Recap 2012, Welcome 2013

I traveled a fair bit in 2012 and to many new places and to some familiar jaunts. Overall, the year has been very productive and eventful :)

A long pending visit to Thattekad finally happened and was a very productive trip along with Amit.

Nature and Bird watching trails done covering many lakes on the peripheries of Bangalore – Bannerghatta, Hulimangala, Kaggalipura, Gulakamale, Madiwala, Hesaraghatta and Markonahally lakes with the UGS group (Usual gang of suspects as Deepa Mohan calls it) and others.

Much awaited and long overdue moment of owning a bullet transpired – a proud owner of a Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350cc bike – time for the biker in me to evolve!

Owning a bike and no rides…!

So happened bike rides to Bandipura, Ramanagara, Jalamangala (the only ‘trek’ of 2012) with Guru and a solo ride of about 1000+ kms to Ganeshgudi (Dandeli) and back.

Team outings were scarce and had a good time with the group at Ganeshgudi in March. No more team events, hope for more team outings in 2013!

Attended couple of Indiblogger meets in Bangalore and had a good time and met lot of new people. Took part in lot of contests this year and was rewarded with vouchers and hampers for the same. Being in the top 10 and winning a Samsung phone was another highlight, courtesy Cinthol’s new campaign propagating alive is awesome.

Went with the family on a pilgrimage to the holy temple town of Badrinath in the Himalayas and that was another memorable outing.

Went around Bengaluru city to capture the old-time towers that were the boundaries of the city, the Kempegowda towers that are now almost bang in the centre – how big have we grown!!!

A weekend spent at one of our favored destinations - BR hills.

Took time out to volunteer for wildlife conservation and took part in activities at Gopalaswamy betta and Melagiris forest ranges and the Turahalli habba.

Interest in macro photography and also reptiles/amphibians took me to Goa and Coorg (Honey valley estate). Wish more people visit Goa for its wilderness rather than the beaches and wine!

Visited Hampi and Daroji (for the Sloth bears) with a new team and was a fun trip all along.

Prashanth, a college mate working in Dubai – met him after 10 long years (connected back through Facebook) and him having similar interests helped matters the more.

November was a quiet month with only a drive to Ganeshgudi happening with KKT, who again is being introduced to wildlife and photography by self.

The highlight trip of the year – maiden solo trip for a fortnight to Gujarat happened in December and was very enjoyable and eventful, had a lifetime experience there and traveling solo has its pros and cons. Heartfelt thanks to Falguna Shah (from Ahmedabad) for helping me out on this and many others whom I met through the course of the trip.


The blog has evolved more over the year and has gained me more friends, more audience, more followers and has gained more popularity. Sincere thanks to all who take out time and come here to read this, I hope to live up to the expectations!

Watch out – much more to come!

2013 looks promising and I hope it brings with it more travel, new locations, new people and overall more growth as an individual :)