Coimbatore trip: IoT, Conversations, Dosas and Infusing Goodness to Business

I had heard so much about Coimbatore & had also passed couple of times, but never got a chance to stay. I knew it’s famous for education, manufacturing industries & known as “Manchester of South India" due to its cotton production and textile industries. I was not surprised when PM included Coimbatore in 100 smart cities. I spent good 4 days teaching and exploring Coimbatore. When I asked Professor Soundarrajan (thank you sir for all the assistance!) what is that famous thing which I can take home, he told “Cotton Saree and Krishna sweets Mysore Pak” in a single breath! And I managed to take second thing home!

Chiranjeev Brahma (CJ), Country manager for University Alliance, SAP & more interestingly, a wonderful creative friend was primarily reason behind this trip. Thank you so much for making this happen! We drove together from Bangalore to Coimbatore enjoying nonstop conversation on education, society, marketing & any/every topic under sun! We didn’t realize we had spoken for 7 hours straight! I was put up at PSG college guest house- which for first 2 days offered me cold water bath & on third day- fuming hot water from all water outlets, including flush in toilet! Otherwise, I enjoyed my stay in the guest house munching on dosa overdose.

Aravind Eye care visit

I was there to conduct Internet of Things Workshop with 42 Professors from 18 engineering colleges along with Vinay C. Workshop also included hands on exercises using Arduino boards and SAP HANA Cloud Platform. This was as part of the faculty development program that PSG College of Technology organized. Next 2 days we were with 60 students from PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research repeating the show! Thank you Kavitha ma’am for all the support. I also clubbed this opportunity to meet Aru & new startup friends in TiE summit for Education Entrepreneurs at Forge accelerator located in KCT College.

8am Ooty Botanical Garden

I had my best time in Coimbatore when I visited Aravind Eye Hospital. I had studied the model as part of laddership circle & I was just excited to be there. Thanks to Uma ma’am, Ranjith & Sangeetha for showing & explaining the fascinating model in 3 hours. I had lot to take away from experience- making healthcare affordable at 50 INR & looking at volume of 6 lakh operations with twin bed innovations+workforce empowerment+free treatment+same quality! Infusing goodness to business- salute to you Dr. V!

Coimbatore trip comes when I am looking forward for a serviceful goodness roadtrip :)

Next exciting moment came when CJ, Vinay & I decided to go to Ooty which is 3 hours drive via Coonor for only 5 hours. Crazy! Decision came while eating dinner at Tangerine sizzlers. We were just unwinding and the idea stuck us- thanks to which, I had amazing time visiting botanical garden for early morning walk and pedal boat ride in the lake. Waking up at 3.30am on a Sunday was truly worthwhile…

We did some incredible fun things together- go karting to bowling to checking Avinashi road mall to exploring Marutamalai temple to having dinner at Taj to eating ghee rava masala dosa at Sree Annapoorna to long deep meaningful conversations! So much learning- Coimbatore trip is going to remain very close to my heart and all those who made this happen- deepest gratitude and smiles :)

Kolkata: With Joy to Adobe of Peace

Taking leave from my routine job and Mentor India work, I was in West Bengal for close to 9 days and got a chance to experience bong life a bit. It took no time for me to take note of ambassador times here. Hindustan Motors may have shut down, but the legacy of their yellow taxis don’t seem to die. I guess, it’s the same with colonial British establishments. Where in earth can you take a tram to handpulled auto to shared auto to ferry to yellow ambassador taxi to 1980’s Tata bus to anywhere you want to reach! Here goes my travelogue:

Kolkata or Calcutta is surely city of joy. I had boarded flight to Kolkata from Bangalore with a disappointment that I missed being at India Pakistan world T20 match happening at Eden Gardens & my hotel, Eagle Palace, being in Esplanade {took some time to digest that central Kolkata had a unique name christened by British}, was at walkable distance from the stadium! But a friend can turn disappointment into excitement. That is what exactly happened after I made friends with my co-passenger Nabarun! He was shifting his base back to his hometown and we had long conversation on socio-political-historical-cultural aspects of Calcutta. Such a delight! And the best part came when he dropped me off to my hotel in his ambassador. Thank you Nabarun!

A photo posted by Jaideep Rao (@jaideeprao) on Mar 28, 2016 at 12:09am PDT

Post checking in, I took a walk to Eden Gardens to meet my friends, Supraj & Aditi, who were there in attendance. I could spot numerous hawkers, roadside eateries, those selling milk & dhoiyi (curd or dahi), and ofcouse sweets- rosgullas to sondesh! It was evident that city had many in below poverty line. But I could find the old charm and happiness here.

