We had our first comprehensive test last Friday. We had to write a C program, SQL tables and queries which lasted 3.5 hours. After the test Jason, Andrew and I headed into the country on our two wheelers. Jason was determined to get to this big hill that can be seen from campus. After a few wrong turns and dead ends we made it there. We climbed the steps that were available half way up. The rest of the climbing was all up natural rocks, grass and dodging a beehive. I didn’t see the beehive, but Jason and Andrew did and said it was freakishly big, about 1m x 0.5m big! At the top of the mountain there were two large boulders with a gap in between. Andrew was the first to have the bottle to climb it. Jason and I followed. It was a fairly easy for what looked pretty tough. Photos courtesy of Jason. They can be enlarged if you click on them.
Archive for November, 2007
More Country Riding
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Backwaters of Kerala
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Two weekends ago we went house boating in the Backwaters of Kerala. The views of the canal, exotic palm tress, watching people go about their daily life, the fresh air and eating big prawns was a good experience. The houseboat itself had a lot of entertainment (except cable TV obviously). The two rooms had AC too for a comfortable sleep.
On the way back we stopped off at Cochin. We went to the Jew Town area where there was a Synagogue and European looking cobble stoned roads. In the past the area has been occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. We had lunch at a French restaurant. I ate a something ‘de Normandy’ … all I remember was that the sauce had a thick mushroom flavour, very French and delicious!
Photographs courtesy of Peter.
The type of boat we were on
The living room
Me enjoying the breeze
Palm trees galore

Pete & Jeetandra
The prawns we ate for dinner
Our captain
Arrr, matey! What’s that over there?
A view going down a canal

Jew Town
Food Court Disco
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Every fortnight or so a disco is set up at one of the food courts during the middle of the week. Video courtesy of Jason.
Dasara Parade
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Three weekends ago a bunch of us went to the yearly Dasara parade which was held at the centre of Mysore. The procession started at Mysore Palace. The parade itself had some elephants and a lot of dances as expected. We couldn’t work out the meaning behind some of the performances, but they were energetic and colorful. The entire vicinity was completely packed. There were many people climbing metal frames, trees and just about anything that was climbable! However, I would recommend being very careful at such an event. It is pretty dangerous if you get caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time. I definitely learnt my lesson in the need to avoid crowded areas, and predicting where those crowds might occur.

Bit of a shame the fence
was obstructing the view

Some brave spectators

Elephants marching along

The packed seating area