Karthik's Blog

ICC World cup - 2011 - Cricket season begins again..

2011-02-01T02:53:00.000-08:00

The countdown for the most awaited cricket world cup 2011 has began. As we all know the world cup event will start from feb 19- 2011 onwards. The 10th world cup is hosted in 3 countries including India along with Bangladesh and SriLanka. There are 14 teams participating. This world cup has 42 matches at group stages and 7 matches at knockout stage to decide who will lift the prestigious world cup.

The Mascot for the ICC world cup 2011 is called the jumbo. The world cup trophy has making rounds to all the cities in India and people are crazy to have a glimpse of it.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is a running trophy, presented to the winning team since 1999. It was designed by Garrard & Co within 2 months. The original trophy is kept with the ICC at headquarters in Dubai. The winning team is given a replica. The only difference between the two is that the original has the names of all the previous winners inscribed on it.

Schedule of ICC World Cup - 2011

First Round
1	Sat	19 Feb	08:30	India	V/S	Bangladesh	Dhaka
2	Sun	20 Feb	04:00	New Zealand	V/S	Kenya	Chennai
3	Sun	20 Feb	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	Canada	Hambantota
4	Mon	21 Feb	08:30	Australia	V/S	Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
5	Tue	22 Feb	08:30	England	V/S	Netherlands	Nagpur
6	Wed	23 Feb	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	Kenya	Hambantota
7	Thu	24 Feb	08:30	South Africa	V/S	West Indies	New Delhi
8	Fri	25 Feb	08:30	New Zealand	V/S	Australia	Nagpur
9	Fri	25 Feb	04:00	Bangladesh	V/S	Ireland	Dhaka
10	Sat	26 Feb	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	Pakistan	Colombo
11	Sun	27 Feb	08:30	India	V/S	England	Bengaluru
12	Mon	28 Feb	08:30	West Indies	V/S	Netherlands	New Delhi
13	Mon	28 Feb	04:00	Zimbabwe	V/S	Canada	Nagpur
14	Tue	1 Mar	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	Kenya	Colombo
15	Wed	2 Mar	08:30	England	V/S	Ireland	Bangalore
16	Thu	3 Mar	04:00	South Africa	V/S	Netherlands	Mohali
17	Thu	3 Mar 2011	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	Canada	Colombo
18	Fri	4 Mar 2011	04:00	New Zealand	V/S	Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
19	Fri	4 Mar	08:30	Bangladesh	V/S	West Indies	Dhaka
20	Sat	5 Mar	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	Australia	Colombo
21	Sun	6 Mar	08:30	India	V/S	Ireland	Bangalore
22	Sun	6 Mar	04:00	England	V/S	South Africa	Chennai
23	Mon	7 Mar	08:30	Kenya	V/S	Canada	Delhi
24	Tue	8 Mar	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	NewZealand	Kandy
25	Wed	9 Mar	08:30	India	V/S	Netherlands	New Delhi
26	Thu	10 Mar	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	Zimbabwe	Kandy
27	Thu	11 Mar	04:00	Ireland	V/S	West Indies	Mohali
28	Thu	11 Mar	08:30	Bangladesh	V/S	England	Chittagong
29	Sat	12 Mar	08:30	India	V/S	South Africa	Nagpur
30	Sun	13 Mar	04:00	New Zealand	V/S	Canada	Mumbai
31	Sun	13 Mar	08:30	Australia	V/S	Kenya	Bengaluru
32	Mon	14 Mar	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	Zimbabwe	Kandy
33	Mon	14 Mar	04:00	Bangladesh	V/S	Netherlands	Chittagong
34	Tue	15 Mar	08:30	South Africa	V/S	Ireland	Kolkata
35	Wed	16 Mar	08:30	Australia	V/S	Canada	Bengaluru
36	Thu	17 Mar	08:30	England	V/S	West Indies	Chennai
37	Fri	18 Mar	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	NewZealand	Mumbai
38	Fri	18 Mar	04:00	Ireland	V/S	Netherlands	Kolkata
39	Sat	19 Mar	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	Australia	Colombo
40	Sat	19 Mar	04:00	Bangladesh	V/S	South Africa	Dhaka
41	Sun	20 Mar	04:00	Zimbabwe	V/S	Kenya	Kolkata
42	Sun	20 Mar	08:30	India	V/S	West Indies	Chennai
Quarter Final
43	Wed	23 Mar	08:30	Pakistan	V/S	West Indies	Dhaka
44	Thu	24 Mar	08:30	India	V/S	Australia	Ahmedabad
45	Fri	25 Mar	08:30	NewZealand	V/S	South Africa	Dhaka
46	Sat	26 Mar	08:30	Sri Lanka	V/S	England	Colombo
Semi Final
47	Tue	29 Mar	08:30	Winner of Match 43	V/S	Winner of Match 45	Colombo
48	Wed	30 Mar	08:30	Winner of Match 44	V/S	Winner of Match 46	Mohali
Grand Finale
49	Sat	2 Apr	08:30	Winner of Match 47	V/S	Winner of Match 48	Mumbai

