Our Ultra Mobile PC - fantastic technology partner

We have been on the road riding our bikes across South Asia for the past 120 days. One of the major concerns we had before we left Bangalore on December 3, 2006 ASUS R2H Ultra-Mobile PC our technology tool which has given us the best in Mobile Computing.

The Asus R2H Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), one of the first to be launched, is a result of combining Intel's low power technology leadership with Asus' expertise in delivering innovative platform solutions. The first generation of this exciting category - a PC companion that allow users to communicate, access information, be entertained and stay productive on the go.


The R2H is the first UMPC from ASUS and has a stylus, which should be used together with Microsoft’s Touch Pack software. This unit recognises handwriting and converts what is written on screen into text.

It’s 7-inch LCD touch screen with handwritten input support and solid security protection, the UMPC has been very useful for basically three things: internet-based communication, website design and computing our expenses.

Launched in Taipei, Taiwan on August 25, 2006 by ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), one of the world’s leading providers of high-performance notebook computers, the latest R2H Ultra-Mobile PC has everything that a modern-day on-the-move high-profile executive would possibly want. Its features include a built-in high-resolution (1.3 MP) webcam, global positioning system (GPS), biometric fingerprint authentication, handwriting and voice recognition capabilities. This ultra compact PC is perhaps one of the best things to happen in mobile computing area. It’s possibly the first all-in-one mobile device that enables users to stay connected, productive and their data secure wherever they are in the world.

One of the unique security features of the R2H is total data protection with both software and hardware solutions including fingerprint authentication which scans fingerprint pattern from the live layer of the skin, bypassing any common skin surface conditions.

The R2H runs on Windows ® XP Tablet PC Edition and is preloaded with Touch Pack software and ergonomic hardware interface complete with function keys laid out on both sides of the front panel, for ease of including a full set of control keys, mouse, scroll buttons, hot keys as well as on-screen keypad.

The UMPC is packed with computing, multimedia and connectivity functions such as built-in Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), wireless lan and a RJ 45 interface for wired lan.

Additional features include a satellite GPS provides a comprehensive travel guide eliminating the use of paper maps or ask for directions! The foldable GPS antenna facilitates convenient storage. Summing up the UMPC is a must use tool for anybody on the move who wants to be in touch while on the move even if he is in some remote corner of the world.

R2H Specifications
Processor: Intel® Celeron® M ULV Processor (900MHz)
Operating System: Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition
Memory: Onboard 256MB, DDRII 533, 1x SoDimm socket for expansion up to 768MB DDRII 667 DRAM support
Monitor: 7" WXGA touch screen LCD, ASUS Splendid Video Intelligent Engine
Hard disk drive: PATA 1.8" HDD 4200PRM 20/30/40/60 GB
Communication facilities: Bluetooth® V2.0 + EDR, 3 USB ports, 1 SD Card-Reader
1 GPS
1 Finger Print Reader
Physical dimensions: 23.4 x 13.3 x 2.8cm, 830g

Looks and feels really sturdy and after having traveled nearly 10,000 km in the tank bag of my motorcycle through all kinds of roads ranging from super highways, state roads, potholed field like trails, trek routes I can say that it is indeed strong as steel. The look and feel is simply great with its brushed metal finish and easy to use neatly laid out buttons and highly responsive and easy to operate controls.

Rocky hill near Chittor

Rocky hill near Chittor
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

This rugged rocky hill appears to the right side of the road on the Chittor Bypass. Every time I go to Tirupathi I see this hill and wonder when I am going to climb the hill but still haven't gotten around to climb the hill. Hopefully Will do it someday soon. Winter would be the ideal time to climb the hill as the weather will be congenial and not too sultry. Summers can dehydrate you and it can be traumatic to climb this hill.

Hiking, Trekking and Rock climbing enthusiasts... are you listening???

