Oh My Blog..

I started my blog "cerebration" sometime in mid 2005. I was in the US and stayed in the remote village of Endicott. It was my first visit and was alone. To kill my loneliness I used to socialise with Kannada Friend in the US and used to converse, discuss about many things. Movies, Literature, Kannada Online radio, Kannada discussion forum. Wow! I had so much time.

During my initial days, blog posts were mostly on Kannada poems. Yes I used to write many poems. Wow! It was so nice. I also used to put lot of effort to make that poem as per chandas (Rhythm) . Another favorite topic for me to write was about my trips in the US. I used to write in for my mom, sisters. Used to paste the same on the blog

My blog started many visitors for poems as well as travel posts. I used to feel so happy to see the comments. I started tracking the visitors from Aug11th using stat counter. I get weekly updates and used to compare them with previous week an so on.

Just an analysis of yearly posts:
2009 - 35
2008 - 46
2007 - 16
2006 - 27
2005 - 115
2004 - 94

Total - 333

Recently cerebration has moved towards photography. In 2009, out of 35 posts 20 are on photography and 6 are on my trips.

I am not sure why I am writing all these things. May be I will be more regular on cerebration soon ? May be I click more and post here? May be I post more Photoshop Workflows, May be may be may be..

Keep you posted..

Portrait Workshop ..

Naughty Looks
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Last weekend attended a portrait workshop conducted by renowned photographer Dr. Prem Muttu. I loved it.. Enjoyed a lot .. Learnt a lot.

Here are few pics...

Trying out Embedding Wave in blogger

My Life, My way

My Life, My way
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

From the last week shoot.. Model Gowri Sri.. Post Processing by GIMPShop

Deepavali ....

Bekal Fort

Continuation from my previous post

Bekal fort is one of the biggest forts of Kerala. It was constructed in 17th century on the beach of Arabian sea. it is currently under the maintenance of Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The nearest town to stay is either Kanhangad or Nileshwar, which are 10 KM from 20 KM south of Bekal respectively. Kerala Govt has also started Bekal resort development corp which was still not ready when we went.

Just beside fort, there is Bekal park and Bekal beach. There are entrance fees, but all are very nominal. Very nice bathroom facilities are available for after beach bath at Bekal Part.

Enjoy few pics

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

Splashy Waves

Splashy Waves
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

We had been to Bekal and Valiaparamba backwaters and beach. It was a drive of 950 KM drive to and fro. It was good trip

Sowmya enjoying in the beach of Bekal while a wave splashes her

Trip to Bekal and Valiaparamba - A summary

Initial plan was to go around Sirsi, Yana, Gokarna, Murudeshwara, Jog and back. But due to circumstances we had to change the trip destination. We chose to drive to Bekal and near by places. Initially I thought I should go to Mangalore and drive 50 KM southwards to reach Bekal. But, after discussing with few people, I came to know that the road to Mangalore is very bad and hence decided to take following route

Bangalore - Srirangapattana - Ilawala - Hunsur - Madikeri - Sullya - Jalsur - Cherkala - Bekal/ Kanhangad. Total distance was around 380 KM.
View Larger Map The road from Bangalore to Hunsur is a heavenly. You can just rip at 120 without a problem. After Hunsur there is no road divider, but still road is excellent till Kushalnagar. From there to Madikeri, the road is very bad. Again from Madikeri till Bekal the road is very nice. Bekal fort is biggest in Kerala under the maintenance of ASI. Its adjacent to the beach and lovely scenic place. Photo and video cameras are allowed. But tripod was not allowed. :) They charge very nominal entrance fees, I think its Rs. 5 per person and Rs 10 for cameras. Be prepared for a lot of perspiration. There only one small juice shop inside the fort. You get easily tired of walking. There is an entrance to the beach at the other side of the fort. You can enjoy the splashy waves there. You get some wind there. Other than this there is nothing much to see. Few shots for famous movies like Bombay, Galipata and others have been shot in this fort. Just about a KM from fort, there is a beach park and Bekal beach. Again there is a nominal entrance fees and parking charge and fees for cameras. Very nice and clean beach. You can enjoy the sun set there. Good thing is there is a very well maintained bathroom/ Change room. After the beach you can take a clean water bath there before you drive off.