Graduation Caps replaced by Mysore Peta - Mysore University

2011-01-30T11:50:00.000-08:00

Mysore University which is one of the oldest universities in India has a taken a very Innovative move, as per this the students who are graduating this year (2011) will wear traditional Mysore Peta instead of conventional graduation caps.

This move by the university is to change the British Legacy. The Mysore Peta is a very dignified silk turban. In general this peta usually conferred on achievers during award ceremonies in the state of Karnataka.

Personally I appreciate this decision, Government should take more decisions like this to preserve our own traditions. I also remembered a scene from Upendra's movie super where the people will feel proud to wear the Mysore Peta in a futuristic highly developed state of Karnataka in 2025.

Onion - The new costly stone

2011-01-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

The prices of vegetables in India are skyrocketing and will soon meet the heights of Mt. Everest. Especially prices of onion has increased more than ever. It's sad that our government is not taking any measures to control the inflation.

I found this interesting photo which is circulating in emails , a ring with onion as a stone.

One new saying has been also framed for this situation,

"For the 1st time in the history of mankind "Need", "Comfort" & "Luxury" r sold at same price in India! Onions Rs.65, Petrol Rs 65 & Beer Rs.65 :D"

More information on this,

http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2011/01/what-is-so-special-about-onions-in-india.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PSDBlog+(PSD+Blog+-+The+World+Bank+Group+-+Private+Sector+Development)

Sakleshpur to Kukke Subramanya - GreenRoute Trek

2009-06-28T23:45:00.001-07:00

The famous railway track between sakleshpur and kukke subramanya road along the western ghats is popularly known as Greenroute. This route is even considered as trekkers paradise. The route is approximately 50 km. This track has more than 65 tunnels and bridges varying from 900 meters to 100 meters. This is also one of the most beautiful route with full of greenery, mountains, landscapes and flowing rivers. The birds singing sounds, leaves fluttering, cool breeze increase the awesomeness of the paradise route.

We decided to go on to this trek during monsoon, Generally its not advisable to trek in western ghats during monsoons because of heavy rains and leeches. Initially there was huge opposition for this among ourselves, finally we decided to go.

Its time to pack the bags and move on to the trek. We carried sleeping bags, food and other important things which is necessary for this trek.Some details on the stuff we carried:

Trek Gear: Trekking shoes/Walking shoes, sleeping bags, Torch, Whistles, Umbrellas, Jackets etc..

Food stuff: Loads of Chapathis packed ( around 150), Fruits, Rice, utensils for coo
king, Diesel, Knives, Glucose etc...

We could not book the bus tickets in advance as we planned it very late, and also it was holiday season. But luckily we got a bus from Bangalore bus station (Friday 10:30 PM) with enough empty seats. The conductor gets a rightful hang of what we guys were upto and even before we tel him where to go, he tells us that he would make arrangements to stop there ( the source of the trek starts 9 kms away from the bus stop). We were all excited and the journey started. We reached the place (Donigal station) by around 4: 30 in the morning of Saturday.