Chandragiri Palace

Chandragiri Palace
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

The fort and headquarter of the erstwhile rulers of Andhra Pradesh and the dynasty most responsible for the British East India Company to acquire and establish the modern day city of Chennai (Fort St. Geroge).
Sited barely 20 km from Tirupathi, Chandragiri hosts a massive rocky hill at the base of which is built this beautiful palace and several other monuments. Currently being lovingly restored and protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, the Chandragiri fort also presents a sound and light show every evening at 7.00 pm (Telugu) and 8.00 pm (English). Entry fee costs Rs.30 per person but the show is worth every penny you pay for.
I had the opportunity to see the sound and light show this time and was thrilled.
This palace also houses a museum, which displays objects d' art and treasures and trinkets of a bygone era.

Chandragiri fort ruins

Chandragiri fort ruins
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

One of the well preserved buildings in the vicinity of the palace in Chandragiri fort. Need to visit again and explore more of this fort. Chandragiri has so many attractions which will educate, entertain and make you feel proud of being in this country.
But sadly like most other historical places this also suffers under promotion and lack of awareness. Millions visit Tirupathi temple, but only a few hundred visit Chandragiri. Isn't it time we changed this status and start visiting interesting and historical locales like these and try to understand and appreciate our history and heritage???
Think it over.....

Temple in Chandragiri fort

Temple in Chandragiri fort
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

Over the weekend (May 4-5) I rode down to Tirupathi with a few friends. Enroute since I had sometime I decided to check out Chandragiri fort, a venue which I had wanted to visit since several years. A beautiful hill-fort built at the base and along the face of the rugged cliffs, Chandragiri has several heritage monuments currently in the vicinity.
The Archaeological Survey of India is currently doing a great job restoring the monuments. I hope soon this site will also be granted a World Heritage Status, akin to the SriRangapatna and Pattadkal in Karnataka which were granted UNWHS status today.
This ancient temple is being restored. This is a great example of Vijayanagara style of architecture. Quaint but beautiful the stone temple is a delight to everyone who likes art and sculpture.

This is a video of my riding the thunderbird in 2002 I have uploaded on Youtube.

blog-5

blog-5
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

Well.... this picture shows my parents, sister and friends who had come to welcome me back to Bangalore after my South Asian Motorcycle Odyssey.

Now I have visited five countries and here is a link to the new world map which shows the countries I have visited.



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Returning to Bangalore

blog-1
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

This picture shows Kishore and me riding on Old Madras road (NH-4) as we returned to Bangalore completing our 4½ month, 19,000 km journey across south Asia. We were escorted back to Bangalore by a few bikers who rode to Kolar and met up with us at the Woody's restaurant.

blog-4

blog-4
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

This was taken soon as we returned to Bangalore after completing our 4½ nonth, 19,000 km motorcycle ride across south Asia. Me and my partner Kishore Patwardhan travelled across five countries (India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh) on motorcycle and completed the expedition. It was a touching and rousing welcome from TVS heads, family and friends and other bikers from Bangalore who turned up and waited for us at MG road to welcome us back to Bangalore.

Home coming

Today I returned home after being 4½ months on the road with my riding partner Kishore Patwardhan. It was nice to catch up with my family and friends. Some bikers from Bangalore rode all the way upto Kolar and welcome-escorted us back to Bangalore. It was a nice event with our entire office staff waiting for us at MG Road along with the heads of TVS. Mr. Chandramouli, Arvind, Krishna etc were all waiting for us at the venue and after a quick welcome ceremony and lots of photo sessions we proceeded back home.

More chatting with family and trying to catch up with things. I hope to start blogging again soon. So my dear friends welcome me back with comments and do visit our website www.borderlessbikers.com.

Riding on NH-5

Riding on NH-5
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

hi friends,
Even as I hit the last leg of our South Asian Motorcycle Adventure which started on December 3, 2007. Kishore has become a more experimental photographer. This picture a little shaken was taken when both the bikes were travelling at 60 km per hour on the super smooth National Highway 5 between Nellore and Tada.

Visit our website http://www.borderlessbikers.com for more details and to view more pictures of our tour.

sri

sri
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

Testing whether the picture gets blogged or not.

For all those of my friends who read my blog. This is a quick update. As most of you would know that I am on my dream motorcycle sojourn across South Asia.

We have been on the road for the past 22 days and have covered about 4,500 km from Bangalore to Ahmedabad with lots of detours, back and forth riding, weaving in and out of cities, winding through lush green forests, gliding through the depths and heights of ghat regions, and meeting lots and lots of different people.

