Can't Set A Deadline !

We will restart mining. - (as soon as we get all clearances) - Ex CM Late Sri Parrikar
When is that sir ?
Can't set a deadline. Depends on central government.

We will hot mix all Ponda roads - (as soon as sewarage work is completed) - Ex PWD

 Minister Sri Dhavalikar
When is that sir?
Can't set a deadline. Depends on contractor.

We will shift all casinos to Mopa - (as soon as the place is notified and casino 

policy put in place) - CM Sri Sawant
When is that sir ?
Can't set a deadline. Depends on various factors.

I will stop writing these posts - (as soon as our politicians stop making these 

stupid statements) - Raghunandan
When is that sir ?
Can't set a deadline. Depends on politicians. Probably not in my lifetime !

Krishnarpana and the Wildlife act !

I was talking to a relative yesterday. It was Ekadashi.  I enquired casually

 " ಏನು ತಿಂಡಿ ಆಯ್ತಾ ?"  (did you have your breakfast ?)

 "ಓ ಆಯ್ತು. ಎರಡೇ ಎರಡು ಇಡ್ಲಿ ಲೈಟಾಗಿ. ಏಕಾದಶಿ ಅಲ್ವ ?" (Had just two idlis. Ekadashi today)

"ಕೃಷ್ಣಾರ್ಪಣ ಅಂದಿ ತಾನೇ ?"  (did you say Krishnarpana after eating ?)

" ಏ ಇವತ್ತು ಏಕಾದಶಿ. ಕೃಷ್ಣಾರ್ಪಣ ಅನ್ನಬಾರ್ದು " (Oh no. Shouldn't say Krishnarpana on Ekadashi day)

I had to explain to him that "ಕೃಷ್ಣಾರ್ಪಣ ಅನ್ನಬಾರದು ಅಂದ್ರೆ, ಏನೂ ತಿನ್ನ್ನಬಾರದು ಅಂತ ಅರ್ಥ. ಅದನ್ನು ಮೀರಿ ನೀನು ತಿನ್ನುವುದಾದರೆ 'ಕೃಷ್ಣಾರ್ಪಣ' ಅನ್ನುವುದು ತಪ್ಪಲ್ಲ.  ಏಕಾದಶಿ ನಿನಗೆ. ಕೃಷ್ಣನಿಗಲ್ಲ ! "  (not saying Krishnarpana on Ekadashi means, not eating anything. If you still eat something, atleast say Krishnarpana !)

Reminds me of our Goa Government's implementation of forest rules. The path from Kule in south Goa to Dudhsaagar Falls is about 12 kms and runs through a wild life reserve.  Running jeeps on the route to take tourists to Dudhsaagar  and back is a business (they call it livelihood) for the local people. They have a strong lobby and have obtained permission to run the jeeps through the reserve forest. There are 450 jeeps registered for the purpose. The track is open from 6 am to 4 pm or so and hundreds of trips are made every day.  It is a narrow mud track and lumps of stone are haphazardly strewn on it all the away so that the wheels get some grip. If you walk on the track, you find a jeep passing you every thirty seconds.

When questioned as to why that road is not properly built and asphalted when hundreds of jeeps are running there, the answer is "Making road inside a wildlife sanctuary is prohibited by wild life act"

Now the act prohibits making a road because the traffic on the road would cause disturbance to wildlife. The intention is to prevent vehicles running in the forest.

The Goa government has not constructed the road but has issued permission for 450 jeeps are  to run through the reserved forest everyday !

Godse, Gandhi and us.

Kamal Hassan stated :  “Nathuram Godse was independent India’s first terrorist”.  

Stupid of him. He is a good actor but that’s about it. He doesn’t know the difference

between an assassin and a terrorist. His statement should have been ignored.

But we have a tendency to attach some value to every thing our stupid celebrities utter.

Sadhwi Pragya reacted : “Godse was a patriot”.  Personally, I don’t find anything wrong

in her statement. That is HER opinion.

I read that BJP forced her to apologise for making that statement. I can understand.

