It’s a lovely B walk with an ascent of just 350 meters. The place is just outside the Edinburgh halfway between Penicuik and Peebles. We had our scons and tea at Tea house. The walk starts just off the tea room so cars are left in the car park of this tea room. We have to go through a small farm, probably first I cam so close to a farm in UK. It was pretty ok but as we walked along I guess they are generating bio gas from Cattle dung, it is level walk to Loch and the other group took more challenging walk which goes via Dundreich. The ascent was a bit steep but not that muddy inspite of previous day’s downpour. We took lunch break at top of hill. This provides nice views of Edinburgh, a few high descent hills around. utterly stinky and muddy. But we passed that bit very quick. Later it is a gentle stroll from there and after a km or so we divided into two groups. One group took the easier ground
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
281 to go…
Munro is a Scottish mountain with a height over 3000 feet i.e. 914 meters. These are named after Sir Hugh Munro who famously produced a compilation of Scottish mountains, this list is revised multiple times since early 20th century. The highest munro in Scotland is Ben Nevis at 4410 feet (1344 meters). Though the average altitude of Munros is well below 1km they are much challenging mostly because of the Scotland’s unique geographical and topographical characteristics. Most of these munros are at sea level so almost all munros would give a full ascent of their height unlike their counter parts in Europe and Asia like Alps and Himalayas where the base point would be at 2000 meters at times. Scottish weather has a very high exposure to Atlantic weather system, even summer conditions can be atrocious; thick fog, strong winds, driving rain and freezing summit temperatures are very common.
I am very excited about my first Munro walking. I have bought a new pair of hill walking shows from Tiso’s , probably most expensive shows I ever had and ever I thought of buying. I have reached St Andrews square at around 7:40AM; it is raining heavily so took shelter in bus stop. Seems like I am not the first one to reach the meeting point, there is another man with backpack but was not sure if he is from HF but later got to know that he is Lucas, in the mean while Cornelius came and in a few minutes Maria. We are already four but there is no one came who has car.. It seemed like my prospects of first munro climbing are already getting bleak. In the mean while Robin and Vince came. Robin has a pretty spacious BMW which can accommodate 5 in total but we are already six. Later Richard came and he kindly agreed to get his car. So finally Robin, Lucas, Vince and Maria started in Robins’ car and Richard, Cornelius and me started in Richard’s car. It’s a long drive almost 120 miles of journey.
I should say I am privileged to get to know Richard; He is a charity worker associated to health aid agencies mostly working in Africa and South Asia. He has lived more than 7 years in Nepal, more than 3 years in Indonesia, Many years in Africa and more than a year in India, surprisingly he was in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh , my home state . He is very generous and kind man with an exposure to all global cultures which might have taught him humility, kind ness, politeness and wisdom.
After reaching our base point of ascent Aberarder on the banks of Loch Laggan Robin, our group leader for this walk has shown us the map. The plan is to walk along the gravel path and then take a detour at some point!! and start ascending Carn Liath (1006 M), then to walk along the ridges to reach Coire Ardair(1051 M) then descend down, touch the famous window , then climb Creag Meagaidh(1128 M) and came down the same route, walk down from window to touch Lochan coire and then take the gravel path back to Car park. In total it is a 20 Km walk with a total net height gain of 1500 meters.
Route map of Creag Meagie
View of Coire Ardair, Window and mad Maggie from top of Carn Liath
We started along the gravel path that leads to window, walk was rather gentle than I expected. After around a km walk .There is a small heap of stones around a foot high on the right hand side of the path, this actually indicates the route diversion to Carn Liath without this it is very difficult to identify where to take diversion. From here the path is not very well defined it is following a small stream upwards along an abandoned fence. This particular bit is through woods, these tress are very much useful for support on that slippery patch. After around a km walk we reached open space and from here the view of window was very much clear. After a bit of walking I thought we reached the top of hill but its just a small plateau. Interesting bit of hill walking is that the summit is not very much visible and as we ascend we can only see a small portion above and which gives an impression as if that is the end, and when we reach that bit we can see a bit more at a bit higher altitude and it goes on and on....It is good for people who draws inspiration on every bit that is climbed but it can frustrate those people who are tired and desperately looking for that last bit where they can see pile of rocks indicating the summit. Well this is being my first Munro I had a bit of both and finally I reached summit and there it goes my first ever munro
We had lunch break here, this spot provides a very nice view of the other two munros. We headed off to second munro coire Ardair, it is a very gentle walk along the ridges. We just have to descend around 200 meters and then ascend the same height. This munro has two summits in a distance of 150m, not really sure which one is the highest point. GPS was showing the same height at both the places. This summit provides beautiful views of window, ridges of craig maggie.. Then we descended some 400m along and reached the window. It is very windy at the window as this is the only gap between two high hills and all the air is passing through this gap.. From here we can see vast valleys on both sides, it seems these are routes of nomadic people in olden days.
