Bhuvangiri Fort @ Bhongir

For over 10 years I have seen the fort on top of the round mountain just an hour before chugging into the Secunderabad/Hyderabad railway station. Always thought that I should visit the place (Bhuvanagiri Fort @ Bhongir) sometime and climb the mountain. Never imagined that the visit to the fort would be all of 45 minutes long after a 90-minute drive, and never thought I would be so out of shape that just climbing halfway would leave me short of breath.

It is fun going on a long drive, but it is a gamble to go on a long drive with a 6-month old kid. Luckily the gamble paid off. And thankfully the round trip was just 110 kms, so the “short long drive” helped too.

Must revisit the Bhuvanagiri Fort @ Bhongir. And this time I am not taking the steps; I intend to climb on the rock-face. It is far more comfortable navigating the natural rock face, rather than the man-made steps. But since it is a fort, I have no idea till what height could I scale just climbing on the rocks.

This is a pathetic post and I know it, but the only reason I am writing this is because I do not have a pensieve where I can revisit my memories. When I need to revisit my memories, I come visit my blog. And I will reiterate this point the n^th time; it is easy writing posts as a random disconnected list of points.

Tale of a Marriage…

… in the form of subjects of emails to a community forum.

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filter - from:"K. Ravi" label:community-forum

Sender	Subject	Date
K. Ravi	Pointers to travel agents who manage foreign trips	Jun 08
K. Ravi	i10 vs WagonR vs UVa – any opinions?	Oct 08
K. Ravi	Weekend getaways around Hyderabad?	Feb 09
K. Ravi	Need contact of good astrologers in Hyderabad	Jan 10
K. Ravi	Need information regarding Birth Stones	Feb 10
K. Ravi	Any place where we can go for a day-trip from Hyd?	Jun 10
K. Ravi	Looking for a priest who can do Gruh-Shanti Pooja	Sep 10
K. Ravi	Looking for a priest who can do Satyanarayan Pooja	Oct 10
K. Ravi	Pointers to good Marriage Counselors in Hyderabad	Dec 10
K. Ravi	How to transfer ownership of car from wife to husband	Feb 11
K. Ravi	How to convert a joint home loan to single person loan	Feb 11
K. Ravi	Need pointers to lawyer specializing in Marital Cases	Mar 11
K. Ravi	Selling household stuff	Apr 11
K. Ravi	Looking for roommates	May 11

————

P.S.: This is a purely experimental format of writing a short-story. Inspired by an email I received in a community forum.
And obviously, this is pure fiction 🙂

Down the Road Hyderabad Launch

Down the Road was launched on Saturday at Hyderabad. I had been a nervous wreck during the launch of Urban Shots, thankfully on Saturday I was much calmer (looks like experience counts here too 🙂 ).

Unveiling the book 'Down the Road'

Kunal & Ahmed

The launch was fun, had a few interesting conversations with the people attending. And I had my first chat with a reporter. Talked with a lady from Indian Express, and she asked me a lot of questions. I saw the article on the Indian Express website and even though my name has been printed incorrectly, I’ve been quoted extensively. Feels good 😀

The post-launch dinner session with friends was a perfect end. The book “Down the Road” is about the good old school/college days and I was able to relive the exact same emotions thanks to a mini-reunion with friends from alma-mater (courtesy the book launch). Had such an awesome dinner at our favourite dhaba – Needs that when people asked me about the launch I replied with the number of Alu-Parathas and Lassi we had.

That is the power of any campus – you forget everything else. Hope this book does the same with the readers. And hope this book too becomes a bestseller 🙂

Buy ‘Down the Road’ from Flipkart

Down the Road

I had always dreamed that one day I would be a best-selling author. Well, that dream has come true, although not completely. Today I can call myself a co-author of a best selling book – Urban Shots.

Now that that chapter is close to its end rather than the beginning, it was time to write another chapter. And so I picked up the pen once again, and wrote a short story for another anthology – Down the Road. This book has also been published by Grey Oak Publications and this time the stories are based on the years we have spent or are spending in schools and colleges.

The book will be releasing in a few days and can be ordered right now from Flipkart. The launch events for the book would be starting this weekend onwards, and more details can be found out about the launches at Grey Oak’s Facebook page.

Hyderabad launch for “Down the Road” is taking place this Saturday, on the 9th of April at Landmark in Somajiguda. Inviting everybody for the launch of my 2nd co-authored book.

A Sunday Well Spent

Today, on a Sunday morning, as I was driving towards my office there was a spring in my step, and an extra kick to the bike. No, I am not a workaholic, and no I am not insane to be working on a Sunday. My destination were the hills that lie a couple of kilometers beyond my office. Hi-Tech City is a jungle of buildings, but this jungle was built amidst rocky mountains – a part of which still lies intact. One such rocky hill was our intended target. Neil, Rahul, Alosh and I met at the crack of dawn to commence the hour long hike.

We were hardly a few meters from the road, and were able to spot these weaver bird nests. These nests used to be so common earlier, now if I see a simple nest sometime – I count that an achievement 😐

I was surprised that as soon as I left the road, I was able to spot so many birds. Alosh spotted a crow-pheasant, I spotted a peacock, some eagles, and many small birds that I was not able to identify.

The hills were strewn with rocks, long grass, and bushes of numerous variety, although they all had a common trait – they were thorny 🙂 Every few minutes we would stop and pluck out the thorns painfully residing in our hands, or not-so-painfully embedded in our clothes.

The rocks make many interesting structures, and a few of them seem to be balancing precariously, but all of them are steadfast. There were small tunnels between the rocks, and they were far easier to navigate rather than climb over the rocks. I have learned one hiking lesson the hard-way – if there is an easier route available, always take that.

As we were climbing up, the sun was behind the hills and we caught the sun rising from behind the hills. Anytime I see a sunrise, I rue the fact that I normally wake up late and miss the sunrise. I always resolve that henceforth I’d try to catch the sunrise and my resolution stands for exactly one day as the next morning I am up late again 🙂

All-in-all, a very nice way to greet the new year (although a day late). Planning to do similar mini-hikes every month, let’s see how long that resolution stands 🙂

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