Here, votes are involved. One phase of election is still pending. There are voters

whose fingers may shift to other buttons on hearing a BJP person speaking in

support of Godse.

Now what is surprising is our PM getting wild and saying “can’t forgive Pragya for

Godse remark”. Does he really mean it ? I was under the impression that he has

better mental abilities.  Or, did he make that statement with the pending phase of

election in mind ?

Gandhi is a great man. Agreed. We call him father of our country and revere him.

Right. And he deserves the respect and reverence. But can’t someone - Godse in this case

- for whatever reason - hate Gandhi but love India ?  

Why are we mixing up things?

Mangalore - In Summer ??

Our walking/Swimming group made a trip to Mangalore last week end.

No one in their senses will plan a trip to Mangalore in the middle of summer.

And Mangalore is not such a great holiday destination. But we went anyway.

Because, for this group, it is the company that matters. Not the place !

My friends would have a good time even if lodged in Aguada jail !!

I don't mean that they are likely to be lodged there sometime. Don't read me wrong.

I enjoy all the trips organised by our group. I love going somewhere but hate

1. Deciding where to go 2. Making arrangements for travel. 3. Arranging

accommodation 4. Planning what to do once you get there.

Here, I am not involved in any of these activities.

Some of them join together and decide the place. Someone makes travel

plans and arrangements. Some one else takes care of accommodation.

And while being there, all activities are planned similarly and I just have to

follow others! I have an absolutely stress free trip and I love it !!

So it was, this time too. As I said Mangalore is not a great destination but I liked the

city. It is reasonably clean, roads are good and wide, traffic tolerable and prices

reasonable. As I have mentioned earlier, we had a very good time!

My blog www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com is a sort of record of all my activities and

I have posted some pictures with captions. All in random order.

As It happened most of the Mangalore trip seemed to be centered up on Fish, Chicken and Ice cream and we did roam around a bit when not engaged with the above three !

Group goes gaga with the varieties of Dosas on offer. Khali dosa, Masala Dosa, Ghee dosa, Onion dosa, Neer Dosa, Tomato dosa to name a few. The picture here is neer dosa. 

Durgaparameshwari Temple at Kateel. Having nothing else to do, we visited umpteen temples and earned enough goodwill of all gods to last two lifetimes !!

Machali restaurant - The high point of Mangalore trip.

Though it looks like any place in Goa, It is mangalore. Bengre beach to be precise. 

Usual day and usual Sunset, posted here to fill pages. 

Gadbad icecream in Pabba's ice cream parlour. Biggest ice cream parlour I ever stepped in ! Unfortunately, at that moment I wasn't capable of eating that.  

Gokarnanatheshwar temple, Kudroli, Mangalore.  Picture above and a few below. A very old temple, in the present shape after a political renovation to play to the galleries ! All marble, all gold and all gods ! Janardhan Poojari of Cong  has left no stone un turned! We have Gokarnanath of course and then the goddess, Krishna, Hanuman, Ganapathi, Navagrah ( the nine planets), Ganga, Saibaba and Narayanaguru. Each one in his/her own Golden abode !! Could have very well included Our Lady and a Sufi saint !

The tired pilgrims from Goa. Left to right Rajaneesh, Triambak, Virendra, Raghunandan, Sandesh and Rajesh 

We visited so many temples, that I lost count. Venkataramana, Ganapati, Mahammaaya, Narayani, Katyayani, Hanuman to name a few. This should be Rajarajeshwari at Polali. 

The Fish god 'Visvan' at the temple called 'Machali'.  You eat the visvan prasad, ask for the bill and offer a prayer ! A Goan's pilgrimage to Mangalore is not complete without a visit to 'Machali'.

Hanuman at Gokarnanatheshwar complex

This is Polali for sure. No mistaking the 'dhwajasthambh'

My friends in a plaintive mood after booking a five seater car for six people and for half a day instead of full day ! 