We later headed towards Criag Maggie, it seems most of the time this summit is covered in thick fog and only with help of GPS people can reach the actual summit. There is one more summit in the way may be at around 1000m high and it is called mad Maggie. The summit is very well built but not actual one and misleads many people that’s why the name mad Maggie.. From mad Maggie actual summit is some 500m far. Luckily this time visibility was amazing. Though there is a passing cloud every now and then but there is enough wind to drive them off the summit. It is raining all around, we can see sheet s of rain moving all around but it never hit us. We had a small photo shoot at the summit of criag Maggie which completes my hatrick. 3 munros in a single day..i am delighted. We headed back in the same path we came across till window. We had tea break here. Later we descended into the valley along the window, it was very much treacherous path down the window. It is full of small loosely bound rocks at a sharp angle. It directly leads into the banks of the loch. From hereon it is a long but gentle walk on well laid gravel path. Almost at the end of walk, a few yards from car park we saw a stag hiding behind woods. The total walk is around 20 kms and it took us nearly 7 hours to complete. When we reached car park it is almost dark, ideal time for midges to find their share of food (blood). We are swamped by them and it is very difficult to escape them as there are zillions, we quickly slipped in to cars but some of them managed to break into car. It seems Midges are a big deterrent to tourists in Scotland and the estimated finical loss to Scotland tourism industry runs into millions. Anyways we kepts the doors opened while driving and drove them out of car. We stopped at a pub on the way back just before touching A9. We had supper and many congratulated me on my first munro climbing and I thank them all. As I finished 3 are there 281 more to go, well I am not a munro bagger as of now but would try bag them as many as I can..
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I am very excited about my first Munro walking. I have bought a new pair of hill walking shows from Tiso’s , probably most expensive shows I ever had and ever I thought of buying. I have reached St Andrews square at around 7:40AM; it is raining heavily so took shelter in bus stop. Seems like I am not the first one to reach the meeting point, there is another man with backpack but was not sure if he is from HF but later got to know that he is Lucas, in the mean while Cornelius came and in a few minutes Maria. We are already four but there is no one came who has car.. It seemed like my prospects of first munro climbing are already getting bleak. In the mean while Robin and Vince came. Robin has a pretty spacious BMW which can accommodate 5 in total but we are already six. Later Richard came and he kindly agreed to get his car. So finally Robin, Lucas, Vince and Maria started in Robins’ car and Richard, Cornelius and me started in Richard’s car. It’s a long drive almost 120 miles of journey.
I should say I am privileged to get to know Richard; He is a charity worker associated to health aid agencies mostly working in Africa and South Asia. He has lived more than 7 years in Nepal, more than 3 years in Indonesia, Many years in Africa and more than a year in India, surprisingly he was in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh , my home state . He is very generous and kind man with an exposure to all global cultures which might have taught him humility, kind ness, politeness and wisdom.
After reaching our base point of ascent Aberarder on the banks of Loch Laggan Robin, our group leader for this walk has shown us the map. The plan is to walk along the gravel path and then take a detour at some point!! and start ascending Carn Liath (1006 M), then to walk along the ridges to reach Coire Ardair(1051 M) then descend down, touch the famous window , then climb Creag Meagaidh(1128 M) and came down the same route, walk down from window to touch Lochan coire and then take the gravel path back to Car park. In total it is a 20 Km walk with a total net height gain of 1500 meters.
Route map of Creag Meagie
View of Coire Ardair, Window and mad Maggie from top of Carn Liath
We started along the gravel path that leads to window, walk was rather gentle than I expected. After around a km walk .There is a small heap of stones around a foot high on the right hand side of the path, this actually indicates the route diversion to Carn Liath without this it is very difficult to identify where to take diversion. From here the path is not very well defined it is following a small stream upwards along an abandoned fence. This particular bit is through woods, these tress are very much useful for support on that slippery patch. After around a km walk we reached open space and from here the view of window was very much clear. After a bit of walking I thought we reached the top of hill but its just a small plateau. Interesting bit of hill walking is that the summit is not very much visible and as we ascend we can only see a small portion above and which gives an impression as if that is the end, and when we reach that bit we can see a bit more at a bit higher altitude and it goes on and on....It is good for people who draws inspiration on every bit that is climbed but it can frustrate those people who are tired and desperately looking for that last bit where they can see pile of rocks indicating the summit. Well this is being my first Munro I had a bit of both and finally I reached summit and there it goes my first ever munro
We had lunch break here, this spot provides a very nice view of the other two munros. We headed off to second munro coire Ardair, it is a very gentle walk along the ridges. We just have to descend around 200 meters and then ascend the same height. This munro has two summits in a distance of 150m, not really sure which one is the highest point. GPS was showing the same height at both the places. This summit provides beautiful views of window, ridges of craig maggie.. Then we descended some 400m along and reached the window. It is very windy at the window as this is the only gap between two high hills and all the air is passing through this gap.. From here we can see vast valleys on both sides, it seems these are routes of nomadic people in olden days.
