-2010

2010-01-18T17:15:00.039+05:30

Members of ABAA were all set to witness one of the rare celestial events of recent times, Annular Solar Eclipse on January 15th 2010. After much planning and discussion it was decided to view the eclipse from Dhanushkodi, an uninhabited fishing community village near the Rameshwaram. As I always wanted to go for a long drive with my Maruti ALTO, this was a perfect time to fulfill my desire to go for a long drive. It was decided that only four of us will be travelling so that every body will have a comfortable journey.

Preperations for my ALTO: As we wanted to travel comfortablly and economically I had to get a roof luggage carrier fixed for my ALTO. A POLO luggage carrier, Roots horns for highway driving and extra bumper lights were fixed.

January 13th 2010: Naveen (me), Nagaraj, Srinivas and Bharath were the final list of occupents in my ALTO. At 3:00 PM I met Nagaraj in front of Staples on Madiwala ring road and at 3:45 PM we met Srinivasa and Bharath who had come to silk board junction. As this was the first time that any one of us were using a luggage carrier we took a little bit of extra time to fasten our luggage on top of my ALTO. at 4:30 PM we left silk board towards Hosur. As all of us knew how to drive, our plan was to drive all night turn by turn and reach Rameshwaram by early moring sunrise. First was my turn to drive as I am an effecient driver by Day and a very slow driver by night.

NH 7 is an absolute bliss, very well laid and maintained, you will hardly find difficulty in driving on this road. As all of us had started after working straight the office every one was hungry, After a brief stop over at hosur for Masala roast and nice soft Idli's we started again. I drove for about 200 Kms nearing Salem and it was time for me to hand over the wheel for the next driver as the darkness was setting in and my speed was also decreasing. Nagaraj took over the wheel we had a brief stop over at a Dhaba near Naamakal.

As I am a HAM Radio operator I logged into Evening TCD VHF Net conducted by VU2PCP OM Paneer. On the Vhf net we had many radio stations checking in from South india an from the location from where we were heading to. I got the first hand information on the Weather report from the Local hams around Rameshwaram area. Other hams from Bangalore who were able to access the repeater also helped me to get the necessary contact, One of the was VU2POP OM Prathap (POP). He also gave valuable information about the Weather forcast.

It was time for the third driver to take over the wheel, Nag covered until Karur and Seena took over the wheel. Now the passengers seena and Bharath took over as Drivers and Navigator respectively, and We both (Naveen & Nag) sat behind for much needed sleep. Seena covered until Ramanathapuram where we stopped for Chai.

Photo credit Nagaraj.R

Bharath took over the wheel from Ramanathapuram until Rameshwaram. We reached Ramashwaram at 5:45 AM just the righ time for Sunrise. We stopped over Pambam bridge to get the glimse for the first sun rays. It was a fantastic location for shooting sunrise added to that we were served hot masala chai on the location.

Around 8:00 AM we entered Rameshwaram town but for our hard luck local police had closed all the main streets since Pondy and Tamilnadu Governer's visit leadingn to temple and to our Hotel. Politations and people who are in power are such a Pain in the neck. We had to wade through gullies to reach our Hotel.

January 14th 2010: After a quick holy bath of 22 sacerad well at Rameshwaram temple and breakfast we headed towards Dhanuskodi.We hired a Mahindra 4X4 as a normal front driven car like mine is not suited to dive in sea sand. It took around 45 minutes of drive on the sea shore to reach the end point of Dhanuskodi. I was informed that it is just around 11 ~ 13 Kms to Srilanka from this point. Dhanuskodi is very prestene and very sceinc we spent about 2 hours in the location clicking photos and collecting sea shells. On the way back we visited Kodanda Rama Temple, belived to be the place where Lord Rama stayed before venturing in to Lanka. Our visit to Dhanuskodi was a reconisence trip for the next day's big event, while coming back we decided that first we will fix the viweing location spot near Dhanush kodi check post which was plan A else we would set up our viewing location 1.5 kms before the check post near the fishermans cove which was plan B.

