100km Ride! Finally...

Today, Apr 18th is Bangalore Bandh due to Cavery issue row. I hope the conclusion will be fair. But this did not stop us from going for Cycling early in the morning.

Every Saturday, Bangalore Cyclist Group organizers "SAMBAR" ride which will be a long ride of almost 100km. I will  be involved with other activity on weekends and hence miss the opportunity to ride with the team.

However, Yesterday I was mentally prepared to go for the SAMBAR. Having it mentally prepared,I did not wanted to lose this opportunity and hence I went for the full preparation.

I bought Cycling shorts, Water Bottle holder, ORSS for dehydration, Banana and Chocolates for the protein. Hmmm.. I have done my self check list. Also checked the Cycle Tyre pressure and cycle condition. Both were good. 

So, The ride for me will start from 4:15am from Marathalli. The plan is to go the Airport and then to Airlines hotel in MG road. 

I had to be special early bird and hence slept early with mobile at a good distance from me with alarm loaded.

I started the ride from Marathalli along with Philip. The meetup point was Esteem Mall, Hebbal.

We reached Hebbal at 5:15am. Folks kept adding in and finally the group was of 40 members. We were all set for a ride to Airport from Esteem mall.

Morning Beauty

The journey was amazing the scenic beauty , wind kissing the face, group of cyclist made the journey even great.

After reaching Airport we took a 10min break and back to Airlines hotel. Had a good breakfast there and also had to pay the double the amount as Bang was on strike :-( But it was fun to have breakfast with new folks. I made a couple of friends too :-).
We then took the Silk Board to Marathalli.

It was an awesome 100km ride :-)

The Route was : Marathalli - Hebbal - Airport - Hebbal - MG Road - Silk Board - Marathalli.

Team BCG

Cycle Day

When I moved to Bangalore on Oct 2014, I had an option to buy a bike or a Cycle. Since I had chosen a rented house near office I preferred having a Bicycle. I wanted to cycle because it would add value for my health and also it helps being part of Go Green :-). Also It had been long time cycling after my school days.

I bought the Phantom Zip Rider on Oct 12 and since then I have been associated with Bangalore Cyclist Group and learnt a lot from them.

I had both good and bad experience with Cycle but most of it has been good. I was hit by bikers twice due to congestion in the traffic, both were minor. In Bangalore this is expected where everyone is urgent to reach their place irrespective of time. But again I learned from these experience. I also had many flat (Puncture) in the tyre, later the cycle vendor investigated and replaced it with the new one as it was old stock and hence the issue.

After I bought cycle, I was a bit more health conscious hence invested some time in health.
I got many friends from the cycling event and most of them were extreme cyclist, It was a surprise to see that they would ride for almost a day and never showed the exhausted feeling.

The last Sunday, we in ARM organised Cycle Day. Almost 40 people turned up for the event and it was a great weather to ride on Sunday morning as it had rained the previous night.
40 folks was a great number, being a part of organising team made me happy. We had a loop of almost 14km and it was great. We started with few stretches and then went for a ride.

Ride Along was our team slogan, motivating folks to use cycle for daily commute and also we discussed about the benefit of cycle rides.

After the ride, we had a healthy breakfast. We enjoyed the morning session  :-)

Team ARM - Ride Along

Nandi Trip

Nandi Hills is situated at 60km far from Bangalore. It was a sudden plan and we decided to visit the Nandi Hills.

This is the first time I am visiting Nandi Hills. I have heard about the beautiful sunrise, broad road and good place for morning exercise or to visit temple.

We were 7 members altogether and we went by Car.

We left Marathalli at around 3.30am, we were surprised to see the traffic at this time as well. Since the route from Bangalore to Nandi hills is also the way to Bangalore Airport, we assumed people are catching the flights or travelling home as it was Saturday. Hmmm, still traffic at early morning :-o

Since, couple of my friends visited the place before , they knew that the Nandi hills authority will not allow the vehicle before 6am. So, we went in steady pace and did not hurry. We also managed to have a pit stop near road side tea shop having tea. We all love Chai, isnt it.

