I hiked the Grand Canyon

I write this piece with a great sense of pride and accomplishment. Its not a travelogue. I don't have the eloquence to write one. Its not a "i did this and i did that" self-appraisal of my trials and tribulation in doing the South kaibab-Tonto-BrightAngle loop of the Grand Canyon either. Not that i don't want to write one, but i fear putting them down in words would devoid the endeavor of its true value. After all, for a grass eater like me, a 14 mile killer of a hike in 12 hours is a no mean accomplishment and i am swelling with pride when i make that statement.
So, without further ado, let me tell you what occurred on the 25th of May 2008. Me and 3 other friends set out to hike the Canyon on this fateful day. As i have told you before, I have promised myself not to make this into a travelogue, but i could not help keeping the following detail out as its part of our masochistic deeds. Having hit the bed at 10 PM the previous day, we started the day at 2.30 AM (read as At Morning), started from the Motel in Flagstaff, AZ at 4.30 AM, reached the South Rim at 6 AM and and South Kaibab (henceforth SK) trail head at 6.30 AM. We started the descend of the canyon here along the SK trail. As promised by innumerable bloggers who had taken the dive before, SK trail started offering us mind blowing views of the Canyon within minutes. John Keates' "A thing of beauty is a Joy forever" is never more true than with the sight of the Grand Canyon and no adjectives and superlatives are enough to describe this humbling wonder of nature. Consequently, having found an excuse for not describing the magnificence of the Canyon , i will now proceed to the part where we reached the "ooh aah" point of the SK. It was 9.30 AM by then and we had descended down 4.5 miles. There was a fishy looking sign to "Tonto trail" (henceforth TT) here and an equally fishy looking Mule tamer pointed us to the trail head and drew a convoluted direction of the trail in thin air.
Before we realized what was going on, we had traversed close to a mile on TT. The reason i say "we realized what was going on" is because we indeed did not know what was going on. You see, when you do not spot civilization a mile on either side of the trail, for all the mention that TT got in the maps and in the blog pages, you start doubting the authenticity of the path you have embarked on. And this became even more "clear", when we hit a fork in the trail. So, as all wise explorers in the history of mankind have done, we put a toss for the fork we would take (If you have seen the movie "Butterfly effect", you would have understood why i would loved to have taken the other route and seen what would have happened with my life..:)) The left work won the toss and we proceeded on it. Calling this our TT, we got some fabulous views of the Canyon here and a small water Creek, an oasis in the desert. We chilled out for a while near the Creek, still convinced that we were pioneering a new trail.
Alas, the seclusion did not last long. We spotted civilization about 3.5 miles into TT trail (indeed it was Tonto...:() and it dawned on us that we were about a mile and a half from Indian Garden, our point of return/hike up the canyon and more prominently, the point where we had promised ourselves to open the delicious "vegi biryani" in our backpacks.
Indian Garden at 12 noon and backpack opening at 12.15. Oh God, what a tragedy that was. All hikes have their downside and ours was the food. We could not have asked for a worse time to taste the most disgusting piece of Indian junk food that we had ever placed into our mouth. Despite this, 85% of it going inside our stomachs speaks volumes about the hunger and fatigue we had been thru' till then.
The final leg of the hike, the Bright Angel trail (BT henceforth), or rather "Stairway to Hell" as it turned out to be for us, was the 5 mile hike up the canyon back to the South Rim. With the Arizona afternoon sun beating down and with a 9 mile hike already behind us , the morale was not the greatest. The misery started at 1.30 PM. After close to a mile , Raghu started cramping up. The first sings of masochism had started to raise its ugly head. Me , Becker and Leander were still hanging in there till about the 3rd mile mark. It started getting to me by then. The climb up started getting steeper and there seemed no end in sight. At times like this, you tend to think why the "f*** am i doing this to myself". But then, the joy of pushing yourself to the limit is something which you taste once and you wanna taste it again and again. It was sheer will and nothing else (my leg and my body had completely give way around the 4 mile point) that drove me in the end. I made it to the top at 4.30 PM and it was an unparalleled feeling to have conquered the Grand Canyon albeit a small part of it. Tougher trails, i am sure wait in future and how can you say no to another Canyon hike. But, this experience will live on for the rest of my life...

