FIVE years

5 years of blogging
A journey that began this week 5 years ago, a journey into the unseen virtual world, a journey of tales and tribunals, a journey to showcase the hidden splendors of the nature, journeys of joy and fun, journey of togetherness, journey of friends, journey of bonding, friendship and togetherness.

The saga of Huchchara Santhe is now at the step of completing ‘five’ years (let me clarify, this journey is only the virtual ‘web’ journey) and believe me, it’s been a fantastic ride all along.

5 years ago, a little known, shy, outspoken introvert decides to pen down his tales, his experiences, and his travels with his friends, egged upon by a like-minded friend, not aware what the virtual world has in store and thus came into existence in the virtual world, ‘Huchchara Santhe’.

A different name, something unique, something crazy… well, its all that we have done, been doing and will do ahead as well, I have received quite a few curious glances and expressions whenever I utter the name of my blog.

Blogging opened up new avenues, new dimensions, new thoughts and ideas came in and the articles started building up and after a slow beginning, the blog started having people follow and some would wait for an update! Humbled!

From only travel articles, new genre crept in with more photo blogs coming and now the blog caters to travel tales, treks, photography, wildlife, nature topics and much more.

With around 1.5 lac page views and about 100+ followers/readers on the blog and Facebook, the blog has tremendously grown much to our surprise and the ‘mouth of word’ reference has been a powerful way in this.

Heartfelt thanks to my boys, the close-knit group without whom probably I would have had no tales to even think of writing upon. Indiblogger.in has been a godsend site with a strong community of bloggers from different genre’s uniting together as a family. Networking sites are an important tool in reaching out to people and they have brought plenty of readers too.

Also, a great set of people who blog, who have fantastic blog to their credit, who have critiqued, appreciated, commented on my blog also have helped it grow tremendously.

A big ‘high-five’ to all of you and hope the support and encouragement continues. Thanks!


On this special occasion, I take privilege in hosting guest blogs of some of the best bloggers whom I’ve been following and who all have a different way of conveying their story to their audience.

Watch out folks!!!

Thanks and Keep Visiting :)

Festive look – the SHOPPERS STOP way!

Let me clarify – this is an entry for a contest hosted on Indiblogger.in for Shoppers Stop and I just couldn’t resist putting up a post for this ;)

My Festival Ensemble

Festivals are always a reason for the families to get together, pray the lord, sweets and savories, new clothes and gifts and winter is always a peak festive season here with a line up of festivals, weddings, peak holiday season and culmination with the farewell of the year.

Creating an ensemble is a rather difficult assignment for me as I’m one impatient guy and satisfying my needs and choices (for colors & designs specifically) are a little difficult for any brand or store.

Browsing through the shoppersstop online portal, I’ve listed out the below combination that works just well for the entire festive season, be it a festival, wedding, get together or for the ethnic days at office/college.


I. Manyavar Kurta Pyjama set

II. Manyavar ethnic Jutis

III. Manyavar ethnicwear Stoles

IV. Revv Ring

V. Watch from the Titan-Classique collection

Hope the ensemble does justice when flaunted during the festive season!

Melbourne wishes!

Hold on! Let me clarify!

I have never been to Melbourne, for that matter to any place outside of India. This post is part of a contest entry on Indiblogger sponsored by Tourism Victoria (www.visitmelbourne.com/in)



Topic: Tell us what experiences you would love to bring back from Melbourne and you could win an all–expenses paid vacation to see them come to life.

Here it goes…
Melbourne is the capital city in the state of Victoria and the second most populous city in Australia. It’s often referred as the cultural capital of Australia. It is the second city to be named a UNESCO city of Literature. It has the largest tram network in the world. Cricket and Football are the reigning sports here.

i) Walking is a good way to explore a new place and I would love to go on the Melbourne Lanes and Arcades walking tours-
Highlights: Discover the secrets and hidden treasures of Melbourne’s lanes and arcades on this small-group walking tour. Immerse yourself in the heritage and culture of this cosmopolitan city, visit local artisans and up and coming fashion designers. The tour will highlight the best that Melbourne has to offer, showcasing local designers whilst acquainting you with the arcades and lanes.

ii) The Balloon flight is an must do activity when in Melbourne and I would be no exception. Melbourne Balloon Flight at Sunrise-
Highlights: One of the few cities in the world that you can soar above in a hot air balloon! In the early morning light your balloon will drift over Melbourne's parks, gardens and the Yarra River as the city comes to life. As your balloon floats above Melbourne you'll look down on some of the city's iconic venues including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Park and Albert Park racetrack.