Next morning, we took a 2.5 hrs train to Bolpur from Sealdah. We took an auto to place which I always wanted to be- Shantineketan, the university town established by Gurudev, 1st Indian to win Nobel, Rabindranath Tagore. Shantineketan is as beautiful as Tagore’s speeches or poems or thoughts. First we had breakfast in a hut where they served luchi, gugni, bread, butter and chai- amazing! Before taking a walk in spacious plush green beautiful Viswa-Bharathi University campus (that is post 12.30 pm, entrance only in afternoon for public), we explored very knowledgeable museum and Uttarayan complex-which had combined entry fees. Tagore’s letters, his awards, his article snippets and his poems played in background- make the museum special. Uttarayan complex has a garage and residence of Tagore- Udayan, Konark, Punascha and Udichi. These houses are marvelous with big windows, spacious rooms, ventilation, red oxide floors and beautiful gardens- a poet’s retreat!

Post lunch, we explored Bhubandanga bazaar which sold handicrafts to artworks and post that boarded train back to Kolkata. Same night, I had an overnight train to NJP, aka, New Jalpaiguri station, which is 3 hour away from Darjeeling. Road to Darjeeling and things I did in Darjeeling is in a separate blog post here.

Primary reason for this trip was Sandakhpu trek, which is oldest trek in India and highest peak in West Bengal. Trek is a journey in itself and surely deserves an exclusive blog post!

After I returned from NJP to Kolkata, I had 3 hours before I caught my flight to Bangalore. Making most of it, we took a bus to Dalhousie from Sealdah railway station. Dalhousie is close to Esplanade and it has trams running on the road which is quite a sight. We enjoyed walking from Dalhousie to Fairy jetty across colonial Writer’s block. We took a 5 INR ticket “Launch” or boat to Howrah railway station overseeing marvelous century old Howrah Bridge built across Hooghly river, distributary of River Ganga! It was lovely to see so many passengers use the waterway to reach their destination. From Howrah railway station, I headed towards airport dropping in Haldirams on the way. Despite hot & humid weather of Kolkata, I enjoyed being and travelling here & will look forward to come back to explore more!

{Thanks to Team KnowYourStar.com for allowing to go on a vacation. Special Thanks to Supraj for making this happen. Thanks to Akash Chopra, Saikat Pal, Manthan Shah, Rakesh & Sujay da, Pranjal Parashar, Shishir Sachdev, Vamsi Krishna Manchi and  Malav Shah for making Sandakphu special. Thanks to Sabry Ali for that lovely evening conversation}

Darjeeling: Colorful Calmness for Chai with Queen

Darjeeling is famously known as “Queen of Hills” and I could easily feel the way air changed as we crossed Sukhna military base & climbed up to Kurseong from NJP railway station in our private vehicle. On road it is 3 hour distance, but if you do have sufficient time- close to 7 hours, do take toy train from NJP to Darjeeling, aka, Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR), which is indeed breath taking. Remarkably, DHR is world heritage site and established in 1881 by British. The toy train track runs along the road and I was delighted to spot the smoke omitting locomotive pass by twice! Names of station are quite interesting- Tung, Sonada, Ghum and tells you that you are entering Gorkhaland, on which culture stands out with Tibetan colors, Nepali language, monasteries, generosity, happiness and amazing food!

A photo posted by Jaideep Rao (@jaideeprao) on Mar 21, 2016 at 8:20am PDT

We stopped at Batasia loop, which is just after Ghum station. Ghum station is in the highest altitude & on a clear day you should be able to spot Sleeping Buddha or Kanchanjunga from there. When I crossed Ghum, clouds had started forming and has less than 10m visibility. Temperature had dropped from 30 c to 6/8 c. Oh, coming back, Batasia loop is a 5km long spiral engineering marvel made to help the train climb up from low altitude to height of Ghum railway station. Batasia loop also has a memorial garden to the Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army who sacrificed their lives after the Indian Independence in 1947. Batasia loop is surely a must visit!

I stayed in couple of hotels in Darjeeling- Hotel Seven Seventeen and Sonar Bangla- both had courteous staff and very well maintained space. I recommend both of them. Seven Seventeen have their own restaurant which served amazing Tibetan food and Sonar Bangla is right behind Glenary’s, which is must visit place for bakery junk food & Darjeeling tea. Next to it is Emami Frank Ross café that interestingly serves some amazing south Indian food! Both Glenary’s & Frank Ross have amazing ambience and are in Mall road that ends in Chowrastha, which reminded me of Shimla! I did some accessory shopping for the Sandakphu trek from Mall market and when I returned, did some for my home!

