Hiking season begins.

Spring seems have kicked in, and the days are now warm and sunny. Saturday was fantastic in terms of weather, and we made full use of it with a moderate 8.4 mile hike.

We drove some 30 miles north of San Francisco, to a place called PaloMarin. As the name suggests, it is right next to the ocean, and there are a fair number of trees. We walked along the edge of the ocean, and then walked down to the beach next to a nice waterfall, which connected a little stream to the ocean.


My twisted ankle held up well through out, although getting down to the beach on the rocks proved a little challenging, considering that I didn't want to trust my left leg with too much weight right now. bayareahikers.com mentioned two 'mad scrambles' at the end, to reach down to the beach, with the second one being tougher. Here is a picture from the top,. It was quite an effort to get down. I almost turned back once, but then managed to continue with some trepidation.

The beach itself was bereft of sand, and full of pebbles. There were several people sunbathing, enjoying the waterfall, playing Frisbee or just goofing around. It felt good to be there.


We rounded off a tiring walk, with a coffee at Starbucks and Domino's pizza. All in all, a good start to the spring season.

Join me for a walk after lunch ?

My daily after lunch walk around Oracle campus.

Every now and then, a bagpiper plays his ware by the seats in the picture. Y can hear the pleasing sound a long way away. He usually turns up in full gear, with the bagpipes glinting in the sun. Just to the left is another trail, where walkers, joggers, dog walkers, bikers (and occasionally rollerbladers like I) enjoy the outdoors. If you are lucky, you can catch a fight between long necked ducks fighting for territory along the way.

If there is anything wrong with this, it is urge to not get back to work. It is truly heavenly.

Just a post.

- Bangalore is fantastic. I don't want to come back now.
- Our RTO gives car driver's license without tests if you have a valid foreign license, did you know ? Although they made me run around, I got a car DL for myself.
- Driving in Bangalore has become crazy nowadays. I initially started off with the bike, and have finally got around to driving tha car. The left-right confusion only came up in the latter. I look back over my right shoulder, and the right hand goes for the gear every now and then. But otherwise, its quite comfortable.
- Lunches and dinners with relatives and friends, piggybacking with the brother/sil's invitation. Great food. Good company.
- The Bangalore office is fun. Where else can you eat chat on the terrace, while watching Tendulkar play against Pakistan ? ;)

Be nice to me ....

I gave blood today. So says the sticker on my shirt.

This time around, I barely realized it before half a liter was sucked out. My memory was of a long wait, the last time around. The loud chatter, white chocolate mocha and cookie must have helped. No dizzy feeling this time around! A 5 dollar jamba juice certificate helped too, considering that I am a weekly visitor to the juice center after every round of roller blading nowadays. ;)

I am one bloody guy today.

hood

Took part in another surprise birthday celebration today - that of Prashant's, my neighbor and good friend at work.

His wife arranged everything two days beforehand, without his knowledge. He came to work today, and neither I nor Ananth had anything to say to him. He left at 5:30 or so, and I asked him why he was leaving early today. He mentioned he had plans to go to a restaurant with his family..

Anyway, 10-12 of us turned up at Dasaprakash and spoilt his quiet family dinner - complete with cake and ice cream. All this of course, after the Karnataka troikas, BBBs and masala chais !

Ananth came towards the end, although his two kids more than represented him! And Prashant's son was secrecy personified. What was a fun message I wrote on the paper napkin turned out to be an imprompto greeting card, passed around and signed on. We even wrote suggestions down, to tackle his 40th year mid life crisis (I hated that phrase, but people kept bringing it up).

To top it all off, I gifted him a hood. The discerning kannadiga will appreciate. He did.

Happy birthday, Prashant! :)

Ratatouille !

Our Oracle cafe in building 400 today had made Ratatouille for lunch. How cool is that !

Akki Rotti !

Yesterday, I felt like eating akki rotti. And what's better to do on a sunday afternoon that cook ! The rottis turned out splendidly, and I think Raghu and Bharat enjoyed them as much as I did. Eaten with ghee, they left me smacking my lips for more!

