Hesaraghatta grasslands

I learnt about the grasslands from other blogs sometime back when I was casually browsing. After seeing a couple of pictures the bloggers posted, have been wanting to go there for sometime now.

Had an opportunity by chance today. As usual, the Missus and I just headed out for our routine (which is mostly window-shopping/mall-hopping and the nursery at Lalbagh thrown in occasionally), and as soon as we crossed the gates of our apartment, changed our minds and decided to go on a drive (something we had not done in the past few months).

Thally, off Hosur (also known as Little England) is our first-choice. But having gone there once too often meant that it had lost its usual lure.

Manchina Bele, Kanakapura road, Shivalli MTR and other places off Mysore road are the other regular spots. Wanting to go somewhere new, we headed out to Hesaraghatta. Usually, we do our ground-work before going out by checking the routes, eateries etc. An unplanned trip meant having to figure these out on the go as well.

Took the Nice road till Tumkur road and turned right towards the city. Took a left at Dasarahalli and kept straight passing chikka-banavara till we reached Hesaraghatta. Locals guided us to the lake. Nothing surprising there. No water. Just the vast expanse of land that formed the lake bed and a few people hanging around.

Passed through the "Indian Institute of Horticultural Research" as we tried finding the grasslands. Bought some seeds there, came out and got lost trying to find the elusive grasslands. While we were fiddling around with the Galaxy-S (seems to know when exactly to hang!) trying to google and use the maps, a couple of policemen on the bike passed us. The stationary car on the road-side tickled their "spidey-senses", and they turned back and came towards us and questioned us! Having satisfied themselves that we were not up to any mischief they pointed us towards some village saying that we might find the grasslands there and left!!

Not wanting to take any more risks we planned to return after stealing a quick glance at Nrityagram and Kuteera. After having driven some 4-5 kms towards Nrityagram, suddenly we noticed an open area to our right and we could not believe our eyes!!! It was the grasslands with its beautiful intersecting mud-path!! We parked the car, and took some quick snaps. BDA has started planting trees on one-side of the path, and this has caused some heart-burn for bird-watchers. Related article here. It also points towards a lack of aesthetic sense on the department's part.

Sadly, a heavy downpour started and it meant we couldn't linger around any longer. We started our drive back home as happy as Columbus when he discovered America!

Not wanting to take the city route back, we took the longer route back via Nelamangala, and NICE road.

Some better pics of the place can be found here.

Sir Sean & Gael

More Caricatures

Wish I had access to a scanner....

My first full caricature

Have been trying out my hand at Caricature of late.

This is my first full caricature till date.

Its a busy season!

(a review of Bangalore Royal Challengers and options that they could look at for the future)

Its a busy season for followers of cricket and politics with the IPL and the elections currently going on, and the T20 World Cup to follow. I've been busy catching up on both IPL and all the political news. 

I gave up on the MSMs long back to get my dose of the daily news. I'm sick and tired of watching news that the MSM wants me to watch, while depriving me of news that I should know. These days I keep track of events only through selective web-sites & blogs. These give me news that I want to know and that which I believe is true. 

One of the my favourite sources is Offstumped. Apart from the incisive postings that the author (Yossarin) makes, the comments section of the blog serves as a discussion forum for many nationalist patrons. I feel I'm politically more aware and awake than I have ever been, thanks to this blog. 

Thankfully, cricket is not politicised yet. So, I can still safely rely on the TV for my share of entertainment. The Bangalore Royal Challengers managed to win two on a trot and are now placed relatively higher in the standings, though they have played an extra match compared to some of the other teams. But two in a row was a pleasant surprise. I'm still pinching myself pretty hard!! Ouch!!!

Actually, the team is nowhere as bad as their performance till now suggested. It just seems to be a problem of everything clicking together. Some of the lost matches have been pretty close, and in two of their matches, at least one of their bowlers leaked runs when the opposition needed around 50 from 30. 

I'm hoping now that they go on and better their last season's performance of 4 wins. Who knows? With 4 more wins, they might even make the semis and from thereon its just a matter of 2 games! Heights of optimism!!

There are a few grey areas that can still be addressed though. One is a shortage of confident emerging Indian talent. Kohli and Goswami have shown glimpses, but need to be more consistent. The others like Bishnoi, Bhuvaneshwar, Manish Pandey, Chipli have got minimal or no opportunities at all. Confidence can only be gained in the middle and not from dressing rooms (or the dug out in this case). So, BRC (or RCB) would be doing themselves a big favour by showing some faith in these youngsters. After all, Appanna and Pankaj Singh have done reasonably well in the few matches they have played and have grown in confidence with every match.

Another area is the lack of left-handers in the middle order. The merits of having left-handed batsmen in the side has been advocated by experts many a time and can be gauged by the performance of the Indian team in the recent past. The left handers present a different set of challenges to the bowlers thereby forcing them to adjust frequently in the case of a left-right combination. BRC would do well to pinch someone like Shikar Dhawan from MI, who has been grossly under-utilised by them. They could look at the ICL players like Dinesh Mongia and Hemang Badani too, if that's an option.