Some relatives, long lost friends, new friends, newly established friendships, mechanics, puncture fixing experts, ultra suave businessmen who run TVS dealerships, enthusiastic students, shy villagers etc.

Here is one of my pictures shot on the road near Baindur, Karnataka, where the road is flanked by the roaring sea on one side and the cool backwaters on the other. Fantastic scenery and great weather. Wish I had more time to spend out there... some other time definitely with friends or even alone... it is like biker nirvana when one hits these kind of roads. The bike and rider become one and enjoy the scenic vistas of the road.

More later...

sri

sri
Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

I had been for a large mammal census through Wildlife Conservation Society of India during January 2005. It was a wonderful learning experience of one week trekking through remote and far flung forests which are otherwise inaccessible to common men. Thanks to the census I was able to get to these inner most pockets of the Bandipur jungles, stay at anti-poaching camps, interact with forest watchers/ rangers/ officers.. great experience.

I visited the hill fort Makalidurga and snake temple town Ghati Subramanya on the previous weekend and conquered forts at Madhugiri, Kortagere, Siddarabetta and Channarayanadurga even as we marvelled at the serene waters of Tumbadi and Iraksandra dams and awed at the massive stone well in front of Chelur temple.

A detailed report with pictures is yet to be posted as I have been quite lazy. Will do it before this weekend. Till then happy browsing other blogs.

Outing of last week... report next week..

For now I want to tell you all about how many countries I have visited and what all countries I will be visiting next year. Starting this December 3, I am on a RTW tour on motorcycle along with two of my best friends Kishore and Kuttappa. Visit our website www.borderlessbikers.com to know more about this tour and help us if possible.

Countries I have visited.


create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

Countries I will be visiting next year on my motorcycle

Hanging out with friends on July 23...

We had decided to go camping last weekend, but since I was working till late evening on Saturday and everyone except Dev had something or the other to do we all decided to meet early morning on Sunday and proceed with our original plan.


We were six of us on four bikes. Anand and Jyothi on his spanking new, gleaming Bullet, Dev and Urmila on his splendour, Dilish on his refurbished Yamaha YBX and yours truly on the trusty TVS Victor. We headed out on the Bellary road and were hoping to cover three destinations Avathi, Vijayapura and Nallur.

Avathi about 46 km on the NH-7 was our first halt. Since we met up in the early morning (6.30 am) at Mekhri Circle, all of us were famished... stopping at Devanahalli we polished off a breakfast of piping hot Idly-Vada before we proceeded towards Devanahalli on the smooth pot-hole free road. After Avathi we turned left and as we headed out of the main road into the countryside, the change in surroundings, weather, sounds and sights was radically different.

Thimmarayaswamy Temple - Avathi

From Avathi it is about 2 km to Gautama Giri Kshetra and the narrow road takes one through some nice scenery. Narrow roads, tall rocky cliffs, lush green fields, quaint temples, cattle and simple village folk on the road and most importantly pollution free air. The USP of GGK is a the quiet hill and the ancient Vijayanagara Style temple dedicated to Thimmarayaswamy aka Lord Venkteshwara aka Vishnu. Other attractions in the hill include couple of water sprints, a deep cave and a small ashram. A narrow but steep road snakes up the hill from the base till the temple entrance, from here it is a 30-minute climb over a moderate rocky gradient to the top of the hill. I visited Avathi first in 2002 and there are some changes happening now... I don't know when the temple mafia will stop converting natural hills into 'Real-Estate Colossiums'.

We spent a good 2 hrs wandering around the hill stopping at every good place to sit and talk and exchange views. Anand recounted the interesting and hilarious experiences he has had with his Bullet and et al.

From Avathi we rode on the country roads back to the highway and took a detour at Devanahalli towards Vijayapura, a medium sized town about 10 km away. Vijayapura doesn't have any great tourist attraction but the Nagreshwara temple which is a unique blend of Shiva and Vishnu temples in one compound. The temple located in the centre of the town and accessed through a narrow bylane.