iii) Trams are an integral part of the transport network of Melbourne and the Yarra river is a major river in the region, how about a Melbourne city tour aboard the Tramcar restaurant? Best of Melbourne City Tour with Colonial Tramcar Restaurant-
Highlights: A scenic cruise on the Yarra River, a comprehensive look at Melbourne's highlights, a visit to the beautiful Blue Dandenongs National Park including a boxed picnic lunch and fine cuisine aboard the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant as you tour the streets of Melbourne.

iv)Being an adventure freak, how can I miss the Eco Adventure Tour & the Echidna Walkabout-
Highlights: Offers fascinating guided night walks in the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges. Echidna Walkabout runs nature ecotrips featuring bushwalking and koala spotting.

v)Road trips are always exciting for me and this should just suit me, Great Ocean Road Day Trip Adventure-

Highlights: Experience one of the world's great coastal drives. There'll be plenty of photo opportunities along the way on the tour. You'll snap wild coastal scenery and pristine beaches bordering the winding Great Ocean Road, peaceful beach townships, majestic rainforest and the rugged Shipwreck Coast.

vi) How about a haunted experience, another adventure, The Haunted Melbourne Tour-
Highlights: One of the most offbeat attractions or activities to do in Melbourne as it challenges the spooky steak in you. You can come face to face with the haunted spooky past of Melbourne. The tour is very informative and fun filled as the entire tour is guided by the famous Australia TV presenter, Drew Sinton.

vii) How can I miss out on a visit to the Melbourne cricket ground and the Albert park race circuit?

All that I need is a dose of excitement, adventure that would leave me gasping and wanting more!

I hope all of you wish me “It’s your time to visit Melbourne now” :) 

Note: All images copyright to the respective authors, sourced from net.

A Spooked tale... SoakNoMore

SoakNoMore

The day I got an email stating registrations are open for the SoakNoMore Surf Excel Matic Indimeet in Bengaluru. I was waiting for this for long and without a second thought I registered myself to attend the event. I was skeptical about attending but nevertheless didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be part of such a huge gathering.

Excitement was the order of the day and nightfall arrived rapidly as if saying ‘enough of your excitement, let’s end the day’! My mind was still occupied with the thoughts of SoakNoMore Indimeet. I was amazed to see so many people with me seated in a corner trying to hide from the MC and the camera flash lights… the person seated in front of me turned around and I could see a monstrous hideous face staring at me! Shivering, I forced myself away to see a green, creepy, slimy thing making its way towards me from the side. The shivering increased and now sweating profusely, I stood up and waved to the MC, all that I could see was a bug like thing with long antennae and spiny skin coming towards me! All that I could hear were them yelling “SkNmr” at me…! I shrieked at the top of my voice and woke up alarmed with a noise! Panting heavily, I was relieved when I realized it was a dream… a scary one!

Next night, the same events recurred and the monstrous, hideous things coming towards me yelling “SkNmr”, “SkNmr” and I capsized in the place where I was seated. I shouted at the top of my voice till a hand fell on my shoulder – I turned around gripping in fear only to realize it was my mom inquiring about me. Pretending a bad dream, I went back to sleep.

Days were moving faster and the nightmares were recurring more often and I could see all sorts of creatures yelling at me and I was losing sleep everyday. I still remember that afternoon at office, after a heavy lunch and with ‘want-of-sleep’ eyes, I just dozed off while sitting in my workplace.

I sensed some movement through the corner of my eyes; I turned slowly in that direction to see a slimy, horrific creature peeping out from my back! As our eyes met, “SkNmr”, “SkNmr” was the only thing it yelled at me as if in protest. I gave it a whack to dislodge it from my shoulder and send it hurtling far away. Relieved just for a second, I saw another one peeping from my trouser pocket and yelling “SkNmr”, “SkNmr” at me! I punched it hard till if fell of my trousers and squashed it under my boots. With a tired evil grin, I looked around in disgust to see a huge, filthy, spiky creature on the collar of my colleague seated beside me yelling “SkNmr”, “SkNmr” at me! Feeling dizzy, I woke up and with a loud shriek gave a hard slap with my book on to his neck. Taken aback by violent shaking, I opened my eyes to see quizzical faces around me asking ‘What was the reason for that hard slap’! Somehow, I survived that day!

The d-day arrived; I finally took part in the SoakNoMore Surf Excel Matic Indimeet in Bengaluru. Had a good time interacting with lot of bloggers, playing games and talking about our writing! I saw lot of large posters of the SoakNoMore and the new product on it. The representative from Surf spoke in length about the new product of Surf Excel Matic where in you need not soak the clothes prior to washing with the use of the new detergent powder. I rode back home satisfied and happy to have been part of the meet with my gift hamper.