Beautiful Day 

The traffic at Nandi hill was huge, we stalled in queue along with others. There were people in their vehicle waiting for the Gate to open up. We reached the Nandi Hills at around 5:30am, and at around 6am we were let in. It was 10 km inside from where we were waiting.

The place was filled with people, the weather was calm and beautiful. It was kind of pleasant view, no much of fog or cold.

Anyway the place was beautiful, we relaxed have chit chats.

Later we returned from Nandi Hills, had a break fast near the main road.
We reached back to Bangalore by 9:30am .

Small trip, Less time, New place.. Fun :-)

Touch the Sky

Love Life King Size :P

Gokarna Trip

"The most valuable antique is an Old Friend"
-Unknown

It has been almost 10 years after our primary schooling and it feels wonderful that we  still are in touch with each other.

Gokarna trip was with my chaddi-buddies.

Gokarna is known for its beach and temples. It is a touristic small town centered around temples with pilgrims coming throughout the year. Our trip was planned for relaxation and to spend time with group.

We were a total of 6 members, 2 from Bangalore and the rest from Mangalore. From Bangalore, we planned our commute by Bus as the distance was about 550km, whereas on the other end we bought a rent car for the commute from Mangalore to Gokarna as the distance is approx 270km. Krishna was the taking charge of the ride.

Kudle Beach

The trip was planned for 2 days and 1 night. We choose Kudle beach as our halt place. The other option was Om Beach, we assumed that it will be over crowded there and hence didn't choose Om Beach.


From Bang, we reached Kudle beach around 10am on Sat morning, after the resort checkin and a light breakfast in nearby resort made us more comfortable. Mangalore folks joined us at around 11am.



We booked Kudle Beach Resort and to our surprise it was very decent and that too beach side.
The venue was perfect for us and we were very happy.

Kudle beach was beautiful, it was less crowd as assumed and everything seemed perfect for the 2 days trip. The only worry was the weather - hot and humid. It was very hot in the afternoon and being in shore made us to sweat as we were walking towards beach resort. We decided not to roam in the afternoon time as it will drain our complete energy.

Lunch Time :-)

After check-in kudle resort, we had lunch in resort, had few chit-chats from schooling memories and present lifestyles, played cards and so it went on.

It was already evening now, as we set to visit Om Beach. We planned to hang out at night at Kudle beach and hence did not want to miss Om Beach either. Om beach is hardly 7-8km from Kudle beach and as we had vehicle, the commute was much easier.

PC: Avil

Om beach was also beautiful but with more crowd. We had snaps here and there. Lot of tourist were also present.
There were folks playing football, I and Krishna joined them for an hour after which we got into the beach.

The evening weather was calm and with breeze. We relaxed there for an hour -more watching beauty of the nature and then around 8pm we set to go back to Kudle beach. We spend around 3hours here.

Beach + Bottle + Friends 

After freshening up, we carried the bottles and food and settled on beach. We also had a lot of companies, most of them Indian's and it set the mood right. Beach, Bottle, Friends wow the moment spent were memorable. We were there till 4am in the beach and then we back for sleep in resort. And the very long evening went calm :-).

Next day we were ready by 10am after freshening up, we checked out of resort at 11am and headed towards Om Beach - Namaste Cafe, as we heard the breakfast is good.

On the way to Om Beach, the car slide to a small pond. Even though there was no visible damage to car and nearby tyre, there was sound near tyre when we started to move again. And the worst thing was Sunday's all-most all the Car Repair shop were closed in Gokarna. We had to go to outside Gokarna to check for mechanic and that to the chances were 50-50 only.

Since, the weight might also add more damage, we dropped other folks in Om-Beach and Krishna and I took a ride to visit the car doctor. We found the bike mechanic and he told it wont impact much after some observation. We did not wanted to take risk and hence planned to move out of Gokarna approx 10km, on the way we experienced no sound and the ride was smooth there was no sign of any damage experienced. Also ,tough luck we did not find any mechanic in outskirts of Gokarna. We though it should be ok and then returned to Om beach  and joined other folks in Namaste Cafe.