Prime attraction of Darjeeling is undoubtedly Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park and Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI). Don’t miss out on animals which are only found in Himalayan ranges at the zoo. Red pandas, Himalayan black bear and snow leopards are the show stoppers. I was really impressed with the zoo & would rate up above any zoo which I have visited.

I can vouch on HMI museum that it won’t let you exit without the wow feeling. HMI was established in 1954 by PM Nehru and had Tenzing Norgay, first person to ascent Mt. Everest with Edmund Hillary, as it’s first director. HMI museum has very inspiring collection of accessories used by summiteer’s, their lives, what it means to scale peak on peak, Himalayan culture and has put in place the perspective of joy of mountaineering. HMI also has Samadhi & giant statue of Tenzing Norgay. We spent close to 2 hours to cover both in detail- this pace is truly astonishing!

Last place I visited in Darjeeling was Japanese Temple and Peace Pagoda, which is 4kms away from Chowrastha. Peace Pagoda is very beautiful with Buddha’s life depicted in the parikrama (means when you take a round). Four statues of Buddha emit peace radiance here. Japanese temple, established by Fujii Guruji, is a lovely place and for me it was lot of learning going through life & thoughts of Fujii Guruji, a Buddhist monk who lived 100 years!

Darjeeling is indeed a lovely place with friendly people. I would cherish taking shared taxi to eating momo & thukpa to walking & climbing up/down to navigate between places. Queen, always be the best!

Sandakhpu trek: Sleeping Buddha with Silver Blanket Ramro Che

It had rained in Darjeeling the day before we started Sandakhpu trek. We didn’t know whether it was a good omen or the indication of disastrous trek ahead. Luckily, it turned out to be good for us as it didn’t rain for next 5 days when we were on road and skies only got clearer each passing day! This is my travelogue of climbing highest peak in West Bengal at 12000 feet and walking through India Nepal border on the oldest trek trail of India which is in Singalila National Park, part of the Eastern Himalayas.

Day 1: Manebhanjan to Tumling via Meghma

We left Darjeeling around 6.30am to reach Manebhanjan by 8.30am, place where we met our guides- Rakesh and Sujay. I could spot Indo-Nepal border with Indian SSB camp and 1950's made Land Rovers which climbs up to Sandakphu and Phalut on rent! We started off by scaling 3km steep hill to reach Chittrey – which had a beautiful monastery with stupa’s. This was our first foot in Nepal, my international debut! There were some small Tibetan villages along the trail throughout and on the entire trek, India was on our right and Nepal on our left. And we ended up sleeping in Nepal on Day 1, 2 and 3! {International Trekker swag!}

Later in the day, we passed Lamayadhura to reach Meghma, 7km easy trek. From Meghma we set foot towards Tumling and reached Siddharth lodge {which had amazing valley view} around 4pm, but it felt like it was already 7pm and visibility of 10m. Temperature had dropped close to 5c and we got our hands on delicious dal roti chaawal dinner at 7.30pm to end our day! Meanwhile, I put down some lines my mind had accumulated when I walked overhearing classic Tibetan instruments and here it goes:

The last mile is when clouds
Came together to bling my eyes
The warm clothes and gloves could not stop me shiver
My sweat merges with the cloud
When white and red rhodendrons smile
Along a way that is barely visible
Though it feels like a drea,
And you try to enjoy and catch breath
Last mile haunts me and reminds me
That loneliness is a famous myth
As clouds with my thoughts are on a fly
With Buddha, Nepal and Sleeping Shiva- Peace!

Day 2: Tumling to Kala Pokhri via Gairibans

It was a heartbreak to wake up at 5am in the morning for sunrise and not seeing Kanchanjunga due to heavy fog. Putting disappointment behind, we started trek at 8am which had in store a 7km stroll through dense jungle and steep ascents with descents, we reached Garibans to find Jawans of Indian Army celebrating holi with colors, pakoras and sweets! This is the best holi I have celebrated and made it more special when a Jawan quipped- “Neither I nor you are at our homes, we are family now and let’s celebrate”. I guess, life is all about friendships!

