Wet season in Darwin

Most tourists come to Darwin during the dry season. God knows what they do. Most places are dry and the grass actually starts to turn brown in June. Nothing special happens at that time. However, the weather is very steady and the temperatures vary from 23-30C.

But we realised that the wet season is the most spectacular time of the year. There is spectacular lightning and thunder. Don't forget the rains and we got it in buckets loads and we have had continuous rains for 4 days. This is accompanied by flooding. Of course, not in Palmerston. The whole of NT turns green and all the billabongs are filled up. There are water flowers everywhere.

We were at Fogg dam and enjoyed some spectacular scenery and weather. Enjoy the pictures.

Back in Darwin

In KL as house guests and they were such lovely people
Swish KL

Not so swish but excellent Bukit Lawang Forest camp dinner

River crossing in Bukit Lawang

Forest camp Bukit Lawang

Majestic Orangutan

Bechak ride in Bukit Lawang

We are finally back in Darwin. We took a flight from Tiruchy to Kuala Lumpur by Airasia. Mahima joined us at KL. We flew Medan in Indonesia and were driven in taxi to a place called Bukit Lawang. This was Radhesh's wish to see the Orang utan in the wild. We stayed there for nearly 5 days. The place was beautiful with wild forests on very tall steep mountains. Radhesh and Mahima walked with Murdoch and Williams for nearly 5 - 7 hours in a single stretch

Kate and Shirley are here

Henna applied

After washing the henna offFrom atop Tiruchengode

Huge granite mountain at Tiruchengode

Temple at Bhavani

Temple elephant "blessing" worshippers

Kate and Shirley turned up after all after much expectations. However, their arrival was not without drama, thanks to Kate. Kate missed the flight to Hong Kong from Melbourne - well, you should believe that. So she became late Kate and Shirley early Shirley (Radhesh came up with these).

K and S are enjoying all the attention that they missed out at home. They are also going through interesting times in terms of food. More than the item of food, they normally ordered many more from the menu with the result they ended up eating only once in a day. Also a few problems with the type - when they wanted poori, they got parotta or vice versa. However, the best part is they didn't get a Shane Warne belly by strictly following the advice on just eating only vegetarian food. Otherwise, imagine getting baked beans from Woolies.

K and S got a nice henna tattooed. The colour and design turned out to be great. Manoranjitham did a great job on them too.

They are both in Ooty and they return on Saturday.

NT Forensics

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/10/2487760.htm?section=justin

NT forensics personnel Kym Chilton and Gino Rob are off to Victoria to help identify the victims killed in the fires. This is indeed a very tragic time in Australia and NT forensics personnel are highly skilled and experienced from performing forensics during Bali bombing and East Timor tragic events. We have worked with Kym and he is a very efficient and meticulous man. All the very best.

Figure this one

All university exams and classes in Tamil Nadu have been suspended indefinitely to protest against the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The local Tamil Nadu Government has been protesting strongly against the war in Northern Sri Lanka and political parties of all hues have taken up this protests of conscience. However, on Telly we are now watching the third one day international cricket test between Sri Lanka and India! Go figure that.

Kurai ondrum illai

Radhesh played this song on the flute. The song was composed by Rajaji and became famous through MS.

Murali's Inner Peace

Murali has produced a flute album titled "Inner Peace". The album was recorded entirely in Chennai. The album has melodious music played in the Hindusthani style. Murali also hired a tabla player in Chennai to accompany him. The music is indeed very peaceful. Murali, Keep it up. The recording is very clear and crisp. Here is a short snippet.

Ananth's Wedding

The traditional music party at the wedding playing the Nadaswaram and Thavil

Murali and Rad at the wedding. Murali taught Radhesh to play the flute

Ananath and Darshini on the oonjal (swing) as part of Tamil wedding

Ananth and Darshini got married in Chennai on 21 Jan. They both make a gorgeous couple. We met up with our friends from Adelaide some of whom we are seeing after about 4 years. Radhesh and I went to the wedding and Mythily couldn't come as she had to conduct Uni exams for her college.

