Some Tips to Travel in Mysore

Yesterday a couple of us went for a day trip to Mysore. Here are some points which I want to share:

1. There are both AC and NonAC city buses from the city bus stand (at KR circle) to Chamundi Hill. These buses take you on the top and one can take the bus back as well. They are quite frequent.

2. Again from the city bus stand there are buses (no. 313 and 316) going to Srirangpattana and this takes you to all of the tourist places of Srirangpattana such as the famous temple of Sri rangnathasawamy, Tipu's palace, main bus stand, Dariya Daulta etc.

3. The city bus stand in Mysore is at one of the corners of the Mysore Palace (quite conveniently). It is not same as the main bus stand from where you get inter-city buses but is well connected by the city buses.

4. You can get a day pass (best to buy the AC one) and travel in any of the buses (even non AC one also). Currently it costs Rs. 50/- for a day.

Trek to Torana - Article written for KALPAA magazine

Trek to Torana (July 2009):

The month of July is heavenly time for trekkers in the ghats and hills near Pune. It's one of the most luxurious things to do while living in Pune, you can pack your bag any time and go for a nice outing. The whole area is lush green once it starts raining and also temperature drops down. The numerous waterfalls add to the glorious adventures.

In one of the weekend 5-6 of us from IISER (me, Madhur, Akshaa, Rahul and couple of others; one of them to whom we named Rani Laxmibai because she always use to walk ahead at the front) decided to go for a trek at the Torana fort. This is one of the forts of great Maratha warrior Shivaji Maharaj. We started early morning at 5 AM and reached Swargate bus stand by 7AM. The bus to Velhe (the base village of Torna Fort) was at 7:30. We had breakfast in the Canteen at the bus stand. We had Poha, Misal and Idali for the breakfast, what a way to start our trip and hot tea. It was cloudy in the Pune but wasn't raining.

The bus took Satara highway and turned at Narsapur for the Velhe. Once we turned away from the highway the greenery all around us, pool of waters, small waterfalls and the fields being readied for sowing Maze...gosh! it was spellbinding and mesmerizing. Once we reached Velhe village we had another round of tea before starting our climb. It was cloudy and raining.

We crossed a small river (made up of rain water). Most of us went mad and we had a sole aim to go in the water and under one of the numerous waterfalls. However in spite of these distractions we started climbing. By now it started raining heavily. We wanted to take a different route instead of taking the usual route and in turn making our life a little more complicated. Due to rain it was more slippery and we realised that the following traditional route is the best way. After a flat climb for about 2 hours the route became steep. Thankfully on those part they had put iron rods to hold and made stairs. We reached on the top by 2 PM among heavy rain, though target was 12:30, thanks to the distractions due to numerous waterfalls on the way. We carried food for ourselves: Bread, Butter, Cake, some fruits and chocolates. Over many trips we have realised Chocolates and Choco are the best mood changers when you get tired. There is a temple on the top of the fort where we took shelter and had our lunch. Of course we were drenched and soaked in water and heavy wind made us feel shiver and cold. There were few huts of the local villagers where they sell traditional food and tea. We needed hot tea before we started climbing down.

We came down by 5 PM to the base village Velhe and after another round of refreshments we took bus back to Pune. It was one of the most memorable and adventurous trip (because of slippery ground) but a great satisfaction to see flora and fauna of the region.

Looking forward to many more trips and also participation from larger group of people.....

Kalpa - Reckong Peo

I, alongwith my wife, went to a small trip to Himalayas. This time our destination was Kalpa south-east corner of Himanchal Pradesh. It is about 260 Km from Shimla, the capitol of HP. Major attraction to visit Kalpa (3000 mts) was the overwhelming view of Kailash Parbat (>6000 mts).

We started off from Delhi on 7th May by Volvo bus of HRTC. One can book tickets for this online. See the web page of HRTC. We spend a couple of days in Shimla. First day we booked a car to go to Kufri and Fagu. It is a fantastic place. Next day we spend in Shimla. We went to The Ridge and The Mall. Visited Church and climbed all the way way up to Jakhu temple. The touts in Shimla spoil your mood all the time.