We later headed towards Criag Maggie, it seems most of the time this summit is covered in thick fog and only with help of GPS people can reach the actual summit. There is one more summit in the way may be at around 1000m high and it is called mad Maggie. The summit is very well built but not actual one and misleads many people that’s why the name mad Maggie.. From mad Maggie actual summit is some 500m far. Luckily this time visibility was amazing. Though there is a passing cloud every now and then but there is enough wind to drive them off the summit. It is raining all around, we can see sheet s of rain moving all around but it never hit us. We had a small photo shoot at the summit of criag Maggie which completes my hatrick. 3 munros in a single day..i am delighted. We headed back in the same path we came across till window. We had tea break here. Later we descended into the valley along the window, it was very much treacherous path down the window. It is full of small loosely bound rocks at a sharp angle. It directly leads into the banks of the loch. From hereon it is a long but gentle walk on well laid gravel path. Almost at the end of walk, a few yards from car park we saw a stag hiding behind woods. The total walk is around 20 kms and it took us nearly 7 hours to complete. When we reached car park it is almost dark, ideal time for midges to find their share of food (blood). We are swamped by them and it is very difficult to escape them as there are zillions, we quickly slipped in to cars but some of them managed to break into car. It seems Midges are a big deterrent to tourists in Scotland and the estimated finical loss to Scotland tourism industry runs into millions. Anyways we kepts the doors opened while driving and drove them out of car. We stopped at a pub on the way back just before touching A9. We had supper and many congratulated me on my first munro climbing and I thank them all. As I finished 3 are there 281 more to go, well I am not a munro bagger as of now but would try bag them as many as I can..
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Wednesday, August 06, 2008
My first walk with ‘HF Edinburgh’….
It is my first walk with any walking club, I really don’t know what to expect and how it works. I have decided to go with an open mind and prepare for the worst that is not getting a chance to go along. I have reached St Andrew square, the meeting point around 15 minutes earlier to scheduled meeting time. The impression that I have got from the website about the club is that it is fairly dominated by experienced people in numbers, but interestingly the group that is standing outside RBS vintage building (popularly know as building 36 with in RBS circles) was all youngsters. I was not sure if this is the group that I was looking for, so I was reluctant to introduce my self before confirming if it is the group I am looking for. In the mean while a couple came and joined the group, their conversation made it clear that it is a walking group. So I also introduced myself to the group leader. The group leader was saying that he hasn’t expected so many new members and it is good that today we are going by Lothian bus than by private vehicle. That baffled me and the Spanish couple who joined. As far as we read on HF Edinburgh web site is that the walk is from Dunkled which is near to Perth. We then dug more details and found out that this group is called ‘Young walkers club’ and they are actually going to Rosyline walk. So we excused ourselves and found out another small group across the road with rucksacks on their side. We went there and introduced ourselves again and this is the group we are looking for ‘HF Edinburgh Hill walking club’. There are around some 10 to 12 people and we have divide evenly among 3 cars. I was in a car with Linda, Vince and Constantine. Vince is in IT, he worked with royal bank a couple of years before and he is well aware of Infosys. Constantine is from Canada, actually from Germany but his parents are in Canada now. He did graduation in botany and works in a science lab.
We made a small stopover just outside Perth at Baxter’s for Tea and Scons. I shared table with Robin, Dian and Canarius. I never had a scon though I was herein Scotland since 2005. I was trying to eat it with butter, was not much impressed until I applied jam on it as suggested by Robin, wow it is delicious. We reached Dunkeld rail station at around 11 AM. Except for me every one changed their boots and slipped into walking gear. I really felt like an outsider but well that I expected as it is my first walk. Tom, leader of this walk is from Dunkeld. He used to work in IT and he worked for Royal bank quite a few years before.
We started our walk from Dunkeld Railways station. The walk path starts at the foot of Birnam Hill. Birnam hill is around 400 meters high and was part of the original Munros list. The path we choose to ascend was steep and it is through dense woods, apparently there is another route to climb which is much easier. After half way through we took our first break. It’s a view point overseeing the Dunkeld. Though it is cloudy and misty temperature is quite good, all of us actually needed that break.
We continued our walk further and now it is more of a gentle walk with slight elevation with lot of open spaces. It is all looking dark pink as entire landscape is covered with blue berry plants, this is the season fro them to bloom. We reached the summit of Birnam hill. On our walk downhill from the other side of Birnam we took our lunch break. It is edge of Birnam hill giving probably the best views of that days’ walk. Sun is breaking through cloud here and there. We can see spots of sunlight like a search light. That is wonderful.
To reach Craig Obney we have to walk across a valley not so deep but not very accessible as well. It is not a very well laid path, we have jumped a wooden fence and walked along a swamp and then reached foot of Craig Obney. It was also part of original Munros at 450 meters high. A few people in the group decide to stay back as we have to come back the same way back after climbing it. It is much gentle ascent compared to Birnam. We had group photo session at summit and returned to catch others.
From here we headed for Hermitage. It is along walk from here, we took a break at a big Picknick table, it is huge enough to accommodate entire group.
Hermitage is well known for its reference in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. It is a dense wooded area with a small stream passing through. This stream attracts attentions of ongoers with beautiful waterfalls of different heights at multiple places. We finished our walk at around 5 in the evening and then headed to pub in Dunkeld. After a round of various refreshments we headed back to Edinburgh.
At the end of day I am very happy to get company such a great people. I got to know people who have experience of lifetime both in walking and knowledge. Many of the members in group have covered most of Scotland’s Munros at least once. There are few people who are walking with the club for past 15 years starting when they retired at 60. I got to know about geological conditions of Canada, Its wild life, how is it so normal to carry a rifle to deter wild life attacks, how polar bears roam in villages. Have taken gyan on walking boots, where to buy, what to look for, how much they may come for etc..
I am very much looking forward for my ‘A’ walk next weekend my first chance to climb any Munro..
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We made a small stopover just outside Perth at Baxter’s for Tea and Scons. I shared table with Robin, Dian and Canarius. I never had a scon though I was herein Scotland since 2005. I was trying to eat it with butter, was not much impressed until I applied jam on it as suggested by Robin, wow it is delicious. We reached Dunkeld rail station at around 11 AM. Except for me every one changed their boots and slipped into walking gear. I really felt like an outsider but well that I expected as it is my first walk. Tom, leader of this walk is from Dunkeld. He used to work in IT and he worked for Royal bank quite a few years before.
We started our walk from Dunkeld Railways station. The walk path starts at the foot of Birnam Hill. Birnam hill is around 400 meters high and was part of the original Munros list. The path we choose to ascend was steep and it is through dense woods, apparently there is another route to climb which is much easier. After half way through we took our first break. It’s a view point overseeing the Dunkeld. Though it is cloudy and misty temperature is quite good, all of us actually needed that break.
We continued our walk further and now it is more of a gentle walk with slight elevation with lot of open spaces. It is all looking dark pink as entire landscape is covered with blue berry plants, this is the season fro them to bloom. We reached the summit of Birnam hill. On our walk downhill from the other side of Birnam we took our lunch break. It is edge of Birnam hill giving probably the best views of that days’ walk. Sun is breaking through cloud here and there. We can see spots of sunlight like a search light. That is wonderful.
To reach Craig Obney we have to walk across a valley not so deep but not very accessible as well. It is not a very well laid path, we have jumped a wooden fence and walked along a swamp and then reached foot of Craig Obney. It was also part of original Munros at 450 meters high. A few people in the group decide to stay back as we have to come back the same way back after climbing it. It is much gentle ascent compared to Birnam. We had group photo session at summit and returned to catch others.
From here we headed for Hermitage. It is along walk from here, we took a break at a big Picknick table, it is huge enough to accommodate entire group.
Hermitage is well known for its reference in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. It is a dense wooded area with a small stream passing through. This stream attracts attentions of ongoers with beautiful waterfalls of different heights at multiple places. We finished our walk at around 5 in the evening and then headed to pub in Dunkeld. After a round of various refreshments we headed back to Edinburgh.
At the end of day I am very happy to get company such a great people. I got to know people who have experience of lifetime both in walking and knowledge. Many of the members in group have covered most of Scotland’s Munros at least once. There are few people who are walking with the club for past 15 years starting when they retired at 60. I got to know about geological conditions of Canada, Its wild life, how is it so normal to carry a rifle to deter wild life attacks, how polar bears roam in villages. Have taken gyan on walking boots, where to buy, what to look for, how much they may come for etc..
I am very much looking forward for my ‘A’ walk next weekend my first chance to climb any Munro..
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Gist of Walks in Scotland so far..
I always wanted to go on long walks but was not really sure how safe it is to go all alone. So It is limited me to short walks of an hour to two, though I have fully exploited chances to walk when ever an opportunity struck. Some of my few memorable walks in Scotland are
Glen Nevis walk: Its in to a valley, walks is all along a thin walk path, at few places it is really dangerous. I have done this walk twice, once in summer wearing formal leather shoes. And another time in winter. I liked it the second time most. Water falls there was frozen then, the water underneath steel rope for walk is frozen. In fact I had a near death experience when I fell into near frozen water a few yards away from all the crowd. Probably once of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Walk along Water of Leith: I have done this walk again in winter. It was in the city so there is not much of a snow but there is a lot of frost. Though winter is barren it brings a weird beauty to the nature. I went all alone on this walk and I enjoyed every bit of this walk.
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Dunbar walk: It was again a nice winter evening, not very cold but pleasantly chill. This was also along the coast line criss crossing golf clubs and small cliffs. Its just a walk of 6 km.
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Walk to Dunnottar castle: This castle is situated around 10 miles south of Aberdeen. It is a 4 km walk from nearest town Stonehaven. It was a pleasant walk along the sea cost and across the farm land. The castle is famous and Some of the scenes from Brave hear t are shot there.
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Finally I decided to find an opportunity to walk than wait for opportunity to find me. I have started googling for Walking clubs situated in Edinburgh. I cam across a handful of them, some of them are dormant some of them are active. Selected one club and I will continue with this wonderful walking club and my first walk with this club in my next blog.
Glen Nevis walk: Its in to a valley, walks is all along a thin walk path, at few places it is really dangerous. I have done this walk twice, once in summer wearing formal leather shoes. And another time in winter. I liked it the second time most. Water falls there was frozen then, the water underneath steel rope for walk is frozen. In fact I had a near death experience when I fell into near frozen water a few yards away from all the crowd. Probably once of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Walk along Water of Leith: I have done this walk again in winter. It was in the city so there is not much of a snow but there is a lot of frost. Though winter is barren it brings a weird beauty to the nature. I went all alone on this walk and I enjoyed every bit of this walk.
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Dunbar walk: It was again a nice winter evening, not very cold but pleasantly chill. This was also along the coast line criss crossing golf clubs and small cliffs. Its just a walk of 6 km.
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Walk to Dunnottar castle: This castle is situated around 10 miles south of Aberdeen. It is a 4 km walk from nearest town Stonehaven. It was a pleasant walk along the sea cost and across the farm land. The castle is famous and Some of the scenes from Brave hear t are shot there.
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Finally I decided to find an opportunity to walk than wait for opportunity to find me. I have started googling for Walking clubs situated in Edinburgh. I cam across a handful of them, some of them are dormant some of them are active. Selected one club and I will continue with this wonderful walking club and my first walk with this club in my next blog.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Writing Syndrome !!!
One of my new year's resolutions is to improve my writing skills. I thought that I will make it a point to visit this site at least twice a week, of course not to see but to post new blogs. But i hardly posted any thing this year. Is this a writing syndrome??
While I am traveling in the bus or walking on the road or taking a shower there are too many thoughts wandering in my mind but when I want to put them in black and white all I find there is vacuum. It reminds me of the Karna's abilities.
Is it really a problem with my memory or a curse or a syndrome or phobia or just laziness??
Definitely it is not a curse..after all i haven't learned it from some one by cheating like karna did..the point being i am still in the process of learning..
Is it a syndrome? well if you wiki syndrome you will find that the meaning of syndrome is disorder. If I am suffering with writing syndrome I should not be able to write or i should be writing very dis orderly..but here i believe the disorder is in willingness o write!! Obviously i am not suffering from that as well..
Phobia..well what or whom should i fear? na..it cant be phobia..is there a name for fear of writing??
Am i Lazy??? Am I getting more and more lazy..
Probably it is the time I have to retrospect that what i am doing..how i am spending time..how much of my time is spent on watching TV or sleeping..How much of a reading i am doing daily?
Oh my god that is too much of a retrospection..I need to take break from this thinking..well for the time being i will park all this thoughts and continue to watch 'friends' in TV... :)
While I am traveling in the bus or walking on the road or taking a shower there are too many thoughts wandering in my mind but when I want to put them in black and white all I find there is vacuum. It reminds me of the Karna's abilities.
Is it really a problem with my memory or a curse or a syndrome or phobia or just laziness??
Definitely it is not a curse..after all i haven't learned it from some one by cheating like karna did..the point being i am still in the process of learning..
Is it a syndrome? well if you wiki syndrome you will find that the meaning of syndrome is disorder. If I am suffering with writing syndrome I should not be able to write or i should be writing very dis orderly..but here i believe the disorder is in willingness o write!! Obviously i am not suffering from that as well..
Phobia..well what or whom should i fear? na..it cant be phobia..is there a name for fear of writing??
Am i Lazy??? Am I getting more and more lazy..
Probably it is the time I have to retrospect that what i am doing..how i am spending time..how much of my time is spent on watching TV or sleeping..How much of a reading i am doing daily?
Oh my god that is too much of a retrospection..I need to take break from this thinking..well for the time being i will park all this thoughts and continue to watch 'friends' in TV... :)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Tara Zameen Par
Have been watching too many movies since I got the Cineworld unlimited card. Though occasionally a few Bollywood movies are screened in
The movie touched me from completely two different angles. I could relate many of the scenes in the movie to my child hood and got nostalgic with character Ishaan Nadakishore Awasthi on the other hand I could also relate myself very close to the Ishaan’s Parents characteristics. Well I believe most of those who watched movie might have related themselves either to Ishaan or their parents ( there might be a very few who might have related themselves to Nikhumb’s character as well) but not many could have felt both especially in my age group and bachelors.
Though I have never suffered from dyslexia my handwriting was appallingly illegible. I am not sure if it can be called some other disease, but very few can understand my writing with least effort. My English hand writing is far better than my telugu writing. I have done my primary education in my native language. I wonder how did I was a topper always till 5th standard. Both of my parents are also teaching in the same school where I was studying. This must have prompted all my class teachers to put an extra effort to understand my writing and evaluate the papers. Else probably I would have also been seen as a dumbo.
My parents have decided to send me to boarding school from 6th standard onwards, this is not because they want me to be disciplined but because they believed that I will get a better education than what I would have got if I stayed in my small home town Palasa. The school where my parents want me to send is not a normal boarding school where one can pay hefty amount of fees and get a seat. It is a government run boarding school with limited number of seats. The school is a brain child of Rajiv Gandhi to provide better education to talented children from poor families across the country. There will be only one school per district with a total intake of 80 a year and only into 6th class. The school is Jawahar Navodaya Vidyala. It reserves 80% of the seats for rural people and 20% of the seats for urban people. To go into detail it will take a few more blogs….so I am leaving the school details here it self.
On the day of joining I must be the loudest boy crying..well every one must have cried along with me from the lot of 80 but I am inconsolable as I am too close to my mother than many there. As I was always in school of my parents I am a privileged kid and kids around me can not misbehave or dare to bully me. But here things are different there is none to protect me. Probably I saw law of equality first time in my life.
For first two years the medium of education is telugu. In 8th standard it is a mix of both with an option to choose. From 9th standard onwards it is strictly English. First two years my grades were too appalling. I was in the verge of flunking 7th standard. The reasons must be home sickness, trouble in adapting to new atmosphere and illegible writing. But those five years of my life are probably the time I enjoyed most. The school is located in agency area far from any village by atleast 2 Km, surrounded by mountains and forest. Every Sunday along with my friends I used to disappear into the woods and enjoy spring water and wild mangoes and cashew fruits. I used to pretend sickness to avoid morning PET classes. Used to faint falsely during Monday’s assembly meeting to avoid the long standing lecture of principal.
But soon the things have started changing; it is not because Nikhumb kind of a person came into my life. But I have started getting adopted and luckily medium also has changed from telugu to English. As it is the only school in district with CBSE board those who top in their 10th and 12th grade will become automatically district toppers. And district toppers will find place in the news of district paper. My mom had kinda given an ultimatum that I should find a place in the news paper. The story has a happy ending. I have shared 3rd place with another boy in 10th standard and my name came in paper, my mom is happy.
From an adult’s point of view of the movie, I behaved more or less like the parents of Ishaan. My sister’s kids are very close to me. My niece and nephew are very normal kids, more interested in playing than in studies. When ever I am at home I usually get angered by the way they study and do homework rather than understanding the reason behind it. My nephew is left handed, when he started writing he used to write with left hand. With all force we (including me) ensured that he always uses right hand when he eats food and writes. Now I feel what I have achieved by doing this is nothing but succumbing to a superstition that ‘right hand is sacred than left hand and right hand should be used for doing important things’.
Definitely the movie is an eye opener to me. When I am back at home I will spend at least 2 days with my nephew and niece and try to understand their problem. Will give an honest effort to understand what’s their interest are. I would also explain my sister and bro-in-law that they don’t need to expect their kids to top their class to live a decent life when they grow up. After all there are too many companies which are just hunting for graduates with a reasonable aptitude and reasoning skills.
There is a thin line between mischief and fun, parents should clearly identify this. Parents should understand and respect their children's interest and should not force their ambitions on their children. At the same time in the name of giving freedom to their kids parents should not spoil them. Discipline is a must but that should not be the only thing in child's life.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Whats in the name??
Its a very normal question isn't it..whats in the name...Well my name became very weired..
The concept of name it self is very complicated...In Andhra you find people with very very long names..of course I don't need to quote examples, obviously you must have read the fwd with bond..James bond parody..
In Andhra names also don't have a middle name, You have Surname and first name. Interestingly first name not just a single noun but a conglomeration of multiple nouns with Telugu conjunctions. First comes Surname and then comes First name. But in other states you have concept of first name, middle name and surname. Mostly middle name would be father's name. It perfectly fits in the western culture, I am not sure if their middle name also usually father's name .
Well my name is Kancharana Srinivasa Pavan Kumar. Kanharana being my surname. That leaves my first name 'Srinivasa Pavan Kumar'. When I want to fill any form my entire name wont fit in the first name space, so usaully Srinivasa becomes first name and pavan kumar becomes the middle name..which is not it intended to be.. :(
Let me explain the the story behind my name.. My mom is big devotee of Lord Venkateswara (the richest god on the earth.. :)) She feels every time she calls me she will in reality would be reciting the name of god..So srinivas is chosen.. Srinivas is indeed Sri + Nivas.. Sri means Laxmi (the godess of wealth) and Nivas means Place of living. So Srinivas means where godess Laxmi lives.. and she lives in the vakshsthala(heart) of Vishnu. So in essence godess laxmi lives in Lord Vishnu. And Lord Venkateswara is incarnation of Vishnu...
Srinivasa is a very traditional and common name in Andhra.. My dad felt I should have a more modern name.. So he picked up Pavan Kumar..Pavan is Vayu (Air) and Kumar means son..So Pavan Kumar means Son of God Vayu (Hanuman) in andhra he is called anjaneya swami..
At home I am called in short Srinu..Well it is very sentimental.. and I only like my parents and close relatives call me that..
In School we all have the same problem..very very lengthy names..So people have come up with abbreviations.. They are kinda coll..usually 3 to 4 letters..
I used to be called KSPK ( Kanharana Srinivasa Pavan Kumar)
I have frinds like NJB (Nanubolu Janardhana babu) KVDP (Kxxxx Venkata durga Praveen), MJR (Mavuru Jyothiswara Rao), MLR (Mxxx Laxmana Rao), GKP (Gxxx Krishna Prasad), PKP (Pxxx Krishna Prasad) so on..
Even now my school friend call me KSP..When ever anyone refers me KSP in mails etc.. I simply slips into nostalgic waves of my school days..
In my engineering days I used to be called Pavan..I always wanted my friends to called me Pavan... So far so good I am still in Andhra and people understand the logic of names...
But after my engineering I have left Andhra...Then it started...
You know most of the e-mail Ids wont allow the spaces in between words.. And people don't understand logic of andhra names.. If I introduce my self as Pavan..they will get confused when they see a mail from me..because the email-id don't have Pavan..it will be simply Srinivasa.(_) kancharana..
When people reply to my mails they start referring me as Srinivasa..Thats where the problem is...Srinivasa is in reality not a name..it is more like a verb..to give a continuation to my full name
Srinivas(a) Pavan Kumar..So 'a' is for continuation to Pavan Kumar..But as such srinivasa alone is awkward unless some other noun follows it..So I rather prefer people call me Srinivas..but how can I explain..
To make things less complicated..I have shortend my name to 'Srini'..I would always write Srini in my signature so that atleast people call me 'srini' than 'srinivasa'..But not always it works..in this electronic age the display name in your email-id weighs heavier than any other means of expressing it..So it seems I am stuck with 'Srinivasa'...
One resolution I made is I will not let this happen to Kids in my family...
My niece's name is simply Lenina...So no issues..everyone is happy..not really my mom feels it is not a hindu name..but after all the final saying is with the baby's father and he is a fan of Lenin..so it follows Lenin(a)... for a girl
But when my nephew born all the sentiments are back.. Again my sister ( Influenced by my mother) wants Lord Venkateswara in her son's name.. my brother-in law wanted a cool telugu name added to it..so Saratschandra.. (Moon in Autumn.. In India Autum u will have no clouds..chilly days and more moon light..so it is very romantic) besides that he want a modern name..we cant have an younger boy with an old fashioned name..so Nikhil..Now he is Paila Venkata Saratschandra Nikhils (PVSN.. :)) My resolution is already broke...
In school my nephew is called as Nikhill..very cool..I cant stop laughing what he will be called when he joins a company in the future..Venkata!!! It is again not a name it is Venkat(a)..the same old story in a new generation...
I wonder If I can do something about names of my kids..God wish me luck and my wife agrees with my views...:) :)
The concept of name it self is very complicated...In Andhra you find people with very very long names..of course I don't need to quote examples, obviously you must have read the fwd with bond..James bond parody..
In Andhra names also don't have a middle name, You have Surname and first name. Interestingly first name not just a single noun but a conglomeration of multiple nouns with Telugu conjunctions. First comes Surname and then comes First name. But in other states you have concept of first name, middle name and surname. Mostly middle name would be father's name. It perfectly fits in the western culture, I am not sure if their middle name also usually father's name .
Well my name is Kancharana Srinivasa Pavan Kumar. Kanharana being my surname. That leaves my first name 'Srinivasa Pavan Kumar'. When I want to fill any form my entire name wont fit in the first name space, so usaully Srinivasa becomes first name and pavan kumar becomes the middle name..which is not it intended to be.. :(
Let me explain the the story behind my name.. My mom is big devotee of Lord Venkateswara (the richest god on the earth.. :)) She feels every time she calls me she will in reality would be reciting the name of god..So srinivas is chosen.. Srinivas is indeed Sri + Nivas.. Sri means Laxmi (the godess of wealth) and Nivas means Place of living. So Srinivas means where godess Laxmi lives.. and she lives in the vakshsthala(heart) of Vishnu. So in essence godess laxmi lives in Lord Vishnu. And Lord Venkateswara is incarnation of Vishnu...
Srinivasa is a very traditional and common name in Andhra.. My dad felt I should have a more modern name.. So he picked up Pavan Kumar..Pavan is Vayu (Air) and Kumar means son..So Pavan Kumar means Son of God Vayu (Hanuman) in andhra he is called anjaneya swami..
At home I am called in short Srinu..Well it is very sentimental.. and I only like my parents and close relatives call me that..
In School we all have the same problem..very very lengthy names..So people have come up with abbreviations.. They are kinda coll..usually 3 to 4 letters..
I used to be called KSPK ( Kanharana Srinivasa Pavan Kumar)
I have frinds like NJB (Nanubolu Janardhana babu) KVDP (Kxxxx Venkata durga Praveen), MJR (Mavuru Jyothiswara Rao), MLR (Mxxx Laxmana Rao), GKP (Gxxx Krishna Prasad), PKP (Pxxx Krishna Prasad) so on..
Even now my school friend call me KSP..When ever anyone refers me KSP in mails etc.. I simply slips into nostalgic waves of my school days..
In my engineering days I used to be called Pavan..I always wanted my friends to called me Pavan... So far so good I am still in Andhra and people understand the logic of names...
But after my engineering I have left Andhra...Then it started...
You know most of the e-mail Ids wont allow the spaces in between words.. And people don't understand logic of andhra names.. If I introduce my self as Pavan..they will get confused when they see a mail from me..because the email-id don't have Pavan..it will be simply Srinivasa.(_) kancharana..
When people reply to my mails they start referring me as Srinivasa..Thats where the problem is...Srinivasa is in reality not a name..it is more like a verb..to give a continuation to my full name
Srinivas(a) Pavan Kumar..So 'a' is for continuation to Pavan Kumar..But as such srinivasa alone is awkward unless some other noun follows it..So I rather prefer people call me Srinivas..but how can I explain..
To make things less complicated..I have shortend my name to 'Srini'..I would always write Srini in my signature so that atleast people call me 'srini' than 'srinivasa'..But not always it works..in this electronic age the display name in your email-id weighs heavier than any other means of expressing it..So it seems I am stuck with 'Srinivasa'...
One resolution I made is I will not let this happen to Kids in my family...
My niece's name is simply Lenina...So no issues..everyone is happy..not really my mom feels it is not a hindu name..but after all the final saying is with the baby's father and he is a fan of Lenin..so it follows Lenin(a)... for a girl
But when my nephew born all the sentiments are back.. Again my sister ( Influenced by my mother) wants Lord Venkateswara in her son's name.. my brother-in law wanted a cool telugu name added to it..so Saratschandra.. (Moon in Autumn.. In India Autum u will have no clouds..chilly days and more moon light..so it is very romantic) besides that he want a modern name..we cant have an younger boy with an old fashioned name..so Nikhil..Now he is Paila Venkata Saratschandra Nikhils (PVSN.. :)) My resolution is already broke...
In school my nephew is called as Nikhill..very cool..I cant stop laughing what he will be called when he joins a company in the future..Venkata!!! It is again not a name it is Venkat(a)..the same old story in a new generation...
I wonder If I can do something about names of my kids..God wish me luck and my wife agrees with my views...:) :)
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