Nagareshwara Temple - Vijayapura

Unfortunately the Temple Mafia is in full control of the ancient shrine and this has resulted in total transformation of an ancient sculptural marvel into a modern eyesore. The old stone flooring has been replaced by shiny marble tiles, attractive stone pillars have been whitewashed. Original stucco images in the Rajagopuram is being painted in myriad colours without any sensitivity for retaining the antiquity of the place. Anyway I have lots of cribs... we spent about half an hour there and headed towards Nallur on the Vijayapura-Budigere road. The narrow road is quite pathetic and bad and at places it is a stretch of mud with several potholes of all sizes and depths.

Nagareshwara Temple Pillars - Vijayapura

Finaly after a bone rattling ride of about 12 km we reached the ancient Tamarind groove of Nallur. There are over 150 tamarind trees in the groove of which several trees are believed to be older than 80-100 years. Some trees have fallen down and are still yielding fruits. These look like large giants taking rest after serving humanity for over a century.

Three ancient chola-style temples dot the groove. One of them which is the best in terms of sculptures is the most neglected. One of the walls has collapsed, roof has come down and the temple might in all probability last another 10-15 years. We explored the temples and Dev took the initiative of climbing to the top and we all followed.

Sat down on the broken walls of the shrine and talked... talked.. and talked.. about the place.. travel... etc... all things under the sky till the biscuits we had carried finished. Then we all started back towards the city and after stopping over at a Dhaba for lunch we reached back home well in time before evening.

Biking in Bangalore's backyard - Part II

Well it has been long since I updated my blog... have been out twice since then... so thought I'd add remaining parts of the July 3rd outing with Anand.

From Muneshwara temple we proceeded on passing Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living ashram and ahead towards Harohalli. As we were approaching Harohalli an interesting and funny incident happened.

There was this guy on a Honda Unicorn who was furiously following us and we stopped next to a lake for a breather and to take couple of pictures. The Honda guy stopped a little away and parked his bike and came back... patted Anand's gleaming Bullet and walked all round it. "Saar! Eshtu Mileage Barathe? (Sir, how much mileage does it give?)" he said. "30" said Anand to which his expression changed to a surprise and indignation. "Madras Motors Alli 40-45 kodutthe andhru," he retorted to which I remarked "No bullet will give you mileage above 35 km pl".

He then went on to recount his sob story of how he had purchased a Bullet and sold it after just 2 days because the bike's mileage just didn't cross 20 km pl. He had lost 15 K in the bargain and settled for a Honda Unicorn which was giving him 50 km pl.... We cursed him and told him if he had informed me or Anand one of us would have bought it... Anyway tough luck...

From there we proceeded to Kanakapur and then to Satnur through some beautiful countryside roads and quaint hills and also crossed a huge dam (will find out more about it later) to reach Dodda Halahalli where we turned right on the Sangam road and travelled for about 8 km and turned left at the Chunchi falls welcome arch. From here is it is about 8 km to the roaring waterfalls via narrow and confusing country roads.

Chunchi Falls

Chunchi Falls - rugged surroundings

The water fall is sited in a starkly rocky and rugged terrain. I haven't seen such rugged terrain anywhere around Bangalore. Even Ramanagar and Savandurga fade into oblivion when one looks at the stark landscape at Chunchi falls. Beautifully rugged and scary because one slip on these rocks would leave one with broken bones and bruised limbs and maybe even fatal as at some places the water is really deep between rocks.

Anand clicked some great pictures of the falls and surrounding countryside before heading back towards Satnur.

Me at Chunchi falls

From Satnur we decided to return to Bangalore on the Mysore road via Chennapatna, Ramnagar etc. But the first major place we reached was Kabbal village sited in the shadow of Kabbal Durga hill fort. The Kabballamma temple here attracts thousands of devotees during weekends. I visited Kabbal first in 1996 to participate in an advance rock climbing camp, where I had honed my rock climbing skills. At that time we stayed at Kabbal for four days and we noticed that there were hadly any visitors to the temple or the fort. This hill fort has by far some of the best routes even better than Savandurga and Ramanagaram. Perhaps due to its distance from Bangalore (100 km) and the remoteness (nearest decent hotel/ accommodation 22 km), Kabbal has not become popular among adventure tourists.