A slight movement on my arms woke me and I just spanked on it thinking to be a mosquito. Continuous movements kept me disturbed and finally made me open my sore, sleepy eyes. With my eyeballs popping out in horror, the creature was crawling up on me. I looked in disgust to see multiples of them on my legs, knees, bed, my jacket hung on the door, the dump of clothes kept aside for washing, my bag on the table, on the window and door curtains, literally everywhere in the room! I could hear all of them mumbling “SkNmr”, “SkNmr” and advancing menacingly towards me. Holding my head, I was about to yell at the top of my voice but I sensed a pat on my back. Surprised, I turned to find the MC telling me “SoakNoMore – no more soaking before washing”. It stuck me that all these days what I was hearing to was the same – “SkNmr – SoakNoMore”. I turned around to find no creepies or crawlies around and everything looked normal as always. Then, I realized what were those creatures trying to tell me all these days from the time I registered for the event – “No more soaking”. I laughed hysterically as my eyes fell on the new box of SurfExcel Matic with Vibarting Molecules sitting in the corner. Murmuring SoakNoMore, I went to sleep – a happy and relieved man!

This article has been written for the contest 'Soak No More' on IndiBlogger.

Love after marriage or marriage after love!

Love after marriage or marriage after love!

Scene1: Shyla woke up in a jolt all tensed and sweating profusely. Anxiety was clear on her face and she had all reasons to be so, her marriage was just a couple of days away. She was getting married to Anush, a person she knew nothing about, a person with whom she would be spending her entire life with!

Was Anush a right match for Shyla? Will she be happy? Will her marriage life be all bliss?

Scene2: Krish is busy shopping for a wedding suit along with Piya with whom he is getting married to in a few days time. He knows Piya for more than a couple of years and yes they fell in love and have now decided to enter wedlock. Both look happy at the moment and everything seems rosy!

Are they a perfect match for each other? How long will the happiness last? Will his life after marriage be the same?

Well, this debate can go on and on and there is no end to it… let me pen my thoughts:

All love does not end in marriage and any marriage without love will not survive.

You marry the person you love in a love marriage and you love the person you marry in an arranged marriage – What’s your preference?

i) You get to know a person, start to understand him/her, share with him/her and by the time you get over this phase, a strong bond would have developed between the couple (or you can say love would have blossomed) that acts as a foundation for the rest of your wedded life. This takes time and is a slow process.

In a love marriage, you know the person very well, so there is nothing new to know after marriage, you have to put up to all those positive /negative things that you are well aware of. The understanding levels are high and you are aware of what to expect from your partner.

ii) You marry an individual in a love marriage with / without anybody’s consent. Just the 2 individuals matter here.

An arranged marriage is a bond between two families not only the individuals. 2 Families are under the scanner here, the family background, reputation, living, affordability etc.

iii) Parents may support / may not support love marriages, it’s more of an individual choice and decision for the couple, you chart out your own path more or less.

Parents are the key in arranged marriages – right from the hunt to horoscope matching to discussions to marriage – the path is laid, you just walk on it.

iv) Individual expect more from their partner as they are already know each other and make very few compromises after marriage – expectation levels are very high and ‘may’ lead to altercations.

Knowing nothing about each other, compromises and adjustments are an integral part of an arranged marriage and the compromises / adjustments extend the longevity of the arranged marriages.

v) Parental guidance or family support is absent in the case of a love marriage held without their consent. You are on your own in times of crisis (domestic / financial / nuptial / family) that could lead to more ego clashes and altercations.

Parental guidance / family support are always omnipresent in arranged marriages and they aid the couple in times of any type of crisis.

vi) A small change in behavior can lead to explosive situations in an love marriage (the most common statement being – You weren’t like this before marriage).

Compromises are integral for an arranged marriage to survive.

Scene3: Anush and Shyla are married for more than 8 months now. The initial discords and uncomfortable factor has now vanished and slowly they are seeing the positives and negatives of each other, love is surely blossoming!

Scene4: 8 months into their love wedding, slowly but surely the bliss has reduced and the realities of life are staring them in the face. What seemed to be all good and sundry before marriage is slowly turning out to be irritation!

The above two scenario’s are not the case in every marriage as it can just be the opposite too. A wrong match from the family and the couple suffer to the extreme and supportive parents can bless a love marriage too albeit at a later stage in life.

Wiki says most of the marriages in India are arranged marriages and the divorce rate is just 1.1% compared to the rest of the world.