All I used was rice flour, chopped carrots and onion, coriander, green chillies, cumin seeds and salt. This time, I used a special technique to make them turn out soft; use boiling hot water! Pour hot water on the flour and keep the lid closed for a few minutes. Then, add oil and knead. That makes the rottis turn out very soft.
Found the boiling water idea in an online recipe.

How I wish my akki rotti recipe teacher could be here, eating them with me!

Felt good after waking up ..

and remembering that I shared my lunch with 20 children yesterday at our cafe. At last, some meaning to those dollars in the pocket. Go share your lunch if you can!

ಸುದರ್ಶನ ಹೋಮ, ನೆಂಟರು, ಹೊಗೆ, ಊಟ !

ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶನಿವಾರ ಸುದರ್ಶನ ಹೋಮ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೆವು .. ಕೆಲವು ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ:

ಈ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಣ್ಣ, ಅಮ್ಮ, ಮತ್ತೆ ಮಾವನ್ನ ಕಾಣಬಹುದು. ಹಿಂದೆ ಮಾಧು. ಅಘ್ನಿ ಜೋರಾಗಿದೆ!

ಚಿತ್ರಾನ್ನ ಇಲ್ಲವೇ?

ನಿಧಿ ಮತ್ತೆ ಸುರೇಶ. ಆರಾಮಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ!

ಆಹಾ! ಇನ್ನೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹಾಕಿಸಿ ಕೊಳ್ಳಿ!

ಎಲ್ಲಾರು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಊಟ ಮಾಡಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿದೆ ಅಲ್ಲವಾ!

Its friday...

And everyone I have met today, so far, is going out for a team lunch. Everyone but me.

Ah, what joy!

So, today is the second day in my new office. And what joy.

Lighting and space issues that we were afraid of vanished into thin air when we moved. Food is great, subsidized, lots and lots of choice and you get to sit next to a large lake with a fountain and eat in the warm sunshine. And, post-lunch walks around campus are so refreshing, its like a visit to a park.

Going down for a break is easy. The lifts are very fast. Step out of the building and you are right next to the lake. Cool breeze. Ducks. Sound of flowing water. Lots of green open space. Rich, rich surroundings. Huge swimming pool, volleyball courts, large gym, badminton courts are all within a stone's throw from my building.

I doubt if there is any software company campus in the world which is this good. Seriously.
Oracle rocks!

Mysore Filter Coffee!

This is as authentic as it gets, whatya say ?

- Cothas filter coffee with chicory.
- Old fashioned percolator.
- Froth on top.
- Aroma all over the kitchen.
- Served in a steel tumbler, darshini style; a drop and it will overflow...

Wah, Harish, Wah! :)

What do you want to eat today ?

Singapore airlines was decent, although this trip was more congested than I remember from 4 years ago.

The 14 hours from San Francisco to HongKong was the worst of them all. I felt especially cramped and couldn't sleep. Arrived dreary and red eyed.

In anycase, food was awesome. I had some really tasty food, see the menu on the left. And, combined with the movie "Sarkar", it was a nice experience. The movie itself was very enjoyable, quite close to the GodFather.

I travelled most of the time in this. Singapore was hot and humid as usual. Changi airport was nice, with free internet, free x-box games and free foot massage machines! I thoroughly enjoyed the massage machines, they are soo good after a long walk in the airport....

Meanwhile, its been three days in Bangalore. I started riding the bike almost immediately; its more easy that I thought it would be. Rode from home to Shankar Mutt, M'lakshmi layout, Tippsandra, Indiranagar and back home. Traffic was not as bad as I had imagined, although the fumes got to me.
Food has been excellent. Everyone I visited till now has fed me to the brim with delicacies. Yesterday night's dinner was in a new restaurant on airport road, Bombay something-or-the-other. Cant believe it was as tasty as it was ! I have now resolved to try out a new chaat place every evening in Bangalore.