Kabbal durga hill fort

Now in 2006 the picture is totally different. Kabbal was full of vehicles, the road leading to the temple was almost choked with vehicles - 2, 3 and 4 wheelers of all brands, colours and types were there. The queue of pilgrims for darhsan was around half a km long. It is amazing how development transforms a quiet sleepy village into a teeming pilgrim centre in just a decade.

Since it was too hot in the afternoon we decided to skip climbing the fort, just took pictures of the temple, hill and couple of hero stones placed near the temple and started our journey towards Chennapatna and then further to Bangalore.

Kabbalamma Temple with the fort background

Biking in Bangalore's backyard

Rocky cliffs around Kanakapura

Yesterday (July 2, 2006) was one of the better outings, I have been on in the past several weekends. The Original plan was that Dev, Anand and myslef would get together with our iron horses and of course Anand's is a Rhinocerous not a horse, and steer them towards Kanakapura and roam in the wilderness, climb a mountain, swim in a river and ride back home by evening.

Dev and I were scheduled to meet at 6.30 am at my place and then head towards Basavangudi where Anand would join us at 7 am. At 6.15 my mobile starts ringing and it is Dev on the other end. "Hey Sri, there is an emergency in the office. It seems our editor quit his job last night and they have called us all at 11 am for the meeting. Why did he have to quit yesterday, couldn't he quit on Monday?" said Dev ruefully adding that he wouldn't be able to make it and wished us a good time. After exactly 5 minutes Anand smsed saying he had already left from home. I got ready and proceeded towards our meeting place and reached there in good time but there was no sign of Anand.

After about 10 mins Anand chugged in and then we started off towards Jayanagar for breakfast of Idly and Sambar at Pavitra Paradise. Having filled ourselves we decided to head out and get out of the city asap. And get out we did.... our first stop was at the Vajramuneeshwara temple just out of the city off Kanakapura Road. The NICE BMIC has just missed this ancient temple by about 200 meters.

The temple had been famous in the recent years for elephant attacks on human beings and had even killed couple of farmers in the region. But now with the NICE road coming up I am sure elephants wouldn't dare to venture here. Anyway coming to the tepmple per se... like all Muneswara temples this too is an open air temple, sited at the fringe of a beautiful forest and hill region. There are two large banyan trees under which Lord Muneswara is consecreted.

Vajramuneshwara temple

The descent to the temple via a short flight of steps transports one to a different world altogether. The temple has stone flooring and a roof of leaves and branches, there is a small shrine dedicated to Shiva, and a natural spring provides drinking water to visitors. We were pretty early and there was hardly anybody at the shrine. Only the temple authorities cleaning the mess inside the temple and dirtying the forest around. A stream runs in front of the temple about 100 meters away amidst thick almost inaccessible forest.

We decided to skirt around the temple and explore the forest as we heard the call of peacocks and sounds of other animals. Truging through the forest we saw a check dam being constructed close by, the roads being built by NICE and the Vaderahalli lake far away. Again we heard the Peacock... this time very loud and close. We followed the sound into the bushes and there in front of us about 100 meters away was a single peacock gracefully walking, weaving in and out of the bushes. Taking in these sights we moved and returned to the bikes at the Muneswara temple, where by then a large crowd of people with sacrifices of Chicken, Lamb etc had accumulated and were ready to perform the ghastly act of killing innocent animals in the name of god.

Chicken ready for slaughter

From here we decided to head to Chunchi Falls and from there to Kabbal before finally returning to Bangalore via Chennapatna, Ramanagaram and Bidadi. Look out for the next post coming soon.

Outing to Devara Betta (Thevar Betta) in neighbouring Tamil Nadu

Devara Betta temple atop the hill

Sunday dawned bright and crisp and was I raring to go.

The destination was towards Tamil Nadu and the plan to visit Devara Betta and Navadarshanam an ecofriendly farm community whose members are living as per natures ways.

Starting off early in the morning at 5.30 am I was lucky to get out of the city before the morning picnickers and others started their journeys. Hosur notoriously famous for traffic jams and unruly driving was strangely empty and the smooth flow of traffic with cool breeze hitting my face I made good progress.