Namaste Cafe is famous point for restaurant. Since we were late we skipped breakfast and ordered beer and main course. We spend our afternoon here. We had power nap in the beach side too.

Around 5pm,we left to visit Mahabhalleshwar temple. It is famous temple here. After visit to temple we planned to disperse. Mang folks left us near the check post around 6pm as they had to reach around 10pm. I and Renee spend time having snacks and discussing on random stuffs until VRL bus came to pick us.

Enjoyed the 2 days with friends, happiness cannot be put in words :-)

"Happiness is meeting Old Friends after a long time apart and feeling that nothing have changed"

Rotti-Kallu Outing

After a long wait for Team Outing, we finally decided March 14th and 15th to go to Rotikallu Resort, Saklespura.  This was an unofficial Team Trip. We were a total of 8 members.  Many of our friends could not join because of their personal commitments. We did not delay the trip as the summer would not be preferred for the relaxed Team Outing.

Rotikallu Resort is located in Saklespura (~28km from Saklespura town).

Morning Beauty

Yay! :-)

The advantage of Western Ghats was clearly visible with scenic beauty, green coffee plantations, enchanting mountains along with stream and weather was better.

We were all set to leave to Rotikallu at 7:30am, a little here and there made us to leave Bangalore at around 8:15am after a cup of tea in Harish's house. Since we were 8 members, two vehicle was comfortable. Harish and Vinayak had bought their car for the trip.

Group Pic after Breakfast. PC: Manju

After an hour of ride, we stopped at Mayur for breakfast. Mayur had a small park also and the kids enjoyed playing here. The breakfast was delicious. We had a variety of food - idle, vada, Puri, dosa ..etc

With music and discussion on random topic made the journey lively. We reached Rotikallu at 1pm. There were other people also present and the resort seemed to be packed with visitors.



As it was lunch time without delay we were ready for Lunch. Akkirotti with chicken curry was delicious :-). The lunch was good. There were water games arranged and we got ready for the same.

In Water games, there were couple of swing rides, walk on rope and other small activities. We all tried each of them and it was fun. We also spent time in water playing, relaxing. The kids (Samrat and Vihan) were also excited and were busy playing in water. We also had lot of photo-shoot in the water as our Professional Photographer Vijay was taking them in his SLR.

Swing :-)

:-)

Kids Enjoying in white boat :D

Relax madi :-)

Swing :-)

Hanging in there

After the water sports, we played Volleyball in water. Rotikallu also had Cricket, water throwball, badminton court with them , these were occupied by other folks. It was fun playing volleyball in muddy water. We ended up outdoor activity at around 5:30pm and headed for snacks.

Volleyball

Basketball? :D

After bath, we were all set for camp fire and chit chats. The camp fire was made separate to each group and it was good. We started with our drinks ,starter's and lot of gossips.  It was fun to pull each others leg and evening was going smooth.

We had dinner at 10:15pm and resumed our chit chats and continued till 11pm. As we were tired of journey and outdoor games, we planned for early sleep. Before we had planned to play cards, Uno but could not play. Also Rotikallu volunteers had planned for a trek in the morning and we thought of giving a try.

We got up around 7pm but could not go for a trek, it was already sunny. We then played Uno,Cards and also badminton until breakfast which was served at 9:30am.
After the breakfast we relaxed for some more time. We were ready at around 1pm to leave back to Bangalore.We also managed to get some group pics here and there.

On the Hills!

Group in Jeep

Manju at Gym

On the way back , we also visited a small water falls. Then we stopped near Saklespura for lunch.

The journey back was more of silent and relaxation, enjoyed the music tracks after the resort fun.
We stopped at adiga's for evening tea/coffee.

We reached Bangalore at 7:30pm. Harish's house was last meeting point from where we departed.