We took overnight bus from Shimla to Reckong Peo on 9th evening at 8PM. It was an ordinary HRTC bus which arrives at 5Am at Peo. The tickets for the buses starting from Shimla can be booked in advance. You can also see the schedule of buses between different places on the web site of HRTC. Though we made a mistake and when we booked the ticket at 6Pm about 2 hours in advance we got last row of the bus.

The journey was quite bumpy, the roads after Rampur is not good at all. Most of the time we were air-born. Though still I manage to sleep in middle of all this....amazing.....

Once we arrived in Peo we took a cab to Kalpa, uphill which costed Rs. 150/-. In day time from 7Am till 6PM there are regular maxicabs (12sitter small buses) plying between Kalpa and Peo (main market place not the bus stand) for Rs. 10/-. Upon arrival in Kalpa we were tired and decided to spend a day resting. We roamed around in the Kalpa village only. Needless to say that sitting just outside your hotel room itself gives you a full view of the Kailsh Hill and Shivling (a 79feet high vertical stone on the top of hill). The next day we hired a guide and decided to go on top of the hill where Kalpa is. Our guide told that there is a lake on the top of the hill and we can target that. The previous day it has rained so we will have plenty of snow on our hill as well. One of the aim to go to Himalaya is to at least touch the snow. Shimla, in recent time, doen't get any snowfall. Needless to say that once we climb uphill we will get much better view of the Kailsh Hill and other adjacent hills.

Now Kalpa is already close to 3000 mt and climbing further was going to take a lot of effort. We went up to where we were walking in snow, breath-taking views of Kailesh range hills, where trees end. But it was getting difficult for us to go further beyond and we were already tired. We decided to take rest there and head back to our village.

Next day we went to Kothi (downhill 3 kms from Peo) where they have temple of Durga and then went to Peo market. We came back to Kalpa in the afternoon and took a walk along the main road, in the Apple Orchard. It was an unforgettable trip........

Next day we were to head back to Delhi a long (10+10 hours) bus journey. We had fortunately bus to Shimla from Kalpa at 6:30AM which arrives in Shimla by 5PM. We had a lot of time to kill before we get 10Pm Volvo to Delhi. Good in some sense, it gives us some times to catch up with dinner and fresh Himalayan air for the last time. On the way back to Shimla from Kalpa there is dam construction work going on at Karcham. That was the reson why roads have gone bad because a lot of trucks were plying on that road. I have determined to go back to Kalpa and this time go further beyond up to Kaza. One wish which I have not been able to fulfill so far in all my trips to Himalaya is to see an Himalayan Lake......Last time when we went to Keylong we planned to go to see Chandrtal lake but could reach only up to Batal as the roads were not open and we were not equipped with enough sleeping facilities.

Moskova

Last week (16-23 December 2007) I was in Moscow. I went there to attend a conference in the Independent University of Moscow.

Let me begin form beginning. When I wrote to organizers that I am interested in attending the conference little I know that it's going to be a bit of circus. From day one I got emails saying that they are not going to be able to arrange academic VISA and we will have to travel with Tourist VISA. There is nothing strange in it as it happens quite often for many other countries when you are traveling for short period. But the strange phenomena was that we had to get invitation letter form a travel agency and an approval form a hotel about our whole "tour". I mean we were told that we should never mention that we are going for academic purpose. Well, later I came to know that for the organizers this whole thing was big headache and now I sympathize with them.

At the end I had not too much of difficulty in getting VISA once all the papers were in order. The consulate wanted me to produce the original of the "tourist voucher" which, of course, took some time to arrive form Moscow.

Finally I set off on 16th morning by Aeroflot to Moscow. It took about 6 hours form Delhi to reach Moscow. Since the time difference is just 2 and half an hour I did not feel much of jet-lag. In fact I felt uneasiness because I had to be awake throughout last night as the flight was early morning at 5 am. We finally descended on Moscow airport and I found that somebody is waiting for me at the airport to receive me. I thanked them as I did not know a single word of Russian and would have been an impossible task me to wander around myself on the day one.



All the time weather was gloomy with little sunshine in Moscow and temperature was something between -2 to 2, very unusual for people in Moscow. The locals were complaining a lot since its Christmas time and usually they have temperature between -10 to -6. They have sports based on snow like ice skating etc and now they don't know what to do in the vacation. You see, the effect of global warming could change the culture for ever.