Soon I was at Chandapura circle where I turned right and sped on towards Ankal. Unlike Bangalore city, here I could see rural folk fully active, farmers taking their bulls to the fields, some already at work in the fields, women drawing water from wells, some carrying sack loads on their heads and walking towards the bus stop, perhaps to take produce to the city market to sell.

Anekal was a little chaotic because of the election happening, there was all parties trying to put up stalls to canvass for votes right on the main road. Luckily I moved out of the city quickly and soon was on the Thali road heading towards Devara Betta. From Anekal it is only 7 km to Gummalapuram which is on the other side of the border. From Gummalapuram one has to travel further about 20 km on Thali road to reach Gopasandra and turn right there for Devara Betta.

Soon after crossing Ankeal the road becomes quite bad, and potholed. But after Gummalapuram there is no road at all, there is only a semblance that there might have been an asphalted road sometime in the distant past. But anyway the scenery flanking the road is well worth the bumpy ride. Lush green fields, far hillocks, punctuated by quaint temples take away the road fatigue.

Damaged Herostone at Gummalapuram

Before reaching Gopasandra, I stopped at a small viragal (Herostone) temple and to my surprise found two more damaged herostones in the fields close by. Though the herostones are attractively carved they are neglected and most of them are lieing here and there without any attention being paid to them.

One thing is surprising, everyone here speaks fluent Kannada without even a hit of Tamil accent in their voices. And like all villagers in India, they are highly helpful and provide good directions. At Shamanatham village one of the villagers informed me that the road to Devara Betta from Gopasandra was a completely tar road. Expecting a smooth road I rode on but that was not to be, the road from Gopasandra to Devarabetta must have been tarred some 20 years ago and today it is falling to bits. Only potholes and jelly stones greeted my tyres and suspension.

Devara Betta hill and temple atop

But the panoramic view of the distant twin-rocky hills crowned by temple kept me going. After a 30-minute, (7 km) ride I reached the base of Devara betta and was dismayed to find that the temple mafia had already established base here also. But fortuntely being sited at the edge of the Thally reserved forest, not much damage has been done to the greenery and environment except building of several concrete structures which successfully obstruct the view of the hills.

There is a large modern temple complex, two rainwater harvesting tanks and several modern buildings in the valley between two tall rocky cliffs. The left one is Devara betta crowned by the Shiva temple. There are no steps and one has to scramble up to the top by the easiest way suitable for him. The climb is well worth the effort as the top of the hill offers fantastic view of the Thally reserve forest. The quaint temple atop is open only on saturdays and festive occasions. Otherwise devotees just pay obeisance to the lord through the grill door, rest a while and head back.

Devara Betta hill and temple atop

Due to some strange belief villagers who come here lay a cairn of stones and return back. Cairn is a small construction made of rough stones laid one above the other. It is believed that if one seeks any specific desire to be fulfilled he/ she has to place a cairn atop here and it will be fulfilled. Looking at the number of cairns I am sure God has a tough task ahead fulfilling the desires of so many people.

From Thevar Betta I retraced my journey till Gummalapuram and turned left to visit Navadarshanam farm. Navadarshanam (‘new vision’) ashram is the brainchild of a few people who dared to defy the stringent demands laid down by a consumerist world. This is a place where a group of people have chosen to live one with nature, learning the lessons it has to offer and sharing their experiences with society. Fifteen years ago this 110-acre piece of land had fallen prey to man’s deforestation spree and desertified. But today Today, the land is home to over 100,000 trees, which play host to a variety of species of birds.

The farm generates its own electricity through solar, wind and other energy sources. They grow their own food and water is from the borewell.

“Nature has its own ways of healing. We din't plant a single tree in this land. All we did was to stop grazing and rest was done by nature,” says Ananthu, a post-graduate in systems design from Stanford University, who, with a group of like minded people, started Navadarshanam - an offshoot of a study circle in Delhi many years ago and to put the Gandhian thought and ideals started this farm.

It was a wonderful experience interacting with Ananthu and going around the farm. According to Ananthu, they have only fenced off 25 percent of the total land area and remaining part is left for nature to heal itself. This has resulted in excellent growth of greenery and trees and several herds of Deer, wild boar and other animals have already made this green acres their homes.

My aim is to do something similar, I hope I will be able to achieve it in future.