Accommodation: There a resort just beside the fort called Bekal Resorts. But it was not yet ready to be occupied when we went. Another place was Bekal Beach Camp just beside Bekal beach Park. But its little expensive. They provide tents on the beaches. Should be exciting :). We stayed in Hotel Bekal International in Kanhangad, which is around 10 KM from Bekal. This is an economy hotel, which was clean. But restaurant was terrifically bad. Being vegetarian we searched and found a nice eat out called Vimala Upahar in Kanhangad town. Another excellent place to stay is Nalanda Resort in Nileshwar town, just beside the backwaters. Not that expensive too. If I go again, I will stay there.

While coming back, locals suggested another short cut route to Madikeri. Route was Kanhangad – Panattur – Bhagamandala – Madikeri. Though it was short, the road after Panatthur till Bhagamandala was a nightmare. I suggest to take Jalsur – Sullya – Madikeri, even though it is longer.

Places nearby: Hosdurg Nityanandashram with caves, Hosdurg Beach, Valiaparambha Backwaters and Beack

Will write more with pics later

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Happy Kid

Happy Kid
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Happined defined..

Lead Kindly Light

Lead Kindly Light
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Light is sign for knowledge... Lets get led by light..


Happy World Photographers Day

Amma - Celebrated her 70th Birthday

Salute to my mom for all that she has given to me. I dedicate this photo to her and have printed it and presented the same to her on her Birthday.

Thanks amma...

Happy Janmashtami

Happy Janmashtami
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Let Lord Krishna give all of us a great health and good protection from Swine Flu :)

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Day out to Ananda Dhama

Introduction

Ananda  Dhama is just beside Sangama, near Kanakapura. Thimmi and I planned to visit this place on the weekend of 31st May 2009, to celebrate both of ours birthday. We started driving at around 8 AM and had breakfast at holiday village near Vajarahalli and moved towards Kanakapura.

There is a free Gurukul being run by Ananda Dhama and to support this they have a resort where they conduct professional team building programs and the revenue earned will be used for the maintenance of Gurukul.

Things to do at Ananda Dhama

Many team games like balancing games, gutter jump, Tarzan jump, shooting, rafting, boating, jungle trek and many more.

Expense 

Including lunch, per person it costs around Rs. 750/- and need to be booked in advance.

On the way to Sangama, we see silk worm feeding wheels.. They looked very good	It was very early in the morning that we started and the road looked just beautiful
Balancing on the wooden log. It would been much nicer if we play with a team..	Tarzaan jump
Shooting … Actually her targets were better than mine	Rafting on bamboo boat
There were thousands of butterflys there	Swimming on River Kaveri

 

You can view the entire album on picasa

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less – Book Review

This is the first book of author Jeffry Archer. This is great thriller where a famous American business giant deceives four of the UK based gentlemen. These four of men form a team and get all the money they lost from him. But the trill lies in that the giant not even knows that he is being deceived. Lovely ready with simple language.

The three mistakes of my Life – A Book Review

This is my first read of Author Chetan Bhagath. The three mistakes.. is a sequel of his famous novel One Night @ the call center. The books starts by death notice email to the Author. He will be shocked to see this email and decides to do something about it only by the name which is quoted in the email signature. He tries to get support from his lecturer and locates this guy and flys to India from Singapore and listens to his life story. The entire story of the books is the life story of this guy, who Author meets in a hospital. Story is about three friends one guy who is interested in Mathematics and Business only. Other guy is fond of just cricket and the last guy is son of priest at a temple. Author has beautifully depicted social problems in India. Also shows how Cricket is also a religion in India. The guy on hospital bed is the central character in the book. As such the storyline itself is very simple. And also I really did not feel author has successfully linked these 3 topics. Also the title says “3 mistakes”, Author tells these 3 mistakes, but really never felt the importance of those three mistakes. A ok-ok read according to me.