We also met up with Murali and family. Murali taught Radhesh to play the flute when we were in Adelaide. Murali has brought his first musical album. I will put up a few snippets from this album hopefully tomorrow.


At the Wedding we met up with Tahlia and Gary, Ananth's mate, who had come all the way from Melbourne. My special interest Tahlia is vegetarian. Keep it up Tahlia. She probably had a great time in India as far as food is concerned as India is the heaven for vegetarians. Also check out their blog http://tahliaandgarylostinindia.blogspot.com/, They have got some cool photos of the wedding.

Reunion

With Harry at KREC beach

St.Cecily's

Snake in the grass

Radhesh playing the flute

The reunion group

We had a reunion after 25 years at KREC, Surathkal with my batchmates who studied engineering course with me. However, out of about 300 of us, about 20% only could make it and others still were attached to it from a distance. Although I am seeing most of them after 25 years it was remarkable that I could recognise most of them. With some it was easy, like Shankar, Navin, Revankar (he actually looked better with age), Madhukar rao, Baba, Raju, Venkataramani, etc., hadn't changed very much at all. Others had a completely new look about them. I had completely forgotten most of their names and needed a bit of help. Mythily knew most of them and so we had a great time. The guys who organised this had done a neat bit of organising. We are in touch with each other through Yahoo groups.

The guys had come from far and wide. From Australia there was just Harry and myself. There are 2 others who live Sydney who couldn't make it.

The best part was Radhesh thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The college, it is on the same terms as an Aussie Uni, has a lot of concrete dropped on the campus at a number of places. Like any other Government establishments in India, this one also needs a lot of looking after from some responsible people. Only question is where are they. Can you believe this college has its own beach.

We watched a cricket match between St Aloysius and FRMCC, Moodabidri. Nothing much has changed there. We also saw a snake behind the Chemical engineering department.

I think it is NH 17 - what a sorry state it was in. How could people put up with this type of nonsense from the Highways Department just beats me. The whole place was dug up, then a good stretch of road, suddenly bad stretch, then no road, etc. Why bother paying road tax for this treatment. The bus drivers were driving like those from Mad Max and produced situations fit to be scenes from American movies with car chases.

Mythily went to St Cecily's the school where she studied at Udipi. She was totally thrilled and took a photograph of her being pushed by her sister from the steps in her school.

We are well here

Many of our mates have enquired if we were ok following the recent Mumbai attack. Although we are nearly 1500km away, we were shocked by the violence of it all. It is beyond me to understand why would anyone should unleash such violence on anyone. However, one wonders in a region where religions and great ideas were floated freely not very long ago, many violent incidents are happening on a daily basis. This region had openly invited anyone who wanted to be a part of it. Yet there is so much violence today. I am also adding mental violence to it- promoting differences, caste, classs, economic, etc. The old thoughts in the subcontinent were that all religions must be secular, spirituality scientific and business social. Suppression, exclusivity and fear are making the region violent. More inclusivity would make the region more peaceful. Would this happen? I doubt it. Such differences, I think, have been responsible for foreign domination. There is a saying in Tamil கூடி வாழ்ந்தால் கோடி நன்மை. This nice rhyming statement means you live together and there are millions of benefit.

Wasim Akram, one of those brilliant Pakistani bowlers, made some sensible statments. He says that he considers India as his second home. I doubt if any Indian cricketer would dare say that.

There were also a number of high political dramas after the unfortunate attacks if you had not already read about them -

• a Chief Minister was driven out of the house of a slain soldier,


• Another Chief Minister announced cash rewards for soldiers while the commando operation was going on,


• Politicians commenting about the frequency of such incidents,


• Condaleeza Rice visiting at an unfortunate time and blaming Pakistan, etc.

However, the most disturbing aspect was the media using what could be termed "embed" method. The media was almost alongside the fighting commandos. Some channel even broadcast a telephone conversation with a terrorist. Media liberty is fine but I expect them to be responsible and sensitive.

Soon after the Mumbai attack, some magazines commented that the commandos did not have basic, atleast in these modern times, equipment. One item that attracted my attention was the helmet worn by commandos did not even communication ear plugs! I hope this is not true since almost any motorbike rider in Australia seems to have it.