The most thrilling part of my visit to Moscow, apart form the conference, was face to face with Lenin. The man who revolutionize the way we think or the way we live, he who changed the history, for better or for worse. Body of Lenin is still kept in a small building (for nearly 70 years now) near Red Square which anyone can visit. We had to bribe the policemen for it as we were late and there was a big queue. It's open for public in the morning 10 to 1 and we reached there about 12:30. We could jump ahead of the queue for 100 rubles each. I must say that the body is kept in very well condition. You could see the face of the man, that beard and his forehead and nod approvingly for the flash of history.



The Red Square and Kremlin are the central part of Moscow. One can roam around that place and spend a lot of money. I mean going to visit any museum or Kremlin costs 300 rubles (roughly 6 euros) each time for each person. I guess it's quite costly.
What strikes one in Moscow is it's big wide roads and identical buildings. Somebody said that the wide roads were made to stop people form protesting as it's difficult for public to close the road and easier for the authorities to reach there. No wonder it was a Soviet way...There's a newly built church near Kaptorinsky square. It's beautiful and huge with a dome of 50 kg gold. In the 18th century they had a church on the same place but soviets destroyed it and made a swimming pool on it. After soviet fell in 90's they rebuild the church again. The whole center area of Moscow is full of 18th and 19th century houses and at every step you witness history.

Moscow is really a beautiful and organized city. Whatever you say, there was something good about communists. You wonder whether it would have been possible to have wide roads, less pollution, the huge architectural buildings of Moscow State University (and similar ones total 8 of them), well organized Metro etc. How many cities are there in this world which are so well organized. I wonder....


Now it's time to tell few bad incidents which happened with people around me.

1. One of the Professor form US was roaming around in the Red Square area on one of the evenings. Suddenly a policeman came and asked for the Passport. This gentleman wasn't carrying Passport. So he offered the policeman to come with him to his hotel which was at 15 minutes walking distance. But the policeman refused and told him that he will have to go to the police station for inquiry. On insistence the policeman offered another way out "3000 rubles neither you report nor me". After a bit of bargaining they settled for 2000 rubles.

2. Me and one of my friends were walking around in Arbat Street. We ran out of the local cash so we wanted to get exchanged our euros/dollars. There are a lot of exchange places on that street. By this time we were confident and comfortable in Moscow. We go to one of the places and gave our currencies for the change. The Lady on the counter got the change and counted in front of us. We happily pocketed the change and left. After a couple of hours, when we went for dinner we realized that we were running out of cash. We started counting and found out that both of us were tricked and were given 1000 rubles less, each of us. Well, what can we do.....

3. This was an incident of pick pocket in the Metro. One of the gentleman attending the conference had pick pocket in Metro and lost quite a bit of money and passport.



Well! apart form these few incidents we did not face any problem. In fact, we found that most of the people were quite helpful. Finally I got back to India after a week with mostly pleasant memories.

Coonoor-Queen of Hills

Coonoor-Queen of Hills

Last weekend some of us, myself, Nick and Kate, decided to spend weekends in Coonoor/Ooty. We left Chennai on Thursday night by Nilgiri Express. Due to a little error I had booked tickets up to Coimbatore only. Actually one can take this train
all the way up to Mettupalayam. Anyway, we reached Coimbatore in the morning at
5. We took bus to Coonoor, three hour journey through Nilgiri hills, all the way up in the hills. We were positively looking forward to this trip and a quiet weekend away from the heat of Chennai. We parked ourselves in the hotel Vivek's Tourist Home, in the upper Cooonoor. We had breakfast and set ourself on a little trip. It was clear to us that we are not interested in merely sight-seeing, you know, traveling in bus trips all the day long and spending few minutes actually on the spot. On my suggestion we decided to go to Lam's rock walking. It's breathtaking and scenic walk through beautiful Nilgiris. To start with we first went to the Sim's park actually a botanical garden in Coonoor. Then we walked to Lam's rock, 7 km. All the way you come across huge trees and tea-plantation.