We often hear the below statements:

You were so caring before marriage, what happened now? (In a love marriage)

You had an affair with another woman? (In an arranged marriage)

You don’t love me as much as you did before our marriage! (In a love marriage)

Your Parents find fault with everything I do! (In an arranged marriage)

…

I’m hugely in favor of an arranged marriage but of late, changing lifestyles, changing trends, globalization, slow and steady increase in divorce rates and a lot of factors are making me think otherwise. Still, for the present I do nod in favor albeit slightly towards an arranged marriage or a self-arranged marriage!

What’s your pick?

Everything expressed above is my individual opinion and every individual have their own in this regard – the debate rages on in the new show on Sony entertainment television – Love marriage ya Arranged marriage, follow their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LoveYaArrange

This unusual post is written be me as a part of a entry for the contest on Indiblogger seen here...

Bangalore bloggers will SoakNoMore

Bangalore Indiblogger meet - #SoakNoMore

Anyone on Indiblogger eagerly waits for an Indimeet at their location. Such is the craze that people travel from different places just to take part and meet up with fellow bloggers and it was no exception this time. There were a few bloggers coming in from Chennai / Hyderabad exclusively for this meet :)

Leo, The Fool, Sibi, Gyanban, Harsha, Tina were all there and also met Pooja, Naba, Thousef, Ghanchakkar, Farida, Suresh and others. This was my first Indimeet and I had no inkling of what to expect, I only expected to meet lot of people! Venue was the Capitol hotel on Rajbhavan Road, Bengaluru. Date and Time - 1:30-5pm on 4th August 2012.

(Master of Ceremonies - Zombie (Anoop))

Anoop (or Zombie) was the MC for the evening supported by Renie, Vineet, Nandita, Karthik, and the many others and he had a list of events planned for the afternoon. Indiblogger meet and no prizes, it can’t be that way – believe me! DVD players, bean bags, gift hampers were the surprise gifts in store for the afternoon.

(the elusive Renie Ravin on Indiblogger)

Introductory sessions with some questions (winners got the goodie’s) of all the bloggers took off very well with interesting lines and comments from different people and some heart felt emotions too. The Indiblogger team had some wonderful games up their sleeves for the evening like lagori, ball in the basket, anagrams and the luckiest winners were the anagram winners with all the participants of Team Orange winning a DVD player! Lots of people got to carry home Bean bags and 6 months supply of Surf Excel and gift hampers too that had conditioners, deodorants and similar stuff.

After an entertaining and energy sapping phase, high tea was served with lots of cakes, sandwiches, and rolls topped up with tea / coffee. After the energizing break was the time for promotion of their Surf Excel (with vibrating molecules) brand by their brand manager who put up a presentation and questions and gave away goodies too.

A final note of thanks by Zombie and the end of the event and an Indiblogger Purple T-shirt and a gift hamper from Surf Excel to bring curtains down on an entertaining afternoon. Zillion thanks to the entire Indiblogger team and Surf Excel for putting up a splendid event and hope the next meet is round the corner :)

All Photo credits to Harsha Chitta who blogs at Curious Dino Photography here

An afternoon with the bloggers

Since I steeped in to the blogging community, I have had no chance to neither meet any blogger nor attend any blogger meets and the meet this time was an informal one just between the members of our group The Bengaluru Bloggers’ Bistro created for the IBL. Well, the event was just an excuse to meet up and I’m glad I did it. Got to meet interesting people who are all experts in their own domain and the exchange of thoughts and ideas was a fair deal, more importantly got to know a lot of new people personally.

Attendees:

Leo: http://artofleo.wordpress.com/

Gyanban: http://www.gyanban.com/

The Fool: http://luciferhouseinc.blogspot.in/

Harsha Chittar: http://curiousdino.blogspot.in/

Sibichen: http://sibi-cyberdiary.blogspot.in/

Tina Basu http://twinklingtinacooks.blogspot.in/

and myself…

Venue: NGV Club, National Games Village, Bangalore

1^st July 2012, 02-05pm hosted by Sibichen Mathew

Lots of information gained, exchanged and in a way you can say ‘a little enlightenment’ and its great to know how people are still passionate about their passion and hope their passion remains as it is.