We waited for the sunrise as we prepared ourselves for the trek. It was around 5 30 in the morning and it was time for us to begin the trek. The trek is mainly along the sleepers between the rails and initially sounded very comfortable and all of us were really confident of finishing our target of 20 kms to a station called Yedakumari.But later is when we realized that there were stones all around the sleepers which made our trek a hell with all sorts of pain around the legs.

The tunnels very bit scary as there was enough light inside, initially we had a fear of what happens if a train comes while we are in tunnel. But as the trek progressed we realized that there is enough space in sides of the track to stand. Walking on bridges was smooth as it had plates in between. Indian railways opened this track after gauge conversions recently because of this all the bridges are completed, this made the trek relatively easier. We halted at Yedakumari station, prepared our dinner and had a nice sleep. The next day we started out trek to reach our destination. Saturday weather was cloudy so did not feel the strain so much, but on Sunday it was the bit sunny which made our journey a bit difficult. At last we reached the Kukke subramanya , to catch back bus to Bangalore, Hard to end a such wonderful journey in the nature.

For more information visit -

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-south-india-f63/green-route-trek-t12131/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Route

Holi - The Festival of Colors

2009-06-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Holi - Festival of colors always brings lots of excitement and fun to our life its because we play with colors this day. It a very popular festival celebrated all over the world by Indians. The holi celebrations even attracts foreign tourists to India. Holi is celebrated in different ways and traditions. Celebratiosn differ from south to north India.Celebration ranges from 1 to 16 days. Usually its a 3 day celebration in south India. During Holi there will be so many rituals observed like Holika Dahan,Dulhendi,Lots of innovative games and many more.For more info wiki is always there :)

I celebrate Holi with my friends and family every year.. The celebrations in college is one of the unforgetable moments of life. Its really hard to indentify the faces after coloring ourselves with so many different colors.
This year i celebrated with my friends at office and also with my room mates at home. It was fun coloring each other.. I never had bhang during the holi celebrations am waiting to have this and play with colors .... May be next year i will...

waynad @ Gods Own Land

2009-06-28T23:42:00.001-07:00

Finally am back from Korea and enjoying in India after 15 long months.. Than came this lovely long weekend which made us to plan a trip.. This time it was to Gods Own Country - Kerela which is one of the good tourist destination in the world. Kerela has a wide variety for tourists ranging from beaches to backwaters. Lush green hill stations... cool water falls..... tea estates... wildlife... and more.

Its been almost 3 years since i went with my college mates for a trip. Goa trip was my last big trip with kuduboyz that was way back in 2003. This time its to waynad. The trip was absolute fun and the glitches made it funnier and unforgettable, along with me mallik, srinivas, siddesh, vidyanand, lohith, hemanth , vinay(mandya), pradeep and harish were there to this trip.

We started our trip from Bangalore in 2 cars.. Srinivas aka kaspa Santro and Mallik Prakash aka papus Ascent , reached mysore there we noticed some problem with tyres of papus car, searched for a wheel alignment center, alignment was proper and the problem was becasue of one odd tyre and this got punctured at the same time papu decided to change the tyre this solved our purpose also. Then we begin our journey from mysore to waynad via Bandipur and gundalpet. The road and greenary and climate was perfect for our journey. We could sight some elephants and deer near bandipur.
After a this wonderful drive we reached waynad around 3. The first spot we visited was this Edakal Caves which is quite famous as there is a good old kannada movie with this name.
Through out the journey it was fun and harish aka hamali ,kaspa ,lohith aka khatri(with ghajini hair cut) and pradeep aka kencha did not miss to take the snaps for their portfolio.. lols.. nice talking to all.. teasing with old memories....
As we went up to Edakal caves it started to drizzle and mountain covered with the mist, which was a beautiful sight of nature ever you can have.....

That night we spent playing cards - (POT) which is a very nice way to pass the time, Next day we started to a Padinjarathara dam - the picturesque scenary of this dam is very attractice and to two water falls kanthapara falls and meenmutty falls.