We spent some time there and watched the beautiful valley while sun was playing hide and seek. It was a bit of misty weather with a little shower in between. Then we thought of walking to Dolphin's nose and take the city bus back in the evening 5:30 (last bus is at 7). We walked up to a village and felt tired to walk further 5 km to the Dolphin's nose. We were about to ditch our plan and we got a jeep going to that place. Immediately we jumped in to it. We spent about half an hour there on the Dolphin's nose, enjoyed the scenery around which overlooks the Catherine waterfall. Now we had to catch the bus which one gets a bit up hill. The bus doesn't come all the way there. We started to run back, cutting across Tea-Gardens, all the way up hill. As soon as we arrived at the bus stand a passing by car offered us lift. We thanked them and gladly accepted the offer. After few minutes we saw the bus going to that place.

Next day, on Saturday we decided to go to Ooty and take a trip in the forest of Nilgiri. The most ironic thing is that if you mention the word Trekking, people give you nasty looks, as if they have never heard of the word. The Nilgiri hills are amazing place for trekking, hiking and even walks in forest and country side. But the travelers and visitors to Ooty and Coonoor, specially Indian visitors are quite infamous. They all belong to "honey-moon class" who just go for sight-seeing trips, leave a lot of litters around and do a bit of shouting and screaming. But don't be discouraged. In Ooty we contacted a guide, named Mike through lonely planet guide, and he let us see what is Ooty all about. Since we reached Ooty by noon time only, arriving there by the train, Nilgiri Passenger, starting form Coonoor at 10:30, we had only half day left to do a bit of walking in the country side and add to it the rain in the afternoon. What we saw in the afternoon was breathtaking beauty of Nilgiri forests not very far from Ooty, right there in the backyard, the hills overlooking the town. We visited a couple of lakes in the forest and were completely thrilled with the promises of Mike of a forest trip, camping and hiking in the deep forest. But that has to be at some other time as the rainy season and bad weather is not good for doing those stuff. By night we were back in Coonoor by bus which are in a planety from Ooty, every 15 minutes till 11 in the night.

On the third day, last day of our trip, we decided to go hiking on one of the nearest hills. Of course we hardly got any encouraging support from locals. We just decided that we will go on the top of one of the hills which is beside Sims' park. There seem to be half way a village and tea plantations. It took about one and half an hour to climb on that hill. There was a temple on the top of the hill. Along our climb we met many locals and inquired about how to reach on the top. On top we had a wonderful view of Coonoor. We were among clouds which were passing from one side of hill to the other side. It was just a awesome scene and the whole thing just so picturesque.

In the evening we took a bus back to Metuppalayam and caught or train back to the dusty, polluted, stinking city Chennai.


Here you can see the photographs of our trip.

Random Thoughts - positive

it is the day, for which I have waited for so long, my moment of glory, my part of the share. it takes a hell lot of preparation, i won't let it slip. I am going to be prepared... put in extra hours everyday. yep feeling good. you know it by instinct when you are well prepared... when things co-ordinate well... you move swiftly and all part of your body co-ordinate as if they are just going to multiply not just add, you know! The rhythm. So finally the day has come. I have to analyze it, the strong points and the weak points of myself and the opponent also. After all it's so integral part of the life, specially when it comes to the TOP. you are equally better or rather equally worse but anything extra might give you an edge. you know your opponent has put in same amount of effort, only thing is that you want to make sure that you are not behind. I just pray to God that my brain should be working. That is the only thing which helps in crisis. You know! this is the first thing which switches off when you require it the most.

I double-checked my preparation, i don't want to leave a single stone unturned. We are good friends. We chat everyday and talk about our preparations. We observe things and tell each other. We are competitive but not cheat. For last few days I have been observing him and making mental note about his weaknesses and strong points. I guess, he was doing the same. It's all fare in a Game. You challenge it openly, after all it's not just physical thing. It's all there in your mind. I wasn't able to decide about my strategy. His weak points were really risky for me. To attack or to defend. We both are aggressive but the thing is that I don't have to over do it. It's the question who breaks first. Finally i decided in favor of defense with aggression which keeps your brain working. That's what I need in the beginning. Once it gets going it becomes much easier to settle down in a kind of, rhythm.

