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Interests And Activities:

Traveling:

I have travelled some places while I was at IIT Kanpur. I enjoy traveling, especially by train (only Indian Railways). I can sit in train for two days and would be as fresh as I was at the beginning. Apart from the places listed below, I have enjoyed travelling from Bangalore to Kanpur by trains very much - which takes nearly 48 hours.

Follow the links for Travelogues and Photos

Adventure:

Adventure gives a lot of thrill and fun. I like moderate adventure. If you want to know what moderate means, well, the simplest answer would be whatever adventure I like is moderate adventure! I have participated in trekking and skiing activities. I am also trying to learn ice skating. I was the coordinator of adventure sports club at IIT Kanpur. Many find it difficult to digest the fact that how can a person as slim as me (and seemingly unfit) can co-ordinate the adventure activities!

Skiing at Auli, March 2003 (click here):

Parasailing (click here), Bangalore, August 2003

Trek:

Trekking is a unique, most exciting and challenging adventure activity of all. Trek involves experiencing all aspects of a mountain – the country, the great historical sites, natural beauty and wildlife, most importantly, they give you the chance to meet the local people and to see their custom first hand. Besides you need not have to be an athlete or a great physique. Anyone with a pair of strong legs and a spirit of adventure to explore the exotic will enjoy the thrills of trekking and fascinating discoveries. It is important to remember, however, it requires an adequate level of physical preparation and even more importantly should remember that there is also a psychological commitment in walking on the mountains. You choose whether to trek for 3 days or 35 days, whether to sleep under canvas or lodges.

Trekking requires sufficient physical preparation. For treks in western ghats which generally span for two-three days, it's okay without conditioning. But for treks in Himalayas, the physical conditioning is very useful. Himalayas and western ghats offer quite different experience and thrill in trekking. While Himalayas provide the best trekking routes with high altitudes in the world, western ghats has its evergreen forests, wild life and pose a different kind of challenge. 

Some of the treks I have been to are (The galleries are not uploaded. Do visit after sometime)        

 Western Ghats (all in Karnataka):           

          Yana, (my first trek ever)    April 1997

          Shiv Ganga & Unchalli Falls,  May 1999.

          Mulainagiri, Western Ghats,  May 2000.

          Tala Kaveri-Brahmagiri         June 2001

Himalayas:

          Pindari Glacier,                               September 1998.

          Roopkund,                                       October    1999.

          Nanda Devi East Base Camp             May          2003

          Valley of Flowers-Hemkund Sahib,   July         2003

          Badrinath-Satopanth                       July          2003

Photography:  

One hobby leads to other! Just like traveling and trekking lead to photography. This is how I got interest in photography. Though I had interest in photography for long time, I could seriously pursue that when I bought a NIKON F 55 camera. I like nature photography, generally try to avoid mundane photos like people standing and posing in front of camera. But many a times, human subject makes a photo marvelous. This is a very difficult, challenging and one of the most expensive hobbies. But just a single good photo in a roll gives immense satisfaction.

Want to have a look at photos..??

Politics:

Though I would not like to use this word, this is what my friends used to do at IITK. Here is some brief sketck of my brief, but bright, political career at IITK.

Games:

I hardly used to play any game during my school days before joining IIT Kanpur, apart from Chess during my high school days at Vijaya High School and cricket in I PUC (eqt. to 11th). Thanks to some fundoo chess players at Vijaya High School such as Prem Swaroop and Rajeev. I had (and still have) ambition to master this game. Ironically, after joining IIT-K, I have hardly played chess!

Games that I enjoy playing are:

Games that I hate most: Video Games (especially watching others playing!)....

Other:

There are many other things which I find extremely interesting for a while. For example, astronomy - I found this very interesting in the beginning and once I became the secretary of the club, I found this to be the most boring hobbies.

I hardly used read any books, be it a text book or something else. These days I am picking up the habit of reading books. Some of the books which I have read are:

Toofan Mail by Jayantha Kaykani (July 2005)

The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger (July 2005 on the way back from India)

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (June 2005 while flying to India)

The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo ( MUST READ for everyone).

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - By Thomas Kuhn (under progress - Gave up!)

Sandhaa Raaga (kannada) - by A Na Krishnaraaya (famously known as  a na kru)

Abachoorina Post Office (kannada - short stories) - by Poornachandra Tejaswi

"Nanda Devi Affair" by Bill Aitkin - Good book. Except that his english looked more like greek to me.

"Nanda Devi" by Eric Shipton and Tillman, a wonderful work on mountaineering (Completed...Strongly recommended for anyone interested in Himalayas or Mountains in general).

"What is Life?" by Ervin Schrödinger - currently under progress!!.

The Mathematicians Apology" by G. H. Hardy (it took at least three readings to get to know what he is trying to say). 

Living with the Himalayan Masters - By Swami Raama".

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