Kanthapara falls is a small water fall which can be easliy reached also. Its again a good scenic location, Meenmutty falls the largest and most spectacular waterfall in Wayanad. A unique feature is that water drops about 300 metres over three stages. For reaching this falls we have to trek, its 2 km jungle trek off the main Ooty road. The trek is difficult when it rains as it becomes very slippery and u always have to fall so we did :)

The third and the last day we went to Chembra peak which is a private trea estate. At 2100 mts above mean sea level, Chembra is the highest peak in Wayanad and is ideal for trekking. Climbing this peak is a challenging mountaineering endeavour and would take a full dayThe scenic beauty of Wayanad, which is visible from the top of Chembra, is very exhilerating. The surrounding areas offer exceptional photo oppurtunities. We had a nice time in a stream of water here. This is where we got the kisses from leeches also. The last spot we went was Banasura dam to end the trip.
After having a good lunch at Sultan Bathery we started back to bangalore where we had a second glitch, again with the same papus car. This time it was not with tyre but with the clutch box. The car stopped moving completely in between gundalpet and waynad.The car stopped in the no mobile signal region which made it difficult to reach the people who were in srinivas's car. Hemanth managed to inform this by getting a little signal to his mobile. We found a mechanic and got car towed from their to gundulpet which got fixed next day.
It was scary moment to mallik and others who were in that car as the car stopped in the forest region where elephants move.

At las i would say Wayanad is a paradise. See it once and its green lush nature will remain in your memories forever.

Skiiing at Jisan Forest Resort

2009-06-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Its December.... Its winter.. It started snowing.. So the wait is over.. Its the time for skiing again.... ^0^

Skiing is the good thing to do on snow in the cold chilling winter of Korea. There are a lots of skiing resorts and this winter we found a new ski resort to enjoy;thats Jisan Forest Resort. This ski park is very close to Suwon and easily reachable by the bus as there is free shuttle bus service from Suwon to Jisan Ski park. Only thing we have to do is reserve the bus a week before. Bus starts from the Yongton - HomePlus. The journey is less than 45 mins to reach Jisan Ski Resort.

As always this event started at planning. Sangam planned this and booked the bus for the resort. Initially it was planned for 10-12 people but we ended up with much more than what we expected. Finally we were more than 25 which is a too good number to enjoy in snow.

We all reached the venue and rented the ski gear from the shops which are out side the ski resort. Everyone got ready with their ski gears and ready to burn the ice with skiing. This Ski resort has more than 8 slopes and 2 lifts which is helpul for the levels of skiing.

As we enter the snow we started skiing but not with the legs ,we skied well sleeping and sitting than standing ^-^ it was much better for me compared to the last time, since i could cover small distance by skiing.

All of us had a nice time skiing on the resort, i mean falling and rolling on the snow was very good ;) harresh, Saajan and Bipin learned the tricks faster and did good skiing at the end.
At last the funy,enjoyful and action packed day came to end and we are back to our appartments. Tomorrow again same office and same weekly routine starts till the next weekend.
I wish to skii every winter.. But Not always in korea ^-^ .

Dont Miss to see these superb skiing videos before u sign out from this blog.

SDC Chuk-Je 2007 (Suwon , Korea)

2007-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

SDC Chuk-Je Meaning Our Festival (in Hangul) is the 2nd Annual celebrations of L&T InfoTech’s Samsung Development Center at Suwon, Korea. SDC employees marked this event with lots of enthusiasm and festival spirit.

On December 16^th 2007, annual get together was held in YMCA, Suwon hosted by SDC. The Chief Guests for this function Mr.Kwangkook Kim, Senior Manager, Samsung, Planning group,Network Systems Division,Mr.YoungKeon cho, Senior Manager System development Team, Mrs.Sunja oh, Senior Manager, Mr.Ildoo Kim, Assistant Manager & Ms.Wonji Choi, Assistant Manager Planning group, Network systems division. Thanks for presence and enjoying the festival.

The festival proceedings begin with a Prayer to Lord Ganeshji from Maitri and Gayatri followed by the candle lighting and cake cutting from our chief guests. After this Danny gave a short recapture of all the monthly events conducted in Korea for the SDC members. It captured all the events , Experience of SDC members in Korea, Various aspects of Korean culture and the way SDC adopted in Korea and Korean culture, food and other things.