After sharing momo’s and cup of chai with all, we started again and took a soupy noodles break at Kaiyakatta, at around 1pm. These houses use firewood for cooking and run on solar lights. Different life indeed. Gariribans to Kala Pokhri is around 5 kms and we reached the black lake (Kala Pokhri) where super chill winds were blowing & ensuring that the beautiful Tibetan flags all over the lake kept fluttering. Quite a sight! It was easily around 3c here! With pasta for evening snack & dal chaawal for dinner, we retired for the day at Pandim lodge.

Day 3: Kala Pokhri to Sandakhpu

Surprisingly, sky looked clear and we could also spot Sherpa Chalet lodge, our house in Sandakhpu from Pandim lodge. With renewed hope of catching a glimpse of Kanchanjunga, we started 1 hour before schedule after lovely Choley roti breakfast. After a quick 1 hour ascent we heard the voices of joy and knew magic had happened-

Then I finally see you
As expected you were magnificent
Breathtaking, heap of happiness, picture perfect
And of course, you were elusive!
I had woken up before sun rose yesterday
Just to catch first glimpse of you
But then, you were cozying with clouds…
I sighed and went back to my daily chores
But today, you made up for everything
You glowed and shined under the morning sun
Majestically sleeping with cakmess and peace
Which I pray that never eludes me from now!
You, sleeping Buddha, with silver blanket!

Sleeping Buddha, with Mt. Kumbakarna as face, Mt. Kanchanjunga as tummy and Mt. Pandim as toes- is treat to watch and we spent quite enough time just watching it! After good amount of pics, we walked to stop at Bhaneybunjan from where Sandakphu looked the closest. We knew this was the last ascent and very challenging. With close to 70 degree steep ascents and constant climbing we could do this stretch in 3 hours and finally we had reached our summit! Time for celebration with kichdi and awesome sunset where you are standing on a hill to see red sun romance clouds which are below you!

Day 4: Sandakhpu to Sephi via Sirikhola and Gurdum

On a shivering 5am morning, we woke up to see the best part of the trek- Sunrise at Sandakphu. Full moon setting on my left and new sun rising on my right, sleeping Buddha was shining red and slowly turned white. This is just wow! Icing on the cake- Vaguely visible 3 sisters- Mt.Makalu, Mt.Lhotse & Mt.Everest. I knew my trip was complete and with satisfied heart, we started to descent! After a while, I took off 3 layer of clothes on me as temperatures started to soar to 10c as I reached Gurdum, 9km trek down. River on the sides, Sikkim villages in front and constant descents of another 5kms trek along Timburey & Sirikhola, we reached Sephi. I enjoyed Sujay’s heartful singing on the banks of Srikhola. River, music, happiness of successful trek- what more to ask! We were served typical Gorkhaland food with homegrown spinach and potatoes-I had best food and stay at Lippohochha.

Day 5: Sephi to Darjeeling via Rimbick and Manebhanjan

After a quick lemon tea, we started off from Sephi at 6.30am on a shared taxi to Darjeeling which costed me 220rs! Passing through scenic landscapes, we reached Darjeeling at around 12pm and we finally had access to hotwater to bath! I have separately blogged on what I did in Darjeeling here.

Ofcourse, there were great lessons for me in this trek. Noting down a few:

1. Smile like the people from hill. Ear to ear!
2. Inner peace- go completely offline, look at landscapes and monasteries, appreciate smaller aspects and things which we take for granted
3. Build friendships- from sushi cook of Munich to retail banker from Bombay to trekmates from IIT KGP to reigniting friendship with Bachhubhai (Rakesh Da, our guide, fondly called Supraj like this)!
4. Work- You know that you have to scale up and you are catching for the breath- put your head down and do one step at a time. Manthan, I am going to remember you for long!

Like everyone, while I write this I am experiencing Post trek symptoms, which were/are:

1. Must have thigh pains (due to descent) which makes climbing down stares a nightmare for couple of days!
2. When you see beautiful girl and you think- “KT Dami Ramro Che!” (Nepali style!)
3. Looking up at the sky and giving white clouds the shape of sleeping Buddha- Kanchanjunga!

Trip to Sondha and Malkhed: Glory of Shri Madhvacharya and His Highness Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha

Welcome to 2016! I transitioned from 2015 to 2016 with series of soul searching trips. I started with my 3rd pilgrimage to Sabarimala (I had blogged my 1st time experience here), one place that reinforces humanity and teaches basic human virtues. Sirsi visit was my last trip of 2015 followed by new year 2016 trip to Malkhed. In this travelogue, you would visit with me only to Sode a.k.a Sondha (since I have already written about Sirsi earlier here) and Gulbarga.

Sondha is a small village where Shri Vaadiraja Swamiji, a great 15th century Saint in Madhwa tradition, set up his tapovana and ended his incarnation by entering Brindavana while being alive. This is the moola (root) mutt of Sode mutt, one of the eight mutts that worship the Lord at Krishna mutt in Udupi. Once you enter, you are greeted with old Rama Thrivikrama temple, where the deity is sitting on the stone chariot carried all the way from Badri by Bhoota raja. Bhoota raja is friend and disciple of Shiri Vaadiraja, and is the protector and local deity at Sondha to whom everyone who visits Sondha has to roll coconuts at his temple. Ritual is to take 7 rounds around the premises consisting of various small temples set up by Shri Vadiraja (including the holy dip at “Dhavala Ganga” pushkarani or lake). Center of devotion is pancha vrindavans with the vrindavan of Sri Vadiraja Teertha situated in the centre surrounded by four more vrindavans forming a perfect square. In front of the vrindavans is the temple for Sri Vedavyasa. Lifestory of Shri Vadiraja is really fascinating. His compositions are recited by millions everyday and he enjoys huge following that also included great Vijayanagara Emperor from Hampi, Shri Krishnadevaraya.

A photo posted by Jaideep Rao (@jaideeprao) on Dec 19, 2015 at 9:15pm PST

Some coincidences are sweet. One of the places I missed while visiting Hampi was Navabrandavana where some historians claim has remains of Sri Jayatheertharu. There is even stronger voice that it is at Malkhed. Oh by the way, Sri Jayatheertharu is the sixth pontiff of Sri Madhvacharya Peetha who lived during 13th century. He is the one who elucidated Sri Madhvacharya’s philosophy clearly and simply so as to be understood by the common man which helped much to spread the Madhva philosophy. He is known for “Nyayasudha” which is the exhaustive and detailed commentary (Teeka is Sanskrit for commentary, hence he also known as Teekacharya) of Sri Madhvacharya’s Anuvyakhyana which in turn itself is a commentary on Brahma Sutras by Veda Vyasa. Clearly, one of the most revered gurus and me hailing from Udupi, land of Madhvacharya, was cursing my Hampi travel itinerary to have missed visiting Navabrandavana.

Fast forward three weeks, I am standing at Sri Jayatheertharu’s Brindavan at Uttaraadi Matha, Malkhed, after an early morning shivering bath at River Kagina! We had got down at Malkhed Road railway station in Bidar Express and took a shared auto rickshaw to reach the Uttaraadi Matha by 6am. A staff welcomed us and helped us basic amenities. We finished our morning chores in Matha’s very well maintained guest house and took the holy bath in the river. We got the darshan of Brindavana in the kindi (small window), explored the matha and were amazed with the divinity of the place.

With the magical start for the day, I felt there was more to come. And no surprises. I was standing at the Manyakheta fort and remains of palace, where the Great Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha wrote Kavirajamarga, the first classical Kannada work! This place is incredibly photogenic and for me, it overcame poor maintenance by today’s govt. with it’s sheer elegance. Manyakheta was the capital of Rashtrakutas in 8th century and subsequently ruled by Kalyani Chalukyas to Nizam of Hyderabad till 19th century. You will be amazed to know that Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha offered patronage to numerous well-known scholars and intellectuals, of which, mathematician Mahaveeracharya was the one who asserted that the square root of a negative number did not exist! Do read more on him in the wiki!

A photo posted by Jaideep Rao (@jaideeprao) on Jan 12, 2016 at 9:25am PST

I also visited the 9th century temple of Neminath, a Jain Bhattaraka Math inside the fortified area, but it was unfortunately closed. We were the only visitors in the fort and there were carefree kids playing cricket. My thoughts were lost in the history being at Manyakheta or modern Malkhed on the banks of Kagina River in Sedam Taluk of Gulbarga district, Karnataka state and was wondering how the time flies to force us to forget such historically and culturally important place. 

From there, we took bus to Mudhol via Sedam crossing some biggest cement factories of India owned by the Aditya Birla Group. Mudhol is the last town in Karnataka that lies in Sedam-Hyderabad highway. I was here to attend my dear friend, Ambarish’s wedding to Nikita, at their residence(it would take another blog to describe how beautiful it is)! Wishing them happy married life and God bless!

[I visited Sode with my Parents, thank you Appa and Amma for everything! Thanks to my Sabrimala group for yet another joyful pilgrimage. Special thanks to Vinod, Kiran E, Ikku, Ashwin for the Gulbarga trip]