Well things never go according to plan. I was becoming too defensive. We came at a point where we both halted. I knew whoever comes out first will win the race. I knew it was test of my character. But thank God! my brain was working. I cut it short and I knew things are going to be in my favor. It was very satisfying. These are those moments for which you live.

Plenty of job opportunities in Mathematics

Plenty of job opportunities in Mathematics:

Just now I finished my PhD in Mathematics and it's natural to be worried about job opportunities. Specially in India where still research is considered to be very low profile profession and largely people end up in teaching. Though I have come across some of the best students coming to this profession and, well, question largely remains how many of them continue in India. In recent times Government of India, particularly, Department of Atomic Energy, has become wise and decided to start many new research institutes and educational institutes.

I am mostly concerned here with my interest of getting jobs right now and in coming 5-7 years. I presume cv with PhD in Maths (with a bias towards pure Mathematics (nonsense!)) with some research creditability and a couple of years of post-doc experience.

Research Institutes in India:

1. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
2. Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
3. Harish-Chandra research Institute, Allahabad
4. Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore
5. Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
6. Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.
7. Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
8. Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi

Teaching and Research Institutes

1. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai
2. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
3. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai
4. Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
5. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
6. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata
7. JawaharLal Nehru University, Delhi
8. National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswaer
9. Bombay University
10. Central University Hyderabad

Mumbai Locals

Mumbai Locals -- race against time


Yes! it's Mumbai local trains, the life-line of this city. You could literally feel it and visibly see it when you are around there at peek hours. Of course, Mumbai would stop breathing without it. Here I am going to put one or two escapade I had with local trains. It's a love-and-hate story. Pointless to tell that if you really want to ever experience infinity please get in one of the locals at it's peek hours.

I live at the wrong (thankfully it's right end, south Mumbai) end of the city and hence most of the time I travel in the opposite direction to the mainland crowd. Once I went to IIT Mumbai (north of the city) to attend a lecture and was returning back in the evening. I got in one of the locals at Kanjurmarg and was peacefully sitting with both legs stretched out (a rare phenomena). After a long day I was tired and took a nap. I started dreaming. I saw people shouting, running all over, in fact many of them were flying over others. It was a scene from "star wars" where traffic is in 3- dimension. Oops...somebody just whistle-passed over my head. Suddenly I felt a push and woke up and what I see that it wasn't a dream. It's reality and a lot of people are confused and looking at me with questioning glances. I suddenly realised that I have reached VT station (the last stop where I had to get down). And it was the big crowd who was fighting to get in the train who were making this noise and were trying to run over each other. I got up and walked out. Almost immediately train started moving.

The second time I was to go to Nasik to one of my relatives place. I had reservation from VT and was to take the train at 4:30 pm. I started from my place about 3:30 and reached VT by 4. I thought I will have a coffee and then I will get in the train as I already had a reservation. Suddenly I hear an announcement saying that some trains which usually start form VT will be starting from Dadar for next few days. I immediately ran to the inquiry counter where there was already a big crowd howling. I saw the list of the trains which were cut to start from Dadar. It included my train also. What should I do? I had hardly 20 minutes time. I ran to local ticket counter where there was a big queue. I got in the queue and got the ticket to Dadar. I reached the local platform and got in the train. Very soon the train started and also I came to know that it was a fast local. I was quite happy that I will reach in time. Now the Dadar stop coes. I see a big crowd waiting outside on the platform. I was ready to jump out but as soon as the train stoped the crowd from outside started pushing in. Since there were hardly people to get out I had no support to push out and get out. Finally I couldn't get out. Now it was fast local it wouldn't stop before several stations. It struck to me that I can go to Kurla and catch the train from there. I could get out at Kurla station. The main line station is a bit far there and one has to take an autorickshaw. I reach the main line station and found out that the train doesn't stop there at all. Now I was in soup. I get back to local station and thought that I will chase up to some next stop, may be up to Thane. The next local which came for that direction was so crowded that I couldn't get in. I guess it was problem that I was carrying a bag also else normally I can manage things. What can I do? I took local back to Dadar and decided to check if the train is late only then I can get it. But it has gone in time. I called my relatives and told the story and apologised that I am not coming there. I got back to my house, a bit frustrated. Still I don't know to whom to blame for all this. What would have happened to those people who were not from Mumbai and were suppose to take the train?