After a slow a bit boring start of the event, Crowd got on to their legs with whistles when manish came to rock the stage with is fusion dance performance.. After his performance i could only here ONCE MORE ONCE MORE....... Gaurav was nice with his harmonica and Deepak with his singing.

Girish and his team made the event more interesting by organizing a variety of games for the SDC members. These games took more people to the stage and to show with their talents in dancing. It was full of fun and exitement. Even our honorable guests were part of these games.

This was followed by the award distribution ceremony. As a part of this festival there were many sports events organised. Winners were presented with their trophies by our honorable guests.
Some of the Events tat took place are Cricket, Jogku and badminton. Indian cuisine was served after this event. Dinner was tasty and spicy as all anticipated :)

After this there was a small stage skit Mad-Ad by Aithe-Illa boys which made the crowd to laugh and roll on their stomachs. Last event of the show was again a rocking sensational fashion show with a concept; this event got a very good response from the crowd and appreciation from our guests.

At last there was a small open disco. Where all the SDC members stretched their legs and showed their real talents in dancing.

I Enjoyed this event a lot ,It was full of fun and refreshment which is good in between the stressful work and schedules. I wish i could be a part of this kind of events at least once in a year.

Snowfalll ...... Suwon

2007-12-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

Wow Again.. snow fall!!!!
This is the first snowfall in this winter here in Suwon.

Snowfall is very beautiful and everyone enjoyed playing with the snow.. It was really cold and chilling.. It was a wonderful evening for us . we had a lots of fun during the snowfall.

It all started around 6 in the evening. within a minutes everything was white in color.. Snow covered completely on the roofs of buildings and cars... Roads covered by the snow and it was like a white thick carpet on it. It was pure white everywhere.

The Best thing we did is to throw snow :), Enjoyed throwing snow on each other. And also taking lots of snaps :)

Weekend at Itaewon

2007-10-16T06:33:00.001-07:00

Itaewon is city district in Seoul and located in Line-6 of Seoul Subway line. This is the favorite place for tourists. You can find a lots of nice restaurants which serves a nice international cuisines.(Indian, Thai and Mexican)

Some of the Indian restaurants here are Chakra,Taj Mahal and Ashoka.

Itaewon is also famous for shopping street, you can find a lots of shops where we can buy some of the Korean traditional items and nice gifts for your friends and relative.you can find a nice clothing, bags,shoes,leather products and antique furnitures here for a fair deal here.Another main reason is that most of the shop owners speak English so that we can communicate with them easily.

Overall itaewon is a nice place to go in a weekend, you can eat , do shopping or just hang out there in the nice colorfull streets of itaewon.If you are a automobile lover then its a nice place where you can find some cool luxury cars and ncie super bikes.

Some of the nearby places like seoul tower and War memorial are located close to itaewon and you can plan to visit these places also.

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations at SEOUL ...

2007-10-16T06:32:00.001-07:00

One of the most popular Gods in India, lord Ganesh or Ganpati is considered a symbol of wisdom and a bringer of good luck.Ganesh is popularly known as vignavinashak who is responsible for removing all the hurdles in ones life.

Its nice that the ganesh festival celebrations were held in Korea also,My thanks to the Indian students in Seoul national university and others who helped to make this event successful.

I was happy when i came to know that Ganesh festival celebrations will be held in Seoul national university and decided to attend this, It was a two day event. The pooja was on 15th sep 2007 (Saturday) and on sunday the visarjan along with cultural programs.

The organizers had a tough time because of rains, but they managed to stick to earlier schedule. The cultural programs were organized so well. The cultural programs started with a Ganesh Stotra by Korean Kids followed by the a small speech by the Dean of Seoul National University.

I was surprised to see the bajans from Korean kids, They were so fluent and sang the bajans with full of devotion.

The other programs were given by ISCKON korea, Anand Marg , Brahma Kumari samaj and Bharatnatyam performance. Along with the cultural events there was mahaprasadam from all the devotees. Around 500 Indians who are in Korea attended the festival celebrations and showed their devotion towards lord Ganesh.