There were also others who pointed while such attacks were being carried out on a daily basis on poorer populations in India, the entire country is being 'outraged' because a few rich people and their properties were attacked. While this is cynical, there is some truth in it.

What I would like to see is a single India that is united, being inclusive, ready to accept others and their opinions, and make useful contributions to the world. An inclusive India is also very essential for the betterment of this world.

Picture - a waterfall near Ooty.

Gorkhas and Britain

Gorkhas and other non English people have been with the British Army fighting many wars for them. I read with some interest that these soldiers of fortune were mostly from the subcontinent and more of them were killed than the British themselves. The soldiers that survived had to fight the British Government for their rights and entitlement. War offshored one could say. And very convenient too. Fighting for Gorkha soldiers rights, recently, British Actress Joanna Lumley threatened to give up her British Citizenship and take up Indian Citizenship.

Would you do this?

Picture from www.hindu.com

I saw this extraordinary picture in the local newspaper, The Hindu. All this for a living? I really have to kick those political leaders who have put these hapless people at such great risk. I do understand that the infrastructure cannot cope with this kind of demand. But then the leaders, industrialists and people should do something to let people work with some dignity. This is almost along the same lines as the wilderbeast migration.

Mudumalai I

A wild tusker in the night
Indian Gaur

Monkey invitee to the party

Hanuman Langur with a baby

Mudumalai is about 60km from Ooty and the sanctuary has tigers, deers, leopards, elephants, Indian Gaur, hyenas, monkeys, etc. The whole place, like any other public place in India, is badly managed, but beautiful. We went on a night safari and even saw a wild elephant.

Ooty II

Visibility down to 10m or less

Thick fog

We went from Ooty to Mudumalai via Gudalur. The road downhill was mostly good. But the visibility was very poor to less than 10m because of thick fog. But there were idiots again who were driving real fast. Scary stuff.

Another wildlife sanctuary - Ooty I

Ugly houses amidst some beautiful meadows

Scary tree in Ooty Botanical Gardens

Ooty is also called Blue mountains

A rivetted bridge built in about 1920

We went to the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary since there was a chance we could spot a tiger and Radhesh wanted to chance it. The sanctuary wasn't very far from my residence, about 120km away, and up in the hills.

We had to go through Ooty which is a nice hillstation and much cooler than Darwin or Erode. Apparently, this was the defacto capital of the British in the South. Hence the place has many suburbs named after English suburbs such as Charing Cross, etc. The old houses are still around and they are typically English. Many tea estates still have the British touch. But the buildings of recent times are just ugly and are not befitting of the rest of the surroundings.

Driving is a nightmare in India and Ooty is no exception. You can see dumbos driving at 60k at hairpin bends with total disregard for their and others safety. Are they high, drunk, or just the lack of oxygen at these heights make them behave in such a atrocious fashion?

Elephants and monkeys

Well-fed, naughty, bold and free monkeys and well-fed, but enslaved elephants, especially the one in the temple.

Submissive or arrogant or both

Last weekend we went to the Western Ghats in the hope Radhesh can see elephants, tigers and other wildlife. We went to two locations - Topslip and Valparai (meaning tail-like rock).

Before reached Pollachi enroute to Topslip, we came across huge windfarms. The windfarms are situated across a pass (about 70Kms) in the Western Ghats and winds rush in from Arabian sea and, possibly, Indian Ocean. Good to hear that India is the fourth largest country in the world in producing wind energy.

Topslip was disappointing. The roads were horrible and I even wondered if the govt is paying the employees. But then the employees are making their own money. We had a very reluctant ride on an elephant. The ride was most unpleasant for the elephant and also to us. We will never do this.

Valparai was much better. That was just the drive up the mountain. The town was very dirty and we decided not to stay up there. But the drivers on the road were the worst. This says something about the character of these drivers. I felt that these people were very generally submissive and that means they are also arrogant to other submissive people. However, poor people were the ones that were strong and truthful. Let's pray and hope the whole country is not full of submissive people.