They should probably let go of players like Jaffer (What was Charu thinking?), JAK and Joshi (unless he is Appanna's mentor), who are adding little value to the side. (I could be widely off the mark here, since I'm no fakeiplplayer, and am just speculating)

Lastly, they could add a few more low-profile T20 specialists from other nations. There are quite a few West Indians available like Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard (Bowling all-rounders) and Lendl Simmons & Lionel Baker (Batting all-rounders). Australia has a few like Callum Fergusson, Phil Hughes, Marcus North and high-performers in Australia's KFC T20 big bash like Rhett Lockyear. 

They could also look to acquire Brad Haddin (I was surprised he went unsold), who would provide with captaincy options as well apart from his wicket-keeping and opening skills. With the 3 year contracts of the first batch signings ending next year, they could let go of under-achieving players like Steyn, Taylor, Kallis & Boucher (last 2 being very inconsistent).

While I'm still keeping my fingers and toes crossed for them this year, hopefully we'll see more improvements next year, ones that'll help save our finger-nails for more important events like the election results. 

 

Blast from the past!

Some quotable political quotes from the not-so-distant past that I can recollect:

"I will not cross the borders of Karnataka" - H D Devegowda, then CM of Karnataka, the day before he was chosen to be the PM of the United front government.

"What does communalism mean? You should refer to a dictionary and find out its meaning." - Kumaraswamy, when he formed the coalition government with the BJP in Karnataka.

"You will be voting for the future Dy. PM of India" - Kumaraswamy again, appealing to the voters of Bangalore Rural constituency while campaigning for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

"I'll make the roads of Bihar as smooth as Hemamalini's cheeks!" - Lalu Yadav, when he was the CM of Bihar.

"Jab tak rahega samose me aloo, tab tak rahega Bihar me Lalu!" - Lalu Yadav again during one of his earlier campaign speeches.

The Politician with a sense of humour

Politicians come in all hues and colours. Some are inspiring speakers, others can put you to sleep before you can yawn, some just need to read from their written speech even if it is only a couple of lines, but the most popular ones are those who intersperse their speech with a generous dose of humour.  

Venkaiah Naidu belongs to the last category. He couldn't have put it more aptly when he called the "Third front" a parking lot, a few weeks back.

That reminded me of a BJP rally that I had attended during the 1999 elections at the National College ground in Bangalore. 

Sonia Gandhi was deciding where to take the electoral plunge from and was filing her nominations from every backward constituency in India. Speaking at the rally, Naidu said: "Sonia Gandhi is learning the A, B, C of politics; A for Amethi, B for Bellary, C for Cuddapah. But what she'll ultimately get is D for defeat", sending the huge crowd into peals of laughter. 

Some of his more recent comments can be found here.

BJP Manifesto

The BJP manifesto was released today.

Following are some of the highlights:

• BPL families to get rice at Rs.2/kg.
• Existing agricultural loans to be waived
• Loans at 4% to poor urban vendors
• River linking project to be launched
• POTA-like law to be introduced
• Special pay structure for the armed forces
• Bicycles to every school going girl child from BPL families
• 1.2 million IT enabled jobs in Rural areas

The middle class will especially love this:

• Income tax exemption to be raised to 3 lakh
• FBT to be abolished
• Housing loans to be made cheaper

Others:

• Ram temple to be constructed
• Ram Sethu to be preserved
• Article 370 to be scrapped
• Protection of cows

A more comprehensive highlight can be found at the Friends of BJP site

The full manifesto can be downloaded from the BJP web-site

Vote India. Vote BJP.

The choice is yours. Mazboot neta or Majboor neta.

Stumped?

South Africa would be holding its general elections on the 22nd. of April, whereas IPL starts from the 18th.!!!!

Related Link

BJP survey gives it slight edge in race against Cong

27 Mar 2009, 0339 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: A shrinking UPA offers opportunities to BJP, but the saffron party has considerable ground to cover before it can seize a clear lead in the 2009 elections lending an even sharper edge to electoral battles in states where it directly squares off against the Congress. Click here to read more...

Top 5 BJP news (31-3-2009)

1. Cong has suffered paralytic stroke: Advani
   
2. Right to food: BJP promises Re 1-a-kg rice
   
3. BJP launches 2 TV ad campaigns for elections
   
4. Pak attack: BJP asks Government to exercise maximum caution
   
5. If Varun cannot, Maneka will: BJP
   

Main-stream media reporting: Incompetency or malicious intent?

I was at the "Friends of BJP" event in Bengaluru on Saturday, 21st March. The event was a big success with the NMKRV auditorium fully occupied. It was heartening to see a large number of people turn up on their own without any incentives being offered and people being ferried. And, oh yes, there was a fair percentage of the upper middle class (who supposedly don't turn up to vote) that had arrived in their fancy Sonatas & Corollas.

The event went on quite well, with an invocation song by Pallavi Arun (Aye mere waton ke logo, soulfully rendered without any accompanying music) and a slick powerpoint presentation about why India needs strong leadership at the moment, before Arun Jaitley's speech provided a fitting finale to the Bengaluru event.