Back on main land Rameshwaram all our team member started to arrive one by one. Prakash and family, Dilip & Chandra' s group & Mani's group. We met Dilip's group at the sunset point before the Pambam bridge. After taking few sunset picture's and chit chatting we headed inside the town. As there was a huge rush Dilip's hotel room was given to someone else which caused lot of hardship. Finally Dilip's group were able to find a room in different hotel which was bit expensive.
Ther a flurry of activity in the hotel room for the next days event, All the telescopes were assembled and the camera battery's were charged for the big event. As Rameshwaram vitnessed excodus of visitors both Ayappa devotees and Eclipse viewers there was an absolute breakdown in handling the crowed. Hotels were unable to serve all the visitors and made them to wait them for long time.
Dinner was an absolute disaster as no body cared to ask or server the meal properly.

January 15th 2010: Butterflies in the stomach and eyes constantly checking out for the sky conditions. We first visited Rameshwaram's main Shiva temple and prayed for good skies. we had ample time to get going as the Eclipse was around 11:30 AM. After a heavy breakfast we started towards Dhanuskodi. As expected the Dhanuskodi check post location was crowded and it was time to excecute plan B.
we too a U turn and came back to our second location. There was flurry of activity at the location for setting up the telescopes and attaching camera's to the telecopes. There were plenty of on lookers and tourists who also had a glimse through the telecopes and camera's. Nagraj arranged Tea for all of us by striking a deal with fishermen, Tea and lot of thing to eat kept on coming all courtesy Geeta, Seema, Kavitha & Vasanthi.

Camera's kept on clicking and viedo camera's kept on shooting. Along with the pictures ABAA members were conducting some scientific experiments, Jayanth was plotting the intensity of lignt during the solar eclipse and Vijaykumar was checking out the temperature variation.

After the last contact all the ABAA members started to leave for sight seeing towards Kanyakumari, Madurai. All together it was a fantastic event that we witnessed.

Our next destination was Kanyakumari.

Below are assorted pics from the event.

Astronomy outreach event for School Vivekananda.

2009-02-09T11:14:00.021+05:30

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. swamy vivekananda.

When volunteers donate their time, equipment and resources and share it with others. ABAA volunteers know that the only thing better than a night under the stars with a telescope is sharing the observing experience with others. One of our main missions is to share the wonders of the night sky and support science education. To accomplish this goal we volunteer our time, telescopes and other resources to groups that are interested in learning more about astronomy.

Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers conducted an Astronomy outreach program on 6th February for School Vivekananda in Sahakaranagar Bangalore North. There was a huge turnout for the event which was estimated around 700 school kids and their parents. This outreach program was one of the series of outreach programs which will be conducted in and around Bangalore by Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers for IYA 2009
The event started by an introductory talk given by Jayanth and his son Rahul who is also one of the active young members of our association. Rahul’s topic was stellar evolution which kindled much interest.

Jayanth and Rahul talking about Introduction to astronomy and Setllar evolution.

Next talk and slide show was delivered by Nagaraj. His talk was about solar system and man made probes to the planets in our solar system. School Vivekananda had made all arrangements for the LCD projector and the screen. Colorful slides for Mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc., captured the interest and imagination of the school children who thoroughly enjoyed each and every slide with a WOW!!. There were around 300 students present in the huge auditorium and this was the first time that we had conducted the events with such large numbers.

Late evening after dark our activity shifted to the school ground, all the school kids were grouped and made to sit according to their classWe had set up 4 telescopes of different aperture

Naveen’s 6 inch open dob with 25 mm eye and Arun’s 4 inch were focused to moon as dobsonian has a low profile this was mainly dedicated to kindergarden children. Jayanth’s 8 inch and Anil’s telescopes were focused to Venus .

Naveen showing Moon through 6" Dob.

School kids were very happy to see through the telescopes and seeing the details of moon astonished each one of them. Many were found coming back again and again in the Queue to see the moon.

As the evening passed by the onlookers and bystanders got curious and came in to see what’s going? A separate queue was created and Arun’s telescope was dedicated for parents and for the general public who wanted to see through a telescope. So the event turned out to be sidewalk astronomy event along with Astronomy outreach for school.

Parents and onlookers queuing up to have a peep through the telescope
A couple of local Sahakaranagar residence who live near the field dropped in to check out what’s was the event about and we ended up showing the local residence as well.
Lot of curiosity was instilled in the minds of young and old, as usual there were lots of Q & A sessions and discussions happened throughout the telescope-viewing event.

We packed up around 9:30 PM in the night as some of the members had to go to other part of the city in Bangalore South. This event that ABAA had conducted for IYA 2009 got a good response and was hugely successful, for which ABAA members are proud of.

We thank the school principle Ms Amitha Shireesh for making all the arrangements for the event and for giving us the opportunity to conduct this event.

ABAA members who made the event successful.
Geeta, Jayanth, Rahul, Naveen, Nagaraj, Arun, Anil & Akshay.

IYA 2009 Astronomy outreach event at Tumkur

2009-02-01T14:44:00.023+05:30

IYA 2009 Astronomy outreach events is at a feverish pitch for ABAA &(Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers ). ABAA had organized Outreach program for Tumkur Science center at Kaalidaasa Junior college Tumkur. Tumkur science center is one of most active science club in Tumkur district.

Nagaraj discussing with Tumkur Science center representative.

Me(Naveen), Nagraj and Anand from ABAA had volunteered for the event. We were told that there would be around 300 school students from various schools of Tumkur. School had two telescopes an 8 inch Dob and 6 inch reflector which were built with the assistance of ABAA in one of the ATM workshops. Event started bit late around 7:30 pm in the evening as we reached bit late, all thanks to Bangalore-Tumkur road construction which made out KSRTC but to crawl.

After a warm welcome and quick Tea we were taken to the college terrace where we were supposed to show through the telescopes. we were surprised to see such a huge crowed and they were waiting patiently for us to show the sky.

Nagaraj talking about planets

As it was very difficult to handle such a large crowd with only two telescopes we had to rework on our strategies. We divided the group into 2 so that for one group we engaged them with a talk about Introduction to Night sky while 2nd group were observing throught the telescope.

Naveen talking about Astronomy

We started out with a introduction on IYA 2009 event and the significance about the Outreach program that we were conduction. We gave a brief introduction about Amateur Astronomy and what does amateur astronomers do followed by introduction to constellations.

School children listening to the talk attentively.

IYA 2009 Objectives like "She is an Astronomer", "Astronomy for All" and "Young Astronomers" were also addressed in the event.

Anand had keep one set of students around 100 of them busy with his Q & A sessions and rest for the group were busy viewing through telescope. As the limiting magnitude of the sky at the college was low, the most viewed objects were Moon and venus. School children were patient and waited for there turn to come. It was a fantastic and most successful event. We really thank & appreciate Tumkur Science center and Kaalidasa college for calling us to conduct the event.

Make your own Orkut Theme

2009-01-16T17:38:00.028+05:30

Many of my Orkut friends wanted to know how to install personal Orkut Themes. So I came up with a quick installing procedure for all my Orkut Friends. Here we go It's all for you people.

Below find the step by step instructions for installing Orkut Theme along with Screen shots, I hope I have made it easy and simple enough so that no so techie friends can understand and install the themes.

First step is to download the setup files for Firefox. Download Firefox here and save it on your desktop (or any other location where you can find it easily), After downloading it Double-click the Firefox Setup file.

The Mozilla Firefox Setup Wizard will open.

Click Next
Review and accept the License Agreement (shown here for Firefox 2), then click the Next button.

You will see the Setup Type dialog (shown here for Firefox 2) where you can choose between a Standard or Custom install.

Select Standard and click Next.

Standard installation

In the Setup Type dialog, the "Standard" option is selected by default.

Click the Next button to install Firefox with the recommended options. The Completing the Mozilla Firefox Setup Wizard dialog will then appear. Click the Finish button. If you leave the "Launch Mozilla Firefox now" box checked, Firefox will then start.

Custom installation

Select "Custom" in the Setup Type dialog (shown above) if you want to choose where to install Firefox and what shortcuts to create. In Firefox 2 and below, you will also have the choice to select some optional components.

Choose Optional Components - Firefox 2

You have the choice to select the options uncheck both of them and then click on next.

Choose Install Location

This option allows you to choose the "Destination Folder", where Firefox is installed.
The default is C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\.

Set Up Shortcuts

You can choose create a Firefox shortcut icon on the Desktop, Firefox shortcut icons (for both a normal and a Safe Mode startup) in the Windows Start Menu Programs folder, and a Firefox shortcut in the Windows Quick Launch bar. These shortcuts are created by default in the Standard setup. Click the Next button to create these shortcuts.

Warning: If you choose not to create Firefox shortcut icons in the Windows Start Menu Programs folder, then the Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode) shortcut will not be created.

Choose Start Menu Folder

The default Start Menu Programs folder for Firefox shortcuts is "Mozilla Firefox".

In Firefox 2, click the Install button, as shown above, to complete the installation.
In Firefox 3, click the Next button to continue with the installation.

Summary - Firefox 3

The Summary dialog will show you your installation choices. Click the Install button to complete the installation.

Completing the installation

After Firefox is installed, the Completing the Mozilla Firefox Setup Wizard dialog will appear (shown here for Firefox 2).

Click the Finish button.
If you leave the "Launch Mozilla Firefox now" box checked, Firefox will then start.

Note: When Firefox opens, you may receive a prompt asking if you would like to set Firefox as your default browsere, if another browser is currently the default. "Default browser" means the browser that opens when you click a link in your mail application or when you open an Internet shortcut or HTML document.

Second step is to download the setup files for Greasemonkey. Download Greasemonkey here and save it on your desktop (or any other location where you can find it easily), After downloading it Double-click the Greasemonkey Setup file.

Click on the Install Now button

When Firefox recognizes that you are installing an extension it brings up a box asking you if you want to install it. Click Install Now.

4. Restart Firefox to Finish Installation

The installation will not be complete until you restart Firefox. The good news is that Firefox will remember all the pages you are viewing right now, so go ahead and click on the Restart Now button.

Third Step is to install the images which you always wanted to be on your Orkut profile.

Open Firefox and login into your profile.

On the Right lower corner locate Greasemonkey right click and make sure Enabled is checked.
Your will see an Check mark on Enabled and on the top you will see No Scripts Installed!

Enter the Image URL like Example - http://scrapur.com/theme/images/1228229569.jpg
in the white box and click submit button. When you click on submit button you will see the next screen which gives you option to install the Theme.

Click on INSTALL THEME link, next you should be able to see Greasemonkey installation window .

Then click Install, Your theme will be installed on your Orkut profile.
Click on home link on your Orkut profile, you will see your new Orkut Theme.

Things don’t always go the way you want them to. Leave a comment if you have any other further questions in the comments section I will reply to you.
Or Scrap me on Orkut.

Astronomy Outreach Bangalore International School

2009-01-15T19:53:00.015+05:30

As a part of Astronomy Outreach program ABAA had organized Astronomy sky show and a lecture for Bangalore International School children on 12 December 2008. Geeta who happens to be a teacher in BIS had scheduled the dates for the event. Nagraj, Ravi, Anand & Me (Naveen) had attended the outreach program. This was the first outreach program of the series of Astronomy outreach programs which has been scheduled for International year of Astronomy 2009 event.

We had around 30 children and their teachers who were present for the event, We were told that BIS is a school with different curricula and format of teaching would be different. Well this was very evident from the interaction with the children. The amount of knolowdeg about things is very huge for that age group.

Evening started with a slide show and talk by Nagaraj on the topic "SOLAR SYSTEM". School had organized a LCD projector and a screen in schools computer lab. School children enjoyed the talk and the slide show. The level of understanding of the subject of Astronomoy was very high which reflected it the type of question which the kids asked in the Q & A session. Later we came to know that Astronomy is one of the subject that study in depth.

Next we shifted to the school field beside the school basket ball court where we had assembled 8" Telescope. Students were asked to form a queue to see through the telescope. As there were lights around the school the only desired objects were Moon, Venus and Jupiter. First we focussed the telescope to Jupiter as that was the first object which was due to set, Students were able to see 4 satellites of Jupiter.

Next Telescope was set to venus which was beautiful and we were able to see the crescent shape distinctly. School children were amazed to see the crescent shape of planet Venus.

Our Telescope viewing sessions ended with Moon, Students were able to see the breath taking view of Moon and its craters.

Thanks to COD- Shibani and science teacher Smita for giving us the time slot for Astronomy event in there program and making all the arrangements for the slide show. Special thanks to Geeta Jayanth for scheduling the event.

Camping at ಗಾಳಿಕೆರೆ the Windy Lake.

2008-12-29T18:15:00.025+05:30

Long time preparation and accurate planning for a short Trip has seldom worked for our group. So this time we did not plan much, we never zeroed in on any particular place. After couple of calls to some of the group members finally three of us Me, Nag & Seena decided to venture out on a long drive. It’s so happened that Nag visited Ravi’s place and got to know about GaaliKere off BabaBuddanGiri Hills, Well all will happen for good, so we got a new place to go finally. After much dilly dallying whether we should take my Alto or Seena’s M-800(LPG) we decided that we will take M-800 as it worked out to be economical for 3 of us. We decided to leave Bangalore at 26^th December 2008 Friday night. The plan was to assemble at Nag’s house at 9:30 and leave at 10:00 PM sharp. Our departure was delayed by 1 and a half hour as seena decided to have a pre party with Ravi and Vishwa, we started from Bangalore at 11:30 PM.

Night Driving on Bangalore-Hassan Highway is bit risky; of late they have started the process of widening the road and we need to be careful. Well most of the night driving was done by Seena and he is comfortable with it. It was only until Hassan the oncoming traffic was more, from Hassan to Chikmagalure it was calm smooth, Nag discovered a new way of navigation it’s called Laser torch guided navigation system. It’s so simple that you just have to point the laser torch to any reflective surface like sign board or Kilometer boards. Nag was able to spook others travelers by reflecting the light from the laser torch off the green color sign boards.

Early morning on Saturday we reached Chikmagalure around 4:30 AM and enquired in couple of hotels for a room to catch some sleep and to freshen up. Atlast we checked into a dingy and beer smelling room at least my room smelled the sprit. A quick 45 min of Nap and after morning calls we got ready for the next leg of our journey after a brief stopover for breakfast.

Chikmaglure-Bababudagiri was a beautiful drive, stopping every now and then to take pictures of the landscape. The location was so beautiful that even the film crew had come there to shooting. Seena and Nag switch and became paparazzi photographers for a while.

Bababudan giri is a sleepy town with few shops and a dingy Restaurant. Good resource for campers as you get mats for rent and food items are plenty which you might need for camping. We enquired about the camping site and security with one of the local shop owners and we were told that it was absolutely safe. When we enquired about wild animals pat can another question “ Yean sir Shikari maadthira” ( will you be hunting wild animals). Well that shop owner would have thought that we were one of the film crew and came for game hunting as Salman Khan did. We took no time clarifying that we do not intend to shoot down any animals we are here to camp for a day.

We had a quick round of parota and dhal in that dingy restaurant picked up 3 mats for rent and headed towards Gaalikere. It was 10 min slow drive dodging on coming vehicles and we reached the entrance of our camping site. First we tried to drive our M-800 near the lake, but we did not dare to drive further by seeing the terrain from the entrance to the lake which was aptly for 4X4, we decided to park our car in the entrance and went for a campsite location survey. Trekked around 200mts and we came across a beautiful lake which was surrounded by hills.

On to the far end of the Lake there is a small shrine which is frequented by locals. You will also find a small old man’s shanty selling pooja items and eatables. After initially inspection we decided to pitch our tent on the lake bed thinking that we would be having a good ground to fasten the tent pegs as the name of the lake suggest. We took no time in bring up the tent after cleaning the ground of pebbles. The old man in the shanty proved to be a resourceful guy, we outsourced our Kitchen and campfire firewood needs to him and we got the consignment in no time.

Seena and Nag prepared hot Tea and after sipping much needed Tea, I and Nag went for a short trek for neighboring hill for Sunset photography. I made couple of calls to Bangalore to update our family and friends of our whereabouts and the description of our location to other friends who missed it. In the mean time we had some locals visiting at Gaalikere for fishing and a TV serial unit for shooting dance sequence.

Once the Sun was down the temperature began to drop drastically. It was time for Warm cloths and a Camp fire. While Nagaraja and Seena started were preparing for dinner, MTR Tomato rice and Bisibele bath was on the menu. I prepared a good campfire using techniques learned from man vs wild. We had just finished our dinner and planning to settle around the campfire when a raging wind started from the valley which threatened to tear the tent apart. It was time to change the tent location, It was pitch dark and a new moon day we hardly had any light except our torch light and we had to fight the wind power to relocate the tent. We shifted our tent inside the old man’s shanty, the fun part was that we also shifted the campfire to the new location. Night was calm expect occational flapping of shanty sheets and it was bitterly cold. Nag had a good snoring sleep, Me and Seena had broken and disturbed sleep.

Above pics Nag is happly sleeping and Seena previewing his photos on his New laptop.

Next morning we woke up at 7:00 AM for a bright sunny morning. MTR Upma was on the breakfast Menu, After sipping Chocolate flavored tea we started packing the tent and backpacks. We lingered around the Lake until 10:30 AM and started towards Bangalore.

Truly a great place to stay for a day or two. At this time of year you won’t see that much greenery all I can say it was Brownery J. Same as Kodchadri minus the crowd. Lovely night sky, absolutely no light pollution what so ever. Believe it or not the only light pollution we had was of planet Venus shining at a mag of -4; we had breath taking view of Milky Way arm. Great opportunity for Astrophotography, location is very much accessible by four wheelers. And we can take telescopes to the location.

Trip to Nilgiri Hills

2006-07-22T23:29:00.000+05:30

It is one of my first outing with my colleagues( Ullas, Adarsh, Bharath and Guru ) from my new company. Until now I have been going to innumerous outings with my buddies from past 10 years, this outing was bit different. It all started when I told my colleagues about the my previous travel, trekking and my Motorsoprts adventures. I created much hype about it, which made my friends all the more excited and wanted go for an outing badly. The responsibility of conducing the whole trip was given to me, as this was my first outing with this group I wanted to select a place near by some where with in 300km from Bangalore. So I decided the Picturous route Bandipur, Madhumalai, Ooty and back, we had 2 and 1/2 days to spend.

The idea was to start form the office after the shift ends because we were all in the early morning 2am shift. so we had brought the backpack to the office. It was Friday all the guys were in week end mood, Just after logging out at 10:30 am we straight away headed to the elevator which took us down to the Basement where Adarsh had parked his Alto. We hopped into Alto and we said "Lets Go” as the Ad says. This was my first long trip in a Maruti Alto. The idea was to pick up Guru and Barry on the way, as Barry had a weekly off and had applied one day extra leave.

L To R, Barry, Guru, Ullas and Addy. Me behind camera always.

We were on the Bangalore-Mysore highway at noon after a brief stopover at shell petrol bunk at Mysore road entrance. The highway is very good as it is newly built. We stopped over for lunch at Kamath and headed towards Mysore, We reached Mysore at 3:30pm and it was raining cats and dogs at Mysore. I had warned my friends that it is going to rain so they had to be prepared for it. We waddled through a road which was flooded and the kids from the near by school had a hard time negotiating their way. We navigated towards Nanjangud road, which takes us to Bandipur. We reached Bandipur in the late evening after couple of stop over.

We drove slowly in anticipation of any Wild animals; Guru had been telling that "Last time when they came, They saw Elephants like Pigs". well Just after the Bandipur forest check post and before Madhumalai forest check post we saw a big tusker, we were all excited seeing it. Hoping that we will see more Elephants we proceeded to Madhumalai forest check post but there was a huge disappointment waiting for us. We were stopped at the check post and asked to pull over. Forest guard came along and said that they need to check our car. Now we are in a different State we were wondering what on earth does he want from us. He wanted to check if we are taking Liquor with us, but unfortunately we had picked up some Beer pints with us as the Tamilnadu drinks Sucks and here we go, the ordeal started. They said Karnataka booze is not allowed into TN.Forest guards with a lady came and confiscated the beer and took it away. Well guys had planned to chill out in the night after a long day, every thing went hay way. Upon that the forest guards informed that the driver will be booked and a case will be registered he has to appear in a court blah.. blah.. After much waiting and persuasion the forest guard informs they have to give 1500 Rupees in order to leave us plus a part of the booty. Well we knew it that ultimately it will result in this, they also know how to take advantage of us, Ultimately we had to shell 600 Rupees + couple of pints and he let us go.

It was pitch dark when we started from the Madhumalai check post and entered into madhumalai forest. After few kilometers we took a curve and suddenly slowed down as we saw a huge Elephant standing on the right side and a cub playing on the left side. We were all excited to see. For Addy this is the first time driving in the forest, that too in the Night and when he saw the elephant due to his driving reflexes he started Flashing the headlight's, Ho my god!! we all Screamed in low tone" Stop it". Our timing was perfect the herd was just crossing the road. We could not see anything except but front. we didn't want to take chances so we sped away.

We reached Gudalur, the idea was to stay at Gudalur and go for Ooty and cunnore the next day. We checked into Hotel ICH a new hotel beside the petrol bunk. Guys ordered food to the room and after gulping down whatever beer that was left and after a quick dinner we crashed on to the bed telling we will get up early 5am and get going and Barry even set his cell phone alarm at 5am..

Next day at 5am none of the guys were in no mood to wake up. Barry must have pressed the Snooze button a dozen.. times. Finally Me and Barry woke up and went out for a Morning walk and had nice tea. By the time we came back, guys had woken up and finishing the morning cores.

After getting ready at 8am we had breakfast at Hotel Saravana Bhavan just next to our Hotel. We had all kind's of dosa's in that hotel like paper rost, masala dosa, onion dosa and idli's the supplier got exhausted serving us, All of us except Guru were Voracious eaters. We took the Gudalur-Ooty road. The road was in a very bad state you can't go more that 40kmph but if it is an extra cautious driver like Addy you will be making 20kmph as what he did. We Stopped at a view point on the way and enjoyed the beauty of nature spent some time chatting and clicking photos.

L To R, Addy,Guru,Ullas and Barry . Me behind camera always. At View point

L To R, Guru,Ullas,Addy, and Me. At View point

It was as slow journey to ooty but thanks to Ullas and Addy they had brought some nice music to hear. When we were nearing ooty the weather changed it had started to rain, there was a chill factor in the air, fortunately all of us had warm clothing. We stopped near a beautiful lake to take some pictures . We avoided most of the crowded places is ooty and headed towards Cunnore.

On the way to Ooty

Cunnore is a bustling town with some wonderful Tea estates. The small train ply’s between ooty and cunnor. As addy was the only driver we didn't want to take the train because it would have taken half of the day. We went to a beautiful tea estate clicked some photos, we bought fresh tea just from the tea factory, you will get all kinds of flavors like Masala, cardamom and herbal. They also sell spices.

Tea plantation at Cunnor

After the lunch at Cunnore we left for Doddabetta highest point in Nilghiri Hills. You can see a wonderful panoramic view form Doddabetta, this place has some wonderful Flora and fauna, We also saw a Bison grazing near the fence. This will be very good place for bird photograph. We Left Doddabetta a 5:30 in the evening and our idea is to take the Masangudi road. This road Is newly laid and smooth and nearer compare to Gudalur road. On the way we stopped for dinner at a resort .

It was quit late in the evening when we entered the forest at Madhumalai side when we were stopped again at the forest check post, we were told that we were late and won't be allowed, so again negotiation started, we were informed at the resort that if you give some money they will leave you. After sorting out we entered the forest around 7:30 in the evening, we were hoping for some wild animals sightings, Volia we saw them by dozens, first a very rare porcupine it just crossed the road in front of us, We saw bison’s grazing and giving an occasional stare at us. All of us were excited, Addy had his sixth sense working and told "Maga nanna sixth sense haluthe namage Aaney siguthae". Just after a few kilometers we saw an elephant standing on the left side, We came almost to a stand still. Elephant was bit agitated by the sight of our car. It was a juvenile elephant, after seeing us it made a low tone noise and a hiss. We knew it was time for us to move. The journey from the Madhumalai forest office to Gudalur was quite and Eiree once in a while Addy used to switch off the car Headlight's just to feel the forest. Then we reached Gudalur and retaired for the day.

Next Day's plan was to leave early morning and catch up Jungle ride either in Madhumalai or Bandipur, but we were late for both the places the morning jungle rides were over and next jungle at Bandipur was at evening 4:30 we didn't wanted to wait so we decided to Gopalswamy Betta. There is a old Temple on the top of the hill, It is a fantastic place where you can see the thick jungle below. The road to the hill top is very steep and demanding for the vehicle. We reached the hill top quickly and after a brief puja at the temple we set or for a small trek behind the temple. The view was breath taking, we were told by some local's that you can see the elephant down below and we saw the elephant heard lazily grazing. Barry wanted to go further down to have a good view but we told not to. We took some pictures and left the place towards Mysore.

That's Addy, Guru,Barry and Ullas at GSM Betta

On the way to Mysore we stopped at a sunflower field and took some pictures. We started and reached the outskirts of Mysore , we didn't had lunch the idea was to have the lunch at Mysore. while entering into Mysore I saw Chamundi hills, As I am an Amateur Radio operator (Ham Radio) I was carrying my Walki Talki, I gave a general call through the chamundi repeater. Fortunately I was answered by a fellow ham "Sampath" we had a long chat and gave us the information that Hotel siddarth is good for lunch. We went in search of the hotel but in vain we lost the route so we stopped by the nearest hotel near the bus stand and we had lunch.

After lunch we were Bangalore bound very soon we were on the Mysore Bangalore highway zipping away. All of us were tired and also with the feeling that the trip was coming to an end. More over all of us was supposed to login for Monday morning 2am shift. We reached Bangalore at 7 in the evening and dispersed, at last a wonderful trip came to an end we had covered 725Kms in total.