Jai Ganesh.... Ganapathi bappa moriyaa..

SEOUL International Fireworks Festival - 2007

2007-10-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

This festival is held in the month of october every year, this year it was on 13th and we got opportunity to witness this wonderful festival. This is a international event in which 3 countries participated (Japan ,America and Korea) ,It will be held in the han river and a good spot to view this festival Hangang River Citizen’s Park in front of 63 City Building.

I have never seen such a crowd in korea, more than 300 thousand people witnessed this spectacular event, reaching the festival spot was very difficult as the subway trains and stations were fully crowded by the people who are all eager to get a good spot to view this wonderful display of fireworks.

This started around 7:00 PM and continued for 2 hours.It was a great display of colorful fireworks by all the three countries,the event light up the sky from the Hangang railway bridge to the Wonhyogyo Bridge.The most attractive thing is at the end, it lighted up with entire bridge it was like a colorful fire pouring down the bridge.

Skiing at pheonix ski park...

2007-07-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Pheonix ski park is one of the good and new ski resorts in korea and its located in Pyeongchang-gun , We had been to this resort in the month of february. We reached the resort by a bus which starts from Bundang at earlymorning 6:00.

Pheonix is a very big and neat ski resort with 12 skiing slopes with different levels, only 2 are recomended for begineers.

All the skiiing equipments are available for rent here so that u can pick it up and enjoy your ski, ski instructors are also available who can guide you about how to ski.As we reached the resort we all geared up ourselves with all the ski equipments, our santanu in josh took skiing goggles also ;) We all moved to the slopes slowly with ski gear the people out were enjoying skiing , lots of small children where skiing so easliy which made us to think skiing will be easier, we got to know how tough it will be as we landed on the snow.

My god it was a real good experience skiing on a snow, it s not at all a easy job, I have no count of how many time i had fallen on the snow while skiing and the tougher part is to get up and standing on the snow.It was the same with all of us, our popye and ravi were doing well and finaly we dared to climb up the beginers slope.

It was the same on the slopes also, it was very difficult to control the speed while we were skiing which ended in somersalts on the snow. some how all of us came down the slope after a lot of ups and downs ;)

I should tell its one of the finest things that i have done and we all had a lot of fun skiing :) am waiting for snowfall to start so that again i can go for skiing :)

Yongsan- Asia's Second Biggest Electronics Market

2007-06-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yongsan Electronics market is one of my favorite places in korea and i have visited this place more times than any other place in korea.yongsan is the located north of the han river and in central seoul region, One can reach yongsan electronics market very easily from suwon through the seoul subway line no. 1 , its almost 40 mins from suwon and if u take the fast train u can reach by 25 mins.

Yongsan market has around 15 buildings and more than 5000 electronic shop. And this is the place where u can find all electronic goods such as small cabels connectors,laptops,home appliances, computers and its peripherals,stereos,gaming equipments,CDs and DVDs,telephones,lighting euipments , cameras and handy cams, MP3,PMP players , Automobile stereos and GPS gadgets and more and more .

All the korean electronic products and other imported products are coparitively cheaper and you will the get the new released and latest products at yongsan.
Yongsan Electronics Mall Complex is largely divided into I’PARK MALL(space 9), Seonin Mall, Najin Mall, Terminal Mall .

Space 9 is a newly constructed terminal with 9 floors and its quiet big.Its right opposite to the subway station. Other malls are outside the subway station and these are the old ones,you can reach these malls by the skyway from the subway station.
In the space 9 u will get all the things which u will be looking for and the choices will be more for u here where as in other malls u have to search a bit. Prices are comparatively cheaper in the malls which are present outside of the subway station.

Space 9 complex has lots of other shops also like furnitures, Musical instruments and clothings and it also has a CGV IMAX multiplex theatre .
Watching a movie in IMAX screen is a good experience. IMAX screen is so huge and u can feel the difference of watching movie in this kind of big screen and with very good sound quality.we had been to 300 and spiderman 3 here .