Got a lot of gyan from the master Gyanban (well, he got this nickname from his workplace) on what he writes, how he writes and well almost everything. Harsha was curious to meet The Fool and we got an insight on how the ‘devil’s workshop’ runs; he’s a multi-tasker. Instantly all of us were pretty envious of Harsha’s job (he watches movies day in and out) and as he rightly said, boredom sets in once you are doing the same job repeatedly. An unknown fact about passionate poet Leo was that he started writing at the age of 9 (well, he’s gifted) and he says ‘I’ll die if I stop writing’; how many of us can have that kind of a passion! Tina, again is a multi-tasker fiddling with cooking, 55 fiction , short stories and anything that interests her. Sibichen, was the only government employee among the group who shared info about his work and his work on fiction, reviews, stories and stuff he writes about.

Some people write only because they want to write, no to please anyone or to meet anybody’s expectations. You write because you want to write and that’s when your creativity, your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas take a shape of a story, a photo, a fiction in the way you want, the way it should be…!

Happy Blogging!

Adios!

A lean, mean biker and his bikes

Me: I have biked on a Java and a Yezdi, the cult bikes!

Audience: Don’t joke buddy, you rode it or it rode you!

Audience2: (to Audience1) Simple maga, he would have just sat on it and the wind would have carried him forward (both laughing loud)!

Me (to myself): Wait people, my day will come (and I stamp out of the place)!

Well, this is no fiction but my actual story :) Looking at my physical fit and size, I’ve always been on the receiving end of the taunts and jokes but that never bothered me as I always took it sportingly and with each such incident my resolve to prove them wrong got all the more stronger and stronger in my heart and mind. I still lack the physical strength but lack no dearth of skill or confidence to maneuver any bike I ride.

Dad’s LML scooter was the bike that I grew up with during my school days and he would often let me once in a while to handle it. His policy was simple, first learn to remove the scooter from the stand, push it for a distance and come back and put it back on the stand and then only he would let me ride it. (Scooters didn’t have side stands then and bikes were very few and far).

College days saw me looking with envy at each bike/scooter on the road and secretly wishing I would get a chance to ride it! Brother’s TVS XL was my next buddy for some months and each time I rode it, I would go zip, zap, zoom leaving others dumbfounded and some yelling at me :) Friend’s bikes were my next target and often I would request/plead to get a ride on it and one such bike was the cult bike the Yezdi. I still remember the day I took the Yezdi for a round around my college and I still remember even harder, the few people who were laughing at that. The sound, the power, the ride left me drooling over the bike and that bike left a lasting impression on me that I still remember and thanks to my friend for having confidence in me and letting me ride it :)

Again my brothers’ Samurai (the No problem bike), Victor and the Splendor were often taken away by me for a ride and I would wait for every opportunity to go to the market or the grocery shop just to go on a ride on the bike. Early job days when I used to commute by bus, my colleagues bikes enthused and often I would be riding a Fiero or an Rx or an Caliber whenever I could get an opportunity and sometimes I would create opportunities for such rides!

Finally after a couple of years later, I was a proud owner of the Bajaj Discover bike that fit into my modest budget delivering high performance and being good on my wallet too. I still remember the long rides I have been on it and sometimes those hair raising rushes through blink miss gaps and also those pleasant drives and how to forget those scratches and bruises when you are either knocked off or fall in the stupid of fashions. As years passed by, I always nurtured a zeal for those heavy racing bikes but right on top of the wish list were the cult Harley-Davidson cruiser bikes. Owning one of them is like a dream seeing their prices in India, but I still hope to ride one of them. A couple of rides on my friends Royal Enfield (the Indian Harley Davidson I would say) changed my perception that I did not deemed myself fit to ride a bullet.

A seed with the secret desire to own one such bike took more than an year to germinate and overpower my negative thoughts and after a lot of infighting for months as to buy or not, a final decision was made and I just walked into the showroom and booked a Royal Enfield Thunderbird all for myself (probably one of those situations when I listened to my heart rather than my head that is still busy calculating ways to sort out the finances). After six months of a long tedious wait, finally the day came when the bike became a part of me and my life.

I sat on the bike, turned the ignition to on and as soon as the electric starter was depressed, the RE came into life growling dub…dub…dub…dub that still echoes and I hope it remains the same throughout… It’s often said a bullet is just not a bike; it’s a part of your life and this you would realize only when you own one and importantly ride one :)

Lastly, ride safe and ride with the conscious that there are others riders too and all of you have the right of way! Speed but do not over speed, Speed thrills but Kills!

and this to all those who taunt me:

Kuch Toh Log Kahenge

Logon Ka Kaam Hain Kehna

Chhodo Bekaar Ki Baaton Mein

Kahin Beet Na Jaaye Raina

Kuch Toh Log Kahenge

Logon Ka Kaam Hain Kehna! :)

This post is for a contest 'What Motorcycling means to the Indian Motorcyclist' sponsored by Castrol. You can find their FB page here.