Learning For The Day - Rukmini Devi Arundale

Till today, in fact a few hours before this post, I was unaware of the existence of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Funny earlier and it's a life fact now that, as one discovers and comes across more things unknown, it appears one knows a lot lesser than what was thought earlier. That's the joy of discovery and learning.

Came across her profile in the India Today's special issue of 60 Greatest Indians. An interesting fact - she was offered the Presidency by Morarji Desai which she declined. Would've been good to have a danseuse as our President. Unlike the present one, who doesn't quite do justice to her more illustrious lineage . Hope there's no dent to the President's honourable chair during this term. So far so good, Smt. Patil-Shekhawat has been. No action is also good action. And as the elections draw close, I feel India is terribly missing Mr. Pramod Mahajan. That will be another post, but Mr. Mahajan, India needed you and one moment of insanity took us away from you. You were the best Prime Minister our nation never had. Rest In Peace, Pramodji.

Photos From The North East Trip

As Partha correctly points out here, it was not exactly the North East that we know as. Nevertheless, it was originally planned as a North East trip and hence the name shall remain. A picture is worth a thousand words they say and all the photos from the put together would be close to a million words. You can find all the photos from the trip here, but the traveler suggests that you wait for the blog posts about the trip coming up over the weekend. That's the plan at least.

Meanwhile, have a look at the albums. Sets rather, as flickr calls it. It is a really neat service and totally worth the $25 I paid for a yearly paid account.

Bhutan	Nepal	Gangtok
Changu Lake	Kolkata	Siliguri
Tiger Hill	Darjeeling	Kurseong

Back

The subject is back after the trip. Photos and the post will be up soon.

Going To North East

One will be going to the North East for ten days from Friday. Should be fun.


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Update: Got myself a Flickr pro account and was going through some older photos. Came across this one from June 2006. Not too long back. Such fun it was.

Were We Wayanad

Two boys. Two states. Two rivers. Two dams. Visits to places of death of two men who gave the British a hard time. Two national parks. Two nights in God's Own Country. Ruins of two ancient Jain temples. Lots of fun.

Photos and details coming soon. Notes from the scrapbook.


Day 1

Pole's call-> CMH Road ->IISc-> Kaveri Hostel confusion->Sap's quick camera tutorial->Petrol Pump, leaving the helmet behind->Ramanagaram->Maddur->Maddur Tiffany's->Satyagraha Memorial->Srirangapattana->Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple->Tipu's place of death->Dungeons->Commemorative Obelisk->Delhi Gate->Watergate->Jama Masjid->Sangam->Nimishamba Temple->Gumbaz(36 pillars for 36 years)->Mandya->Mysore->Lunch at Kamat Upachara->Nanjangud->Teppotsava(Full moon day)->Gundlupet(Return for fuel)->Bandipur WLS(Elephants)->Chill in the air->Ponkuzhi->Closed Jain Temple->Sulthan's Bathery->Vijaya Tourist Home->Hot Water->Hotel Kalapakam(Cool Hotel!)->End Of Day

Day 2

Sulthan's Bathery->Jain Temple->Phantom Rock->Meenmutty Falls->Karapuzha Dam->Museum at Ambavalam(Vijaya H S Polpully)->Edakkal Caves->Closed, pleading to no avail->Mastering Macro->Declare March 22 Macro Day->Kalpetta->Rain->Search for a hotel with hot water->Arun Tourist Home->Megha Tourist->Choosing Arun Tourist->Food at Udupi Restaurant->Mallu Rice->Women high is not high!->Chundale tea estateVythiri->Pookote Lake->Rowing->Kayaking->Physics and Chemistry of Kayaking->AnchoorTea Estate->Banasura Dam(Earth Dam!)->Kalpetta->Hotel Woodlands->Lady wanting to drink the pink thing->Hotel Pankaj->Kalpetta

Day 3

Start at 6:30 from Kalpetta->Jain Temple ruins #1-> Pole's bruise->Pole asking for a photograph and not their photograph->Jain Temple ruins #2->Mananthavady->Udupi Hotel(again! Best Kerala Parattas)->Pazhassi Raja memorial->Kuruva Island->Bavali->Kachda Road->More Kachda Road-> Spotting deer->Some more Kachda Road->H D Kote->Mysore->Lunch->Chamarajanagar Coffe Day->Bangalore Corporation.

Way To Wayanad

Is this blog dead or what? In the middle of a few good and a few not so good things, Pole and I are heading out to Wayanad on his Shine. Should be fun. Here's to tripping, more of which is coming soon.


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23 And Me

Damn you, Anne Wojcicki. And you think you can do it just because you are the wife of Google's co-founder?

I've been thinking of 23andme as the title of a blog post on my 23rd birthday for the last 28 years. And then Anne Wojcicki comes out of nowhere and names the genetic thing 23andme. Conspiracy, I tell you. But then, no conspiracy can stop me from winning the Ig Nobel Prize for the following postulate. And yes, I came up with this and am immensely proud of this discovery.

23 is the smallest two digit prime number which is smaller than the square greater than itself.

Life at 23, is either as simple or as complicated as this.

Update: Once, twice, thrice and for all, here's the final thing. Much thanks to Kunaal. I'll definitely mention you in the acceptance speech.

23 is the smallest two digit prime number which is closest to the square greater than itself.

Huh.