 It was an awesome Week-end with friendly colleagues :-)

Group at Rotti-Kallu :-)

Art and Craft Exhibition

“With crafting, you can never make a mistake because it's your own unique creation.” 
― Heidi Rew

Arts and Crafts involves many activities that are made by using one's own hands.
The creativeness of this activity is that they are created from junk or un-wanted things that are around us, be it newspaper, straws.. etc (Most of them) which we usually throw after the usage and we never bother to pick them up for better use and also apart from it, be it Painting, collections will stay longer as we try to preserve them as assets.

Today, March 13th 2015, In ARM, we had "Arts and Craft's Day", this was to encourage the employees to exhibit their talent on this field and also to motivate others.

I was surprised by the creativity by the arts showcased by fellow-mates. The first question that popped up in my mind is "Where these guys find time to create all these awesome things?". I understand that these task is time consuming and also requires a lot of patient. The answer was simple - I don't get time to write this blog, but I take time to write. Similarly, they will take Arts and Crafts as priority and as passion and work along. Even I can try some crafts activity, I believe it will take time but learning is always fun :-).

The Exhibition involved - Sketches and Paintings, Photography, Paintings on canvas, scrapbook, cards..etc, Quilling / Greeting Card / Frames, Clay Models, Leather work, Earring Holder, Oil canvas paintings, Photo frames, Crochet work, Pencil sketch, Photographs.

Below are the few snaps of Arts and Crafts that were exhibited :

Clay work and Decorative

Clay Model

Leather work

Painting

Painting

Toy Photography

Sketches and paintings

     

Painting

Decorative

Painting

Earrings,Frames and Fabric painted stuff

Photograph

Photograph

Quilling / greeting cards / frames

People who own them (Not in order): 
Fabina
Anand
Malay
Gaurav
Shyam
Devyani
Jishnu
Priya and Chindu
Swaroopa
Neelima
Roji George
Rajeev
Malay
Saroj
Sejal
 - Thanks to these People, the exhibition was amazing


"Keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about"
-Marilyn Monroe

ARM Team Outing

"Team Outing are always important for employees to get a break from work" :D

Club Cabana : Entrance

On Feb 18th 2015, ARM SC team had been for Team outing. We choose Club Cabana as our outing place. As the team outing was planned for only single day, we were enthusiastic in exploring the club in given short time. This was my first team outing with ARM Team as I joined recently :D.

Club Cabana had a variety of outdoor games, water sports and also indoor games as activities.

We started from ARM office, Doddanakundi at around 8:30am and reached the Club at 10am as planned. Luckily , we did not encounter much traffic as the Aero Show 2015 was kicked off the same day and our PM Narendra Modi was about to visit for the inauguration. 

Break-fast 

On reaching the Club, we had welcome drink and a good breakfast. We had 4-5 varieties in breakfast and it was delicious.

We were 40 members all together and we had to split to explore the Club Resort.




I joined playing Cricket and we played for 2 hours. Other's enjoyed playing Tennis, Badminton, TT, Volleyball and Basket Ball. It was fun playing with Team with which you are working. The fitness level came into our account and we had to sweat it out. 

Cricket

Badminton!

After the game , we relaxed a bit, also played Archery and Bowling before going to Lunch. Lunch was buffet system as most of the Club's. Both Veg and Non-Veg were served and the food was Ok not that great as expected from Breakfast.

Archery

Jacuzzi

After the lunch, we all got into the Pool for relaxation and some rides. 

We spent more time in Lazy river after lunch, this was relaxing. We also enjoyed by pulling each other in Lazy river.

After this, we had wave pool, couple of water rides and Jacuzzi to spend the evening.We came out of water games by 4:30pm.

We had Pakoda, Bread with Tea as snack in the resort. Had some chit chat and laughs during snacks and finally we left by 5pm bidding good-bye to Club Cabana, It was a nice day with team outside work.

Reached back to Doddanekundi at around 6:15pm and from here we dispersed to our home.

It was a Good Day :-)

ARM SC Team