Angels & Demons – A book review

 

Angels & Demons is a prequel of The Da Vinci Code. Author Dan Brown has narrated beautifully how Church and Science are related and how they both clash each other. Reader will know a lot about Vatican while reading it. Book starts slowly with a murder of eminent scientist who had invented something which does not exist in the whole world at CERN and which also is very dangerous for entire world. Though his intension was not to produce a dangerous instable product, he comes up with it while trying to find the truth behind the beginning of life. The director of CERN, is the man who finds the murder first and involves an American expert to crack the puzzle. Later he also becomes a suspect. American Symbolist and Scientist’s pretty daughter come along to find the mystery behind this murder. The infamous Illuminati would be the prime suspect behind the murder. Books contains a lot of Action, Thrill, Mystery. It goes in a very steady pace and has a touch of romance as well. There are couple of un-realistic scenarios which are ok for a fiction. After reading, I watched the movie. They have tried their best to cover the story in 2 hrs. They have tailored a lot by removing Director character and also twisting the story as needed. The intent is met and good watch.

Books Read

I am very happy that I have read few books recently. As you might know (or may be not), I was a very bad reader. Never used to read any books at all. Feeling good to say at least I have patience to read novels now. :)

List of books recently read. Coming soon the reviews of these books

Trip to Yercaud

The plan:
Last month Shilpa, Sowmya and I were thinking that we need to go somewhere out, excluding all yelders. We thought May 1 and 2nd would be ideal. Then we decided upon place as Yercaud, which is around 200 KM from Bangalore near Salem.

Yercaud is a Hill Town and there are few places on the top of the hill including a Botanical Garden, Lake and boating, Ladies seat a view point to see lit Salem city in the evening, Killiyur Waterfalls, Pagoda point, Sheravarayan temple etc. 2 days would be more than sufficient for it. We decided to start on early morning of 1st May and come back by 2nd evening

The accomodation:
After few hours of browsing we got to know that Hotel Shevaroys is good and within the budget. We called tham immediately and blocked 2 rooms for triple occupancy. It costed Rs. 1500 per room

The Team:
Shilpa, Gowri - My nieces, Yashu - Bhargav - My nephews, Thimmi and I

The carrier:
My elder sister had recently baught Toyota Innova, we decided to take that. But due to elders insistance, we also decide to take Manju, driver as well.

Execution:
As planned we started at around 6 AM. We drove at a decent speed and took a lot of break on the way and enjoyed a lot. Few pics on the way





Stopped at A2B near Hosur and had delicious break fast and played kids games.


We reached Yercaud and checked into Hotel Shevroy. The hotel is very big and decent enough. Loved few architectral points.


After noon we went to the restaurant and found that its crowded like crazy. We went out and had a buffet lunch. Later we went to boating and found even that was crowded like hell. Where ever we went we could see only people. It was May day, and many people had long weekend and planned there. We never felt that we are outside Bangalore and never felt we have come for a trip. It was really awkward for us. We visited Ladies seat and enjoyed a bit by seeing monkeys over there. The view was good from there but again crowd put us down

Next day morning we found a portrait painter and Shilpa, Gowri and Sowmya posed for portrait painting.



Then we went for boating, and today crowd was reduced to half and we enjoyed peddling the boat




The we visited a temple called Shervarayan temple which was also a peak point. But there was lot of crowd and could not go inside the temple. While coming back we found many beautiful places and captured lot of pics..





While coming back to Bangalore we visited my Brother-in-law's farm house and enjoyed fire dance there.



Entire Photo Album: