10k by Chance?! (Sunfeast Open 10km Run)

I love walking. Although i try to do it whenever possible. I have gained a lot of weight in last 3-4 years :)
This line doesn't have much relation to the title of this blog. :D
When the Sunfeast 10k run event was launched for this year, i thought that i should participate in this event. i was confident that i can complete 10k but the unknown factor was the timing.

So I had to collect all the information related to long run: regarding diet, training schedule, medical information, etc. This was my first take at 10k run.
I started some training and this was running in the HAL 3rd stage park. I didn't know the length of the track in the park. I used to run about 8 rounds in that park. I used to do it in about 10-12 minutes. I thought the track length is about 500 mt.
So my
estimated timing for 10k was 30 minutes.

But later i tried to measure it on google earth. it was roughly 250 mt. I also realized from the last year's 10k run timings (on sunfeast10k website) that i was among the top 5-10 runners. Wow. So my estimation about the timing and stamina ran for a toss. :) hahaha.

Ok. Not a problem. My aim was to complete the run and not achieve any performance about timing. For last 1 week i didn't go for practive. i didn't have any latest estimate
about
 time. but from my earlier runs it would have been around > 60mins. I wanted to do a final rehearsal for 10 km. 2-3 days before the final day i tried to make a route around Indira Nagar which can measure 10km. But in vain. I even didn't do this. All those things didn't make me nervous. I was determined to complete the run on the day come what may.

On the eve of event day (doesn't it sound like some big event in itself:D ) i started doing some planning. it was a saturday so i had enough time for myself. it was said that i should have carbohydrate diet for last few days, which means rice, wheat. so i bought a dosa/idli batter and had some dosas and for the dinner some dal and rice. i marked the alarm for 4:30 am.

Prachi woke me up in the morning (had i written this in Marathi it would have been "Mi jhakTit uthalo":D hahaha ). The day dawned! I was so excited. i got ready by 5:40 and had a nice breakfast of Upma and packed 2 bananas for the snacks before run. i wanted to go early to the venue so that i can catch all the happenings there. i wore simple clothes white shirt (Bandi) and my bermuda. it was quite comfortable. i don't like tight fitting clothes for exercise. i put the running number bib on the front and started off with my dear old "Yamaha Crux R".

It was a pleasant morning just around the sunrise time. Very few people on the road. i was already feeling the 'one in many' with the running bib number on chest. I saw many police and traffic police on the way. i reached Kanteerava stadium around 6:30. now i had to search for parking (the age old problem in Bangalore). Frankly, none of the police pesonnels were quite aware about the parking situation. They were guiding us to UB city, which had parking at 'nominal' fees (not a nominal for people like me:D ). There were many parking hoardings on the way and around the stadium, but they were all for cars. While searching for 2 wheeler parking I literally made a round to UB city from Vitthal Malya road-Richmond circle-UB city. When i was about to reach UB city Lavelle road offered me free parking :) I walked towards the stadium. On the way I saw that some others are also facing the same problem. So i guided one of them to same parking place. At the east entrace of the stadium there were directions for various entry gates. I headed
 towards my Open 10k gate (without timing chip).
 Timing chip
 can be used to detect the timings required by the runner for total and lap runs. This chip needs to be attached to your shows and it keeps sending some radio signals. It was available for open 10k and world 10k runners for a payment of 200 rupees. I didn't take it. And knew that with this decision i wouldn't be able to get official timings from the event organizers. It didn't matter much to me. I would know what I have achieved.

There were World 10k runners on the track warming up. I was watching the LED screen showing CNBC TV18. Ohhh ... I wasn't aware that there will be a live telecast of the event on CNBC TV18. I requested one of the participant for his mobile phone, and told Prachi about this info
. Thanks to that guy who helped me :) The World 10K started and those were all professionals participatants. I was sure from earlier records that someone from Ethiopia or Kenya will win the race (it proved correct later). Then wheelchair race started off. They were all smiling and showing andrenaline rush. I was waiting for my turn to come. I did some warmup. It was around 7:55 so everybody was anxious to get on the running track and start off as soon as possible. Open 10k participants with timing chip had a preference to start the race. Although participants with and without timing chip were separated, some started going to 'with timing chip' area. Even I sneaked into that area just to go to the track earlier. Everybody had to go through that small opening in the barricade. (I don't know whether this is a standard practice.) People were rushing towards the opening. The scene was like water gushing out of the cracked pipeline. Some even jumped over the barricade to come on race track.

I didn't realize that the race started as i was busy making my way to the track. And around 8:15 i was on the race track. The route was Kanteerava stadium - Kasturba Road - We all came out of the stadium and then on the Kasturba road. There were many people outside

lined along the road to cheer up all the participants. This was very nice. You feel a sense of being special.

I would like to share one more nice incident or person from the run. When I had crossed around 6-7 km there was this Sardar walking along me. He kept on saying "come one more mile now". He was cheering everybody near him.

The 8th mile was near Vidhan Soudha and 9th mile was in the cubbon park. Cubbon park is really a nice place to walk. Greenery everywhere.

PS:
I participated in Sunfeast Open 10k Run in Bangalore on 31st May 2009.
I completed the run in about 65 minutes. Started around 8:15am and back to finish line around 9:20am.
Wrote this blog on 1 June 2009 but somehow didn't post. Laziness :D

GCC Toolchain compilation for ARM

I will mainly focus on the issues that I faced while compiling the toolchain. As other relevant details are already covered by other experts.

• Invalid machine configuration during binutils configurations

checking target system type... Invalid configuration `arm-none-linux-gnueabi-': machine `arm-none-linux-gnueabi' not recognized

Remove the extra "-" at the end from the export TARGET definition.

• Make sure you define / export the PREFIX, TARGET variables accurately

I had a nasty output when my PREFIX was incorrectly defined as
export PREFIX=$PATH:~/project/tools/binutils-2.25/bin

Due to this bad export my "bin" directory was not populated with binaries.
:D

• Configure failed for GCC configurations

Added " --with-gmp --with-mpfr --with-mpc" in configure options

While configuring GMP lib, it gave another error:
checking for suitable m4... configure: error: No usable m4 in $PATH or /usr/5bin (see config.log for reasons).

Install M4 package for your Linux distro.
Ref: http://www.richelbilderbeek.nl/CppInstallErrorGmpNoUsableM4InPathOrUsr5bin.htm

Best way is to install GMP, MPFR, MPC libraries using
sudo apt-get install libgmp3-de libmpfr-dev libmpc-dev

• zlib.h error while compiling GCC

../.././gcc/lto-compress.c:28:18: fatal error: zlib.h: No such file or directory

Install zlib

• Some strange errors while compiling GCC tool (during configure or make command)

The  target directory for installation (PREFIX) should be outside the source directory. Please refer: https://gcc.gnu.org/install/configure.html
"First, we highly recommend that GCC be built into a separate directory from the sources which does not reside within the source tree."





While using this toolchain for building linux for OMAP board (devkit8000) with default config I have been facing an error:
"unrecognized otpion --64"

Downloaded Linaro toolchain. During its configuration I get following error:
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: in `/home/project/tools/gcc-linaro-4.8-2014.04':
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.







Workable solution:
Prebuilt toolchain is available from:
https://www.linaro.org/downloads/
Link
https://releases.linaro.org/15.02/components/toolchain/binaries/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-4.9-2015.02-3-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz

Now passport in few Simple Steps

Now passport in 4 Simple Steps:

1) Registration at: http://passportindia.gov.in/As per the website this is a pilot project in Bengaluru and Chandigarh area. Ant this facility will be available all over India soon. I still don't know the exact status of this. Because during the registration it asks for passport office and it has a list of all offices over India.
Anyway complete the process of registration and select the service from left column (apply for new, reissue, etc). You will get 2 options: download eform and fill up online.
For eform you can download the editable PDF form and update it. Generate an XML file (the button or links in the form does it). Then you can upload the generated XML file.
Complete the form in all aspect.

Then submit the form. Hey, your application is submitted!

2) Take appointmentGo to your home page and select the submitted application. Then click on "manage appointment" link below that. Here you need to search for available slot for appointment. In my case I got an appointment about a month later.
As an additional step you can scan the documents and upload them online.
Also print application receipt. This is very very important.

3) Visit your your nearest PSK on appointment date
a) Visit preparations
i) take printout of your online receipt (clicking on Print Application Receipt)
ii) take printout of your submitted form
iii) make a note of your ARN (application reference number) and application ID
iv) take all supporting documents (original and 2 photocopies). You can get the list of acceptable documents at document adviser link at http://passportindia.gov.in/. Marriage certificate in case you register your spouse's name in the passport.
v) Take enough cash amount with you. They only accept cash. You can get information from Fee Calculator link http://passportindia.gov.in/.
vi) Put a reminder if you need and finalize the route to go to passport office.

b) During visit. (Please be on time)i) At the entrance the security guys will check you and your baggage
ii) Go to the counter after you enter (I hope the structure is same everywhere in India). Get a token from them. The queue number or token number is dependent on your application submission. So its not like first come first serve basis. They will also ask you to show document at this counter, but it is just to verify that you have come with proper docs.
iii) Then you need to enter a waiting lounge where you can see the display of ongoing tokens at various counters. A TCS employee will help you find (or call you) a vacant counter for your application processing. The staff is quite polite and helping. There is a snacks & photocopy counter at this lounge. So even if you forgot to take photocopies, you can do it here.
iv) When they call you number,
You will first go to 'A' counter. Here a TCS employee will check all your documents, prepare a file of your photocopies & application. Representative checks all original documents. Representative will also show and ask your if all data is correct or not. You can verify data on the display facing your seat. Representative will take your photo with some system integrated camera. They even ask you if the photo is proper or not.
'B' counter: Here a government official will scan through all your original documents and check them in the system (uploaded in earlier step).
Third and last round is at 'C' counter: Here again a government officer will check your passport (in case of reissue) or the complete file in case of fresh application. Existing passport will be stamped as 'canceled'.
You are done!
Don't forget to collect your exit receipt from one of the counters. There is a separate counter for this. Here you need to surrender your token and get the exit receipt.
After this, you will be able to see your application data online.

4) Police verificationYou will get a call for police verification within 5 days and they will ask you to come to police station you mentioned in the application. Usually corruption starts at this point onwards. After verifying the documents (age proof, address proof, 2 photos), they ask you some fees politely. This is not actually any fees but a bribe.
You may register your story at http://ipaidabribe.com/.
You may also record all proceedings if feasible and expose them.

Ideally police verification takes up to 3 weeks. Till that time you can keep checking online status and if required call call-center for Passport Seva Kendra.
After getting a clearance from Police department, passport office will dispatch your passport. Usually as per the information from Passport office. You should get the passport within one month. Some of my friends have got the passport with 10-15 days.
You should get an intimation on your phone and email id.
You can track status of your application online, using link http://passportindia.gov.in/wps/portal/statustracker.
As per information from my friends, the post office person will also ask for money! Again a bribe!

Some tips:
- The parking is just behind the PSK office. 10 Rs per hour for 4 wheeler. You can enter the office premises from the parking space directly.
- Bangalore outer ring road PSK has HDFC bank in same premises and ICICI nearby.
- Bangalore outer ring road PSK is near to Hyundai showroom (nearly opposite to Intel office).
- While coming from Marathalli try to enter the service road (on right hand side) near Nokia office.
- While coming from Belandur junction enter the service road (on left hand side) as soon as possible.


Addendum:
Renewal of passport for minor
- Follow the online application procedure.
- Upload required documents & pay the fees online (if you prefer so).
- Take the appointment.
- On appointment day you just need to carry (original and photocopies)
-- application confirmation / acknowledgement
-- applicant and parents' passports
-- address proof (if it is changed)
-- annexture H on plain paper
You may get help from document adviser from the website.

Police verification is not needed. I got the passport (minor passport renewal) in 3 working days.
(You don't need to carry the application form, photo)

My encounters with RTO

I already had 2 wheeler license from Amravati Maharashtra.
i transferred my 2 wheeler from Amravati. and paid taxes. that was easy. PUC, RC book, license. ~2500 tax. so no problem of driving anywhere in bangalore now. you don't need any agent for this. its quite simple.

1) take recent puc, rc book, tax, your bike, license, insurance.
2) take the form from the front help desk. its in Kannada. fill it with someone's help.
3) go to room no 8 on top floor in BDA complex. non-transport treasury (?) section.
4) pay the taxes (2 wheeler ~ 2500, 4 wheeler ~ 20-25 K depending on model/year) and you will get 2 duplicate receipts.
thats all :)

Point in question: there were other people who told me that now they also ask for NOC.
** Also get NOC from Maharashtra **

Always carry your tax receipts with you.
Other documents are: RC Book / Tax receipt / Karnataka Tax receipt / Insurance / Emission test certificate / Valid Licencse.


4 wheeler license :
I wanted to do this by directly approaching the department and not through the agents. For learning license I had to transfer (reissue) my license from my native (Amravati, Maharashtra) to RTO Bangalore. Change of address required. It needs some valid address proof like ration card or voters id card. i had neither. So I took affidavit from a notary (on MG road court office). It cost me 200. Submitted the form in February'09. I had to wait for about 2 months time to get the address changes done. As the license needs to be checked for originality, it is sent back to my native's RTO office and returned. And it really takes 2 months. they don't entertain your request for status check before the given date.

Applied for permanent license. I did my driving lessons through some driving school for 10 hours. on weekends i did 2 hours daily. it was quite quick for me. In the 3rd-4th hour itself I was quite confident. for the last class he explained me about the internals of the car.
Application for the license.
Got the date for driving test. i also asked friends for feedback.
On that day, i had come around 10 am. registered for the test vehicle around 11am and submitted the documents. Test did not start until 8-10 people registered including 2 wheelers. test was around 1:30pm in the residential area around RTO. Inspector asked me to do reverse driving, stopping in between the road, hand signals, speed limit. he also observed my behavior & courtesy towards pedestrians. then back to the RTO office. he asked me some signals from the chart. i couldn't identify one. i think it was for "speed limit over".

i passed the test. he asked me to collect the license next day. i reached there but my form was misplaced. i was shuffling between the 2 departments of RTO. the officer asked me to come on coming Monday as one of the person who had forms was on leave. I went there on Monday and my form was there with correct department. I collected it and submitted to the RTO officer. he was telling other person to re-submit it or bring the inspector. i couldn't understand it completely as it was in kannada. then the other person convinced the officer that the form was misplaced. he signed and then i submitted it to a lady who enter database in computer. then submitted it with form no 7 to room 3. the lady signed and then i gave it to computer department who prints the license.

And this is the way i got my license in the month of June' 09 :)

Thanks to all the people who helped me.
I didn't need to bribe anyone in the RTO office.

Vishwa Shaanti Aashram (near Nelamangala, Bangalore)

This place is About 27 km from Bangalore and just before Nelamangala. We wanted to go out some place on weekend but there was nothing in Bangalore remaining to see :)

So I scrambled through my 51 gateways book around Bangalore and found this place. We thought it might be crowded on weekend.
before starting i just searched this place on google earth for the route information.

we started around 11:20 am on Sunday 6th Sep 2009.
we went to Sai Baba temple in Cambridge layout. We were fortunate enough to reach there just before Aarti at 12pm. After this Mandir closes.

we traveled through malleshwaram, metro, tumkur road NH4

there is flyover (?) construction going on from Yeshwantpur onwards. I needed to get some help about this place. So we stopped by shell petrol pump on left side. The attendants guided me with smile to this place. From this petrol pump it is about 8km.
You will get traffic jams near T Dasarahalli and further. This road is quite abuzz with the trucks and containers for interstate goods transportation.

we took halt at New Agarwal Bhavan. nice vegetarian restaurant on left side. They have a dine-in and another section for fast food like snacks, sweets.
Due to recent H1N1 problem or not the handwash liquid was the best quality. it wasn't like the one you get in any *.saagar restaurant, watery. i liked :)

Ok i know what you are thinking. We had Harabhara kabab, Paneer Tikka, Tomato Soup, Malasa Papad, Aloo muter, kaju masala & roti. we were all full... needed some rest. this restaurant seemed quite new. my father asked the waiter about it. he told that its about 9 months old. this place is very well maintained and has lot of flowering plants and lawn. obviously you can't play/rest on it :)

From here the Aashram is about 3-4 km ahead.
we asked again at Hotel holiday palms for directions. and the Aashram is about few meters from this Hotel holiday palms. Its on left side of the road.

Actual location of the place: 13 degrees 04' 49"N, 77 degrees 24' 55" E. You can check it on Google Earth.

Parking at the entrance and it has a small barricade. Car parking 15 rupees.

On left side of the entrance is one temple which has Ganapati, Ram, Dattatray, Vitthal, Navgraha templets (i coined this term just now).

After walking inside for 200 meters you get to the 'shoe stand'. Remove your foot-wears here. The person charges 1 rupee per pair.

There is a Durga temple ahead on your right.

Take entrance tickets 2 rupees per person, still camera 20 rupees, video camera 40 rupees.
there is a big black statue of Vitthal. and beneath are small statues of Vitthal - Rukhmini.


Ashta lakshmi - 4 on right & 4 on left.

Another entrance barricade. Now you are in the big open space with a pathway going on your left side. Welcoming you are 7 rivers personified statues. Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Narmada, Kaveri, Sindhu, Saraswati.

And on your left will see a pathway leading to a big monument of Geetopadesh. Arjun and Krishna on Rath (chariot).

Staircase below the chariot leads you to the Vishwarup Darshan statue.

There are 7 pillars around this which has 7 Rishis carved on them - Saptarshi.
Below this is another temple of Gayatri.

And of course you can play with your children in the park. Its big enough with lots of playful things for the children. You will also see many couples sitting in the cozy corners ;)

Overall the Aashram calm & looked to be well maintained.

We started our journey back around 4:50 pm. Again traffic jams at the same places await you :)

Chennai... Mahabalipuram... Pondicherry

I know that many of you may not like the idea to go to Chennai and have a blast over some long weekend.
I am writing about our Chennai trip (Aug 2004) after around 3-4 years. Now i don't have complete records for this trip. So it is important to have everything documented :) ok enough of policy "Gyan".
I guess it was month of August. Kudos... it was 4-6 sep 2004. Thanks to digital photographs from Anand. I had recently joined ST Microelectronics in Bangalore. All know bachelor's life :) The life was very cool i must say. we used to find some new places around Bengaluru to explore on weekends. sometimes new hotel for having breakfast / lunch / dinner. And then for that we had to do some homework :) yes, reading reviews about places. shortlisting and then preparation and planning.

So on one such weekend i don't know how this thought came to my mind that I should visit Chennai. i went ahead and did booking for the bus to Chennai through some agent (i think SM travels?) on airport road. just for myself! i don't mind going to any place alone to enjoy its beauty:) then i called Anand and asked him whether he would be interested for Chennai tour. he was reluctant saying it might be very hot over there. i said come on, lets go.... he agreed. he also loves traveling. we had many such trips i will write about those in coming days. :) i went back to the travel agent and had one more booking done.

Ok... here i must tell you an interesting thing about Bangalore shop boards. here are some examples:
Yes Bee tailors, Kay Em travels.
The founder of the English alphabets must be banging his/her head after seeing such things. Why do they want to waste so much of paint :)

Surprisingly the movie in the journey was a Dharmendra movie Ghazab (don't ask me whether the spelling is correct or not, taken from Google). I saw it... The road it really nice and must have been recently constructed.

We reached Chennai around 5:30 - 6:00 in the morning. to our luck, it was cloudy and pleasant :) what more do you wish after a reaching your destination.

the bus dropped us in some junction. i don't remember it. anyway we went to a 'chai tapari' in that junction. had a nice hot tea and refreshed ourselves.
now the task at our hand was to search for a place to stay. some hotel or a lodge. we searched by walking in nearby areas and sometime by auto :) we even tried for a hostel, but no luck. finally we reached to Adyar layout (i think somebody suggested us to go there). the hotel was also named Adyar :) we booked a room over there. need to take a shower now. not exactly a shower :) we asked for some hot water and we got it. good ;)
during the bath i realised that my hair have become rough. second sign of chennai ;) hard water. first one is humidity :)

That days evening we went to Chennai's nice and clean beach (isn't it?) Elliot's Beach. This is really near a nice posh residential area, Besant Nagar. So we enjoyed some sea water. i tried to swim :) You just can't beat the sea anyway. waves were pushing me down to the sea-bed. it was a nice experience. our belongings were on the bank which included my analog Nikon N65 SLR. so i was worried. and not going much deeper in the water.
it was a nice sun set... we took some snaps. the funny thing was the small crabs which kept coming out of their small nests (holes) and walked sideways. i was ready with my SLR pointed to their holes and started picking them when they peeked through them. let me check if i have some photo... will update it here after scanning.

Who could have thought about Psunami here just after few months from our visit. It was really sad :( very sad... myriads might have lost their shelter and .....
Were we lucky? or those who lost something over there unlucky?

so lets plan our trip now. our main targets were:
1) mahabalipuram (later we realised that its called MamallaPuram)
2) Pondicherry
need to search for some transport.

Pondicherry:
We decided to go by bus to Pondi. there are frequent buses to Pondi. after enquiring with some locals we went to a bus stop. from there we got a bus. we reached Pondi around afternoon.

This was a french colony earlier so you can see the French traces here. some of the boards on the roads still have directions/information written in french.

This is a place to relax. even the tourism department had advertised in the same way. the ads on the way to Pondicherry were very nice and creative. something like "this is a place where time stops".

we directly went to the beach. well actually its not a beach. i think its Mahatma Gandhi road. there is a government office bulding just opposite to the sea shore. Lucky people :) so i was jealous of them for their sea view working place.

the police has a different uniform here. Anand has taken a photo, check this. thanks Anand! he very well know which photo to take and by which angel :)
Gandhi statue gandhiji is standing right up there on a pedestal near the rough and rocky Pondicherry beach.

we have shot sea-waves, fishermen and horizon.
It was a little cloudy weather. We ate something in the hotel near the MG road. it was ok. i guess juice and some chat.
Then i called home to my brother and mother.

Arobindo Ashram:
nothing much here except peace, calmness :) for some its more than enough. nobody does chit-chat here. everybody is silent. the atmosphere here is serene.
While returning we again took a bus from main bus stand. You can actually explore pondicherry by walking (if you have enough time). We couldn't go to Auroville. Supposed to be best for architecture. Some day.....
Return journey was rainy and now we realized that the wind sheild is just a thick leather like material (not a glass one) which you can unfold when needed. In this rain its not helping much to avoid the water and wind gushing towards us :) very funny. we were somewhat wet :D

We are back to our base camp, Chennai, again after our day's travel.

Mahabalipuram:
Next day, next target. We booked a taxi from Chennai for Mahabalipuram. We did some bargain. So that we can enjoy the route. And it was a good decision.
route to Mahabalipuram from chennai can be termed as "scenic route" :) well you see the Bay of bengal on your left side and the road itself is called East Coast Road. Buses are named as ECR. the beaches are plenty on this route. you just need to take a little deviation go to your left and you hit the beach.

There is a nice crocodile park on the way to Mahabalipuram. we couldn't stop here, rather we didn't know and we didn't have any plan for this. we had to go to Pondicherry.

This is the sculpture which we have been seeing in our history text books in secondary school. And now i guess its in world heritage list. Proud to be Indian!
Don't forget the butter ball. :)

Sea-shore temple:
I don't remember what this temple. This is also a nice temple nearest to beach. you come out of the temple and the "Athang Sagar" (vast sea) welcomes you! As if eager to hug you. every wave is a different one... looks different. so i have shot many pics of the waves here. people were enjoying the waves and playing in water. there were some horse rides. i have taken some nice snaps here. need to scan them. you won't believe i have a shelf full of photo albums. most of them are from birding trips around Bangalore.

While coming back we saw a boating rides at the backwaters. we took a ride there. :) There were resorts offering water sports also. and there were quite a few of them.
It really feels nice to drive "among water"... you have sea on one side and backwater on other side of this East Coast Road. Wow... Imagine a sunrise / sunset here. Amazing :D

and i think this is our last day at the Chennai. No i want to call it Madras at least once in my blog. :) Marina Beach is like a "Jatraa" / Habba / Festival. There are so many people around in the evening, many a stalls, hawkers. Crowd always has its own mindset, gusto. and we enjoyed it. We saw the MGR memorial.

So we wished Chennai a "Good Bye" and started our journey back to Bengaluru!

(Some of the photos are from Anand's camera)

Do visit Chennai once :)

Kokare Bellur

16 Nov 2008
It was Sunday morning and i was just going through newspaper. had thought in my mind that i have to go out somewhere today...i saw a picture of Painted storks giving signs of winter visitors :) It was a nice thing... Suddenly i decided to go to Kokare Bellur. it was around 9 in the morning. need to hurry up... should have started quite early in morning... but this was a last minute plan.
It wasn't that i was going to Kokkare Bellur for first time. Me and Anand had been there quite some time back when we used to go for Bird Watching every weekend. I need to get back that thing. :) hahahaha

Okie.. im ready. shall i take the water bottle or anything to eat... nya.... don't increase the luggage :) what about breakfast. no... no.... and this will also be a chance to eat Tatte Idli at Bidadi :) I generally don't miss this while on Mysore road. the cook also didn't come today.

it looked to be a cool morning as it rained earlier night. so i was happy that i don't have to tan myself. warmth in the air. i would have loved it more had it been utterly chilled morning :) afterall winter has started.

My bike's odometer reading was 35904... (i hadn't read it till i hit the inner ring road). henceforth i will keep showing you the last 2 digits from the odometer. this can be helpful for first time Kokkare Bellur tourists.

04 started from home in new thippasandra,
i knew that i had whole of today to enjoy myself, so i can travel at leisurely pace enjoying everything. which route to take. i have to go to KR market flyover... hmm then lets go to Richmond Road. I like this kind of roads in Bangalore... with less traffic. folks at Bangalore pls sleep for some more time till i hit the mysore road ;)

12 reached richmond circle,
So this is richmond road... now go straight towards the Hudson Circle, Unity Buildings and here comes the flyover...

17 it was end of KR market flyover,
This one is very nice. "Unche Log Unchi Pasand". (I like the double quotes than single quotes) On this flyover you feel as if you are driving in the air. ohh see on your right... thats the KR Market. I had come her with Chetan for buying flowers. you come early morning and you get very nice flowers of all type at very low prices. imagine the orchid 5-6 stems at 30 rupees. And thats a nice Masjid.

I couldn't take photos while driving. it would have given a nice photo-travelogue. i wanted to reach to my destination first. as if i was eager to welcome those winter visitors.

Hmmm it seems RajRajeshwari temple is undergoing some renovation. checkout on your left. Now you are actually on Mysore road. And on your left is the world famour "Mysore road Nile River". it has provided a sound ecology for my fishes (are they dead yet?), black kite (remember the Pirates of Caribbean... they look like so). Are you feeling like doing white water rafting? Please don't.

Ohh wow Govt of Karnataka has done a great job of putting our fabourite site (Kokkare Bellur) on milestone. a photo of this board would ad life to my blog... (next time).

wroom....wroom...wroom enjoy folks.
Smokey ... Somebody stop me.

46 Bidadi,
be on your right.... breakfast time Tatte Idli, Wada and Chai :) wonly 28. somehow im feeling that its not the same quality which i ate about 2 years back when i had gone for Rock climbing in Ramnagaram.

This city / village has a history about its name. will tell you some day.
Aren't you feeling like ..."Yeh banda bahut pakayega". Don't worry now you can't escape. ;)

64 Kaveri fishing camp left deviation,
Wow nice .... i should take a deviation here. Alas.....

69.6 Kanva reservoir right deviation (8km)
remember folks we had been here. samazane wale ko ishara kafi hai. its a nice place. please do take time out and visit it once. very calm. serene ... Please don't disturb it.
And the temple. My friend, Sandeep, told me that people going on trip on this road always visit this temple.

77 Channapatna,
Wooden toys anybody. twenty rupees... twenty rupees... twenty rupees...
No. its me making the noise. May be next time i can buy so many good toys.

91.5 (pls don't raise the eyebrows for decimal point) left deviation my my destination Kokare Bellur,
our destination is around the corner.... nice Kachcha road (mud road). its not completely tar road. but its okay.
lift please .... woke.. hop on. Yen hesaru? Asok. Asok got down at some village on the way.
wait whats that.... hmm rose ringed parakeet. shhhh.... let me take out my camera..... pls don't fly. oops ... it has gone inside the branches. move on...
wait.... shhhh. there is something. wow... it blue faced malkoha. my first ever sighting.
click ... click ... click ...
There is a drongo also. Check the list at the end.

97 right turn for Kokare Bellur,
well this is also a small cement milestone telling you take right turn for Kokkare Bellur. The path now will be very nice as you can see a tank bund on your left. Yup thats a big lake... on your right are lush green paddy fields.
Last time when we came here we saw blue tailed bee eater. This time also they were waiting for the birdwatcher on the same trees. having a glimpse of them i moved on...

i had crossed 36000 km reading for my bike Yooo......
celebrations !!!

05 Rendzevous Kokare Bellur
ok i am here.... its about 12 now. but i am not yet feeling hungry.
this is the main circle of the village. and you can see now the pelicans on the big tamarind tree on the right side of the road.
i went to the main road of the village (left turn). i couldn't see the boy who was selling tender coconut last time. but his shop was still there i guess. it was closed.
there were no painted storks... where are they. im i late for the season?
lets find the place where we spent more time picturing the storks and pelicans... i took a right turn from the main road and went straight inside. i couldn't see the place i was searching for. There was this elderly man sitting on the dirt road taking some rest after a day's work. i took 2 pictures of him without his knowledge. :) His name is ChikkaThimmayya, a local farmer. Check him out.

Then 2 other men came on cycles. we had a chat. one of the man had his son working in Bangalore.
They told me that this is not yet the peak season. they asked me to come in January. i have to come back here to witness the moment when the whole village will be having more population of birds than the villagers. and i would love doing that :)

Here they come....
the pelicans were taking flights over me high up in the sky. its nice to watch them fly in circles. and move up. i was taking their photos. i need to improve me photography skills. :(


Then i parked my bike below a tree and started roaming in the village for photographing the birds. You can see the pelicans everywhere. they were making noises by their long beaks. villagers don't get annoyed by that and they help the birds in some way.

i need to move on. i thought of exploring more on the other side of the main road in the village. but there were not many birds.
But, yes, there is a pond just beside the road. i think this will provide me a nice ecology for shooting and watching. its a small pond. there are some baya weaver's nest on the other end of the pond.

"baby you gonna move your body high ...." that's my sweet heart calling... some sweet chat. ;)

there was a green bee eater and king fisher who were having a competition to catch their prey faster.




wait.... there is something moving. Ab aayega maja. yup, you guessed it right. the snake. may be it was a bronze or checkered keelback. (Note: Yes, it is confirmed from an expert - Adesh Shivkar - that it is a checkered keelback)














Then i took photos of some dragonflies. Some more pics:















Then I started return journey. It was quite hot afternoon...
I stopped at the same place where i saw blue faced malkoha. and he was there :) This time there was an eurasian golden oriole.














While returning i met Vyankatesh, a local farmer. Who has around 4 acres of land. and he has Bananas and Raagi (i guess) in it :) It was a harvest time. He explained me how to ripen the raw bananas. This is yellakki banana. it tastes so sweet. i like it.










Check this Raagi cleaning. In marathi we call it Ufanani. Natural way of removing the chaff:
I thought of buying the fresh Raagi there itself :)















So here is the birdlist for the day:
Blue faced malkoha (bird of the day),
black drongo,
house sparrow,
house crow,
jungle crow,
wire tailed swallow,
blue tailed bee eater,
small green bee eater,
little cormorant,
Common coot,
Red whiskered bulbul,
Common Myna,
Rose ringed parakeet,
Keelback snake?
Eurasian Golden Oriole,
warbler?
Spot billed pelican,
black ibis,
black kite,
brahmini kite,
cattle egret,
medium egret,
indian roller,
Indian robin,
wagtail,
while returning black shouldered kite,
white breasted kingfisher,
purple rumped sunbird,
red vented bulbul,
un id tern?,
pond heron,
red wattled lapwing,
spotted dove,
blue rock pigeon,
ashy prinia,

I was feeling too much hungry while returning to stopped at Kamath Lokaruchi. So what do you have in the menu... Okay bring Raagi masala dosa. It tasted very nice and it didn't have much of the butter/oil which we generally get in any *.Sagar kind of hotel.
Some more to eat.
Now i am full :)

I gave lift to Sudarshan who works for Kamath hotels. He is a nice, simple guy.
I have to do some shopping in Jaya Nagar Shopping complex area. I reached back around 6pm to home.

that's all folks...
See you next time with some more trips.

Till then good bye!
Keep travelling.... safe journey!