Today, the DH ran a report on the event and as I read it I was despaired. Here's why:

At the event, as I saw and heard it, Mr. Jaitley likened the PM to a "Night watchman" (as in cricket, in case you didn't know), who keeps the crease occupied until the conditions become better for the regular batsman to come in. And, precisely for those who didn't understand he quoted an incident from the last parliament session. It seems, he had made the same statement in Parliament, and expected a furuore to be caused by the Treasury benches. But to his suprise there was no response at all. It was only when, Veerappa Moily came to him the next day and asked him to apologise for calling the PM a "watchman" that he realised that the ruling party members hadn't really got the point.

In spite of the explanation, what does DH say? 

"Speaking at the NMKRV College at the launch of 'Friends of BJP' campaign in Bangalore, Jaitley attacked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying he was like a watchman who had been sent to bat in an important cricket match." 

Simply pathetic.

Then it quotes Mr. Jaitley. "The Pakistan government denies having terrorists in its land, and the Indian government denies there is no economic crisis in the country". Now, what Mr. Jaitley indeed said was, "The Pakistan government denies terrorists crossing over to India from its borders...". Pakistan has never in the recent past denied having terrorists in its land. On the contrary, it has been claiming that it has been a "victim of terrorism" itself. While this is known to every Aam Aadmi,  does DH want its readers to believe that Mr. Jaitley doesn't know it?

In the last column it quotes Mr. Jaitley as saying, "the government never woke up even after 67 cities in India were blasted during its rule", in fact when he actually said "67 blasts in just the last year". Does DH want its readers to believe that Mr. Jaitley is making baseless allegations?

Lets say I'm am an undecided voter. If I were to read this news article as it is, without having attended the event, what would my thoughts about Mr. Jaitley and in turn his party be?

And one of the television channels (no point in naming it, they are all just the same), had bold headlines that read, "Jaitley admits differences exist, seniors should resolve it". When they showed the actual clipping later on, Mr. Jaitley had only said that there were no personal differences between him and Rajnath singh. There was nothing that even remotely seemed to suggest he was admitting anything. So, where did the channel get this bright idea, and what does it want its viewer, the undecided voter, to believe?

Is this just plain incompetence or subversion or truth with malicious intent? 

Update: As of last week, I have gone back to Indian Express. We used to subscribe to IE long before the TOI came in with a big splash. Since then, have explored The Hindu & Deccan Herald.

How I wish there's some news channel as well that offers unbiased news!!!

2009 Lok Sabha Elections - Predictions (Best case, Worst case & What-if scenarios for NDA)

		Arun    Nehru	DNA	TOI	MAX(All)	MIN(All)	Based on GVL's sweep prediction	If UP, MH & BR swing    towards  NDA
	Total Seats	NDA		NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
Andhra Pradesh	42	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Assam	14	7	9	6	9	6	9	9
Bihar	40	26	22	24	26	22	26	30
Chhattisgarh	11	7	7	8	8	7	9	9
Delhi	7	1	1	2	2	1	3	3
Gujarat	26	20	19	20	20	19	22	22
Goa	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Haryana	10	4	5	6	6	4	6	6
Himachal Pradesh	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
J&K	6	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Jharkhand	14	8	4	9	9	4	9	9
Karnataka	28	19	12	18	19	12	21	21
Kerala	20	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Rajasthan	25	11	10	12	12	10	12	12
Madhya Pradesh	29	21	23	19	23	19	22	22
Maharashtra	48	25	28	24	28	24	28	35
North East	9	0	2	3	3	0	3	3
Orissa	21	3	2	3	3	2	3	3
Punjab	13	7	6	6	7	6	6	6
Tamil Nadu	39	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Tripura	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Uttar Pradesh	80	11	10	11	11	10	11	20
Uttarakhand	5	3	4	4	4	3	4	4
Union Territory	6	0	1	1	1	0	1	1
West Bengal	42	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Total	543	178	170	181	196	154	206	226

Since everyone is jumping on to the 'predictive analysis' bandwagon, I too thought I'll hitch on to it. I'm by no means a psephologist or anything remotely close to that, but as a political enthusiast tried to read between the lines on other analyses, and came out with a 'what if' scenario of my own.

The first 3  columns are obvious. Data from outlook blogs & offstumped. 

The next 2 columns just take the best and worst figures from the 3 predictions and give a sum total in each case.

GVLN's prediction can be read at the pioneer web-site. Based on his prediction I assumed NDA would sweep 75%(Karnataka, MP & Chhattisgarh)-85(Gujarat)% of seats in the pro-NDA states. I asumed 50% for Rajasthan & Delhi. For rest of the states, I just took the best figures from the first 3 columns except Punjab, where I considered the worst case.

For the last column, went ahead a little and assumed that there would be a pro-NDA wave in Bihar (no basis really) & Maharashtra (since NaMo is supposed to be drawing huge crowds), and UP (just hoping) would tilt a little more towards the NDA. Also, for AP & WB, added a couple of seats in each case based on comments in various blogs and sites. In such a case, the NDA could look forward to forming the next government with the help of AIADMK, TDP, BJD & Trinamool.

The last 2 columns are really without any basis and you would trust them at your own risk.