Sacorda - Bondla - Bison

The road from Darbandora to Sacorda is  a very nice stretch and one of the

best routes we have walked on. It runs right next to the Bondla Wildlife

Sanctuary. While walking, we saw he back gate of the wild life park and were

tempted to explore. We walked in and tried to look sharp in the hope of sighting

some wildlife. About two kilometres deep inside, we were very happy to meet a

herd of Gaur. But the moment one of them stood still and stared at us, we realised

that we were trespassing on their property, were on foot and vulnerable if they

decided to take us to task. Fortunately they watched us for a moment, turned

and kept to their track and we hastily retreated.

Posted some pictures of the walk ( apologies to friends Pramod Sawant and

Shankar Naik, who had expressed interest to join us. Could not inform them in time )

on www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com    I am keeping a record of our activities

( for whatever it is worth) through my blog.

The video and pictures of Giant squirrel and Me are courtesy my friend Triambak. In

my excitement on seeing the animals, I forgot to click on the 'video on' button!

My friends Rajaneesh and Praveen are just two spots, way ahead, followed by Rajesh, Viren and Triambak. I am slogging slowly behind. 

 

Unguarded entry to the wild life park, welcoming us !

Path passing through the park 

A stream, dried up in summer. 

Triambak 

A green arch on the road, made by the branches.

Wild flowers on the road 

Indian Giant squirrel - A beautiful animal but just a blurred image here. 

I think we can call this a forest. 

The dark blotch in the centre is the Bison, Majestic in stature, looking at us. 

Sunrise In Loutolim and the Dogs.

I got these pictures while passing through

the village of Loutolim, on my way to Ponda

from the airport.

Loutolim is a beautiful place, with the river

Zuari on one side - next to which, the road

passes - and the slopes leading to Verna

plateau on the other. In between we have

backwaters, green fields and coconut groves.

I love the place and invariably stop at one or

two places whenever I drive through.

I would have lingered on a bit longer, walked

around and enjoyed the sunrise from few more

spots if the dogs of Loutolim were not very

keen on having me for breakfast.

The last line is with apologies to my friend Annie

Sengupta and his wife Anjali, whose heart is full

of love for street dogs. All dogs, rather. I

understand that these dogs do not mean any

harm, nor they harbour evil intentions when

they bark at you but that’s what it seems to

me! Something wrong with me, not the dogs.

I wish my blood had some of the constituents

which make up Annie’s blood but it doesn’t.

It is made up more like Bill Bryson’s.

Recently I read these lines in his book ‘Down Under’.  

He says this while writing about an unexpected

encounter with dogs in an urban wood.  

I quote, “Dogs don’t like me. It is a simple law

of universe, like gravity. I am not exaggerating

when I say that I have never passed a dog that

didn’t act as if I was about to help myself to its

Pedigree Chum. Dogs that have not moved

from the sofa in years will, at the sniff of me

passing outside, rise in fury and hurl themselves

at shut windows. I have seen tiny dogs, no bigger

than a fluffy slipper, jerk little old ladies off their

feet and drag them over open ground in a quest

to get at my blood and sinew. Every dog on the

 face of the earth wants me dead”.     

Anmod on a summer morning.

It is two months since the Anmod Ghat on the Hubli - Goa route is closed for
traffic. Some major road work is being done. To walk on the Anmod Ghat road
when the traffic is on is probably just short of suicidal. The trafficless Anmod
was a temptation. So we took the opportunity to go walking on the ghat road
this morning. Anmod will be a green paradise during rains. Summer is not the
time to see the place. It is mostly dry. But some of my friends decided to go
there for a walk/run today. The walk on the empty road in the early morning
was very pleasant. I walked half way up - 17 kms up and down.
(feet are still aching). Those who could, ran the full length of the ghat road. Since I had my phone with me, I took some pictures and posted it here.

It was still dark when we started 

Morning sun lights up the eastern slopes

The empty ghat road, which prompted the walk

The dry slopes of summer

Triambak, Rajesh, Self, Sandeep and Praveen - from left to right.

Triambak at Molem Check post, the point where we started.

Different hues of the summer greenery.