MUFC : The Religion...

How often do i get to say this : Manchester United are KINGS of EUROPE. Are they?!!..Am i dreaming. Its "D-day + 5" and it apparently it is. Call it destiny, fate's hand, Ronny's extraordinary season , Van Der Saar's moment of inspiration, JT's "leg of GOD" slip or whatever you care to imagine, WE are the CHAMPIONS of England and Europe and the world is a different place when that happens. I was not fortunate enough to witness the scenes at the Camp Nou' in 1999, primarily due to yours truly not having a clue about club soccer during those times. Things changed in the Fall of 2000 though. The sight and sounds of Old trafford was too much of a lure for the "young and as yet virgin" soccer fanaticism in me. I gave a part of my heart to United and since then, following the Reds has been more than a passion. Its been, as they say in Lancashire, a RELIGION. And boy, do i dare say that has never been more true than on 21st May 2008. Doing the double in the season is no mean achievement, but doing it with the brand of soccer the boys have played takes a great team and a great coach. I would not imagine anybody having the audacity to question that now. I look forward to the next season...Thanks to SAF and his boys for a memorable 2007-2008.

Beatles in my Car

I tend to cherish a lot of petty things in life, be it an afternoon nap coming from a certain "NR Colony Rayar matada uta", ripping a forehand winner at my opponent in Tennis, digesting every page i read from SLB's books and what not but none more so than hearing the Beatles taking me on a trip, literally. Its been a long time coming but finally i have started to play the Beatles in my car. These days, I wish every road i hit is a "Long and Winding" one. Someday, i'll write a piece just on the sheer joy of listening to the "Fab Four" and my fascination towards their music, their era and their legacy. For today, i'll let Paul , John , George and Ringo weave their magic as i drive back home...

An ode to a heaven called Vidyarthi Bhavan

If you hail from bengaluru and still wondering what on earth this piece of non-sense could be on, you possibly don't deserve to live. Even if you do, then you perhaps have no idea what it is to get injected with the fragrance and aroma of vidyarthi bhavan masal dose and not have it anywhere in sight within 3000 mile radius for another year
I have absolutely no shame in confiding that i live to satisfy my acute hunger for this kohinoor of a dish in my home town and i can bet on my "butter-soaked" index finger (that i will invariably end up having while feasting on the dose) that most people who have visited this tiny piece of real estate in gandhi bazar will vouch for this. Having said that, its my immense misfortune that my spatial separation from VB is so immense that i can entertain the thought of treating myself with MD only every once in a year.
Now, whats all the fuss about , you may ask. Well , here goes. Its about forcing yourself into a 1200 sq feet room filled with 500 people and with the greatest of miracles , finding a half-empty table. Its about the pure adrenalin rush when you see people lost in their world of m-doses. It about the "panche" clad waiters who bang hot doses on your table with the greatest degree of nonchalance. It about the opulence of that surreal "chuntney" in VB that those waiters so blatantly show off by pouring it into your plates from "soutus" of incomprehensible size. And last, but by no means the least, its about the sheer pleasure of masticating the "god's own creation" dose. psurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........Long live vidyarthi bhavan and its legacy!

José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix....

Ah!...how ironic and strange it may seem that the first blog i have finally cared to post concerns the now erstwhile manager of a football club which i despise for what it is and has been. For the uninformed , England's premier domestic football competition popularly known as the EPL has lost arguably its most charismatic character in recent times and i am gutted....
Jose Mourinho was more than just a football coach. In times where money has tended to overshadow everything and anything in club soccer, the self-proclaimed "special one" was a breath of fresh air. In an age where footballers and the people concerned with it preside over press conferences and interviews as if theirs assess depended on it, this bloke cared a foot. So much so that, more often than not Mr.Mourinho's press conference antics were more entertaining than the actual soccer game played by his team.
Having said that, one can't help feeling its that kind of dour and often machine-like performances by chelsea which ultimately led to his exit. No regrets though. He gave us all 3 fantastic season of "post match comments " and "quotable quotes". Thanks for the memories Jose....